San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HARRY MARTIN
In connection with the agricultural
interests of San Joaquin County and more especially seed growing, no name is
more familiar than that of Harry Martin, whose industry has brought him rich
returns. He was born at Newark, New
Jersey, January 14, 1880, and his earliest recollections were of farming, for
his father was a truck gardener in New Jersey.
At the age of twelve years he left home to shift for himself. He made his way to New York City and among
his various jobs was that of selling papers on the streets; then he worked in
the Gansford market and in the seed gardens and farms
of Long Island until 1906, when he removed to California and found employment
in the lumber camps of Sierra County. He
worked at the Weber Lake summer resort in the mountains east of Stockton and
there met with people who were farmers of the Delta lands. At the end of the season he returned to
Stockton and secured work on ranches in the Delta district and while thus
engaged conceived the idea that vegetable seed could be grown there for
commercial purposes. While working on
the Sargent-Barnhart tract as a laborer he began his seed experiments when he
first planted three-quarters of an acre owned by John Moore. In 1911 he went on Roberts Island and still
owns his property there. He is not the
first man who had tried seed producing here, but he is the first man to succeed
in his undertaking and some of those who had tried it and failed tried to
discourage his experiment, but to no avail, and his perseverance and industry
won for him not only financial success, but also the satisfaction of knowing
that he had accomplished the purpose for which he strived. The return from the first acreage planted was
very encouraging and year by year more acres were devoted to seed growing. Mr. Martin was the first to produce the true
type of Golden Self Blanching celery seed in California. From his first experiment on his
three-quarter-acre tract he had $2,700 worth of this celery seed as a result of
his labors, thus demonstrating what was possible in this line in San Joaquin
County; he also raises onion, beet, carrot and other seeds, which find a ready
market all over the country, for he has made a careful study of seed growing
and does nothing by guess, but knows what kind of soil and climate conditions
will produce the best seed and he has become an authority on the subject. Mr. Martin’s real estate holdings consist of
570 acres in Clifton Court, Contra Costa County, and fifty-four acres on
Roberts Island in San Joaquin County, on which he grows seed, which he sells
direct to the seed houses and jobbers in all parts of the country, some of them
being among the oldest and most reliable firms in the United States.
The marriage of Mr. Martin united
him with Miss Dorothy Dow, a native of New Jersey and they are the parents of
two sons, Henry Irving and Norman John, both native sons of California. In his business career his strong determination
and indefatigable energy have been the basic elements of his success and have
enabled him to work his way upward from humble surroundings to a position of
prominence and affluence.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1419. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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