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


ABRAM LINCOLN HOBSON, son of the late W. D. Hobson, "The Father of Ventura County," has 
for years been one of the most influential and successful business men of Ventura County and 
his work and activities have given additional prestige to the honored name he bears.
Mr. Hobson was born on March 22, 1861, in Ventura, California. He was educated partly in the 
public schools of Ventura and partly under the instruction of his father. At the age of fifteen he 
became associated with his father in the packing and retail meat business. Four years later he 
purchased his father's interest and admitted his brother, William A. Hobson, into a partnership 
which has existed for over thirty-five years. Together they accumulated large real estate 
holdings and became the leading live-stock men in Ventura County, organizing the Hobson 
Brothers Packing Company in Ventura and the Santa Barbara Packing Company in Santa 
Barbara.
Much of their business has been of a semi-public character. For a number of years they were 
among the leading street-paving contractors in the West and handled various large contracts in 
several cities, including the contract for building the gravity outlet sewer in Salt Lake City.
In 1905 they organized the Palo Verde Land & Water Company, which put on the market 40,000 
acres included in the old Blythe estate and founded the Town of Blythe. Mr. Hobson, as 
president of the company, put the valley under irrigation, converting a desert waste into one of 
the most productive and prosperous communities in the state. Through his influence the 
railroad has recently been extended into the valley.
Mr. Hobson takes a very active interest in republican politics and in all the public affairs of his 
county, being at present a member of the State Central Committee and having served during 
the past year as president of the Chamber of Commerce.