ROBERT THOMAS BARD

Los Angeles County

Biographies

ROBERT THOMAS BARD

BARD, THOMAS ROBERT, Capitalist and ex-Senator of the United States, Hueneme, Ventura County, California, was born in Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1841. He is the son of Robert McFarland Bard and Elizabeth Smith (Little) Bard, and descended from a family that traces back to the Middle Ages, with the American branch rich in mighty deeds of patriotism and important factors in the Revolutionary and early colonial period of the nation’s history. These latter were among the Scotch-Irish settlers of the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania, the first of the name being Archibald Bard.

The latter’s son, Richard Bard, married Catherine Poe, who probably was a relative of the family of the immortal poet, Edgar Allen Poe, and these two figured in one of the most atrocious Indian outrages in the history of the United States. Their homestead at Marshall’s Mill (now Virginia Mills) was attacked and burned in 1758, and they with their infant child and three other persons who were in the house at the time, were captured by a party of savage Delawares. Three of the captives, including the infant, were murdered and Mr. and Mrs. Bard suffered indescribable tortures. He finally escaped and more than two years later, by paying a ransom, succeeded in obtaining his wife’s release from captivity.

An interesting incident in this connection is that in 1903, a century and a half later, a great-great-grandson of White Eyes, the Delaware chief, who had been one of the captors of Richard Bard, in a second experience with the savages, appeared in Washington to press an Indian land claim and enlisted the friendly aid of Senator Bard, a great-great-grandson of the man who had suffered at the hands of the redmen.

Richard Bard later became a Justice of the Peace, and while he was in politics for a umber of years, his only other public office was as a member of the Pennsylvania Convention, which, in 1788, passed on the Federal Convention Constitution. Richard Bard’s brother, David Bard, was a Member of Congress for the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth sessions.

Other notable ancestors of Senator Bard were Thomas, a son of Richard Bard, who was a militia captain, conspicuous in military affairs in Pennsylvania after the Revolutionary War; Judge Archibald Bard, for twenty-one years on the Bench, and a prominent figure in politics in the early part of the last century; Thomas Bard, great grandfather of the Senator, who, in 1814, organized a company and aided in the defense of Baltimore; Captain Robert Parker, a valiant officer under Washington, who participated in many of the most important battles of the Revolution and who was praised in after years by General Marquis Lafayette for his bravery and kindness to the Marquis when the latter was wounded. Captain Parker, after the war, was appointed Collector of Excise for Franklin County and became one of the most prominent citizens in Pennsylvania.

Senator Bard’s father, although he died at the early age of forty-three, was a noted man in his day, and such was the appreciation of his unusual character and force that he might have achieved almost any position had he lived. He was a lawyer. Between 1842 and 1844 he was associated with the Hon. James X. McLanahan, one of the leading lawyers of that period. He soon attained a high position at the bar of his native county, and in his later years enjoyed a wide reputation in the State as a lawyer of great ability. “Mr. Bard was a peculiarly gifted man intellectually,” wrote one of his contemporaries; “he had a profound knowledge of the law, was ardently devoted to his porfession (sic), managed every case entrusted to him with masterly skill and force, and would, had not death removed him in the meridian of his years, been one of the country’s grandest jurists. He possessed an active, vigorous, and logical mind, and his legal learning was extensive and profound. His arguments to the court were cogent, and free from prolixity and redundancy. His addresses before a jury were eloquent, convincing and directed toward presenting the strong points of his case clearly and strenuously. He judiciously refrained from dwelling at length on matters of minor importance. When he gave a legal opinion to a client on a difficult point of law, he was able to give it confidently, because it was the result of the most painstaking investigation and study. In politics, Senator Baird’s father was a Whig, but he was never an aspirant for political office. In 1839, when he was only thirty years old, and the public school system was in its infancy, he was elected a member of the Chambersburg School Board, and he was chosen Chief Burgess of the borough in 1847. In 1850 he was nominated for Congress by the Whigs. He was a man of strong convictions, with the courage to avow them. He was conspicuous as an influential and consistent advocate of temperance at a time when opposition to the Rum Power and Slave Power were alike regarded as a species of fanaticism.”

Senator Bard married Mary Beatrice Gerberding, at San Francisco, California, April 17, 1876, and to them there were born eight children, Robert (deceased), Beryl Beatrice, Mary Louise (now Mrs. R. G. Edwards), Anna Greenwell, Thomas Gerberding, Elizabeth Parker, Richard and Archibald Philip Bard.

