Pinninger, Frederic William

Frederic William Pinniger was born in Stanton, St. Bernard, Wiltshire, England, on March 28, 1876, to Thomas Pinniger and Louise Lane. Educated at the private Mill Hill School in London, he worked in the timber trade for seven years before immigrating to Winnipeg, Canada, in 1899. After a brief return to England, he farmed in Emerson, North Dakota, until relocating west to Fresno County, California, in 1903.

In Fresno County, Frederic purchased forty acres on Belmont Avenue, eleven miles east of town, where he cultivated muscat, emperor, and malaga grapes alongside white figs. He expanded his agricultural enterprises by developing and selling additional peach acreage and consistently supported the California Associated Raisin Company. Married in San Francisco to Dorothy Akin Higgins, with whom he had a daughter named Mildred Louise, he maintained memberships in the Episcopal Church, the Democratic party, and the Independent Foresters Lodge of Fresno.