Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JAMES ALBERT MCCARLEY
Not only is James Albert McCarley
contributing to the well-being of San Jose as a liveryman, but he is equally
successful as a farmer and stock-raiser, and as a promoter of sound municipal
government and advanced civic improvements. He was born near Bloomfield, Davis
county, Iowa, May 11, 1860. The accident of birth alone prevents him from
belonging entirely to California, as he was but two years old when his parents
and their four children came to this state, settling temporarily in San Jose.
His father, S. W. McCarley, was born near Lexington,
Ky., where his paternal grandparents Samuel Willis and Celia (Harris) McCarley, had settled shortly after their immigration from
Scotland. From Kentucky S. W. McCarley moved to near
Bloomington, McLean county, Ill., thence to Davis county,
Iowa, where he engaged in farming until coming to the west. He was five months
and a half on the way. After farming for a short time near Milpitas, he bought
a ranch on what is now the Mount Hamilton road, from there removing to near Evergreen in 1868. In 1875 he again located in San Jose,
remaining there until his death in 1901 at the age of seventy-two years. While
in Bloomington, Ill., May 29, 1853, he was united in marriage to Hannah A. Harbert, born near Bloomington, a daughter of Joseph and Annie
(Galloway) Harbert, natives of Kentucky, and early
settlers in McLean county, Ill. Later the Harberts
moved to Davis county, Iowa, where the parents both died. They were members of
the Christian Church. Mrs. McCarley still lives in
San Jose, and notwithstanding her sixty-nine years is young at heart and face,
and capable of getting a great deal of enjoyment out of life. Her six children
are all living, two being older, and three younger than James Albert.
Mr. McCarley
graduated from the Business College of Professor Wooster in San Jose at the age
of nineteen, having previously completed his education in the public schools of
San Jose. Until 1884 he engaged in general farming and stock-raising near
Evergreen, moving then to San Jose, where he started a livery business during
September, purchasing the present barn from Ewing & Spencer at No. 30 North
Second street. Since then he has purchased the
property upon which the barn is built and which is 64x137 1/2 feet. A
continuous increase of patronage has necessitated enlargement of the barn, and
improvements have been made which make it one of the best equipped enterprises
of the kind in the county. Near Corning, in Tehama county,
Mr. McCarley owns three hundred and twenty acres of
land, which he rents, and which brings him in a substantial income. He is a broadminded
and liberal gentleman, a true-blue Republican, and a promoter of educational
and other civic foundations. He is a member of the Liverymen’s Association, and
fraternally is connected with the Woodmen of the World. In Contra Costa county
Mr. McCarley married Margaret E. Tarplee,
a native of Iowa. Bert, the only child of this union, is in business with his
father.
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 1294-1295. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.