Ventura
County
Biographies
ALLEN C. HARDISON
A resident of Santa Paula for more
than four decades, A. C. Hardison has furthered its progress along many lines
and is one of the enterprising men who are making history in southern California. He was born in Caribou, Aroostook County,
Maine, April 27, 1869, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth Hardison, and there pursued
his studies until his graduation from high school. His higher education was acquired in the
University of Maine, which awarded him the degree of Civil Engineer in 1890.
Coming to California at that time,
Mr. Hardison was elected a director and secretary of the Santa Paula Water
Company, which he represented in those capacities from 1890 to 1895. He aided in forming the Thermal Water
Company, becoming its secretary, and also had charge of the engineering work of
that organization. In 1895 he was one of
the incorporators of the Limoneira Company and for many years has been a
director of the corporation, which owns and manages the largest lemon orchard
in California. The Hardison Ranch
Company, which he organized in 1911, and of which he is the vice president, has
several hundred acres planted to citrus fruit and ranks with the largest
enterprises of the kind in Ventura County.
In 1912 he incorporated the San Caytetano
Mutual Water Company and is president of the corporation, which furnishes water
for the irrigation of citrus orchards between Santa Paula and Fillmore. In addition he is serving as president of the
Crane Estate, in control of these varied interests manifesting the capacity for
detail, the administrative power and the keen discernment of the man of large
affairs. With financial operations he is
identified as a director of the Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation of Los
Angeles and a member of the executive board of the Pacific-Southwest Trust
& Savings Bank of Santa Paula.
In December, 1892, at Santa Paula,
Mr. Hardison was married to Miss Cora L. Crane, a daughter of Jefferson L. and
Janette (Briggs) Crane and a member of an old and honored family of Ventura
County. To Mr. and Mrs. Hardison were
born nine children: Helen, Warren,
Ernest Domingo, Ruth, Louise, Robert, Coralyn,
Wallace and Jeanette. The sons Warren
and Ernest D. are connected with the management of the Hardison Ranch Company,
the former having charge of the orchards near Santa Paula, while the latter has
supervision of the company’s land at Fillmore.
Mr. Hardison is a high priest of his
chapter of R. A. M., a Knight Templar Mason, and a noble of Al Malaikah Temple
of the Mystic Shrine at Los Angeles. He
was a member of the Union League Club of Los Angeles, and is a member of the
United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the state board
of agriculture, and the Special Agricultural Committee of the United States
Chamber of Commerce. He has always shown
a helpful interest in public affairs and rendered effective service as chairman
of the Ventura County highway commission.
Recognition of his ability, experience and fidelity to trust also led to
his selection as a member of the executive committee of the National Farm
Bureau Association; president of the California State Farm Bureau; and vice
president of both the Mupu Citrus Association and the
Santa Paula Citrus Fruit Association. Of
him it has been said: “Though a man of
unpretentious demeanor, Mr. Hardison possesses to a marked degree the silent
but powerful force, the mental qualities and personal magnetism that attract
men, and he has not been under-estimated by the people, who long since learned
to appreciate his true value as a factor in important affairs. He has the ability to grasp facts and infer
their practical significance with almost unerring certainty and few men have
been more sought for counsel, the correctness of his opinions in practical
matters being almost proverbial. He is
one of the sturdy figures upon who fell in former days the burden of the
comparatively new community, and he struggled devotedly with others in bringing
about the resultant development. Of
rugged strength of character, of finest moral fiber, and one who has realized a
magnificent measure of useful accomplishment, his name is deeply engraved on
the pages of the history of Ventura County.”
Mrs. Hardison is a member of the Ebell Club, the Order of the Eastern
Star and the Society of Mayflower Descendants.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 155-157, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S VENTURA
BIOGRAPIES