William "Yank" Hazelton

William "Yank" Hazelton, born in Coeyman, N.Y., in 1824 to Joseph, a blacksmith, and Sophia Cleveland, emigrated to California through San Diego in 1853. In November, 1857, he settled on this site and homesteaded the land with his wife of 2 months, Mary Jane, daughter of Henry and Delilah (Miller) Akers. In 1861, during one of his last cattle buying trips to Mexico, he brought back some oranges in his saddlebags as a surprise for his family. Mary Jane planted the seeds from those oranges, and the trees that grew from them began the first orange orchard in Fresno County. Yank, Mary Jane, and four of their children are buried here on the homestead, and the Hazelton orange business is continued today by Yank's Great-Great Grandson, Douglas Hazelton, and his children.

California · United States