Scheidt, J. Henry

J. Henry Scheidt was born in the Province of Samara, Volga District, Russia, on June 21, 1874, where he received his education and worked as a clerk in a mercantile store. In 1893, at the age of nineteen, he immigrated to the United States without financial means but possessed strong energy and thrift. He first located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and worked in the store of the P. R. Mitchell Company until 1896, when he moved to Fresno, California, with only 300 dollars. For the next three years, he worked for wages and successfully saved his earnings to establish his own independent ventures.

In 1899, he purchased his first forty-acre ranch in the Perrin Colony No. 1 and rented additional land to engage in grape growing. He became a successful self-made rancher and exceptional businessman by buying, improving, and selling various ranches, including a forty-acre property on California Avenue and a 200-acre ranch in Madera County alongside George Virgin. After returning to Russia from 1905 to 1907, he came back to California, managed a ranch on Jensen Avenue, and later bought a small grocery store at C and Santa Clara Avenues in 1908. His industrious life reflects his ability to overcome obstacles and build wealth through the local agricultural and commercial trade.