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


CHARLES HENRY MOSHER. A farm improved and made valuable by the energy and 
resource of a man who has depended solely upon his own efforts and to whom the country is both 
a profitable and pleasant place in which to dwell, is that of Charles Henry Mosher, who in 1890 
became the owner of eighty acres five miles southeast of Visalia. Thirty-five acres of this 
ranch he put under peaches and prunes, and prepared them for market in a home dryer, and 
the balance lie put in pasture and general farming, being equipped with substantial barns and 
buildings and needful agricultural implements. 

Born in Tompkins county, N. Y., March 4, 1841, Mr. Mosher was six years old when his 
parents, Ambrose and Sarah (Castleine) Mosher, moved to Battle Creek, Mich., then offering su- 
perior facilities for lumbering and mercantile enterprises. Ambrose Mosher, who was a na- 
tive of Dutchess county, N. Y., turned his attention to both lumbering and merchandising, 
owning sawmills and conducting a large and flourishing business. Eleven years after arriv- 
ing in Michigan, in 1858, his death occurred after a slight illness, he being then but fifty- 
two years old, and seemingly in the prime of a vigorous manhood. His wife also died in 
Michigan, leaving two sons and two daughters, the youngest of whom is Charles Henry, who 
was educated in the common schools of Battle Creek. At an early day he moved to Wisconsin, 
where he became interested in lumbering and logging, and where he was sufficiently success- 
ful to warrant him in starting lumber yards in Minnesota and Iowa, his removal to the former 
state taking place in 1875. At Lanesboro, Minn., he engaged in business for two years, and upon 
returning to Wisconsin started a hotel at Wausau, which he operated with a partner, to whom 
he sold his interest at the end of two years. Locating in Centerville, Iowa, he carried on a re- 
tail lumber business for two years, and in 1888 took up his residence in Santa Cruz, Cal., and 
engaged in a livery business for a year and a half. In 1890 he moved to Tulare county and 
bought the property which he improved and which was his residence until December, 1904, 
when he sold out. 

Since casting his first presidential vote Mr. Mosher has been loyal to the Republican party, 
but has never been willing to accept official honors from his fellow townsmen. His associa- 
tion with the Masonic fraternity dates from his residence in Wisconsin, from which lodge he was 
demitted. In Perry county, Ill., he married Gertrude Halsey, who was born in Vermont, and 
who has become the mother of the following children : William, of Visalia ; Belle, at home ; 
Charles, with the Ringling Brothers' circus ; Gertrude, attending the State University at 
Berkeley ; and Fred and Margaret, at home. The years have brought esteem and honor to Mr. 
Mosher. leaving him a typical representative of the substantial and successful western gentle- 
man.