Tulare County Biographies

Ezra Lathrop

Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn

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


     The wise counsel, good judgment and progressive spirit of Ezra Lathrop have 
been factors in the upbuilding and prosperity of Tulare, Cal. Mr. Lathrop came 
from his old Iowa home to Nevada, but soon afterward, in 1866, came to 
California, and since 1873 he has lived in Tulare. His family is of English 
descent and was early established in the state of New York. William and Perrin 
Lathrop, his grandfather and father respectively, were born there, but settled 
in Susquehanna county, Pa., where the former died. The latter became a pioneer 
at Cascade, Dubuque county, Iowa, but soon went to Center Point, near Cedar 
Falls, in Blackhawk county, where he improved a farm. Later he farmed in Louisa 
county, that state, but passed his declining years in Blackhawk county. 
Clementine Dowdney, who became his wife, was of Eastern birth, but passed away 
near Center Point, Iowa. She bore her husband two sons and a daughter: Ezra of 
Tulare; Gilead P., who died in the Civil War, a member of the Eighth Regiment, 
Iowa Volunteer Infantry; and Mrs. Mary Ellen Brown, who lives in Tulare county, 
north of Visalia.
 
     At Rush, near Montrose, Susquehanna, Pa., Ezra Lathrop was born in 1839 and 
there he began attending district schools. He was ten years old when his family 
went to Iowa and sixteen when his mother died, and then he set out to make his 
own way in the world. For a time he was employed on farms, but in 1864 sought 
fortune in the West as a member of an emigrant party that crossed the plains. 
The Indians were unusually troublesome at that time, but the train went 
unmolested up the Platte and by way of Salt Lake City to Nevada, where Mr. 
Lathrop began farming on the East Walker river. In 1865 he was teaming at Dayton 
and in 1866 he was farming near Suisun, Cal., whence he removed three years 
later to Montezuma Hill. In 1873 he came to Tulare and built the residence which 
has since been his home and found employment as a driver of six-horse teams in 
mountain freighting. In 1874 he homesteaded eighty acres of government land 
north of Tulare, which, with other lands, he began to cultivate six years later, 
and by adjoining purchases he came to own four hundred and thirty acres. He 
formerly owned the Round Valley ranch of thirty-eight hundred acres. At this 
time his holdings comprise four hundred and forty acres in one body, all under 
ditch; five hundred and sixty acres, south of Tulare; and eighty acres southeast 
of that city. He was for a time a director in the Rockyford Irrigation Ditch 
Company. 
 
     In 1882 Mr. Lathrop embarked in the lumber business and soon built up a 
valuable trade, but after eighteen months a concern that had been his most 
bitter competitor and which he had worsted sold out to Moore & Smith, a company 
financially strong. Unable to hold his own against such opposition, he sold out 
in 1884 to the Puget Sound Lumber Company, which appointed him its local agent. 
In 1886 the two concerns were merged as the San Joaquin Lumber Company and his 
agency was continued. When the new company was incorporated he became its 
manager and had its affairs in charge until November, 1898, when it retired from 
business. He was one of the promoters of the Gas Company of Tulare, was 
financially interested in it when it was incorporated, January, 1884, and has 
been its president since May, 1885. Its electric light plant dates from 1890 and 
since 1894 it has manufactured no gas. His patriotic work in bringing about the 
compromise with the bondholders of the Tulare Irrigation district resulted in a 
grand jollification and bond burning which is a part of the history of Tulare. 
He has performed efficient service as fire commissioner and school trustee and 
has helped the people of the town by his wise and conservative judgment in 
financial affairs. In 1885 he assisted in the organization of the bank of 
Tulare, the oldest in the town, of which he was president from that day to the 
time of his death, November 17, 1908, and which has been an important aid to the 
welfare of the people. It is apparent that a record of the life of Mr. Lathrop 
is in a sense a record of progress and development of Tulare, for he was 
inseparably identified with many of its leading interests. Politically he was a 
Democrat until 1896. Then unable to support the financial theories of Mr. Bryan, 
he became a Republican. Fraternally he affiliates with the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, which has a flourishing lodge at Tulare. 
 
     In Iowa, Mr. Lathrop married Miss Virginia Blake, a native of Oakland, that 
state, who bore him twin daughters and died in 1898. One of the daughters, 
Martha Adeline, married G. W. Bauman, a biographical sketch of whom will be 
found in this volume, and the other, Matilda Eveline, married W. J. Sturgeon.  
 
     On January 20, 1908, Mr. Lathrop married Mrs. Lena Ayer, whose maiden name 
was Lena De Vine, born in Nova Scotia. Mr. and Mrs. Ayer came to California from 
Boston, Mass., December, 1890. 
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 288, 289, 290