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


LEWIS HENRY. Occupying a substantial position among the active and successful agri- 
culturists of Tulare county is Lewis Henry, whose highly-improved and well-kept ranch lies 
three miles west of Visalia. Pleasant, liberal and progressive, he is an important member of 
the community in which he resides, and is contributing his full share toward the maintenance 
of good order, high principles and all of those things that insure the welfare and prosperity of 
town and country. A native of Killycurragh, County Tyrone, Ireland, he was born March 19, 
1860, in Wayne county, a son of John Henry. His father, a farmer by occupation, came from 
New York to California in 1886, and now resides here, making his home with a daughter. 
His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Ferguson, died in this state. Of the children 
born of their union, eight grew to years of maturity, and six are now living, Lewis being the 
fourth child. 

Remaining beneath the parental roof until twenty-one years of age, Lewis Henry acquired 
his early education in the district school, and while assisting his father became familiar with 
the various branches of agriculture as carried on in the east. Choosing the independent occu- 
pation to which he was reared, he was there engaged in farming on his own account for a 
number of years. Coming to the Pacific coast in 1889, Mr. Henry located in Visalia, and was 
here employed as a farmer and orchardist for some time. In 1903 he bought his present home 
ranch, which is pleasantly situated about three miles west of Visalia. It contains eighty acres 
of land, all under the ditch, being irrigated by the Modoc Ditch Company's ditch, in which 
Mr. Henry is financially interested, being a part owner. He devotes about one-half of his land 
to alfalfa, raising grain on the remainder, and in his operations is meeting with well-merited 
success. He has made improvements of an excellent character, in 1904 having erected a fine 
residence, which greatly enhances the attractiveness and the value of the estate. 

January 14, 1885, in Savannah, Wayne county, N. Y., Mr. Henry married Miss Addie 
Agnes Snyder, who was born in Conquest, Cayuga county, N. Y., which was also the birth- 
place of her father, Samuel Snyder. Her grandfather, William Snyder, was a lifelong 
farmer of Cayuga county. She comes of old Holland-Dutch stock, her paternal great-grand- 
father, a pioneer of Cayuga county, N. Y., having cleared from the wilderness a farm which 
is still in the family, being now owned and occupied by one of his descendants of the fourth 
generation. In 1885 Samuel Snyder removed from the ancestral home to Austinburg, Ohio, 
and in May, 1901, came with his family to California, and now owns and manages a farm near 
Visalia. He married Martha Benning, who was born in Wayne county, N. Y., a daughter of 
William Benning, who was of English birth and breeding, and they became the parents of three 
children, of whom Mrs. Henry is the second child. Mr. and Mrs. Henry have five children, 
namely : Bertha Marion, Myrtie May, Walter Lewis, Howard Leon and Elmer Homer. In 
his political views Mr. Henry affiliates with the Democratic party. A piece of good fortune fell 
tn Mrs. Henry in the shape of the first prize offered by the San Francisco Weekly Examiner. 
she having subscribed to that paper April 6, 1903. The drawing took place June 3, and the 
check was received the next day, a telegram of congratulation announcing its arrival. This 
event furnished the main topic of conversation in Visalia and vicinity for many weeks after- 
ward. Good use was made of the money, as the valuable investment proves.