California Biographies, Kern County
HON. CHARLES A. BARLOW AND WILLIAM H. HILL

History of Kern County, California, with biographical sketches 
of the leading men and women of the county who have been 
identified with its growth and development from the early days 
to the present.

Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company, 1914
History by Morgan, Wallace Melvin

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


HON. CHARLES A. BARLOW AND WILLIAM H. HILL.— No 
industry has contributed in greater degree to the wealth of Kern county 
than that of oil development and probably no firm has been identified more 
intimately with the advancement of the industry during the past decade than 
that of Barlow & Hill, a title familiar to all who have kept in touch with 
local progress. Since the organization of the firm in 1902 they have organized 
many companies, all of which have been successful, and the six which they 
now operate have shares of stock that are quoted as gilt-edged security 
with a continuous tendency to rise in public and private markets. Besides 
the six companies they are at present interested in Maricopa and Midway 
oil properties and in addition have been successful in establishing a national 
reputation for Sunset road oil, which is extensively used in the states of 
California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, 
Texas and Idaho and, in fact, as far east as Kansas City. To the enter- 
prise, knowledge and direction of the two members of the firm, Kern county 
is in a great measure indebted for its present high standing as an oil-pro- 
ducing section. No temporary discouragement has lessened their faith in the 
oil industry of this region and in the natural mineral wealth of the state. 
Thoroughly optimistic in temperament, yet conservative in action, they 
stand for that large element of loyal citizenship indissolubly associated with 
the progress of city, county and commonwealth. 

Born in Cleveland, Ohio. March 17, 1858, Hon. Charles Averill Barlow 
is a son of Hon. Merrill and Ann Frances (Arnold) Barlow, the former a 
distinguished attorney in Cleveland, who during the war administration 
was selected to serve as quartermaster-general of Ohio. About 1872, when 
forty-eight years of age, he was stricken suddenly with apoplexy and passed 
from earth before he had achieved financial success, but in the midst of a 
remarkable professional career that had brought him fame as a leading crim- 
inal lawyer of Cleveland. Surviving him were his wife and four children, 
the latter named as follows : Coralinne, now the wife of James S. Rice, a 
retired orange-grower living at Tustin, Orange county, Cal. ; Charles 
Averill, of Bakersfield: Edward Sumner, who resides on the old home farm 
at Ventura, this state: and Belle Remington, now the wife of Frank Bates, 
of Ventura. When the family came to California about the year 1875 they 
settled at Ventura-by-the-sea and C. A., then a youth of seventeen years, 
began with eagerness to study western conditions, resources and prospects, 
meanwhile earning a livelihood on farms and in various occupations in town. 
Possessing ideas that were in advance of his time, he joined enthusiastically 
in many reform movements and for such work he found a favorable opening 
when he and a partner, Mr. Tuley. established and conducted the Reasoner, 
a weekly paper that became the Populist organ for San Luis Obispo county. 
As early as 1888 he began to support the free silver cause and for years 
he was the leading exponent of that movement in his part of the state. Dur- 
ing 1893 the Populist party elected him to the state legislature, where he 
served not only with fidelity, but even with distinction. 

With the assistance of the votes of free silver Republicans Mr. Barlow 
in 1896 was elected by the Populist party to the Fifty-fifth congress as the 
representative from the sixth congressional district, which at that time 
included the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis 
Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz. In congress he distinguished himself 
for his uncompromising stand in favor of reform measures. Credited to his 
efforts was the passage of a bill setting aside the Pine mountain forest 
reservation, comprising several million acres of land extending south almost 
as far as Pasadena. Other measures for the permanent benefit of the state 
and the people received his steadfast aid. When the principles of the Popu- 
list party were to some extent adopted by the Democrats, he turned to the 
older party organization, in which since he has been an active worker. 
During 1912 he was chosen one of four delegates-at-large from California to 
the national Democratic convention at Baltimore that nominated Woodrow 
Wilson for President of the United States. The American Mining Congress, 
of which he is a member, selected him as committeeman to propose a plank 
in the national Democratic platform of that year favorable to mining and 
the oil industry. 

During 1901 Mr. Barlow and his accomplished wife, who was formerly 
Miss Elizabeth McDonell, of Ventura county, established their home in 
Bakersfield, where they erected and now occupy a beautiful residence fitted 
with all modern improvements and conveniences. Since his removal to this 
city Mr. Barlow has become a very prominent citizen and has served ably 
as president of the Kern county board of trade, besides being a large stock- 
holder and one of the directors in the new Security Trust Company. In 
business circles he enjoys a high reputation. Fraternally he has been 
actively associated with the Woodmen, Elks and Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. Since 1902 he has been a partner of W. H. Hill, a resident of 
California and Bakersfield from the year 1901 and a native of Geneseo, Liv- 
ingston county, N. Y., born November 19, 1848. While yet very young Mr. 
Hill began to work in the lumber business and for years he gave to that 
occupation his entire time and attention. For twelve years he served as chair- 
man of the board of supervisors of Schoolcraft county, Mich. Since coming 
west he has become known as a well-informed, accurate business man and 
his counsel is much sought, particularly by those wishing to embark in the 
oil business. He is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of 
Bakersfield and the Producers' Savings Bank. Like his partner, he owns a 
fine home in Bakersfield and is a firm believer in a prosperous future assured 
for the city. 

Concerning the firm of Barlow & Hill we quote the following from the oil 
review edition of the Morning Echo, Bakersfield, February 28, 1911 : "Califor- 
nia has no better known industry than oil and the oil industry has no more well 
known firm than Barlow & Hill, for the past nine years doing a large busi- 
ness in Bakersfield and Kern county as dealers in oil lands and producing 
oil companies, essentially the latter. The personnel of the firm, C. A. Barlow 
and W. H. Hill, assures its high standing and gives confidence to its con- 
stantly increasing clientele. Barlow & Hill formed a partnership in August, 
1902, to deal in oil lands. Since that time they have organized many oil 
companies, all of which have become producers, and Barlow & Hill have 
never taken a dollar of their clients' money but what in each case the com- 
pany joined the ranks of the paying producers. They have six oil com- 
panies of their own and are extensively interested in Maricopa and Midway 
oil properties. They rehabilitated three oil companies which were sold to 
eastern capitalists and have produced oil in quantities as claimed by the firm, 
frequently in excess of their estimates. Among the many successful ven- 
tures which Barlow & Hill have had to deal with was the making of the 
country-wide reputation for Sunset road oil. They took hold of the Sunset 
companies at Maricopa when it was considered unprofitable and well-nigh 
impracticable to handle this oil. owing to its being too heavy and hard for 
fuel purposes. But Barlow & Hill were not discouraged and by dint of their 
well-directed efforts Sunset road oil or its equivalent has become a part of 
the specifications in road-building with oil as demanded by municipalities on 
the Pacific coast and elsewhere." 

A Half Century of Progress, Bakersfield and Kern County, 1912, in 
mentioning the progressive business efforts of Barlow & Hill, give the 
following summary of their work in the oil industry and the importance of 
this industry to the development of local wealth : "It should be a matter 
of the liveliest satisfaction to the people of California to know that no 
single corporation or group of individuals is controlling the destiny of the 
state's oil industry by the monopolization of territory, rate of development 
and production, or the fixing of arbitrary prices. The petroleum interests 
of California are too big for any combination of capital to swing and manipu- 
late at will for any period of time. Petroleum apparently exists in every 
section of this big commonwealth, so blessed by nature in the glories of 
sky and air, in the ocean about it and in its pregnant soil, blessed even in 
the bowels of its earth, which yield a rich return to man's labor almost for 
the asking. There are any number of safe investments in Kern county open 
to inspection. Money must be active to make quick and large profits. Slow 
money slowly responds with slow interest. The investor who is content 
with the latter is out of joint with the times and in the rear end of the race 
for competency and wealth. No class of speculative investment is safer or 
promises larger profits than investment in oil companies backed by unlim- 
ited ca]iital and experience, and directed by reputable men. Such is the 
character of the six oil companies operated by Barlow & Hill, a firm estab- 
lished in 1902 to deal in oil lands, and that since has been one of the 
effectual forces in the building up of the oil industry in Kern county. Among 
their many successful ventures was the making of a country-wide reputation 
for Sunset road oil. The two partners in the firm are widely known and are 
numbered among the most influential men of the community, taking an 
active interest in all measures for the advancement of Bakersfield and her 
commercial interests."