San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ULRICH BARDILL
The country of Switzerland has given
to America many substantial citizens and among those in San Joaquin County is
Ulrich Bardill, who owns a half interest in a fine fifty-acre ranch four and a
half miles north of Stockton on Cherokee Lane Road, which is devoted to the
raising of fruit, consisting of peaches, cherries and grapes. Canton Graubunden,
Switzerland, was his birthplace and the date of his birth, December 29, 1872,
his parents being Christ and Eva (Schmidt) Bardill. There are six children in the family: Christ, Ulrich, our
subject, Peter, Mary, Celia, and Christina, all of whom are still in
Switzerland with the exception of the subject of this sketch. The father was a farmer in his native land
and lived to be eighty-eight years old, the mother passing away at the age of
eighty-five. Ulrich received a good
education in the excellent national schools of Switzerland, and at seventeen
years of age came to California and found work at Redwood City in a Swiss-Italian
vineyard of 110 acres; then he went to Monterey County and worked for a number
of years on dairy ranches at Salinas and Monterey. From there he went to San Francisco; then he
removed to Eureka, California, where he was employed on a dairy. In 1902 he came to San Joaquin County where
he bought a fifteen-acre tract of bare land, four and a half miles north of
Stockton on Cherokee Lane Road. He
leveled this ranch, checked it and planted it to alfalfa. This was probably the first alfalfa grown in
this section and the experiment proved a success. Later he purchased twenty-three acres
adjoining and then in partnership with Mr. Orogone
bought another fifteen acres. In 1919 he
plowed up the alfalfa and planted the land to an orchard of peaches and
cherries and also set out a vineyard, which he irrigates with two pumping
plants. Mr. Bardill has also improved
his ranch with a house and other necessary farm buildings. He is interested in all that pertains to the
upbuilding of the locality and feels that he made a wise choice when he
determined to make his home here, where he has improved the opportunities that
have led to success.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1569. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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