Left fatherless at the age of ten, the future Senator Bard early developed a self-reliant character in keeping with the traits of his forbears. He attended the Chambersburg Academy, and at the age of seventeen years began the study of law in the office of Hon. George Chambers, at Chambersburg. Impaired health, however, compelled him to abandon his preparation for the bar and seek a more active business life. He became a member of the forwarding and commission house of Zeller & Company, in 1861, at Hagerstown, Maryland, and also served the Cumberland Valley Railroad at that place until August, 1864.

Speaking of this part of the Senator’s career and events subsequent, G. O. Seilhamer, Esq., in an historical and genealogical work, entitled “The Bard Family: A Chronicle of the Bards,” says:

“During this period he saw some dangerous service as a volunteer scout in the successive invasions of Maryland and Pennsylvania by the Confederates. One day, with a companion, he penetrated the lines of the enemy and was captured. They were on the point of being hanged as spies, when a sudden rush of Union cavalry rescued them from their distressing situation. In the autumn of 1864, Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, and afterwards president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was in search of a capable young man to take charge of his extensive interests in Southern California, which included oil lands that it was believed would rival the oil regions of Pennsylvania.

“Mr. Bard was chosen for the work, and after spending several months in Colonel Scott’s office, was placed in control of his holdings in Los Angeles, Ventura and Humboldt Counties, comprising about 227,000 acres. These holdings included 113,000 acres in Rancho Simi; 26,000, Las Posas; 48,000, San Francisco; 10,000, Callegnas; 45,000, El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia; 6600 in the Canada Clara, and 16,000 in the Ojai.

“At that time there were not more than a dozen Americans in the entire region. It was not long, however, until squatters began to swarm over a part of Scott’s land. In the description of the old Rancho la Colonia one line ran from a certain monument to a point on the Santa Barbara channel shore between two esteros. Lagoons were numerous along that shore, and it was easy for a designing and unscrupulous person to raise a doubt in regard to the two esteros between which the rancho line ran. A Sacramento lawyer asserted that the line ran to a point near where the Hueneme lighthouse now stands. This was in direct conflict with Scott’s claim, and would have deprived him of about 17,000 acres of as rich, level land as was to be found along the coast.

“The lawyers sat on the squatters, who at once began to drop down on the 17,000 acres. Scott insisted on his claim and Bard was on the ground to defend his rights and to drive the squatters off. The settlers talked ‘shoot’ and ‘hang.’ but Bard kept after them. At the outset he had a survey made by the United States Surveyor General, and, as the line fitted the Scott claim, he was unyielding in enforcing it.

“The conflict lasted for years with varying fortunes. The settlers stole a march on Scott by obtaining a decision in their favor from the Land Office at Washington, but Scott succeeded in having it reversed, and it has remained reversed to this day. When Grover Cleveland became President the squatters made their last attempt to get the Colonia lands, but Attorney General Garland upheld the old Scott line and that was the end of it.

“During all these years Bard was on the firing line. He had desperate men to deal with, but he never flinched. He kept the courts of the county busy dealing with the cases of the squatters. After he had won he dealt so generously with the men who had been his bitter enemies that they became his friends.

“While Mr. Bard was Colonel Scott’s agent he had some thrilling experiences. The California Petroleum Company was organized to develop the oil on Scott’s holdings. Well No. 1 was put down on the Ojai Country, and there Bard made his home when he first went to Southern California. One night in 1874, he was the victim of an attempted “hold-up” while driving to No. 1 on the Ojai with a large sum of money in his possession. He had forgotten his pistol, but the landlord at the hotel where he received the money loaned him an old derringer with which to defend himself in case of attack. He was driving four-in-hand. It was not an easy thing to hold up four bronchos on the run, but on an up-grade a man got in front of the leaders, while another came to the forward wheels demanding Bard’s money. Bard blazed away with the ancient derringer, missing his man, but hurting himself with the old weapon, the handle of which burst in his hand. Frightened by the explosion the leaders dashed forward and Bard was out of reach of the highwaymen.

“Desperadoes among the squatters on the Scott lands and other bad men plotted to take Mr. Bard’s life on a number of occasions, but these plots always failed. These antagonisms have passed away, and now he is held in the highest esteem by all classes in Southern California for what he has achieved for the development of his section of the State.”

In the days when Senator Bard started for California the transportation problem was little better than during the rush of ‘49, and he made the trip by steamer, then via the Isthmus of Panama overland. Ventura County, in which he makes his home, and wherein his activities have lain principally since his arrival, was a part of Santa Barbara. His important responsibility as master of the Scott holdings at once made him the leading business man of the section, but despite the cares of that office and the attendant difficulties and litigation, he early took an active part in politics.

