Joel Andrew Whiteside (1856 - 1936)

Born 18 Feb 1856 in Yuba, California, United States

Ancestors

Died 19 Nov 1936 at age 80 in Kings, California, United States

Biography

Joel was born in 1856. He was the son of William Whiteside and Mary Farley. He passed away in 1936.

Obituary

Fresno Bee Republican, 10 Nov 1936, pg 1

Last Survivor of Battle with Bandit Dies

Death Summons Joel Whiteside, King Pioneer

Lemoore (Kings Co.) Nov 19, Joel A. Whiteside, 80, last suravivor of the posse of pioneers that engaged the bandit, Procopio Murieta, a nephew of Joauin Murieta, in a gun battle in which one posseman was killed in 1878, died today at his home here.

Whiteside was one of the oldest native Californians in the San Joaquin Valley. He had resided in this portion of Kings County seventy-three years.

He was born in Yuba county in 1856 and was a young man in Grangeville, pioneer Kings County settlement, when the posse to hunt Procopio Murieta was formed.

Procopio had served a term in San Quentin Prison for cattle stealing in Calaveras County. On his release he went to the Kings County district, then part of Tulare County, and robbed the store in Grangeville.

He headed on horseback with his loot for the Paso Chane, several miles east of the present Coallnga. His horse drowned when he attempted to swim the animal through a slough.

The posse found his trail at the sheep camp of Fran Woods and Theodore Draper. Through the Gus Kreyenhagen store they learned Procopio had headed for the cabin of the Higuera brothers two miles distant.

In a room of this cabin they found the bandit asleep. Whiteside went out to call the others while another posseman suposedly kept Procopio covered with a rifle. The guard was too slow, however, for Procopo got his two six-shooters and opened fire. Sol Gladden, first to heed Whiteside's cry for help, was killed as he entered the door. Procopio made good his escape.

Whiteside is survived by his widow, Mrs. Jennie Upton Hayes Whiteside, whom he married at the home of her parents in the districh known as Stringtown, southeast of Lemoore.

The couple celebrated their fifty-sixth wedding anniversary here August 11th. He also leaves a daughter, Mrs. Pearl Penter of Springville, two grandsons, Harry Gruell of Brawley and Joseph Gruell of Lemoore; and three great grandsons, Harry, Lee and Gary Gruell, all of Lemoore.

Funeral services will be conducted Sunday at 2 P.M. in the Phipps Funeral Parlors here, with Mrs. K. Van Zante, Christian Science reader, in charge. Burial is to be in the Lemoore Cemetery.

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Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24447706/joel-andrew-whiteside