San Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE MASON BANCROFT.
An energetic citizen of Woodbridge, to whom the community is much indebted, particularly for its fine new school house, which was built under his supervision as clerk of the school board, is George Mason Bancroft, who was born in Caledonia County, Vt., on September 23, 1876. The family of his father, Parker Bancroft, dates back to colonial days; the great historian, George Bancroft, being a cousin. Parker Bancroft married Miss Mary Ann Morrison, whose family are associated with some of the most interesting annals of Maine. He was a merchant, who died while they were living in New Hampshire, when George was only three years old; and as Mrs. Bancroft also passed away there, the lad had to get his education as best he could. At first he worked on farms in Vermont and New Hampshire, and later took work at the Groton, Vt. Mills. In 1899 he came to California, and to Acampo. Near there he labored for awhile as a ranch hand; and then, going to San Francisco, took a job with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in the maintenance of way department, covering the line from Ashland, Ore., to El Paso, Tex., on all parts of the Western Division. He spent twenty-three years with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
Notwithstanding these necessary migrations and temporary residences elsewhere, Mr. Bancroft has always made his home at Woodbridge since he came here. In 1903 he bought a vineyard of fifteen acres, and later acquired a vineyard of twenty acres south of Woodbridge, both of which are finely irrigated.
At Woodbridge, on June 15, 1902, Mr. Bancroft was married to Miss Flora May Shinn, a native of that town, and the daughter of H. D. and Emma Shinn. Her father was an honored pioneer of the state. Mrs. Bancroft completed her education at the San Joaquin Valley College, where she was a proficient student. Three children have blessed their union: Raymond Ellwood, now aged eighteen; Elizabeth, aged thirteen; and Clarence, aged ten. Mr. Bancroft is a Republican in matters of national political import. He is at present clerk of the school board of the Woodbridge district, and has had direct supervision of the building of the new school, at a cost of about $60,000, designed to accommodate 200 or more pupils. It is modern in every respect, and will be thoroughly up-to-date in its equipment. Mr. Bancroft is a Mason, belonging to the Woodbridge Lodge, and is also a member of the Odd Fellow Lodge and Encampment at Lodi, and has gone through all the chairs of the lodge. Mrs. Bancroft shares her husband's popularity; and they are untiring in their efforts to better the social life of their community.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1528
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
EDWARD H. BARBER
Edward H. Barber, who for the past seventeen years has been a justice of the peace of Union Township. has been a stanch advocate of better schools and a director of the Galt Union high school since 1912. He was born in Summer Hill, Cayuga, N. Y., December 26, 1867, a son of George H. and Caroline (Potter) Barber. The father was a farmer by occupation, who brought his family to California in the fall of 1874 and first farmed on the old Stevenson ranch near Stockton, where he remained for one year; then removed to Sebastopol, Sonoma County, where he bought ninety acres at fifty-five dollars per acre near the town limits. After paying a few hundred dollars on this ranch, he became discouraged and gave it up and removed with his family to Taison, San Joaquin County. The Sebastopol ranch is now within the city limits of that town, and is very valuable property. The father rented the R. B. Thompson dairy, which he conducted for two years, then purchased 100 acres 2½ miles northwest of Thornton, which is a portion of the property now owned and operated by our subject and his brother, George L. Barber. There were three children in the family: Edward H., our subject, being the eldest; George L., and Grace, Mrs. Beavis, residing in Detroit, Mich. The father passed away in 1907, aged seventy-seven, and the mother was fifty-one when she died.
Edward H. Barber began his schooling in the old five-mile school out of Stockton, where he went for one year; then he had a year's schooling at Sebastopol, two years at the Ray district school in San Joaquin County, and the balance of his grammar school education in the New Hope district school. Edward H. and his brother, George L., are equal partners in their ranching operations. They have added to their holdings until they now own 425 acres of fine land on the Mokelumne River, 2½ miles northwest of Thornton, which is devoted to raising beans, grain and general farming, and the brothers each conduct a dairy.
The marriage of Mr. Barber occurred on June 11, 1896, in Stockton, which united him with Miss Ada Marion Villette, a native of Hancock County, Mississippi, and a daughter of Henry and Ada (Breedlove) Villette. Her maternal grandfather was a Confederate soldier who died from the effects of exposure during the Civil War. Her mother was twice married, the first time to Harry Villette, who died in Louisiana. In 1886 Mrs. Villette and their only child, Ada Marion, came to California and settled in Stockton. Here her mother was married in 1887 to Henry Harrington, a harnessmaker. Her mother died in Thornton.
Mr. and Mrs. Barber are the parents of four children: Helen, Paul, Florence and Ada. Paul Barber recently married Miss May Culver of Stockton and at the present they make their home on the ranch and assist in its development. In 1904 Mr. Barber became a trustee of Reclamation District No. 348, embracing an acreage of 10,000 acres, and since 1906 has been justice of the peace for Union Township; he is also a member of the Thornton Farm Bureau, and since the founding of the Galt Union high school he has served as a director of same. In politics Mr. Barber is a stanch Republican, and Mrs. Barber is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Barber brothers also own 100 acres in the Yaqui River Valley. in the State of Sonora, Mexico, which is leased and which caused them considerable trouble during the recent revolution.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1529
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.