Contra Costa County Biography

ELAM BROWN BARBER

Transcribed by Doug Barber, July 2006.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


Elam Brown Barber is a son of Matthew Root Barber, one of the respected pioneers 
of Contra Costa County, and who was born in Delaware County, Ohio, August 7, 
1815. When two years of age he was taken to Bond County, Illinois, where his 
father engaged in farming. His father died when Matthew R. was young, and he 
made his home with the family of the Honorable Elam Brown. Here Mr. Barber's 
father attended school and resided until he was twenty-one years of age. In 1837 
he took in a partner and followed farming and wagon-making. On March 15, 1849, 
he joined a party and crossed the plains, making the journey in six months. The 
first place at which he stopped in California was Hangtown, now Placerville. 
This was in September. Mr. Barber mined for a time, and then engaged in 
lumbering near San Antonio, then in Contra Costa County. While working in the 
redwoods he wrote tickets for the first election of officers in this and Alameda 
County. He erected many of the first houses in Martinez, and on February 14, 
1851, he sailed from San Francisco via Panama and New Orleans and went to 
Illinois. Remaining one year, he, with his wife and family, drove a band of 
stock across the plains to California, arriving at Martinez, August 22, 1852. In 
the fall of 1852 he purchased a beautiful tract of land consisting of four 
hundred and forty-three acres. Mr. Barber was elected to the office of Public 
Administrator for four successive terms. He was married in Pike County, 
Illinois, November 14, 1837, to Orpha Bean. The subject of this sketch was born 
June 13, 1846, near Jacksonville, Illinois, and crossed the plains with his 
parents when five years of age. He was educated in the public schools of 
Martinez and Heald's College, San Francisco. Finishing his education, Mr. Barber 
returned to the home ranch and has remained here since. There were six children 
in the parents' family, and our subject is the only one living. Mr. Barber is a 
Republican, but never aspired to public office.

Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California", Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
pp 433-434