California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

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


WILLIAM H. HARTLEY. Industriously engaged in the prosecution of a calling upon which the 
support and wealth of our nation so largely depends, William H. Hartley, of Merced, is meeting 
with eminent success, and is contributing his full share toward the agricultural advancement of 
Merced county. A typical representative of the courageous and energetic pioneers of California, 
who braved the dangers and harships of life on the extreme frontier of civilization, he has been 
an important factor in developing the wonderful resources of this state, and in the grand 
transformations that have taken place within its limits, he has been an active and influential 
participant. A son of Henry Hartley, he was born in Lancastershire, land, March 26, 1834, coming 
from an ancient and honored English family. 

Born and reared in Yorkshire, England, Henry Hartley spent his early life in his native land, 
being first employed in mercantile pursuits, and afterward being connected with the management 
of the Government railways. Immigrating with his family to America in 1842, he located in 
Lowell, Mass., where for nine years he was assistant foreman in a cotton mill. In 1851, ac- 
companied by his two sons, John and William H, he started for California. Sailing from New 
York to Chagres, Panama, he crossed the isthmus on foot, and subsequently spent three months 
in Panama. Boarding the steamer Golden Gate, he arrived in San Francisco in April, 1852, and 
went directly to the mining fields in the northern part of Eldorado county. The climate, however, 
did not agree with him, and after an illness of three months, he returned to Lowell, Mass., 
where he resumed his former employment in the cotton factories, having eight or nine men under 
his supervision, and continued there until his death. His son John remained in California, 
and died, in 1870, in Sacramento. 

Coming with his father and brother to California in 1852, William H. Hartley followed mining 
for two years, and then located in Stockton, where he and seven others owned an interest 
and engaged in freighting and forwarding goods to the mines for delivery for the Chinese Com- 
mission Company. This company built up a very large and profitable business, employing 
many men and teams, continuing until the extension of the railway, in 1870, to Modesto. Mr. 
Hartley then located in Merced county, where he kept a number of teams that he let out to 
farmers, receiving a good income from his venture. He also rented land, and embarked in grain 
raising. Being successful, he soon began investing in lands in this section of the state, and is 
now a large property owner, and one of the extensive and prosperous agriculturists of the 
county. He has a valuable ranch of two thousand three hundred acres near Merced ; a ranch 
of six hundred and forty acres in Livingston; and at Turner, on Bear creek, he owns a farm 
of eight hundred acres. He superintends the most of his land himself, raising principally wheat 
and barley, the staple grains of the county. In the early days, when he first began farming, 
he used to harvest large crops, which he sold for good prices. He has valuable residential 
property in the city, and a pleasant and attractive home. 

Mr. Hartley was interested in the construction of the Crocker-Huffman Canal, but has sold out 
his shares in the enterprise. He possesses great financial ability, and was one of the organizers 
of the Merced National Bank, which was reorganized as the Commercial and Savings Bank, 
and later changed to the Commercial Bank, of which he is vice-president, and a director. Until 
the Granger warehouse was sold, he was president of the company which owned it. He is also 
a stockholder in the Fountain City Milling Company, and is serving as its president. 

In 1869, in Lowell, Mass., Mr. Hartley married Frances L. Otis, a native of that city. Mr. Hartley 
is a Republican in national politics, and takes a genuine interest in local affairs. For one term he 
served as county supervisor. He attends the Presbyterian Church, toward the support of which 
he contributes liberally.