California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

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


 JAMES W. WARREN. Actively and industriously engaged in the prosecution of the independent 
and honorable calling upon which the life, strength and wealth of the nation largely depends, 
James W. Warren holds a substantial position among the esteemed and successful farmers of 
Ingomar, Merced county. A son of Asahel Warren, Jr., he was born July 20, 1834, in Windsor 
county, Vt. of thrifty New England ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Asahel Warren, Sr., was 
born and reared in Massachusetts, but removed to Vermont, settling on a farm in Windsor 
county, where he passed the remainder of his life. Asahel Warren, Jr., and his wife, whose 
maiden name was Rhoda Bailey, were both life-long residents of the Green Mountain state, 
living on a farm in Windsor county, where they reared five children, two boys and three girls. 

The second child of the parental household, James W. Warren, in common with the children of 
the neighboring farmers, obtained his education in the district schools, and from his father 
acquired a practical knowledge of New England farming, which he subsequently followed for 
awhile amid the rocks of his native state. Following the march of civilization westward, he 
settled in Ogle county, Ill., in 1855. Four years later, in 1859, he started for Pike's Peak, taking 
the overland route. While crossing the plains he changed his plans, deciding to come to 
California. Locating first in Butte county, Mr. Warren turned his attention to any employment 
that he thought would prove profitable, working in the mines for a time, then making shakes, 
and finally becoming a freighter. He afterward drifted to Plumas county, then to Humboldt 
county, Nev., going from there to Sonoma county, Cal., and thence to Washoe county, Nev., 
where he worked for wages in a logging camp. Returning to California in 1869, Mr. Warren 
located on the west side of the San Joaquin valley, in Merced county. Buying one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, five and one-half miles southwest of Ingomar, and fourteen miles from 
Newman, he immediately began the improvement of his present homestead. He met with 
excellent success as a general farmer, and was also employed at carpentering and building for a 
number of years; his services as a skilful mechanic being in great demand throughout this part 
of the valley. He leases other land besides his own ranch, carrying on three hundred and eighty 
acres in all, raising as his principal crops wheat and barley, which invariably do well in this region. 

In Modesto, Cal, Mr. Warren married Carrie Fink, a native of Ohio, and they are the parents of 
three children, namely : Etta May, wife of W. S. Wicks, of Fresno; James Frederick and Ida 
Matilda, living at home. A stanch Republican in his political views, Mr. Warren takes an 
intelligent interest in the public welfare, and for a number of years was school director in the 
Clay district.