Reaching Ventura in 1865, he was elected two years later to the Board of County Supervisors, and served until 1871. In 1872 he was one of the Commissioners who organized Ventura County and started the government going. Five years later he ran for State Senator on the Republican ticket in the district made up of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. He carried the first two, but was defeated by Patrick Murphy, of the last named county, by a slight margin. In 1884 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated Blaine for President, and in 1892 he was elected a Presidential elector, the only Republican to win in a Democratic landslide. In this contest he received more votes that the three lowest of the Democratic candidates combined.

The Democratic California Legislature becoming deadlocked, in 1899, over the choice of a United States Senator, Mr. Bard was proposed by Dr. Howell for the office in January, 1899, as the man “who would be free from all corporation entanglement, and on whose character there could be no stain.” He received two votes at that time, but in February, 1900, after the deadlock had existed for more than a year, he was elected at a special session of the Legislature over Colonel Daniel Burns, taking his seat untrammeled by promises to any man or body of men.

Senator Bard served his State until March 4, 1905, and during his tenure in office was conspicuous in numerous important legislative campaigns. His most notable works, however, were his effort in behalf of the amendment of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty; his opposition to Cuban reciprocity and the defeat of the Statehood bill intended to join Arizona and New Mexico as one State. He stood at all times for the autonomy of Arizona and the subsequent admission of the two territories as separate States has vindicated his position. He made several powerful speeches on Cuban reciprocity and the Statehood question, and was in the thick of the battle over both questions. He also contributed to the defeat of the effort to grant public funds to Catholic and other sectarian Indian schools. This latter, it is believed, contributed more than any other one thing to his defeat for re-election.

His candidacy for re-election, however, was proposed by political friends and others, irrespective of politics and not by himself. During that contest he said: “My attitude is, in effect, a protest against the power of the machine in the State, and if that power is to be continued, free and independent representation in Congress is an impossibility.”

During his service in the Senate, Senator Bard was Chairman of the Committee on Irrigation, which had to do with enormous problems for the reclamation of the arid wastes of the West, and in this capacity performed remarkable work for the progress and upbuilding of his section.

He was at one time a member of the Executive Committee of the Lincoln-Roosevelt League, with the understanding that his membership was to cease after the campaign, as he was not in favor of many of the principles of the League, being especially opposed to the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote and the initiative, referendum and recall. He was able, however, to assist the League in its campaign to “kick the Southern Pacific Railroad out of the Republican party in California.”

Senator Bard is a conservative Republican, but at the same time a believer in modern development of the country’s resources. He does not believe in saloons or too much legislation which would hamper the growth of the nation, and advocated the Anti-Saloon League of California, though his views differ from those of the prohibition party in that he prefers the local option solution.

Senator Bard has been one of the most successful business men in America, and has extensive landed interests in Ventura and other counties. His activities extend through various lines of enterprise, including oil, banking, development, colonization, sugar and manufactures. He is President of the following corporations: Berylwood Investment Company Bank of Hueneme, Quimichis Colony, Compania Hacienda de Quimichis, Las Posas Water Company, and is a director in the Graham and Loftus Oil Company, Sacramento Valley Sugar Company, and the Potter Hotel Company.

He was also the first President of the Union Oil Company of California, in 1890; built at Hueneme, in 1871, the first wharf constructed in any open roadstead south of Santa Cruz, and in 1874 contracted for the building of the first wharf erected at Santa Monica, California.

Senator Bard served, by appointment of Governor Gillett, as Regent of the University of California, and has been a conspicuous figure in educational advancement in the Golden State. He is a noted floriculturist, and at his home in Hueneme, called “Berylwood,” after his eldest daughter, he indulges his taste for gardening. He developed two new roses, one called “Beauty of Berylwood” and the other “Dr. Bard,” after his brother, Dr. Cephas Little Bard, a man who in life presented one of the noblest characters his fellows ever came in contact with. He had served as a surgeon in the Civil War, and later settled at Buenaventura, California, where, for many years, he was a real ministering angel to his people. He cared for the sick of the district regardless of their position, and oftentimes, at risk of his own life in swollen stream or on dangerous mountain trail, he went forth in the night to care for his suffering neighbors.

The two brothers, several years ago, built and endowed the beautiful Elizabeth Bard Memorial Hospital, erected in memory of their mother at Buenaventura, and there, in 1902, the doctor, who was its first patient, died shortly after the completion of the building.

With his brother, Senator Bard founded the Pioneer Society of Ventura County, and is today its President. He is also a prominent member of the F. and A. M., Scotch-Irish Society of Pennsylvania, Union League of San Francisco, and the California Club of Los Angeles.

The home life of Senator Bard, with his family around him and his beautiful home for a setting, is described as ideal. He is a man of fine presence, large frame, magnetic personality and innate honesty that prevented him from spending, as the price of a political honor, even a cigar.

Transcribed 5-31-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Pages 37-39, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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