San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 644
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 9/29/2009
CHARLES A. BACON
Besides having the honor of being a native son of San Joaquin County, Charles A. Bacon is also the only son of a pioneer family who came to this State in 1863, and was born on the Bacon ranch, three miles from Lockeford on July 25, 1868. His father was Eugene Charles Bacon, a native of New York, and a son of Samuel C. and Finetta Bacon died in 1852. In 1854 Eugene Charles Bacon left home and traveled through many western and southern states, following engineering on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers for a period of nine years. He arrived in San Francisco in 1863, but after four months went to Virginia City, Nev., where he was employed by the Gould & Curry Company for three years, then removed to San Joaquin County, Cal., settled on the ranch that became known as the Bacon Ranch and followed ranching and stockraising until his death in 1913, aged seventy-seven.
In 1867, Mr. Bacon was married to Miss Ellen Vincent, daughter of Capt. Ashmit B. Vincent, who came to California as master of a sailing vessel, around Cape Horn in 1850. Upon his arrival here he spent two years in the mines, then went to Mokelumne Hill and was engaged in gardening until 1855 when he removed to San Joaquin County where he bought a squatter's claim to 160 acres of land from Merchant and Moore. This he cleared and farmed until his death in November, 1870. He had made arrangements to have Mrs. Vincent join him in California with their two daughters, Ellen and Cora, who came in 1853 on a clipper ship around the Horn. Mrs. Vincent died on January 23, 1861. Mrs. Eugene Charles Bacon is still living on the home place near Lockeford and at eighty years of age is hale and hearty and is surrounded by a host of friends who enjoy her tales of pioneer conditions in the Golden State. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon had two children, Charles A. and Ethel, who with their mother reside on the home place.
Charles A. Bacon received his education at the Harmony Grove school and after his school days were over worked on the ranch and at the same time has followed the machinist's trade, as well as learning the plumbing and sheet metal trades. From 1900 until 1912 he conducted a shop in Lockeford, during which time he perfected an acetylene gas machine which he manufactured and sold. After moving his shop to the ranch he has devoted part of his time to managing the home estate and doing expert repair work on all kinds of machinery, his equipment being adequate to handle almost any kind of a job. For more than fifteen years he has engaged in well boring, specializing in deep water wells for irrigation purposes. On the ranch they maintain a dairy of twenty cows and raise grain and stock; twenty acres of the ranch is in alfalfa. Mr. Bacon is a member and past grand of Progressive Lodge No. 134, I.O.O.F., at Lockeford, a member of the Lodi Encampment, and past chancellor of the Lockeford Knights of Pythias. Politically he is a Republican and is counted among the progressive men of the Lockeford section of his native county.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN 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
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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