Butte County
Biographies
SILAS T. BARRY
SILAS
T. BARRY.--Let us emulate the good characteristics of our ancestors and
strive to push to the front and so live that our descendants need not be
ashamed of their family record. This is exemplified in the life of Silas T.
Barry of Butte County. He was born in Green County, Wis., January 11, 1850, a
son of John and Lorinda (Wells) Barry, who were
farmer folk in northern Wisconsin, and who started across the plains in 1853,
with their family of four children. They outfitted with wagons and horses for
the long and dangerous journey overland, in a train commanded by Captain
Conway, coming via the old California trail, the trip lasting about six months.
They had hardships aplenty, but finally arrived at their destination and made a
temporary settlement near Stockton for the first winter, then moved to Point of
Timber, there being but two other families and a bachelor in that locality at
the time. One year there convinced John Barry that it was too dry to undertake
farming, so he loaded up his effects and with his wife and children set about
looking for some place that suited him. They traveled as far as Santa Rosa, and
liking the looks of that country, bought a squatter’s claim, which is now a
part of the site of that city. He found this claim was a part of a Mexican
grant, after having made many improvements and establishing a home, and had to
pay for it a second time. Here he farmed until 1867, when he sold out.
Mr. Barry then took a trip to South
America on a prospecting expedition. With some companions he journeyed up one of
the rivers in that country, found the climate unbearably hot, ran out of
provisions and had to live on monkey meat. He came out of that tropical country
and went back to Wisconsin for a visit, then came again to California and
settled in Ventura County, and engaged in farming once more, on some land he
purchased, continuing his residence there until his death. His wife died
several years later. Mr. Barry at one time had the deed to land on which the
Sonoma County courthouse now stands. Of the nine children born to this worthy
couple, Silas T. is the second oldest. One brother, John Barry, has been
assessor of Ventura County for forty years.
Silas T. Barry spent his boyhood in Santa
Rosa, where he attended the public schools; and while living there he joined
the Home Guards, a military organization. In 1868 he accompanied the family to
Ventura County, moving from Santa Rosa by team and wagon. He worked on a farm
for one year, then went back to Santa Rosa and entered the employ of Smith and
McCoy, to learn the painter and decorator’s trade, and followed it there for
several years. He was next employed at Mare Island for a year, after which he
came to Chico in search of employment at his trade and was busily engaged for a
short time. He decided that farming offered better inducements than painting,
so he went to work for Mr. Morehead, on the Parrott Grant, for one year; then
was with Dr. King on his dairy ranch at Big Meadows for the summer, and the
following winter helped to care for cattle on Deer Creek. Mr. Barry then went
over the mountains into Plumas County and continued farm work. In the meantime
he became interested in mining, being employed by a mining company. He got “the
mining fever” and for thirteen years was prospecting and mining, with indifferent
results. He tired of that precarious business and determined to go to a stock
country and settle down and build up a home.
On November 26, 1889, in Chico Vecino, Mr. Barry was married to Miss Emma Moak, who was born in Albany, N. Y. They were the first white
couple to be united in marriage in Chico Vecino. Mrs.
Barry is the daughter of Jacob Moak, whose sketch
appears on another page of this work. She attended the Butte County public
schools and lived in Chico until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Barry have one son,
Howard Oliver, who was taking care of the stock owned by his father and the Moak family but is now serving in the Aviation Section of
the Signal Corps. Mr. Barry entered the employ of General Bidwell,
taking care of his orchards and fruit, remaining so employed until the death of
the General, after which he engaged in horticultural work by contract. He has
made a study of the care of trees and pruning, and is now an expert in his line
and kept busy during the seasons of work. Mr. Barry and Mr. Moak
were interested in the cattle business together and Mr. Barry would spend some
of his time in the mountains, looking after their joint interests. In 1895 Mr.
and Mrs. Barry built their present home in Chico Vecino,
on Esplanade, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, where they dispense a liberal
hospitality. Mr. Barry is a Republican in politics.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
06 April 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 861-862, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies