El Dorado County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
J. T. BARKLEY
 
The late J. T. Barkley, who was for many years engaged in business in Pleasant 
Valley, is well remembered as a man of sturdy qualities, clean cut and 
straightforward in all of his dealings and congenial in his social relations, so 
that his death, which occurred in 1915, was greatly regretted throughout the 
wide range of his acquaintance.  Born in Nova Scotia, on the 10th of April, 
1860, he was there reared and educated, and in 1881, soon after attaining his 
majority, he came to California and for a number of years was employed at 
various lines of work.  Finally he engaged in business in Pleasant Valley, and 
this he carried on successfully until the failure of his health.
            Mr. Barkley was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Ahart, a daughter 
of J. W. and Elizabeth (Field) Ahart, and they became the parents of four 
children, Letitia, Grace, Jessie and Jack.  There are also two grandchildren.  
J. W. Ahart was born in Tennessee about 1833 and was there reared and educated.  
In 1851 he crossed the plains to California and lived at Colfax and Grass Valley 
for a while, but eventually came to El Dorado county, where he devoted his 
attention to mining during the remainder of his life.  His wife came from 
Germany to California, making the long voyage around Cape Horn, and her marriage 
to Mr. Ahart occurred in Nevada.  To them were born fourteen children, of whom 
nine are living.  The father died at the age of eighty-four years and the mother 
when sixty-nine years old.  Mrs. Barkley came to Camino, El Dorado county, in 
1914, and established a grocery store, which she conducted successfully until 
1930, when she turned it over to her son Jack.  She was the oldest merchant in 
Camino.  She belongs to the Native Daughters of the Golden West, coming of the 
old pioneer gold mining stock of the Sacramento valley.  She has witnessed the 
rise and development of this section of the state and is proud of the fact that 
she has had a part in its progress and improvement.  She is well known 
throughout this section of the valley and is very highly regarded by all.
 
History of the Sacramento Valley, California By Mj. Jesse Walton Wooldridge Page 52-53.The Pioneer Historical Publishing Co., Chicago (1931)Transcribed by Kathy Sedler