Yolo County
Biographies
George L. Barnes
The native sons of the Golden West did not have the distinction of "coming the plains across" as did their pioneer fathers and mothers. The children grew up with the country¾were a part of it from their earliest times, a product of the soil. Nathan Barnes, a native of Ohio, left St. Louis, Mo., in 1852 and crossed the plains to California with ox-teams. The large train disbanded at Sacramento and Mr. Barnes some years later located in Solano county, not far from Denverton. He was there married to Miss Elizabeth Brock, a native of Wisconsin, who came to California with her mother, via Panama, about 1854. The father was accidentally killed in a runaway in 1884, but the mother is still living, at the old home place near Denverton. The eight children born to these parents were as follows: Ross, Maurice, Henry C., Benjamin O., Fred S., George L., Anna and Maud.
George L. Barnes was born in Solano county December 25, 1866, and therefore is eligible to membership in the Native Sons of the Golden West. He was educated in the public schools and afterward followed farming until 1892, when he removed to Winters and assumed the management of the F. B. Chandler Company lumber yard. This enterprise was established in 1876 and has continued to do business at the old stand ever since.
George L. Barnes married Miss Nellie V. Humphrey, a native of Berryessa valley, and a graduate of the schools of Winters. Their four children are Paul, Helen, Lowell and Virginia. Paul and Helen are pupils at Winters. Like other residents of that remarkable fruitful locality, Mr. Barnes has his orchards near his home town, and for several years past has gathered splendid crops of fruit from his trees. His time, however, is devoted principally to the lumber business, which has grown to be the largest in this end of Yolo county.
Mr. Barnes is a member of several fraternal organizations, being a charter member of the Foresters and of the Woodmen of the World. For a number of years he has been a member of the board of trustees of his city, and at present is president. During this time the sewer system has been built. For six years he was also clerk of the board of school trustees. With his wife Mr. Barnes is a communicant of the Christian Church. He has always been a Republican in politics, of the progressive and independent variety, and this progressiveness has characterized all his life. His lumber establishment is one of the enterprising business features of Winters, as its proprietor is one of its most enterprising citizens.
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 347-348 by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, 1913.
W. G. DUNCAN
W.G. DUNCAN, a farmer near Capay, Yolo County, was born October 1, 1828, in Amherst County, Virginia, the son of John I. and Margaret (Toler) Duncan, natives also of that State, who moved to the northern part of Missouri when their son was a small boy. Remaining with his parents until 1850, the subject of this sketch, in company with his brother, William H., came overland to California, with Dr. Lane, who supplied the penniless boys with the necessaries of the journey, in consideration of half their earnings for a year. They followed mining at Mud Springs for three months, but with little profit, and Dr. Lane agreed to release them with three months’ work for him, which proposition was accepted and the work done. The brothers then followed mining again, until the spring of 1853, when they took up a tract of land two and a half miles from their present place. In 1869 they disposed of that farm to Mr. Woodard. During the previous year they had bought the place where they now reside, a mile from Capay, where they now have 7,300 acres, besides eighty acres near Woodland.
Mr. Duncan was married in Woodland, March 13, 1879, to Miss Mary Franklin, a native of California, and they have one child, who was born in 1883 and is named Elvira G.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 619-620
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan
JACOB HENRY
Jacob Henry, late a prosperous farmer of Capay Valley, Yolo County, was born March 13, 1818, in Fairfield, Ohio, a son of John and Elizabeth (Wykerd) Henry, both natives of Pennsylvania, who moved to Virginia and then to Ohio, where the father died; the mother died in Michigan. At the age of eight years young Henry was “bound out” to Samuel Trexell until he was seventeen years of age. He then went to Wayne County, Indiana, was there two years, and then worked two years for his brother, John H., in Montgomery County, Ohio, then they moved to Indiana and continued together two years longer; then Jacob and a younger brother, Joseph H., went to farming for themselves. Two years afterward they bought 280 acres, which they cultivated together for sixteen years. Jacob then disposed of his interest and bought 120 acres in Illinois, which he occupied and cultivated until 1875, when he sold out and came to California. He bought a place in Capay Valley, which now contains seventy-six acres and constitutes a pretty little home.
He was married in Michigan, April 26,1849, To Miss Caroline Conradt, a native of Germany, and they have eight children, namely: Emeline, born August 3, 1850, now the wife of H. H. Smith; George W., born August 30, 1852; Mary, born February 21, 1857, and now the wife of J. C. Duncan; Andrew J., born March 12, 1854; Schuyler C., born June 7, 1859; William A., September 30, 1868; Ira M., April 1, 1870; Alma V., born October 13, 1862, is now Mrs. R. B. Cranston. Mr. Henry died in 1890.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Page 636
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan