California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

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

JOSEPH HOBART was one of the California forty-niners, a pioneer merchant of San Francisco, 
but the last forty years of his life he spent in Ventura County. He was the first man to 
successfully grow apricots and almonds in the Upper Ojai Valley.
The interval of almost an entire continent separated his birthplace from the scenes where he 
died. He was born in Abbington, Massachusetts, December 3, 1831, a son of Benjamin and 
Deborah (Lazell) Hobart. He grew up in a cultured home, was given the advantages of the 
public schools and the Preparatory School of Phillips-Exeter Academy at Andover, New 
Hampshire. He did not complete his education on account of ill health. Seeking a change and 
also being desirous of the excitement and adventure loved by every energetic boy, he eagerly 
accepted an opportunity to become a member of a crew on a sailing vessel which was bound 
for California and made the journey around the Horn. He arrived in San Francisco when that 
was still a city of tents, and in association with his brother engaged in the whole- sale boot and 
shoe business. He prospered in his business affairs and was one of the substantial business men 
who assisted to bring order out of chaos in that city, serving as a member of the famous 
Vigilance Committee. He was also one of the founders and a trustee of the Mercantile Library 
of San Francisco.
In 1862 Mr. Hobart returned to the East for the purpose of being married. He and three others 
chartered a mail coach from San Francisco to St. Louis and they made the entire journey across 
the plains and over the mountains in twenty-one days and nights. The journey from St. Louis to 
Philadelphia was made by railroad. After his marriage he returned to San Francisco, but in 1864 
sold out his interest in the wholesale shoe business, and went to Boston, Massachusetts. This 
journey he made by way of the Isthmus of Panama. During his business years in San Francisco 
he crossed the Isthmus of Panama no less than fourteen times. From Boston he removed to 
New York City, lived there until 1871, and in that year returned to California, making Santa 
Barbara his home. His health being somewhat impaired, he sought a more congenial location, 
and in the spring of 1872 bought 450 acres in the Upper Ojai Valley then a part of Santa 
Barbara County. Part of that land he set out in apricots and almonds, and as already stated he 
was the first to plant those crops with success in that region. At the time of his death on 
September 4, 1912, he had a grove of fifteen acres in almonds and fifteen acres in apricots. 
Since his death his two energetic daughters have continued this branch of culture, and now 
have eighteen acres in apricots and twenty-four acres in almonds, and the remainder of their 
estate, forty- two acres, is devoted to general farming.
During his absence from San Francisco and prior to locating in Santa Barbara he made two trips 
to Europe, one for pleasure, and the other one of both business and pleasure. Mr. Hobart in his 
younger days took an active interest in politics and during his residence in the Ojai Valley was a 
member of the Library Board, the school trustees and in fact took an active part in all matters 
1-elating to the community. He always was an optimist and his presence was welcome in all 
gatherings. He was one of the most popular men in the valley and his death came as a shock to 
the community. He was not a self-seeker and was ever seeking to do some kindly act for his 
neighbors.
The late Mr. Hobart was a member of the Masonic order, was a republican in politics and in 
religion the views as expressed in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg he found most 
acceptable. In Philadelphia, January 16, 1862, he married Miss Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter 
of Joseph and Rachel (Burr) Hutchinson, who were members of old Quaker families. Mrs. 
Hobart died August 6, 1915, in her eighty-first year. There were four children, the two older 
dying in infancy and the two younger Gertrude L. and Margaret H. remain on the old 
homestead near Nordhoff, and have proved exceedingly capable in managing the estate. Miss 
Gertrude L. and Miss Margaret H. Hobart are both members of the Ojai Woman's Club, which 
developed from the order of the Ojai King's Daughters Association, both incorporated societies. 
Miss Gertrude L. Hobart was one of the organizers of the King's Daughters and she and her 
sister were charter members of the Woman's Club, which has a very attractive club house in 
Nordhoff. She was president of the King's Daughters Association for twelve consecutive years, 
an organization which grew from twenty charter members to over eighty. In the Woman's Club 
she is a member of the executive board and is chairman of the manual training committee. She 
was elected as a member of the several boards of trustees, to the positions made vacant by her 
father's death, and has faithfully endeavored to carry on the work in conformity with the views 
expressed by her father.