JOSEPH HENRY GLIDE

Sacramento County

Biographies

JOSEPH HENRY GLIDE

JOSEPH HENRY GLIDE. The career of Joseph Henry Glide, one of the most prominent of the early pioneers, is an example of the worth of energy, pluck and perseverance as indispensable accessories to native talent, for without these attributes he could never have succeeded in building up for himself the financial success which is now his. For nearly half a century he has been known in the Sacramento valley, where he has established an extensive stock business, buying and selling sheep and cattle and carrying on a lucrative custom throughout the entire state as well as in other sections of the United States. Since 1871 Mr. Glide has been a resident of Sacramento, where he is known as a citizen of worth and ability and one who can always be counted upon to further any movement for the advancement of the city’s best interests.

Born in 1835, Mr. Glide is a native of Somersetshire, England, where he spent his boyhood on the paternal farm and received his education in a private school. Upon the death of his father, which occurred while he was still a lad in years, he bought stock for his brothers, Charles and John. His youthful experience in this work laid the foundation for the knowledge which afterward brought such lucrative returns to him as a resident of the Sacramento valley. In young manhood Mr. Glide decided to emigrate to America and accordingly took passage on the Manchester, from which vessel he landed in Philadelphia, Pa. From there he went to Chicago, where he became acquainted with parties who were preparing to come to California. The company consisted of forty-two families and made the trip across the plains in six months. Arriving in California Mr. Glide found employment buying stock for John Davis, of Grass Valley, a farmer and butcher, who was handling sheep, hogs and cattle in his business. For one year Mr. Glide remained in that association, and the following year, having accumulated some means, he began business for himself along the same lines. He was very successful and gradually drifted from this work into that of stock-raising, buying up cattle, pasturing and butchering them, and supplying many mining districts with meat. As the demand for his business increased he enlarged his capacity, purchasing land by the section and devoting it to grain and pasture. At the same time he increased his cattle range, bringing into the country thoroughbred Short Horns (the sires being imported from England), a part of which he disposed of to neighboring stockmen for breeding purposes. He also began the breeding of sheep, the native being found to be of a very inferior quality. He therefore prepared for a better business in this line by the importation of the noted French Merino, for which he paid $300 per head. This is a large sheep, furnishing good mutton and a considerable yield of wool, which is well adapted for use in American fabrics, the animal being first introduced into America by John D. Patterson, of New York, about forty-four years ago, and proving in its transportation to California soil a hardy animal and good grazer. There is a demand for these Rambouillet sheep, as they are considered the finest of their kind in the world, and Mr. Glide has sold them to parties all over the United States, South America, Africa and Australia. He has also a large number of Short Horn cattle. His cattle ranches now number twenty thousand acres of land, the greater part of which is in Yolo county, and all under the management of his two sons, Henry and Thornton Glide. In 1871 Mr. Glide located in the city of Sacramento, where he now owns a beautiful residence, which is justly classed among the finest in this section. He has taken a keen and practical interest in the development and upbuilding of the city.

In 1871 Mr. Glide was united in marriage with Lizzie Snider, a native of Louisiana, and a daughter of Dr. T. A. Snider, who came to Sacramento in 1868 and was for many years one of the leading physicians in that place. Mr. and Mrs. Glide became the parents of the following children: Henry, Lizzie, Mary (Mrs. Charles Goethe), Thornton and Eula. Mr. Glide is entitled to the position which he holds among the citizens of Sacramento, being held in the highest esteem by a large circle of friends and acquaintances for the sterling qualities which have enabled him to make his success in life.

Transcribed by Priscilla Delventhal.

Source: “History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California” by J. M. Guinn. Pages 411-412. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.