California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 EDWARD D. HALBERT. Six miles south of Portersville, Tulare county, on Deer creek, is located the large ranch of Edward D. Halbert, consisting of twelve hundred and seventy-three acres, devoted to the cultivation of grain and the raising of stock. A native of Missouri, he was born in Hickory county, November 23, 1846, a son of Joel B. Halbert. The latter was born in South Carolina, reared in Warren county. Tenn., and in 1842 removed to Hickory county, Mo. He was a physician of considerable prominence in the various communities where he made his home, and practiced his profession in Hickory county until his death, which occurred in 1876, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife, formerly Tirza Sherrill, was born in North Carolina and died in Missouri. They became the parents of nine sons and four daughters, of whom Edward D. Halbert was the eleventh child. A limited education in the common schools of his native state was all that Edward D. Hal- bert was able to obtain, while he was trained in his home life to the habits of self reliance and industry characteristic of the pioneer lad. In 1864 he enlisted in the Home Guards and was in active service for two months. In young manhood he became interested in saw-milling, build- ing a mill in Missouri, which he conducted until 1869. He then sold and removed to Hermitage, where he engaged as a clerk for a year and a half, when he came as far west as Nevada City and secured employment with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway as contractor. Later he returned home and engaged in the harness business in Humansville, Mo. After a year and a half he found employment for the same length of time as clerk. Deciding to come west, he lo- cated in California in 1873, at Milton engaging as a sheep herder for one year, when he came to the San Joaquin valley. The first two months he spent near Huron, when he located in Tulare county. In 1878 he bought eight hundred head of sheep, and until 1894 was interested in sheep raising. In the meantime, in 1881, he purchased the ranch which he now owns, and which has since been his home. He has met with success in his farming and stock-raising pursuits and is numbered among the progressive and up-to-date farmers of Tulare county. Mr. Halbert was also a half owner in the Minnie Ellen mine from 1897 to 1901, in the latter year disposing of this in- terest in order to give his time and attention entirely to his ranch. In Tulare county Mr. Halbert was united in marriage with Ellen Rhodes, a native of Tulare county, and a daughter of William and Sarah (Douglas) Rhodes, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The mother is now a resident of Portersville. From Tennessee Mr. Rhodes moved to Texas, and from there, in 1857, came across the plains to California. Upon his arrival in the state he located near Visalia and engaged in the sheep business. In 1875 he made a trip to Ari- zona, driving a band of sheep and in the vicinity of Prescott was located until 1879, when he re- turned to his interests in California, where he had left his family. In 1880 he located in the vicinity of Los Angeles, where he was accidentally killed in 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Halbert are the parents of four children, namely: Lois, the wife of L. N. Sperry, of Elmwood, Cal. ; Edward Fay ; Roy Dent ; and Ernest Sherrill, the last three named being at home with their parents. In his political convictions Mr. Halbert is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party.