San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1567-1568
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 10/3/2009
GEORGE L. BARBER
A well-known citizen and prominent agriculturist of northern San Joaquin County is George L. Barber, who is an equal partner with his brother, Edward H. Barber, in a valuable ranch of 425 acres three miles northwest of Thornton, devoted to general farming and dairying. He was born in Summer Hill, N.Y., January 22, 1870, a son of George H. and Catherine (Potter) Barber, the former a native of New York, of English descent, who served in an Illinois Regiment in the Civil War. At the age of four years George L. Barber accompanied his parents to Stockton, Cal. Here the father remained for a year. He then tried farming in Sonoma County for one year, and then returned to San Joaquin County, where he eventually purchased 100 acres of land three miles northwest of Thornton, a portion of the present holdings of the Barber brothers. Both parents are now deceased. The father died in 1907 at the age of seventy-seven, and the mother was fifty-five when she passed away.
The education of George L. Barber was begun in the district schools of California. When he was thirteen years old, he returned to New York and lived with his mother's people at Utica, where he attended the grammar school. Later he entered the Geneseo State Normal School. After teaching school for a year, in 1890 he returned to California, to the home ranch, which is now equally owned by himself and his brother, Edward H. Barber.
The marriage of Mr. Barber occurred on May 4, 1903, uniting him with Miss May Chamberlain, a native of Oregon, and a daughter of Henry K. and Lucy (Levitte) Chamberlain, natives of Illinois and Massachusetts, respectively, and both from families of Revolutionary stock. Her father was a farmer by occupation, who came to Oregon and took up government land, and later went into the sawmill business. When Mrs. Barber was two years old, her mother died; and five years later her father was killed, leaving a family of eleven children, seven of whom are now deceased and four living. Those living are: Lucy, Mrs. Sherman Alford, of Stockton; Nettie, Mrs. George Alford, of Mountain View; Emma, Mrs. Ralph Snell, of Mountain View; and May, Mrs. Barber. Annie, now deceased, was Mrs. Hansen, of Fresno. Mr. and Mrs. Barber are the parents of four children: James Henry, Edward L., Phillip Sherman, and Robert L. Mr. Barber has served as trustee of the New Hope school district.
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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