San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN S. HARNEY
Among the pioneer settlers of San
Joaquin County is the late John S. Harney, who for close to half a century was
identified with the upbuilding of the county.
He was born on a Switzerland farm on November 10, 1842, where he
remained until a young man, coming to the United States in 1865. He spent two years in Ohio and in Chicago,
coming to Stockton in 1867, and there established himself
in business as a carriagemaker, in which he was most proficient, continuing in
this line for five years.
In 1872 Mr. Harney bought a ranch of
160 acres three and a half miles southeast of Lodi, at what is now Ampere
Station, Harney’s Lane, for which he paid $7,800
cash. Later Mr. Harney purchased another
160 acres from John Pope for $10,000.
Mr. Harney many years ago divided up the first ranch he purchased,
giving each of his children twenty acres, and retaining twenty acres for his
home place. In 1902 they each planted
ten acres to vineyard, and in 1920 the eldest daughter sold her twenty acres
for $42,000 cash, showing the advance of property valuations in the Lodi
district; another daughter received $14,000 in 1920 from her ten-acre vineyard.
Mr. Harney was married in 1869 to
Miss Marie C. Miller, a native of Prussia, and they became the parents of seven
children: Mrs. Mattie M. Stein, wife of
John F. Stein, deceased, of Lodi, who for many years has been prominent in the
Native Daughters of the Golden West and grand president of the order; Johanna,
the wife of O. H. Wells of Lodi; Lena, Mrs. Harry Menkin,
deceased; Lucy, the wife of Frank Lieginger of
Stockton; Henry, residing on the home ranch; Marie, the wife of John Fagg,
residing at Stockton; Miss Minnie Harney, living in Lodi with her mother, who
is now eighty-two years of age. Mr.
Harney passed away on August 22, 1910, esteemed and honored for his long and
useful life in the community which he had done much to upbuild.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1231-1232. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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