Bissell, Hugh B.

Hugh B. Bissell, born near West Point, Iowa, on April 23, 1850, was a prominent agricultural pioneer who rose to affluence through business acumen in Fresno County, California. Coming from sturdy New England stock with ancestors dating back to Connecticut in 1629, he was the eldest child of Ralph Bissell and Jane Brunson South. After completing his public school education in Iowa, he engaged in successful corn farming before relocating to Missouri, where he married Missouri A. Paine on April 6, 1875. He operated a farm and a livery business in Missouri until 1885, when the call of the West prompted his relocation to Modesto, California, followed by a permanent move to Fresno County in 1886.

In Fresno County, he leased three thousand acres for grain farming, navigating many trying experiences brought on by crop losses and low market prices. Showing immense perseverance, he purchased the old Shipp place and expanded it to 480 acres, defying local ridicule by installing the first irrigation pumping plant in his section. This innovation allowed him to establish the first successful vineyard above the general irrigation ditch, transforming cheap stubble-field land into a highly valuable, productive show place. Beyond his viticulture triumphs, he served as an original stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Clovis, supported local raisin associations, raised two sons named Lora Clyde and Raymond H., and later remarried Irene L. Bissell.