San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. BARBARA J. SOLLINGER
A representative of one of the early
pioneer families of San Joaquin County is Mrs. Barbara J. Sollinger, in whose
life are evidences of the sterling traits of character which command respect
and confidence in every land and clime.
Because of the fact that she has resided in the county for the past
sixty years, and has been a loyal and helpful citizen and trustworthy friend,
she is indeed worthy of representation in this volume devoted to the
representative men and women, past and present, of California. She was born in Linn County, Iowa, on her
father’s farm, February 20, 1854, a daughter of Richard and Mary A. (Durbin)
Woods, natives of West Virginia and Virginia, respectively. Richard Woods was born in 1822 in Marshall
County, West Virginia, where his parents, George and Achsa
(Birch) Woods, natives of Virginia, were farmers. In 1855 the family moved to Linn County,
Iowa, settling upon land obtained from the government, and resided there until
the father’s death in 1863 at the age of seventy years. Richard, who was brought up to farm life,
went to Iowa in 1853, two years before his parents emigrated there, and
followed agricultural pursuits until 1862, when he came overland with ox teams
to California, arriving here at the end of a six months’ journey. In 1851 he had married Miss Mary A. Durbin,
born in Virginia and a daughter of William B. Durbin. On the way across the plains they were
attacked by Indians, at the place known as the City of Rocks, north of Salt
Lake; and although Mr. Woods and another member of the party were wounded, the
forty whites put the hundred Indians to flight.
On arriving here, Mr. Woods purchased a squatter’s right to land located
about five miles west of Woodbridge in Elkhorn Township, and was one of the
first to settle in this part of the county.
He had wild land, upon which it was necessary to make all the
improvement; and the high state of cultivation and productivity to which Mr.
Woods brought the land attest the good judgment, energy and economy of the
owner. This worthy pioneer couple was
the parents of the following children:
Mrs. Barbara J. Sollinger, the subject of our interesting review;
Adeline, Mrs. James R. Perrott, deceased; George A., now in Alaska; William A.,
living in Lodi; Achsa B., Mrs. Hughes, also of Lodi;
Carrie L., Mrs. L. J. Lucas, of Woodbridge; Charles R., deceased; James A.,
residing at Walnut Grove, and Melvin, with the Holt Manufacturing Company in
Stockton. Richard Woods lived to be
ninety years old, while his wife passed away at the age of seventy-three years.
Barbara J. Woods began her education
in the district school in the vicinity of her home in Iowa; and when the family
settled in San Joaquin County, she continued her schooling at the Turner
district school. She remained at home
with her parents until her marriage in October, 1867, which united her with
James Alexander Sollinger, a native of Crawford County, Ohio, born in 1842, a
son of James H. and Mary (Kimmel) Sollinger.
Mr. Sollinger was educated in the schools of Bucyrus, Ohio, when he
prepared for teaching, which he began at the age of eighteen. He taught school in Ohio for two years, and
when twenty years of age came to California, riding on horseback and assisting
in driving a herd of horses across the plains in 1862. After his arrival in California he taught
school first in Stanislaus County, and then in San Joaquin County, and from
1882 to 1886 he served as superintendent of schools of San Joaquin County. As an educator he met with much success, and
is well-remembered and highly esteemed for his intellect and scholarly
attainments. He was also deputy county
treasurer for some years and served as a school trustee in his district, for he
was always a friend to the cause of education.
Mr. and Mrs. Sollinger engaged in viticulture, purchasing twenty acres
near Woodbridge which they set to vineyard of Tokay, Black Prince, and Emperor
grapes, today full-bearing, a valuable income property with a comfortable
residence, where Mrs. Sollinger makes her home and where she and her granddaughter,
Mrs. Beatrice Welsh, dispense in their liberal and kind-hearted way the good
old-time California hospitality.
Mrs. and Mrs. Sollinger were the
parents of one daughter, Mary Ann, who became the wife of Dr. Willis Spencer Snedigar, born near Oakdale and a member of a pioneer
family of Stanislaus County. Both Dr.
and Mrs. Snediger are now deceased. They had one daughter, Beatrice, now Mrs.
Clark G. Welsh, with whom Mrs. Sollinger, our subject, makes her home. Mrs. Sollinger has five great-grandchildren: Kenneth S., Donald J., Bonnie Jean, Enid
Lavern and Willis Clark. Mr. Sollinger
passed away on March 15, 1918. He was a
man of excellent public spirit, and one who lent his efforts to many
undertakings for the general welfare of his locality.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
716. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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