Bernardo Fernandes, later known as Bernardo Fernandez, (November 15, 1828 – May 12, 1912) was an early pioneer of western Contra Costa County, California in the United States of America.

Biography

Born in Portugal, Fernandez joined a ship to Brazil when he was 13 years old, rose to be a ship's captain, and first settled in the United States in 1850, operating coastal shipping from New York.[1][2] In 1853 he arrived in Pinole, California,[1] as a gold prospector, but decided to settle,[3] operating a freight business between Contra Costa County and San Francisco[4] and starting in 1857 acquiring land.[2] He eventually became the area's wealthiest resident,[5] owning more than 20,000 acres in Pinole, Oakland, and San Francisco.[6] Among his holdings was a 9,000-acre ranch in western Contra Costa County on which he grew wheat and raised cattle; the remaining 700 acres of the Fernandez Ranch were acquired as an open space preserve in 2004[7] and expanded in 2010 with the addition of the adjacent Franklin Canyon property, also originally part of the ranch.[3][4]

In 1859 he married Carlotta Cuadra, a member of a Marin County pioneer family from Chile; they had six children.[1][2] Their third home, a 22-room mansion built in about 1894, is preserved as the Bernardo Fernandez House.[6] He died at home in Pinole in 1912.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Bernardo Fernandez Who Joins Pioneers Beyond the Divide: Reaper Calls Another Maker of Early History in California". San Francisco Call. May 14, 1912. Retrieved December 18, 2018 – via Pinole Patch.
  2. 1 2 3 J. P. Munro-Fraser (1882). History of Contra Costa County, California. San Francisco: W. A. Slocum. pp. 556–57. OCLC 1685078.
  3. 1 2 Carolyn Jones (July 28, 2010). "Hercules gift helps preserve Franklin Canyon". San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. 1 2 Maggie Avants (June 2, 2017). "East Bay Trails: Newly Expanded Fernandez Ranch Opens To Public". Martinez Patch. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  5. ↑ Chris Treadway (May 10, 2017). "Early Contra Costa Pioneer to be Focus of History Talk". East Bay Times.
  6. 1 2 "25. Fernandez Mansion" (PDF). Walking Tour. Pinole Historical Society. p. 6. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  7. ↑ Erin Hallissy (May 1, 2004). "Family hopes to preserve pristine Fernandez Ranch: Fund raising begins to save last vestige of historic site". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
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