Lewis, William H.

Born near East Hamlin, Monroe County, New York, in 1872, William H. Lewis was the son of Jeremiah and Charlotte (Goodrich) Lewis. In 1881, he relocated with his family to Fergus County, Montana, where he grew up riding the range and engaging in the cattle business from an early age. After working in Idaho, Lewis moved to California in 1897, farming for eight years in San Benito County before briefly working as a carpenter in Berkeley following the 1906 earthquake.

In December 1907, Lewis settled in Fresno County’s Empire district, initially developing a ten-acre fruit ranch while leasing 100 acres for alfalfa and dairying. After selling that tract in 1912, he purchased his present twenty-acre ranch on Vinland Avenue, planting it to Thompson Seedless grapes and peaches, installing a pumping plant, and constructing a modern residence. Married in 1893 to Jennie M. Batdorf, with whom he had eleven children (Jesse J., Verna, Helen, Harold, Arthur, Alice, Carl, Thelma, Lloyd, Ethel, and Darrell), Lewis was a charter member and board president of the Beulah United Brethren Church, as well as a stockholder in both the California Peach Growers, Inc., and the California Associated Raisin Company.