Merced County Biographies
Ref: Page 808-809
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 7/19/2009
U. ORA ABELL
A successful grower of figs in California, who is highly esteemed in the community of Merced, is U. Ora Abell, who first saw the light near Indianapolis, Ind., on March 11, 1868. He was the eldest of the five children born to Perry and Rebecca (Klepfer) Abell, who were born in Pennsylvania and Michigan respectively. Perry Abell settled in Indiana where he helped his father carve a home out of the forest and where he farmed until the Civil War broke out, when he enlisted in the 70th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving throughout the conflict. He moved to Nebraska in the eighties, homesteading land twenty miles from a railroad, and about 1890 he removed to Salt Lake City, where he lived for six years. In 1896 he located in Merced with his family and here he and his wife both spent their last days.
The common schools of Indiana and Nebraska afforded U. Ora Abell a good elementary education. Being a farmer's son he worked steadily on the home farm and in the meantime learned the carpenter trade, accomplishing a great deal as a journeyman, and later engaged in the building trade as a contractor. He accompanied his parents to California in 1896, where he continued to work at his trade. That same year he invested wisely by purchasing a tract of land on the Merced River, one and one-half miles below Merced Falls, where he began farming and made improvements. By 1900 he had a few fig trees, and as the years progressed, he set out many more, until the property became a valuable one. At present he is the owner of thirty acres of highly developed orchard set to Black Mission figs, the trees ranging from ten to twenty-five years of age. A newly completed residence fills the need for an orchard home.
On January 14, 1913, at Merced, Mr. Abell was united in marriage with Miss Nan R. Peak, who was born in Merced, the youngest of seven children. Her father was the late Luke Peak, a Forty-niner and pioneer of Contra Costa County. He had come from Jacksonville, Illinois, to California, and in the sixties he moved to Plainsburg, Merced County, wheree he was a well and favorably known farmer. Just prior to moving to Merced he owned and operated a grain farm adjoining the Atwater ranch. Mrs. Abell's mother came from Southern stock and was a member of the Hancock family who arrived in Contra Costa County in 1853. One daughter, Isabel May, has blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Abell, who are popular in Merced social circles. Mr. Abell is a baritone singer of ability, and has favored the public by appearing at many functions, giving his talent freely for general enjoyment. He was the director of the Merced Methodist Episcopal Church choir from 1912 to 1917. He has belonged to the Merced Lodge of Odd Fellows since 1899, and to the Modern Woodmen of America since 1903. His political views and efforts have been with the Democratic party, but any movement for civic and community betterment has his hearty endorsement.
History of
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925
Merced County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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