Contra Costa County Biography

MATTHEW ROOT BARBER

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


fruit-raiser near Martinez and an old and respected pioneer of the county, was 
born August 7, 1815, in Delaware County, Ohio, son of Joseph Barber, of 
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Clara, daughter of Rev. Daniel Kent, of Benson, 
Vermont.  When he was two years old his parents moved to Bond County, Illinois, 
where they were engaged in farming and stock-raising.  Losing both his parents 
when young, he was taken by the family of Hon. Elam Brown, of Morgan County, 
Illinois, to bring up.  He obtained the usual common-school education and at the 
age of twenty-one started out in the world for himself.  He followed farming and 
wagon-making until March 15, 1849, when he joined a train for the Golden State.  
After a weary journey of six months, he stopped at Hangtown and followed mining 
in that vicinity for a short time; then he engaged in the redwood lumber trade 
near San Antonio, then in Contra Costa County.  He wrote tickets at the 
residence of Hon. Elam Brown for the election of delegates to form a State 
Constitution; also wrote tickets for the election of the first county officers.  
The county then included also Alameda County.  After that he followed the 
carpenter�s trade, building several of the first houses in Martinez, some of 
which are still standing.  On February 14, 1851, he returned to Illinois by way 
of the Isthmus and New Orleans, and brought overland his family and a drove of 
cattle, arriving at Martinez August 22, 1852.  During the ensuing fall he 
purchased his present beautiful place, then consisting of unbroken hills and 
plains with no improvements, two miles from Martinez.  Upon his fine farm he now 
raises a variety of excellent fruit, including grapes, which alone occupy an 
area of fifty acres.  Mr. Barber was elected to the office of Public 
Administrator for four successive terms, as shown by the records.  His marriage 
to Miss Orpha Bean, of Pike County, Illinois, took place November 14, 1837, and 
their children are:  Maria B., born December 30, 1838, is now Mrs. Lander, of 
Martinez; William H., born February 8, 1841, deceased; Daniel N., born August 5, 
1843, deceased; Elam B., born June 13, 1847; and Clara E., born January 29, 
1849, is deceased.  Her first husband was Hon. George W. Bailey, of Martinez, 
and her second husband was Judge James E. Goodall, of Bodie, California.
 
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing 
Co., 1891, pp 495