Scheidt, Fred

Fred Scheidt, born in Samara, Steplnoia, Russia on May 22, 1871, was the son of a farmer named George Scheidt and grew up as the fifth of six children. After receiving an education in German and Russian schools, he immigrated to Baltimore, arriving on New Year Day in 1891. He spent time working in West Virginia and Ohio, including a six year stint with the Cincinnati Lithograph Company, before migrating west to Kansas and eventually to Fresno in July 1898. In Fresno, he briefly worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad before transitioning to the fruit industry with the Earl Fruit Company and the Griffin and Skelly Fruit Company. He later relocated temporarily to Hamilton to raise sugar beets under contract before returning to Fresno to work for Otto Nestel and George Kaehler.

In 1913, Mr. Scheidt entered the retail sector by purchasing George Christian grocery store at 440 F Street. Four years later, he expanded into agriculture by acquiring a thirty-two and a half acre property located northwest of Clovis. Under his personal supervision, the land was developed into a premier peach orchard and a thriving vineyard producing Thompson seedless and malaga grapes. His notable agricultural success earned him recognition from both the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. While living in Cincinnati, he married Margaret Walter, and together they raised ten surviving children named Matilda, George, Anna, Eduard, William, Emma, Alfred, Elsie, Gussie, and Arthur.