San
Joaquin County
Biographies
BERT A. BENEDICT
An enterprising rancher whose
success as an almond grower has made his progressive methods an object of
special interest to all concerned with the advancement of California
agriculture is Bert A. Benedict, whose resides on a place owned by his brother,
E. A. Benedict, three miles northwest of Acampo. He was born near Nora Springs, Floyd County,
Iowa, April 12, 1871, a son of Francis and Abigal
Benedict, and was fortunate in entering the family of a farmer, and so from his
boyhood, getting familiar with farm life.
The worthy couple was blessed with five children, three of whom are now
in California: Louis lives in Iowa; Lyman L. is deceased; E. A. Benedict of
Lodi; Harrison, in Iowa; and Bert, the subject of our interesting review.
Bert Benedict attended the district
schools in Iowa, and afterward enjoyed one year at the high school. His father had come to Iowa in frontier days,
and in time he cultivated some 200 acres of rich land and the “stick-to-it-iveness” with which he pursued his work may be judged from
the fact that at one time he walked 100 miles in the direction of Cedar Rapids
to locate some of his horses that had strayed.
Bert remained on his father’s farm until he was married on December 22,
1898, at Nora Springs, Iowa, to Miss Anna L. Darling, who was born and reared
in that part of the country. Her father,
Charles Darling, was a farmer by occupation, and owned land at Nora Springs, on
the east side of the river. Mr. and Mrs.
Darling had three children, and Miss Anna was given a high school education.
Bert Benedict cultivated a farm of
120 acres at Nora Springs until 1910, and then he came out to California and
settled at Lodi. Here he purchased an
almond orchard of five acres on Acacia Avenue west of Cherokee Lane; and this
well-irrigated ranch, bearing I. X. L., Ne Plus and Non Pareal
almonds, he still owns. The past year he
has helped to care for his brother’s ranch of sixty acres three miles to the
northwest of Acampo, one of the very desirable ranch properties in this part of
the country.
Public-spirited to a degree that
makes it impossible for him to be merely a partisan voter, although he endorses
heartily the general principles of the Republican Party, Mr. Benedict is keenly
interested in all that makes for the progress of the Golden State and is known
as one of the effective local “boosters.”
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1478-1479. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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