Keyser, Abram H.

Driven from Kansas by severe grasshopper blights during the mid-1870s, A. H. Keyser migrated to California in 1876 with his younger brother, Andrew. The brothers initially worked at Los Gatos and at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine before leasing land near Hollister to engage in large-scale wheat farming and contract hay-baling. Relocating their agricultural operations to Fresno County around 1883, they assisted in grading and constructing Kearney Avenue while leasing and farming extensive grain acreage from Theodore Kearney.

In 1883, the Keyser brothers purchased eighty acres at California and Kearney Avenues, developing the property into vineyards and cropland while operating a combined harvester, hauling timber from Pine Ridge, and taking contracts for land grading. After leasing and managing 200 acres of the Kearney Vineyard, both brothers prospected in Nome, Alaska, during the early 1900s before returning to California in 1902. Upon dissolving their partnership, A. H. Keyser established a thirty-acre vineyard and farm at the corner of Valentine and California Avenues in Fresno County.