Alameda
County
Biographies
ANTONIO LUCIO
Of those who in other days braved storm and
tempest and uncertainty to reach the Pacific swept coast where they now reside,
none rank higher as agriculturists, or as dependable citizens than Antonio Lucio, whose life has known many extremes, and who has been
connected with extensive farming interests in Alameda county, and is the
honored associate of some of the foremost fraternal organizations on the coast.
The youth of Mr. Lucio was spent in the Azores islands,
west of Portugal, where he was born October 15, 1845. The fourth of six sons
and nine daughters, he was reared in a humble home, for his father, Lucio, was a basket manufacturer by trade, and though he
did a large business in shipping his goods to America, found so large a family
a drain upon his resources. Both he and his wife, Mary A. (Garcia) Lucio, spent their entire lives in their native island, but
many of their children wandered far from home, and today are pursuing their
avocations in widely separated parts of the world. The family name, as known in
their native land, was Fialho, but on coming to
America an elder brother of Antonio Lucio dropped the
family surname and became known by his father’s Christian name, Lucio.
At the age of fifteen Antonio
started out on his own responsibility, following the bent of his adventurous
mind, which gained its inspiration from tales of the sea, he liked the
occupation so well that at the end of a year he determined to go on another
voyage, and he finally entered the port of Boston, where he left the ship and
while working in another capacity, attended night school. He finally made two
voyages as steward on the schooner William Martin through the gulf and Atlantic
ocean, after which he accompanied a fishing expedition
to the Bay of Fundy. There he became interested in the far west, and making the
journey by way of Panama on the steamer North Star, arrived in due time in San
Leandro, Alameda county, whence in two weeks he returned to San Francisco. He
then worked on a farm in the vicinity of Centerville, and finally friends
secured him a position in a store and hotel in Pleasanton in 1865, where he
remained four months, gaining quite an idea of American business methods. Next
he leased twenty acres of land near Centerville, bought a pair of farm horses,
and raised early vegetables for a year, and then entered into partnership with
another man and leased and operated a large tract of land in Contra Costa
county. Returning to Centerville, he remained for a year, and then came to San
Leandro, where he entered the employ of L. Stone. In June, 1869, he left Mr.
Stone to engage in feeding a threshing machine during that summer, and in the
fall of 1870 re-entered the employ of Mr. Stone for eight months. For a year he
operated the Davis ranch, and in the meantime saved his money. In San Leandro,
in 1871, he married Amelia Martin, who was born in Oakland, Cal., and with whom
he started in to farm for himself near San Leandro. In 1874 he came to his
present place, which he has rented ever since, and which consists of one
hundred and forty-five acres. In the meantime, however, he has both bought and
sold farms, and has been an extensive raiser of grain and stock. His
substantiality has been attested by his association with many of the important
undertakings in San Leandro and vicinity, and he was one of the first
stockholders and is still a director of the Bank of San Leandro.
Mr. Lucio’s
position in politics is on the Republican side, and since casting his first
presidential vote for Grant in 1868, he has taken a commendable interest in
both local and national politics. He was road overseer of his district for
eight years, and during that time performed his duties in a manner to reflect
credit upon himself, his party, and the future of the county. He is connected
fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past
noble grand, and the Knights of Pythias, of which he
is exchequer, and he is past chairman, and ex-grand treasurer, of the U. P. E.
C. In the management of his farm Mr. Lucio is
assisted by his only son William, besides whom he has two daughters older,
Annie, who is the wife of M. C. Enos, of San Leandro,
and Mamie, who is now Mrs. M. C. Williams, of San Leandro.
Transcribed
by: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 1000-1001. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.
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