DR. J.W. CLINE , of Madera, Fresno County, was born in Defiance County, Ohio, August 10, 1860. Prior to the Revolution his paternal ancestors resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, whence they emigrated to North Carolina about 1760. His grandfather, Jacob Cline, was born in the latter State, and married Catharine Swisher. They emigrated to Indiana, then a wilderness, in 1817, where their eldest son, John S., was born in 1825. They subsequently moved to Preble County, Ohio, where John S. Cline and Susan Potterf were married.. This couple moved to Defiance County, where their deaths took place in 1870 and 1864 respectively. They had seven children, one of whom is the subject of this sketch.

Thus at the age of ten years Dr. Cline had been deprived of both his parents, and was left with slender means. By his own efforts he secured a good common-school education, took up the study of medicine, and after having for a time engaged in teaching, entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Keokuk, Iowa, in 1879. He graduated at that institution in 1881. After spending two years in the practice of his profession in Marshall and Kosciusko counties, Indiana, he came to Fresno County California, in 1883. Establishing himself at Fresno Flats, he soon built up a large practice, to which he devoted his entire attention, being subject to all the hardships incident to the practice of medicine in a sparsely settled mountainous country. He often had to visit patients twenty or thirty, and even fifty, miles away. Accidents in neighboring mines and saw-mills furnished much work in surgery, in which he is proficient. Far from counsel, it devolved on him to perform many difficult operations without competent assistance. As may be supposed, the services of a competent physician were fully appreciated in the community that had so long been beneficiaries of his skillful practice, and much regret was expressed when in January, 1891, he moved to Madera, forty-six miles distant.

Dr. Cline was married to Miss Frances McCrory, at Fresno Flats, July 15, 1884. They at present live in Madera, where the Doctor has a large practice, and both he and his excellent wife are highly esteemed by a large circle of friends.

Transcribed by Liz Brase, 2006
A Memorial and biographical history of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California , 1891 page 480