THOMAS ROBERT BARD
BARD, THOMAS ROBERT, banker, legislator, man of affairs, United States senator from California, is a son of Robert M. and Elizabeth S. (Little) Bard, and was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1841. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish and among the eariiest settlers of that part of the Cumberland valley in which Chambersburg is situated. In early youth he had the usual advantages of a common school education, and later he completed the course of study at the Chambersburg academy.
In selecting a career, his ambitions inclined him toward the law, but after some time devoted to its study, he abandoned it (temporarily, as he thought), and accepted a position as agent of the Cumberland Valley Railroad at Hagerstown, Maryland. He retained this connection for several years, but found the opportunities for advancement too restricted, and he began seriously casting about for a new field in which to test his strength. At this period the Pacific coast, with its boundless resources, was attracting general attention in the East, and, with wise foresight, Mr. Bard selected this as the theater of his future activities. His plan to become a lawyer gave way little by little as his instinct for business developed and, in 1864, he proceeded to Ventura county, California, where he immediately set about laying the foundations of a career that has since resulted in large material successes and in public honors.
The region in which Mr. Bard established himself was one particularly adapted to his enterprise and energy, and in the succeeding score of years he developed wide and diversified business interests. He identified himself with almost every plan of his adopted county's growth and well-being, and ere long his influence and activities had pushed far beyond county limits, and he became identified with the state at large.
He made his home at Hueneme, on the coast, where good transportation facilities were possible; and there he engaged in wharfing,
