Tulare County Biographies

IRA BLOSSOM

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


Among the early pioneers of Tulare county who have become successful ranchmen is 
Ira Blossom, who was born in 1832 in the state of New York. He grew to manhood 
and was educated in the Empire State and in 1852, when he was twenty years old, 
sought his fortune in California. For a time he stayed in San Francisco, and 
from there he went to Stockton and soon went into the mines, where he worked a 
year. After that he lived six years in the San Joaquin valley. In 1860 he moved 
to Tulare county and during the ensuing six years assisted in the operation of a 
flour mill near Visalia. Next we find him located on South Fork river, in a 
section of Tulare county in which he has since made his home.  His first land 
purchase was a tract of eight hundred acres on which he lived for a time, but 
which eventually he sold in order to buy land near Three Rivers, where he has 
lived during the past decade.
In 1860 Mr. Blossom married Mrs. Julia Clough, and they have four children, 
three of whom are living. One of their daughters lives in San Francisco, the 
other in Mt. View, Cal., and their son is with his parents on their family 
homestead. The latter is filling the office of deputy park ranger, the duties of 
which he is performing with much ability and credit.
The present land holdings of Mr. Blossom aggregate one hundred and thirty-five 
acres, part of it in fruit and most of the remainder in grain. He has given part 
of his time to stock-raising, in which he has achieved considerable success, and 
is regarded as one of the old reliable farmers of his district, being honored by 
the people of Tulare county as one of their few remaining pioneers. His personal 
characteristics are of the kind that make men popular with their fellows and 
many a man who has had the benefit of his acquaintance has found in him a valued 
friend. He never held office or identified himself with any order, but is 
public-spirited in support of all worthy interests of the community.
 
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - 
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913, pp. 628-629