FRED BARCROFT, a hardware merchant and tinsmith of Madera, was born in Hornitos, Mariposa County, California, in 1858. His educational facilities were extremely limited, and his later successes are due to his natural brightness and adaptability to the business of life which he adopted. He was apprenticed at an early age to J. Kocher, of Merced, to learn the trade of tinsmith, with whom he remained nearly six years. He then started a hardware and tin store in Merced, which he continued until in December, 1884, when he came to Madera. The town was just starting, and his was the pioneer tin-shop in the town. Though business was dull for some time, later events proved the wisdom of his choice of location, as he has built an extensive trade. He built his present store (the first having been destroyed by fire) on Yo Semite avenue, in 1885, which is a frame building 48 x 100 feet, partly for a shop, with one room 30x100 feet for a public hall, called Barcroft Hall. The hall has recently been converted into a business room, a part of the space being used as a tin-shop and the rest thrown with the store-room. Mr. Barcroft keeps a general stock of stoves and hardware, and is prepared with experienced men to perform all kinds of plumbing and tin or sheet-iron work.

He has been twice married, first at Hornitos in 1884, and again in Madera, September 20, 1890, to Miss Cornelia Reyes, a native of California. Mr. Barcroft is a member of the volunteer fire department, and is an experienced hand, having been foreman of the fire company at Merced. He was a member of the Madera brass band, but has withdrawn from it. He owns a comfortable residence on C street, and other town property unimproved. His business is growing rapidly, and he has bright prospects of future success and prosperity.


Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892

MARIPOSA COUNTY FAMILY CHRONICLES
MARIPOSA COUNTY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY

June, 2015