Elam Brown Barber is a son of Matthew Root Barber, one of the respected pioneers of Contra Costa County, and who was born in Delaware County, Ohio, August 7, 1815. When two years of age he was taken to Bond County, Illinois, where his father engaged in farming. His father died when Matthew R. was young, and he made his home with the family of the Honorable Elam Brown. Here Mr. Barber's father attended school and resided until he was twenty-one years of age. In 1837 he took in a partner and followed farming and wagon-making. On March 15, 1849, he joined a party and crossed the plains, making the journey in six months. The first place at which he stopped in California was Hangtown, now Placerville. This was in September. Mr. Barber mined for a time, and then engaged in lumbering near San Antonio, then in Contra Costa County. While working in the redwoods he wrote tickets for the first election of officers in this and Alameda County. He erected many of the first houses in Martinez, and on February 14, 1851, he sailed from San Francisco via Panama and New Orleans and went to Illinois. Remaining one year, he, with his wife and family, drove a band of stock across the plains to California, arriving at Martinez, August 22, 1852. In the fall of 1852 he purchased a beautiful tract of land consisting of four hundred and forty-three acres. Mr. Barber was elected to the office of Public Administrator for four successive terms. He was married in Pike County, Illinois, November 14, 1837, to Orpha Bean. The subject of this sketch was born June 13, 1846, near Jacksonville, Illinois, and crossed the plains with his parents when five years of age. He was educated in the public schools of Martinez and Heald's College, San Francisco. Finishing his education, Mr. Barber returned to the home ranch and has remained here since. There were six children in the parents' family, and our subject is the only one living. Mr. Barber is a Republican, but never aspired to public office.

Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California", Elms Publ. Co., 1917, pp 433-434

CLARK L. ABBOTT, M.D.

 

Among the best-known physicians of the Bay counties is Doctor Clark L. Abbot, an active, capable, and much respected citizen of Richmond, Contra Costa County. He was born in Seneca County, Ohio, October 5, 1874. His father, Abraham Lorenzo Abbott, is a native of Ohio, and is a man of high general standing in his community, a man of genial and cordial manners, and above all he is a man of noble aims. He has many friends and has the confidence and respect of all in his community, where he has followed agricultural pursuits all his life. Doctor Abbott's mother, Calena (Titus) Abbott, is also a native of Ohio, and to her were born three sons and three daughters. Of these the only surviving ones are Clark L. and one sister, Elvira, who resides on the home place in Ohio. The Abbott family was one of the first to be founded in America, and Doctor Abbott's great grandfather was one of the sturdy pioneers who assisted in settling that region now Ohio after the war of 1812. The family genealogy dates back to Revolutionary ancestry, and there were many in his family who took part in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War, and a goodly number of the Abbott family in Ohio have enlisted in the present conflict. Many in the family are members of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. The Doctor's great-grandfather was among the men who assisted this Government in taking the Seneca Indians to Iowa. Doctor Abbott was reared on the home farm. He attended the public schools. He is a self-educated man, and has always been a careful student and close observer. Intent upon the successful study of medicine, in 1891 he entered Heidelberg University, at Tiffin, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1896 with the degrees of B.S. and M.S. He then entered Rush Medical College in Chicago, graduating from that institution in 1900. He served as intern in the leading Chicago hospitals for some time, when he decided to cast his lot with the Golden State and located in San Francisco, where he served as lecturing physician in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. At the same time Doctor Abbott had opened an office in San Pablo, where he practiced his profession. He removed to Point Richmond, where he opened an office and began the general practice of medicine, and acted as physician and surgeon for the Santa Fe railroad for this district. Doctor Clark L. Abbott was married in Ohio in 1901 to Miss Nellie Rule, a native of that State and a daughter of one of the representative farmers in his locality.  Mr. Rule was a man who took an active part in local politics, and his death, which occurred in 1901, was mourned by a wide circle of friends. His wife passed away in 1915. In his political affiliations Doctor Abbott is a Republican, and has taken an active part along party lines for the past twelve years. During the early days in Richmond, the Doctor was one of a committee who had charge of the incorporation of the town and was a member of the freeholders who drew up the first charter. During his residence in Ohio he was made a Mason, becoming a member of Greensprings Lodge. He served as Exalted Ruler of Richmond Lodge, B.P.O.E., for three terms, and for some time past has been president of the board of directors of that lodge. He is also a member of the I.O.O.F. lodge. Doctor Abbott is a member of the county and State medical associations, a Fellow of the American College of Surgery, and is chairman of the Auxiliary Committee of Medical Defence of Contra Costa County. Personally, he is a genial and companionable man, and those who come in the circle of his friendship find him broad-minded and liberal, a supporter of public movements, and one whose success has been well deserved. He was elected coroner in 1906, which office he now holds.

 

Transcribed and submitted by Doug Barber, July 2006.