Tulare County
Biographies
BARTON, ORLANDO D.
A great-grandson of a soldier of the Revolutionary war and a grandson of a soldier of the war of 1812, his progenitors in the paternal line, Orlando D. Barton was born in La Salle county, Ill., in 1847, a son of James and Susan (Davenport) Barton, natives of Morris county, N. J., the former born November 2, 1819, and the latter on October 30, 1823. James Barton crossed the plains with his family in 1865, following the North Platte river route to Salt Lake and the Austin & Walker’s lake route from there on. The Sioux Indians were then at war and caused the train of which the Bartons were members considerable trouble. However, the family arrived safely at Visalia, October 6, that year, and camped near the present site of the Santa Fe depot. The father took up land at the site of Auckland and raised cattle there on four hundred and forty acres for fourteen years. In 1879 he moved to Three Rivers, where he lived until his death, September 2, 1912, except during the periods of his incumbency of the office of supervisor of Tulare county, when his home was in Visalia.
The elder Mr. Barton was honored by election to the office in the county for five terms and was prominent in the management of county affairs. The court house was built under his supervision and he had charge of the erection of the old and the new county jails. He reached the advanced age of ninety-two years and ten months, his wife dying January 19, 1912, aged eighty-eight years and two months, and died on the sixty-ninth anniversary of their marriage. Both were honored as pioneers who braved the hardships of the overland trail to pave the way for the present civilization of California. Of their children we mention the following: Hudson D. married Sarah Harmon and they have six children—James, who married Nellie St. Clair and has two daughters; Frank, who married Miss Foucht, who has borne him two children; Albertus, who married Miss Downing and has three children; and Royal V., Hugh and Orlena. Orlando D. is the immediate subject of this sketch. Enos D. was the next in order of birth. Jane married J. B. Weathers, of Visalia, and they have two children, Grover and Mrs. Carrie Sweet. Adelaide is the wife of J. H. Butts, of Hanford, and they have two children, Dell and Mrs. Ida Hamilton. Melissa married R. C. Hardin of Visalia and they have three children, Norman, Mrs. Blanche Young and Benjamin. James and Susan (Davenport) Barton had, all counted, about fifty descendants.
It is as a writer that Orlando D. Barton is perhaps best known, his articles about the Indians and other western subjects having been widely read. In the days of his youth he ranched with his father and brothers, helped to build sawmills and to get out lumber in the mountains, and taught three terms of school in the Cottonwood district. Later he settled on a ranch at Three Rivers, which is now the site of the River Inn and raised cattle and hogs there eight years. In the period since he has been interested in mining and oil, being a practical mineralogist of many years’ study and experience. He is the owner of quite extensive oil interests in the Lost Hills and in the Devil’s Den mining district of Kern and Kings counties.
In 1880 Mr. Barton married Miss Maggie Allen, a native of California, who died in 1888, leaving two children. Their daughter Phoebe, wife of Alexander McLennan, of Visalia, has a son. Their son Cornelius is employed by the San Joaquin Light and Power Company.
SOURCE: History of
Tulare and Kings Counties,
California
with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles,
Calif.,
Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 483, 484
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn
GRIFFIN, ASA T.
As soldier, farmer and citizen Asa T. Griffin has won the respect of all with whom he has from time to time been associated. He was born in Cooper county, Mo., August 8, 1842, and from there his family soon afterward moved to Benton county, where he grew up. In 1861, when he was nineteen years old, he enlisted in the Sixty-fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the Civil war, when he was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., in July, 1865. He took part in much historic fighting, including that at New Madrid, the siege and battle of Corinth, and later served under General Sherman in the South. Going back to his old home, he soon afterward located in St. Clair county, Ill., where he farmed successfully.
In 1873 Mr. Griffin came to California and settled in Tulare county, and since that time he has been ranching near Visalia. Formerly he gave attention especially to cattle and to dairying, but now he owns twenty acres four miles southwest of Visalia, ten acres of which is in Muir and Lovell peaches, another ten in alfalfa. Since 1906 he has been a rural mail carrier, delivering mail from Visalia over part of route No. 1. His service as a soldier makes him eligible to membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, and in his post he is active and helpful. March 9, 1869, Mr. Griffin married Miss Ann Esther Preston, born February 2, 1849, in St. Clair county, Mo. They have had six children: Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Collins, deceased; James M.; George P., also deceased; and Benjamin, Thomas and Bernard.
It will be seen that the Griffins have been pioneers, generation after generation. Mr. Griffin’s grandfather Griffin settled in Howard county, Mo., in 1817, and his forefathers were pioneers further east. Mr. Griffin is a citizen of helpful impulses, who, in different ways, has done much for the general good. The patriotic spirit that impelled him as a mere boy to risk his life for the preservation of the union of the states has directed him along the ways of public usefulness ever since, wherever he has cast his lot.
SOURCE: History of
Tulare and Kings Counties,
California
with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles,
Calif.,
Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 484, 485
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn