Yolo County
Biographies
H. T. Barnes & Son
No modern development in the building business has affected more vitally the permanent character of such work than the introduction and increasing use of cement, which, utilized in foundations or for entire structures as well as in sidewalks, bridges and vaults, has proved an indispensable factor in the industrial growth of every community. The firm of H. T. Barnes & Son, organized in 1906, represents the results of years of activity on the part of the older member of the concern, who for thirty years or more has engaged in cement work in Woodland and vicinity. Meanwhile he has had charge of the building of practically all of the sidewalks in the town, has erected cement dairies in the country and has built vaults and walls in the cemetery, besides erecting a fine monument of reinforced concrete in the city cemetery. The first concrete foundation in this part of Yolo county was put under his residence at No. 524 Walnut street, Woodland, and since then as almost universal adoption of such foundations has followed. Many of these have been put in place under his supervision, including the foundation for the Odd Fellows’ Building.
A superior quality of cement always has been used. In earlier days much of this was imported from Germany, Belgium and England, but more recently the product manufactured in Solano and Napa counties has grown in popular favor and its practicability has been proved by actual experience. About twenty-seven years ago Mr. Barnes built a reinforced culvert bridge with steel rods, being the first resident of the entire county to attempt such work. Ten years later reinforced work was patented. As early as 1894 he erected at the Yolo Orchard a reinforced concrete packing house, 50x100 feet in dimensions and two and one-half stories high. Although on two different occasions fire has broken out in this packing house and threatened its destruction, its walls are still standing firm and substantial as when first erected. Besides his work in this locality he has had contracts at Suisun, Solano county, and in other counties. The joint bridge between Yolo and Solano county, of which he was the inspector and which was built in 1906, has three spans, each one hundred and twenty-five feet long, and merits especial mention on account of being the largest bridge of its kind west of Kansas City. In 1911 he was inspector on the facing of levees two and one-half miles long in the Lisbon district; and reinforced facing would equal an area of twelve and one-half acres. In it were used over twenty thousand barrels of cement, and it is considered the largest space covered continuously in the United States.
Of Canadian birth and parentage, Henry Thomas Barnes was born near the city of Toronto April 14, 1857. At the age of fourteen years he lost by death his father, John Barnes, and then went to Michigan, where he served an apprenticeship under a merchant tailor. The occupation proved too sedentary for his health and he sought outdoor employment, thus having his attention called to the cement business, in which he as been unqualifiedly successful. After he came to California in 1879 he endeavored to resume tailoring, but a short period of work proved too confining and he left San Francisco for Woodland in 1882. In the marble yard of H. P. Martin he found employment congenial to his tastes and suited to his physical demands. Here he began to interest people in cement work. His predecessors had been so unsuccessful that would-be buyers were suspicious of the industry, but Mr. Barnes soon proved that he thoroughly understood the proper proportions of sand and cement necessary for permanent results. Sidewalks laid by him years ago are as solid today as when first laid. Forming a partnership with J. O. Shaffer in 1883 he opened marble yard and plant for the manufacture of cement products on Main street, opposite the Pacific hotel, but when his partner died a year later he discontinued the marble business, since which time he has devoted his energies to the erection of concrete bridges, culverts, foundations, fence posts, water troughs, tanks, houses, business structures, and indeed, the many purposes to which cement is applicable.
When he came to Woodland in 1882 Mr. Barnes was unmarried. November 5, 1884, he married Miss Mollie Cosby, a native of St. Charles county, Mo., and a daughter of Josiah Cosby of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes are the parents of two children, Cosby H. (his father’s partner) and Ruth. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodland lodge of Masons, chapter and commandery, and with the lodge and encampment of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. For many years Mr. Barnes was a member of the board of trustees of the Odd Fellows’ Hall, besides having served as noble grand master and two terms as district grand patriarch of the encampment. In the Rebekahs, to which he and his wife belong, the latter has served as noble grand, and they are also both members of the Order of Eastern Star. The Methodist Episcopal Church South has received their earnest support, and Mr. Barnes for years gave the most efficient service as superintendent of the Sunday school. As a member of the First Rifle Team he accompanied his command from California to the meet at Seagirt, N. J., the government defraying all expenses. For seven years he was a member of the California National Guard and retired with the rank of sergeant of Company F, Second California Regiment, to which his son and partner also has belonged for the past five years or more.
The junior member of the firm, Cosby H. Barnes, is a native son of Woodland, born June 1, 1886. After completing his education he was for a time employed with the Wells Fargo Company. Having learned the cement business from a youth, in 1906 he joined his father in the business and since then has been actively interested with him. He was married in Woodland, December 30, 1906 to Miss Hazel Irene Roberts, who was born near Woodland, and to them have been born two children, Virginia Elberta and Elwood Henry. For six years he has been and still is a member of Company F, Second Regiment of California, and served with the regiment at the San Francisco fire in 1906. In 1911 he was a member of the team that won the regimental cup and also the lodge state cup. He holds membership in Woodland Lodge of Masons and encampment of the Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand, and he is also a member of the Woodmen of the World.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County California with Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present” page 238-240 by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, 1913.
