San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN W. PRITCHARD
A very successful vineyardist and
orchardist of San Joaquin County, who has done much in the way of practical
accomplishment, is J. W. Pritchard, who resides about one mile east of
Acampo. He was born in Elliott, San
Joaquin County, on April 1, 1867, the son of John and Sophie (File) Pritchard,
the former a native of Wales, of Scotch-Welsh descent, and the latter of German
extraction. About 1853 his father came
to California from Ohio. He survived
until his eightieth year, dying in 1917, while Mrs. Pritchard, who was beloved
by a wide circle, departed this life at the early age of forty. The worthy couple had five children, of whom
J. W. Pritchard was the third-born. The
two eldest in the family were Jacob M. Pritchard, now of Oakland, and Jane; and
the two youngest were Maggie, since deceased, and Nettie Pritchard. Mr. Pritchard homesteaded and pre-empted
land, acquiring in all about 360 acres in Elliott Township, all of which was
timber land. He cut fire-wood and hauled
it to Stockton, although he received only three dollars per load. He had to use six horses to haul the wagon
load; so that the trading, with badly cut-up roads, was not particularly
profitable. He removed with his family
to Galt when J. W. Pritchard was nine years old, and there the lad began his
serious schooling. There Mr. Pritchard engaged
in freighting, running a six to eight horse team to the mountain mining
settlements of Ione and Jackson.
When fourteen years old J. W.
Pritchard started to make his own way in the world; and he began by doing odd
jobs on the farms. On August 19, 1895,
he was married near Acampo to Miss Ida Fuqua, who had first seen the light on
the old Fuqua rancho two and one-half miles east of Acampo. She was the daughter of John C. and Virginia
F. (Stafford) Fuqua. Her father was born
in Ralls County, Missouri, in 1837, and when sixteen years old came to
California with his parents, traveling across the Great Plains with the
old-time ox team. He mined for six years
at the Diamond Springs mines, with moderate success, and in 1859 removed to San
Joaquin County, where he took up farming.
In 1861 he purchased a ranch two and one-half miles east of Acampo
Station, consisting of 160 acres of sandy loam, which he put under
cultivation. On the ranch were many white
oak and live-oak trees and he added to these by planting a fine family orchard. His crop at
that time was wheat. In 1878 J. C. Fuqua
built a fine farm hone, at an expense of $2,500, a considerable amount for
those days, and he also erected, at a cost of nearly $600, a water-storage tank
with a capacity of about 1,500 gallons.
Virginia F. (Stafford) Fuqua was also a native of Ralls County,
Missouri.
Mrs. Pritchard lived only seven
years after her marriage, dying in 1902, the mother of four children. Everett Fay lives on the old home place; Eva
is with her father; Henry is at Lodi; while Winifred is training to be a nurse
at the Merritt Hospital in Oakland. In
August, 1907, Mr. Pritchard was married for a second time at the old Fuqua
ranch, taking for his wife Mrs. Flora L. Thomas, a daughter of Josiah
McKindley, whose life-story is elsewhere sketched in this volume. She was born at Volcano, and was the widow of
Herbert Thomas, and the mother of four children: Ruth, the eldest; Joseph and Richard, who
were twins; and Bessie. Mr. and Mrs.
Pritchard make their home on Mrs. Pritchard’s ranch of thirty acres, just to
the south of the Houston schoolhouse, on the Cherokee Lane road; and they
devote these thirty acres to the growing of grapes, peaches and cherries. Both ranches are under excellent
irrigation. This home, formerly known as
the Northrop home, is one of the old landmarks of the section, and is at least
fifty years old. They have one child,
George Burton.
A Democrat of the stand-pat type, Mr.
Pritchard has been content to do his civic duty by the Ordinary acts of a
private citizen, and so has never dabbled in politics. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World,
of Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1127-1128. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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