Waltz, S. W.

S. W. Waltz was born on February 20, 1857, in Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, to parents Joseph Waltz and Burry A. Courtney. Raised on his family farm, he attended local public schools and assisted his mother on the homestead until her passing. He married his first wife, Australia Chittenden, in Indiana before relocating to Fresno County, California, during the major boom year of 1887.

Upon arriving in California, S. W. Waltz worked in local vineyards before purchasing a twenty-acre ranch in the Scandinavian Colony, six miles northeast of Fresno, in 1891. Following the death of his first wife in February 1892, he married Mrs. Nellie Hender Trevathan, with whom he had two children, Harry Roy and Dorris. He became a prominent viticulturist with the California Associated Raisin Company, an active member of the local Odd Fellows lodge, and a dedicated school trustee for the Scandinavian district.