Sutter County
Biographies
HERBERT BARKER
An enterprising, progressive and highly successful horticulturist, who has contributed his share to make Live Oak better-known throughout the Golden State, is Herbert Barker, the practical fruit-grower living one and one-half miles south of that town. He has twenty-two acres in Sunset No. 1 Colony, in the Live Oak district; and his ranch has become one of the show-places of Sutter County. In 1909, Mr. Barker and his brother located in this district; and in the spring of the following year they set out the first ten acres of peach trees in the colony. Since the coming of irrigation and drainage, Mr. Barker has manifested unbounded faith in the district.
Mr. Barker was born in Leeds, England, on January 20, 1871, the second of the three sons of John and Elizabeth E. (Brown) Barker. John Barker was an expert textile worker in England. Believing that America offered greater inducements, he migrated with his family to the United States in 1871, settling for a while at Lawrence, Mass., where he worked in the old Arlington mill. He came out to California in 1909, and for six years made his home at Live Oak. Later he removed to Pacific Grove and there built a home. About four years ago he met with accidental death, being run down by an automobile at Monterey. Mrs. Barker still resides at Pacific Grove, esteemed by all who know her.
Herbert Barker attended the public schools at Lawrence, Mass.; and when he put aside his books, he entered the employ of the Arlington mill, where he gained experience in one after another of the departments. At the end of four years he went to work for the Sanford mills in Maine; and twelve months later he and his brother Charles opened a retail market at Methuen, Mass., where he remained for thirteen years.
At Sanford, Maine, on May 30, 1893, Mr. Barker was married to Miss Eva Belle Bemis, a native of North Shapleigh, Maine, and the second of six children of the late George and Hilda (Ridley) Bemis. George Bemis was born at Needham, Mass. The branch of the Bemis family to which he belonged was of Scotch origin. Three Bemis brothers, to-wit, William, Thomas and Zaccheus, came over to Westminster, Mass., from Scotland about 1665. As early as 1861, George Bemis offered his services in the Civil War. He was mustered in on the 18th of July and was honorably discharged on November 11, 1864. He was married, on August 22, 1869, to Miss Hilda Ridley, and had the following children: Gertrude, who died unmarried at eighteen years of age, and Eva Belle, Effie, Amy, Myrtle and William. He became an engineer and lived at Sanford, Maine. When he died, on September 16, 1922, he was widely mourned, being prominent as a national defender, and as a Mason and member of the Order of the Eastern Star. George Bemis was a great-great-grandson of Thomas Larrabee, who was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and a great-grandson of Thomas Larrabee, who was born at Woburn, Mass., on August 15, 1752, and enlisted and served in the Continental Army in Colonel Baldwin’s Regiment, in December, 1775; was at Ticonderoga in 1776, and in the Continental Army in New Jersey in 1780; and did guard-duty in and about Boston in 1778. Thomas Larrabee was married in June, 1778, to Bathsheba Morse, and had the following children: Jonathan, Thomas, Rebecca, Joseph, Hannah and Josiah. His house was raised by Revolutionary soldiers. His death occurred on July 10, 1832, and he is buried in Dover. He served as a body-guard of General Washington, was present in the boat with Washington on December 25, 1776, when he crossed the Delaware, and was an eye-witness to the execution of Major Andre. Mrs. Barker is a charter member of the Live Oak Woman’s Club. She is a member in the best standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Methuen, Mass. Mr. Barker has served for a term as a director of Reclamation District No. 777. He is a strong advocate of deep drainage, and has made a special study of fruit-production during the past fourteen years, and of the relation of irrigation and drainage to it. He is also a strong advocate of cooperative marketing of farm products, and he has done much toward the organizing of the newly formed California Canning and Peach Growers’ Association. The past six years he has operated with good results what is termed a “horseless ranch,” his power being supplied by tractors. Mr. and Mrs. Barker have always been champions of the rights of the younger generation. They have consistently worked for better schools, and have seen gratifying improvement in this respect in their district. Mr. Barker was made a Mason while residing in Methuen, Mass. In politics he is a Republican.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 475-476
ERICK B. LYBECKER
A successful rancher in the vicinity of Sutter City is Erick B. Lybecker, whose ranch consists of fifteen and a half acres devoted to vineyard and almonds. He was born in Skane, Sweden, November 24, 1849, a son of Andrew and Johanna (Olson) Lybecker. Andrew Lybecker’s real name was Andrew Burgenheim, an officer in the Royal Army of Sweden. In order to leave Sweden, a pass was required signed by the king. Andrew Burgenheim was very anxious to come to America, but could not get the necessary pass permitting him to leave the country. Another army officer, named Lybecker, concluded that he didn’t care to come to America, and so agreed to give his pass to Andrew Burgenheim; but in order to use the pass, Mr. Burgenheim was obliged to assume the name of Lybecker. So Andrew Burgenheim came to America as Andrew Lybecker, and in 1854 arrived in California. He spent seventeen years in the Golden West, working in the mines, conducting a hotel in Idaho, and running a pack train carrying supplies to the mines. After seventeen years in the West, he returned to Sweden, where he remained the balance of his life. Erick B. Lybecker is one of four sons born to his parents, the others being Gustave (deceased), Oscar and Axel.
Erick B. Lybecker received his education in the public schools in Sweden, and at sixteen years of age became a sailor on a ship plying between Sweden and England. Thereafter he went to South Africa on a three years’ trip. When he returned to his home, he met a boyhood friend who suggested that they come to the United States. The suggestion was immediately acted upon, and in 1865 they arrived in America and left for California, via Cape Horn; and almost a year was consumed in the journey from New York to San Francisco, the ship being delayed by a storm at the Horn. On arriving in the bay city, in 1866, Mr. Lybecker went to Calaveras County, where he worked for his uncle in the sheep business for a year and a half. Then he removed to San Luis Obispo County, and there went into partnership with his brother Oscar in the sheep business. They continued together there for six years, and then had the misfortune to lose everything. Returning to Calaveras County, Mr. Lybecker again started in the sheep business, remaining there for five years, after which he took his sheep into Sutter County and from there to Tehama County, but later returned to Sutter County, where he remained for the following fifteen years. Selling out his sheep business, he then removed to Oregon and there engaged in the sheep, cattle and general farming business for six years. Again selling everything, he removed to Washington, where he engaged in farming until 1921. Then he returned to Sutter City, and settled on his present home place.
The marriage of Mr. Lybecker united him with Miss Mary A. Moon, a native of Illinois, daughter of Orren Wesley and Elizabeth (Comstock) Moon, farmers near Meridian. Mr. and Mrs. Lybecker are the parents of one son, Wesley A. In politics, Mr. Lybecker is a Republican.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 478