Richard Henderson Beamer
The development of the Sacramento valley, no only from the standpoint of financial stability, but also from the side of commercial growth, has been fostered through the sagacious leadership of the First National Bank, formerly the Farmers and Merchants Bank, an institution well known in Woodland and in all of the surrounding country. As a financial concern it has achieved a wide reputation for conservative spirit, local pride, keen supervision and an important list of depositors. Its officers are without exception men of fine mental attributes and ability as financiers. Guarding the investments of their stockholders with wise caution, they yet have proved of the utmost importance to the permanent advancement of their home city through their judicious extension of credit to men hampered by want of capital, and in every instance the wisdom of their confidence has been proved by actual results.
Coming into the office of president, some seven or more years after the organization of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, Mr. Beamer soon impressed upon the institution the influence of his strong, virile personality. The results of his executive management permeated the community with a distinct effect upon its permanent upbuilding. The valley has achieved a prosperity more vital and lasting than would have been possible without the presence of the bank, working through its officers for the benefit of the entire region, and its president has been particularly helpful in establishing for the concern a position as sound, reliable and conservative. At the time that he was chosen president, November 9, 1901, F. Miller was selected for the office of vice-president, M. O. Harling was re-elected cashier, and J. M. Day was made the accountant. At the report of September 1903, the capital stock was shown to be $200,000, the assets were large and the surplus increasing. Since then the capital has been equally divided, and it is now the First National Bank and Home Savings Bank of Woodland, with equal proportions of the capital stock and surplus. On January 20, 1910, Mr. Beamer resigned as president of the bank to take the position of state bank examiner, which he filled during the administration of Superintendent of Banks Alden Anderson.
The Farmers and Merchants Bank of Woodland was established September 26, 1892, with the following directorate: David N. Hershey, C. G. Day, Col. D. M. Burns, W. G. Hunt, M. Diggs, Thomas Ross, Richard H. Beamer, L. B. Adams, George H. Jackson and D. R. Clanton. The concern was incorporated through the work of a special committee comprising Messrs. Adams, Day, Diggs, Ross, Beamer and Burns. Vacant property was bought at the northwest corner of Main and First streets in 1893. September 26 of that year the work of building was begun with J. J. Hall as architect and D. McPhee as contractor. The building, which is three stories in height and built of Arizona red sandstone, cost $31,205, exclusive of interior fittings and furnishings. The first floor is occupied by the bank and the other suites are utilized for office purposes. The building is heated by steam and lighted by gas and electricity, while a fireproof room enables customers to deposit valuable papers in a vault constructed by the Diebold Safe and Lock Company. Modern conveniences enable the occupants of the building to transact business with dispatch in the midst of comfortable surroundings.
Born in Missouri, July 29, 1849, Richard Henderson Beamer is a son of Richard L. Beamer, a native of Virginia. Primarily educated in local schools, he later was sent to the Hesperian College and then attended the University of Kentucky at Lexington. December 20, 1870, he married Miss Mary E. Hodgen, a native of Kentucky. The young couple enjoyed a wedding tour that brought them to the west and they settled in Yolo county, where for years Mr. Beamer engaged in ranching. He platted Beamer’s addition to Woodland, comprising eighty acres. He built his comfortable home on North Third street, where he resided with his family. His wife died at the age of forty-nine years, and two of their children died when young. The other members of the family are Dr. Richard F. Beamer, a dentist in San Francisco; Daisy Irene, wife of C. B. Hobson of Berkeley; Blanche H. of Woodland, and Joseph, assistant collection teller of the First National Bank of San Francisco.
Staunchly devoted to the Democratic party, Mr. Beamer has been prominent in the local councils of the party. From 1872 to 1874 he served as county auditor, after which he held office as assessor four years. During 1885 he was chosen sheriff, and that office he filled with courage and energy. His party nominated him to represent Yolo and Napa counties in the state senate, but he declined the honor, although the nomination was equivalent to an election. For a long period he rendered efficient service as a member of the state board of equalization and for one term he held office as mayor of Woodland, in which position he promoted the progress of the city by his intelligent sympathy with all movements for the general welfare. Since he retired from the state bank examiner’s office he has devoted his attention to his varied interest and is serving as the representative appointed by the supervisors of Yolo county to secure the state highway for the west side of the Sacramento river. Fraternally Mr. Beamer is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias. He is one of Woodland’s most dependable citizens and is always giving of his time and means to promote the commercial importance of his community and county.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County California with Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present” page 240-244 by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, 1913.