Santa
Clara County
Biographies
CAPT.
THATCHER FERRIS BARNES
Although
April, 1898, witnessed the lamented demise of Captain Thatcher Ferris Barnes, he
still lives in the heart of his faithful wife in San Jose, and in the history
of Santa Clara county, with which he was closely and
honorably identified for almost half a century. Captain Barnes, who won his
rank as successor to Captain A. B. Rowley, of Company B, California Volunteer
Infantry, during the Civil war, and whose excellent command and successful
drilling created one of the best rifle corps in central California, spent his
early life on a farm in Cayuga county, N. Y., where he was born in September,
1828, a son of Luther and Zipporah (Ferris) Barnes,
both of eastern ancestry. In the same neighborhood in Cayuga county
lived Henry and Lydia (Conger) Van Wie, whose
interesting daughter, Mary C., attracted the youthful friendship and later the
love of Thatcher Ferris, in consequence of which the marriage ceremony was
performed, and furnished entertainment for their many friends and relatives in
the state. This was in 1851, and Mr. Barnes continued to farm after his
marriage, and as heretofore saved always more than he spent, in anticipation of
being able to meet any advantage which might come his way. Contracting the gold
fever, he proposed to come to the coast alone, make a fortune and establish a
home, and send for his bride of a year to join him. This plan failing to meet
with the approval of Mrs. Barnes, other means were talked of, with the result
that both set out in a train for St. Louis, happy in the thought of being able
to strive together for the competence which fate seemed to have in store.
In St. Louis Mr. Barnes outfitted with a
wagon and ox team, some cows, horses and provisions, and started in a small
train across the plains, via the lower Platte and the Beckwith (sic) Cut-Off,
reaching Marysville, Yuba county, six months from the time of starting.
Although not strong, Mrs. Barnes enjoyed the novelty immensely, assumed her
share of the responsibilities of camp life when the day’s travel was over, and
for many miles rode horseback over the rough and insecure trails. The outdoor
life, change, and happy companionship had the desired result, and on this long
journey she laid the foundation for the splendid constitution which is hers
to-day. A year spent in the mines convinced them that they were the average
rather than the exceptional miners, and they therefore went to near Hollister
and took up a tract of what was supposedly government land, which eventually
proved to be covered by Spanish title. Obliged to vacate, they came to Santa
Clara county and bought a hundred acres on the Alviso road, some of which was swamp land, and all of which
was new and untilled. Mr. Barnes erected at first a small house, put in his
crops after clearing and cultivating, and in time had a better house, and large
barns, outhouses and good fences. Setting out a small orchard and garden, he
devoted his farm to general produce and gardening, and was thus established
when the Civil war called for his active participation. As years passed he kept
adding to the value of his property by cultivation and modern equipment, and at
the time of his death had as fine and well improved a home as any farmer in his
neighborhood. He added a department of dairying, and became much interested in
horse-raising, being a lover of a good horse, and understanding well what
constituted one.
A stanch Republican, Mr. Barnes
nevertheless had no time for office or lodge life, being essentially a home
maker, and caring more for the society of his wife and children and intimate
friends, than for any honors which the community might thrust upon him. His
death was sudden, and was caused by the bursting of a blood vessel after
suffering a stroke of paralysis. He was seventy years old at the time, and had
no cause to complain of either the briefness or success of his life. He was
honored by everyone with whom he had any dealings whatsoever, and his word was
law, when it came to a matter of principle or common sense. Three years after
his death his wife moved to San Jose, where she had a pleasant home, and where
she has since negotiated for the disposal of her pasture land, but rents the
balance of the farm. She is a member of the Santa Clara Valley Pioneer
Association, and is a woman respected and loved for her strong pioneer
characteristics, her unbounded faith in goodness and industry and human nature,
and her large-heartedness toward those less fortunate than herself. She has two
children, of whom Emogene is the wife of Rufus Fink,
and has a daughter, Stella; and Endora is the wife of
Charles Marcen, of San Jose.
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 285-286. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.