Merced County Biographies

FRANK SILVA

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        Born in 1871 on the Island of St. George of the Azores group, Frank 
Silva is the eleventh child in a large family of children born to John Silveira 
and Mariana Silva, both born on St. George Island. The father was a farmer and 
spent his entire life following this occupation in Portugal. The names of the 
children are as follows: John, Antone, Joseph, George, Fostino, Manuel, Joaquin, 
Mary, Mariana, Katherine, Frank, and Peter.
        Frank Silva acquired a very limited education, for very early in life he 
helped with the support of the family. He was only a lad when he landed in 
Boston, Mass., where he remained until 1886, when he came to California and 
located in Marin County, where for two years he milked cows for his board; after 
that he received ten dollars per month for his services. He also worked at San 
Rafael, Point Reyes and Spanish Town. His next move was to San Francisco, where 
he was delivery boy for a retail milk company for eleven years. During these 
years he saved some money and bought an interest in a dairy at Redwood City. 
During the, panic of 1897, the partners sold the stock and with the proceeds Mr. 
Silva paid his debts and again began working for wages, milking cows at a dairy 
in San Mateo. Later he drove a milk wagon at San Bruno and during these years 
again saved his money. With this money he bought and sold cattle until 1906, 
when the conditions around San Francisco were not so good as could be hoped for 
and Mr. Silva shipped several carloads of cattle to the San Joaquin Valley and 
sold them.
Coming to Merced County he bought ninety-five dairy cows and put them on 170 
acres of land which he had rented about three miles southwest of Gustine. He 
continued to buy and sell cattle, and later, when he removed to a neighboring 
farm, he had a herd of 250 cattle. He paid off all he owed and rented 300 acres 
of land on which he maintains a dairy. Mr. Silva built a house on this place and 
a first-class dairy barn; later he built another barn and planted the land to 
alfalfa. Mr. Silva also runs three other ranches in the same vicinity, one of 
173 acres, another of 116 1/2 acres, and the third one of 240 acres, all planted 
to alfalfa with modern milking and feeding barns. Mr. Silva's dairy business is 
a partnership affair and the dairy herd now numbers about 700 cattle.
        At San Rafael, in 1901, Mr. Silva was married to Miss Mary Cabral, born 
at Bolinas but reared at Arcata, Cal.; she is a daughter of Joseph and Mary 
Cabral, natives of St. George of the Azores. Her mother died in 1919, but her 
father is still living, having returned to his native country. Three children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Silva: Frank, Jr., Angie, and Howard. Mr. Silva 
is a member of the U. P. E. C., the I. D. E. S. and the Eagles, all of San 
Rafael, where he maintains his home, but most of his time is spent in Merced 
County looking after his large dairy interests. Mrs. Silva met her death in an 
automobile accident at Dublin, Cal., on September 30, 1924, and is buried at San 
Rafael.
 
History of Merced County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 885-886