Contra Costa County Biography

JAMES O'HARA

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

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

 
Numbered among the representative and well-known fruitmen of eastern Contra 
Costa County was James O'Hara, deceased. He established a reputation as one of 
the substantial and progressive men of the county. He was a native of Bangor, 
Maine, and was borne on November 8, 1840, the son of Henry and Anna O'Hara, both 
natives of Ireland. His parents came to America in the early days, locating in 
Bangor, where his father followed farming. James received his education in the 
public schools of Bangor. He worked on his father's farm until he reached the 
age of eighteen, when he left home and traveled through the Southern States. In 
1860 he came to California and settled in Contra Costa County, where he found 
employment at farming and dairying. In 1887 he bought one hundred and sixty 
acres and later purchased six hundred and forty acres near Oakley at five 
dollars an acre. When he located here it was covered with chaparral, and 
thousands of rabbits were on his land. He cleared five sections of land, and 
established an almond orchard of eighty acres, afterward adding to this to the 
extent of one hundred and sixty acres of fruit and nuts, at the home place. Mr. 
O'Hara spent many happy and profitable years up to the time of his death, which 
occurred on September 9, 1912, his able and enterprising sons succeeding to the 
management of the ranch. Mr. O'Hara sold the land where Oakley is located, 
afterward buying back eighteen acres, which he subdivided and put on the O'Hara 
addition to Oakley. In politics he was a Democrat, and did much along party 
lines, although he never aspired to public office. Mr. O'Hara possessed great 
energy, and did more for Oakley and surrounding country than any other man, and 
at the time of his death he owned seventeen hundred acres. On April 15, 1885, 
Mr. O'Hara was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hickey, a native of 
Massachusetts, who lived in the Berkshire Hills. Her parents were James and 
Catherine Hickey. Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara were the parents of four children - 
William J., born March 21, 1886; Anna C., born December 6, 1888; Elwin L., born 
February 15, 1890; Charles E., born September 23, 1893. Charles E. graduated 
from the University of California in May, 1916. He is now at Manila, Philippine 
Islands, and identified with Calamba Sugar Estate. The family are members of the 
Catholic Church of Oakley.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
pp, 538-539.