San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM O. BARNHART
A practical orchardist and poultryman of San Joaquin County, who has been a resident
of California since 1873, is W. O. Barnhart, residing on his five-acre orchard
home on Walnut Avenue, three-quarters of a mile west of Lodi. He was born at Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
July 22, 1860. His parents were George
W. and Sabina C. (Oriville) Barnhart, farmers in
Pennsylvania, who moved to Rochelle, Illinois, and there resided until he was
eight years old. Then the family removed
to Marshalltown, Iowa, and bought a quarter-section of land, which they
farmed. W. O. Barnhart is the youngest
of a family of four children, the others being Thomas M., who lives at Lodi;
Sarah E., Mrs. Keefer, of Lodi; and Lizza Ann, Mrs.
Evans, of Oakland. In 1873 the family
left their Iowa home for California, and settled in Sacramento County on a
grant of land northeast of the capital city; and there the son spent the days
of his boyhood and youth and acquired his education in the public schools.
When Mr. Barnhart started to make
his own way in the world, he found employment with the Southern Pacific Company
at Sacramento, and later with the same company at the Oakland Mole, which
engaged his attention for four years. In
1884 he went to Sprecklesville, Maui, Hawaiian
Islands, and worked as an engineer in the sugar plantation mills, remaining
there for four years. Then he went to
Honolulu and became a locomotive engineer on the O. R. & L. Railroad for
another four years. From 1893 to 1900 he
served in the Honolulu fire department.
In 1900 he formed an express company known as the Peoples Express
Company, and became manager of the company; and in 1905 organized the Barnhart
Ice Company, and headed this company, the two companies commanding his full
attention until 1919, when he returned to California and settled near Lodi.
While residing in Honolulu, Mr.
Barnhart was married on October 29, 1892, to Miss Florence May Giles, a native
of Fonthill, Canada, and a daughter of Harold and
Elizabeth Giles, who settled in Honolulu when their daughter Florence May was
one year old. Her father was a furniture
merchant at Wailuhu, Maui, and there were five
children in the family, as follows:
Florence May, Mrs. Barnhart; and Henry E., Mary E., Harold, and
Arthur. Both her parents are now
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart are the
parents of two sons: George H. W.,
consulting engineer for the American factories in Honolulu; and Oriville Arthur, a senior in the Lodi high school. Mr. Barnhart was a charter member of the
Aloha Lodge, Knights of Pythias, which he joined in 1888 and in which he holds
an honorary degree. He was also an
active member of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, and the Oahu Country Club,
and the “Ad Club” of Honolulu. When the
family located in Lodi, Mr. Barnhart purchased a twenty-two acre tract in the
Victor section of San Joaquin County, just north of the Mokelumne River bridge,
but in a short time traded it for his present five-acre orchard of walnuts,
plums, cherries, and peaches, with a cover crop of alfalfa between the trees. Mr. Barnhart is quite extensively engaged as
a poultryman, having in the neighborhood of 600
chickens, and is planning to enlarge his plant until he has 2,000. He enjoys the confidence of the business
community, and is public-spirited in all matters pertaining to community
growth.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1112. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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