Santa
Clara County
Biographies
THEODORE W. BARSTOW
Prominent among the foremost horsemen of Fresno
county is T. W. Barstow, of San Jose, who takes great
pleasure in his chosen industry, and enjoys a wide reputation as a successful
producer of standard-bred horses. For a full quarter of a century he has
devoted his attention largely to the breeding of horses, and has now in his
stable valuable and handsome mares and stallions, which so far as their
individuality and prize-winning record is concerned will compare favorably with
any in the country. He is one of the representative business men (sic) of this part
of the state, and has taken an active part in developing and advancing its
industrial prosperity. A son of Lot Barstow, he was born October 10, 1851, at
Damariscotta, Me. His grandfather, Thomas Barstow, was born and reared in Nova
Scotia, and after his marriage he removed with his family to Lincoln county, Me., settling in Damariscotta, where he followed his
trade as a ship carpenter.
A native of Nova Scotia, Lot Barstow
removed with his parents to Maine, and having become a master ship builder was
for many years manager of Abner Stetson’s shipyard in Damariscotta, Lincoln county. He married Sarah Dunn, who was born on the Gut of
Canso, Nova Scotia, and died in Damariscotta, Me. Of the eleven children born
of their union, one died in infancy, and one son, Willard T., who served as
color sergeant in the Fourth Maine Volunteer Infantry, was killed at the second
battle of Bull Run.
The tenth child of the parental
household, T. W. Barstow, received a practical common school education, after
which he learned the trades of a ship carpenter and of a house carpenter. At
the age of seventeen years, he went as a ship carpenter to Liverpool, sailing
from Waldoboro, Me., on the vessel Carry Clark. The following summer he worked
in a Maine shipyard, and afterward made two winter trips to Liverpool, going as
ship carpenter on large American sailing vessels. Becoming then the Maine agent
for the firm of McLaughlin & Scanlan, of Boston,
manufacturers of the New England organs and pianos, he met with almost
unprecedented success, during the first month that he served in that capacity
sending to the firm more money than all the other agents throughout the Union.
Coming to California in 1876, Mr.
Barstow located in San Jose, and at once entered the employ of Martin Carter,
who was superintending the construction and building of the narrow-gauge
railway, remaining with him a year, when the work was for a time suspended. Mr.
Carter was also engaged to some extent in horse breeding, and while with him
Mr. Barstow became interested in the business, and in 1878 began breeding
horses on his own account. Commencing on a very limited scale, with a small
yearling colt, he trained him for a trick horse, and sold him to a circus
company for a large sum, and when the company, through ignorance, spoiled the
animal, Mr. Barstow traveled with them for awhile, and again taught him cunning
tricks. Gradually enlarging his operations, Mr. Barstow has been eminently
successful, and has raised some of the most valuable standard bred horses of this
part of the county, among others being Cyrus R., which he formerly owned, and
others of note. He has now in his stud sixteen head of horses, one of which,
Alone, now four years old, was sired by Nearest, and has a most noted pedigree,
being descended, by sire and dam, from five blooded stallions, namely: Nutwood, Guy Wilkes, Director, Electioneer and McKinney.
For Alone, which has a record of stepping a one-half mile in fifty-nine and
one-half seconds, of traveling in wagon one-fourth mile in twenty-seven and
four-fifths seconds, and of pacing the last one-eighth of a mile in thirteen
seconds, Mr. Barstow has refused $5,000. As a horse trainer Mr. Barstow is an
expert, and in addition he has won an excellent reputation as a horse dentist,
being very skillful and successful in this profession.
In 1877 Mr. Barstow married Jennie
Bishop, who was born in Fort Tejon, Kern county, Cal., a daughter of the late Samuel A. Bishop. Mr.
Bishop was born in Albemarle county, Va., in 1825, and
died in San Jose, Cal., in June, 1893. Going with his parents to Missouri when
ten years of age, he grew to manhood in Callaway county,
and was there engaged for a number of years in various mechanical pursuits.
Joining the gold seekers of 1849, he came across the plains to the Pacific
coast, arriving in Los Angeles in October. Going on foot to the Mariposa mines
he spent the summer of 1850 in prospecting and mining on the Stanislaus and
Merced rivers, but was not very successful. He subsequently took part in the
Mariposa war, serving as orderly sergeant in
Company C, Burney’s Battalion, which was commanded by Major James D. Savage. He
was subsequently, as junior member of the firm of Leach & Co., manager of
the business with Indian traders on the government reservation on the Fresno river. In 1853, under the direction of Gen. Edward F. Beale,
Mr. Bishop conducted the Indians to their new home at Fort Tejon,
and had charge of them for awhile. For a number of years thereafter, in company
with General Beale, under the firm name of Bishop &
Beale, he carried on an extensive business in buying and selling land, and in
stock-raising, and at the same time was one of the leading public officials of
that part of the state. Through his instrumentality Kern county
was created in 1865, and he was chosen one of the county supervisors. In April,
1867, he removed with his family to San Jose, and from that time until his
death was intimately associated with the highest and best interests of the
rapidly growing city. He was one of the promoters, and the first president, of
the Santa Clara Horse Railroad; was for a number of years vice-president of the
San Jose Savings Bank; was at one time owner of the San Jose Institute and
Business College; and was formerly president of the San Jose Homestead Association,
and a director of the Sierra Nevada Lumber Company. In 1876 he, with others,
bought the Stayton quicksilver and antimony mines. For a number of years he was
president of the San Jose Agricultural Works, and was one of the directorate of the Paul O. Burns Wine Company. Mr. Bishop
was married, in Los Angeles, in 1856, to Frances E. Young, who survives him.
Mr. and Mrs. Barstow are the parents
of two children, namely: Willard A., an electrician, living in Redwood City;
and Frank L., in business with his father in San Jose. Mr. Barstow is a stanch
Republican in politics, and Mrs. Barstow is a member of the Eastern Star
Chapter, and of the Native Daughters of California.
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 1362-1363. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.