There is one thing I know for sure about the man who built our house in 1958 and lived in it for several decades -- his name was A. Uhalt. I have that information from the blueprints the previous owner, Gary, gave us. One thing Gary told me about Mr. Uhalt was that he once owned a blacksmith shop in East Bakersfield.

Last night, I did a little Google search on "Uhalt" and found Frenchy, AKA, "Bernard Bartholomew Uhalt, Jr."

This is from the first paragraph of his obit:


Born April 27, 1910 in Bakersfield, CA, he was the son of French-Basque immigrants Benita Asnarez and Bernard Uhalt, Sr. from the Pyrenees, who settled in Bakersfield opening Uhalt's Blacksmith Shop on East 19th and Kern. Known as "Frenchy", he excelled in athletics from an early age.


The fact that Bernard Sr. owned a blacksmith shop in E. Bako makes me think that Frenchy and A. Uhalt must be related some how. I'm not sure how.

Frenchy was a star athlete in high school (now Bakersfield High) and was recruited by football scouts, but he prefered baseball and had a great minor league career. He is in the Pacific Coast League hall of fame (he amassed more than 2,700 hits). Frenchy played one season for the Chicago White Sox.