RICHFORD A. THOMAS
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: BARNES, BROCK, CATOR,
is quite largely interested in horticulture, producing, on his twenty acres of fruit land, apricots, peaches, prunes, and cherries. His land is located, ten acres on the east, and ten acres on the west, of Hicks Avenue, with his residence on the west half. Mr. Thomas bought the residence portion, in 1877, for $225 per acre. It was then covered with willows, and had on it nine large sycamore trees, but, under Mr. Thomas' care, was soon converted into an orchard. In 1882, for the tract east of the avenue, which was then part of a barley field, he paid $333 per acre. Here he started a nursery, and in two years' time he realized from it $1,000 more than he had paid for that portion of the land. It is now a full-bearing orchard.
Mr. Thomas was born in Belmont County, Ohio, January 17, 1831. He is the son of Camm and Rachel (Barnes) Thomas. His father is deceased, but his mother still survives and lives at the old homestead with her son, Capt. A. C. Thomas. Mr. Thomas came to California in 1854, and for about twelve years followed mining in Placer County. He had married, in Ohio, during the year preceding his removal to California, Miss Ann Jane Brock. She joined him in this State in 1855, but lived to enjoy her new home but two years. She left one son, Jay, now a resident of Ohio.
Mr. Thomas returned to Ohio in 1861, and on the twenty-seventh of June of that year married Miss Eliza Cator. He returned immediately with his wife to California. In 1866 he left the mines and engaged in farming in Napa Valley for two years. Selling this farm, he bought another near Sacramento City, where he lived for two years. Then selling again, he returned to the mines, where he remained for about two years, when he again engaged in farming in the upper part of Napa Valley. In 1873 he returned to Ohio, but after a residence of so many years in the mild climate of the Golden State, he found that the winters were too severe for his health, and he again returned to California, and made his permanent home at the Willows.
Mr. Thomas, by his second wife, has five children: Judge D., now in the mines in Placer County; Edward E., a teacher in this county; Ida M., also a teacher; Laura L., now attending Normal School, preparatory to teaching; and Nettie, the youngest.
Mr. Thomas is a strong Republican, fully in sympathy with its principles. After spending much of his life in California, in various occupations, Mr. Thomas is satisfied with his pleasant home, with its thrifty orchards and pleasing surroundings in the lovely Santa Clara Valley.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
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