San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1529
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 10/3/2009
EDWARD H. BARBER
Edward H. Barber, who for the past seventeen years has been a justice of the peace of Union Township, has been a stanch advocate of better schools and a director of the Galt Union high school since 1912. He was born in Summer Hill, Cayuga, N.Y., December 26, 1867, a son of George H. and Caroline (Potter) Barber. The father was a farmer by occupation, who brought his family to California in the fall of 1874 and first farmed on the old Stevenson ranch near Stockton, where he remained for one year; then removed to Sebastopol, Sonoma County, where he bought ninety acres at fifty-five dollars per acre near the town limits. After paying a few hundred dollars on this ranch, he became discouraged and gave it up and removed with his family to Taison, San Joaquin County. The Sebastopol ranch is now within the city limits of that town, and is very valuable property. The father rented the R.B. Thompson dairy, which he conducted for two years, then purchased 100 acres 2½ miles northwest of Thornton, which is a portion of the property now owned and operated by our subject and his brother, George L. Barber. There were three children in the family: Edward H., our subject, being the eldest; George L., and Grace, Mrs. Beavis, residing in Detroit, Mich. The father passed away in 1907, aged seventy-seven, and the mother was fifty-one when she died.
Edward H. Barber began his schooling in the old five-mile school out of Stockton, where he went for one year; then he had a year's schooling at Sebastopol, two years at the Ray district school in San Joaquin County, and the balance of his grammar school education in the New Hope district school. Edward H. and his brother, George L., are equal partners in their ranching operations. They have added to their holdings until they now own 425 acres of fine land on the Mokelumne River, 2½ miles northwest of Thornton, which is devoted to raising beans, grain and general farming, and the brothers each conduct a dairy.
The marriage of Mr. Barber occurred on June 11, 1896, in Stockton, which united him with Miss Ada Marion Villette, a native of Hancock County, Mississippi, and a daughter of Henry and Ada (Breedlove) Villette. Her maternal grandfather was a Confederate soldier who died from the effects of exposure during the Civil War. Her mother was twice married, the first time to Harry Villette, who died in Louisiana. In 1886 Mrs. Villette and their only child, Ada Marion, came to California and settled in Stockton. Here her mother was married in 1887 to Henry Harrington, a harnessmaker. Her mother died in Thornton.
Mr. and Mrs. Barber are the parents of four children: Helen, Paul, Florence and Ada. Paul Barber recently married Miss May Culver of Stockton and at the present they make their home on the ranch and assist in its development. In 1904 Mr. Barber became a trustee of Reclamation District No. 348, embracing an acreage of 10,000 acres, and since 1906 has been justice of the peace for Union Township; he is also a member of the Thornton Farm Bureau, and since the founding of the Galt Union high school he has served as director of same. In politics Mr. Barber is a stanch Republican, and Mrs. Barber is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Barber brothers also own 100 acres in the Yaqui River Valley, in the State of Sonora, Mexico, which is leased and which caused them considerable trouble during the recent revolution.
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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