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


BENNI J. HENRY. Conspicuous among the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of 
Visalia is Benni J. Henry, who during the past quarter of a century has been actively identified 
with the industrial prosperity of this section of the state. Kind-hearted, accommodating and 
pleasant, he is everywhere respected, and is held in high regard throughout the community. Of 
Scotch-Irish descent, he was born, November 13, 1853, in Savannah, Wayne county, N. Y., a son 
of John and Margaret (Ferguson) Henry, the latter of whom died in Visalia, while the former 
is still living. 

Brought up on the home farm, in Wayne county, N. Y., Benni J. Henry was educated in the 
district schools, in common with the neighboring children, being well drilled in the three "R's." 
Beginning life as a wage-earner at the age of fifteen years, he first worked on a farm at Un- 
ion Springs, Cayuga county, and was afterward for two years employed in the factory of D. M. 
Osborne & Co. Making a bold push to the westward in 1877, he came to California in search 
of a favorable opportunity to advance his welfare, and for a year resided on the line between 
Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. In September, 1878, Mr. Henry came to Visalia, and 
the following ten months was employed on the Burrell ranch. Buying his present farm of forty 
acres in 1879, he at once began its improvement. Clearing the land, he erected a good residence, 
and has since been prosperously engaged in tilling the soil, raising alfalfa, principally, for which 
his land is well fitted, being under irrigation, the water coming from the Modoc ditch. Mr. Henry 
also carries on a part of the old Kelsey ranch, renting fourteen hundred acres of it. There he 
has good pasture land, raises extensive crops of grain, and has an eighty-acre vineyard and a val- 
uable orchard of ninety acres. He has an especially fine farming outfit, running three eight- 
horse teams/ and having all the necessary machinery and appliances for successfully carrying on 
his large and lucrative business. He is much interested in stock-raising, keeping a superior 
grade of cattle and horses. 

In Auburn, Cayuga county, N. Y., Mr. Henry married Jennie Ferguson, who was born in the 
north of Ireland, and into their pleasant household seven children have been born, namely :  
Gertrude, wife of Charles Smith, city marshal of Visalia ; Edith, wife of John Daily, a farmer,  
living near Goshen, Cal., and Mamie, Robert Lee, Grover C, Earl and Lillian, living at home. Po- 
litically Mr. Henry is a steadfast adherent of the Democratic party and is now serving as school 
trustee in the Willow district. Fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World. Mrs. 
Henry is a most estimable woman, and a member of the Methodist Church.