San
Joaquin County
Biographies
RAYMOND NARBAITZ
An enterprising, successful
sheepman, who has been abundantly rewarded for his years of hard work and
sacrifices, is Raymond Narbaitz, who was born in the Basses-Pyrenees, at Bigorre, on November 20, 1878, the son of Pierre and Mary
Narbaitz, the former an agriculturist known in his country for miles
around. The worthy couple had three
children, among whom our subject was the eldest, the others being Jean and
Grace.
Raymond attended the grammar school
at Bigorre, France, but only for the first time when
he was eight years of age and then for just a brief period of two short years,
for when he was eleven years of age, he commenced to help run the farm. He remained with his father until 1900, when
he came out to the United States. He
came directly to San Francisco, but did not remain there long, for he soon
found work as a sheepherder, and for a short time was engaged in that
employment in Fresno County, continuing there for five years and then moved to
Stockton.
He then commenced to buy, feed and
sell sheep, and through sparing no efforts to supply just what his patrons
asked for, he built up a reputation that was an asset in itself, and came to be
favorably known as one of the best sheepmen of the county. He still engages in running sheep on rented
land in Fresno, Merced and San Joaquin counties. He usually keeps from 3000 to 7000 head and
has in the main been successful and has become a very prosperous man; at times
he has met with reverses, however, and in 1918, 1000 head died in one day from
poison. Mr. Narbaitz is a staunch
Republican.
While at San Francisco, in May 1905,
Mr. Narbaitz was married to Mary Ospital, who first
saw the light in the same mountain district in which he was born, and who
braved the dangers and inconveniences of a trip alone, from France to
California, to join him and make him a home.
Five children were granted to Mr. and Mrs. Narbaitz, and four are now
living. Pierre is the eldest of the quartette;
then come John and Pete and Raymond.
Lucille died in 1918. Mr.
Narbaitz bought a fine residence at 111 North Central Avenue in 1918, which has
more than doubled in value since he first acquired it; and there he and his
family have since made their home. With
Joe Oyarbide, Mr. Narbaitz owns the Royal Hotel on
Hunter and Sonora streets as well as other valuable property.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1404. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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