Bernardo Fernandez

{{Short description|Portuguese rancher (1828–1912)}} '''Bernardo Fernandes''', later known by the Spanish spelling of his name '''Bernardo Fernandez''', (November 15, 1828 – May 12, 1912) was a Portuguese-born Californian rancher and entrepreneur in Contra Costa County, California.

==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.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |url=https://patch.com/california/pinole-hercules/bp--in-the-news-death-of-a-pioneer |title=Bernardo Fernandez Who Joins Pioneers Beyond the Divide: Reaper Calls Another Maker of Early History in California |newspaper=San Francisco Call |date=May 14, 1912 |via=Pinole Patch |access-date=December 18, 2018 }}</ref><ref name=book>{{cite book |author=J. P. Munro-Fraser |title=History of Contra Costa County, California |year=1882 |location=San Francisco |publisher=W. A. Slocum |oclc=1685078 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcontrco00munrrich |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofcontrco00munrrich/page/556 556]–57 }}</ref> In 1853 he arrived in Pinole, California,<ref name=obit/> as a gold prospector, but decided to settle,<ref name=Franklin>{{cite news |author=Carolyn Jones |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Hercules-gift-helps-preserve-Franklin-Canyon-3257840.php |title=Hercules gift helps preserve Franklin Canyon |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 28, 2010 }}</ref> operating a freight business between Contra Costa County and San Francisco<ref name=opening>{{cite news |author=Maggie Avants |url=https://patch.com/california/martinez/east-bay-trails-newly-expanded-fernandez-ranch-opens-public-june-3 |title=East Bay Trails: Newly Expanded Fernandez Ranch Opens To Public |website=Martinez Patch |date=June 2, 2017 |access-date=December 18, 2018 }}</ref> and starting in 1857 acquiring land.<ref name=book/> He eventually became the area's wealthiest resident,<ref>{{cite news |author=Chris Treadway |url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/05/10/early-contra-costa-pioneer-to-be-focus-of-history-talk/ |title=Early Contra Costa Pioneer to be Focus of History Talk |newspaper=East Bay Times |date=May 10, 2017 }}</ref> owning more than 20,000 acres in Pinole, Oakland, and San Francisco.<ref name=house>{{cite web |url=http://www.pinolehistoricalsociety.org/walktour.pdf |title=25. Fernandez Mansion |website=Walking Tour |publisher=Pinole Historical Society |page=6 |access-date=2018-12-18 }}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite news |author=Erin Hallissy |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/CONTRA-COSTA-COUNTY-Family-hopes-to-preserve-2762920.php |title=Family hopes to preserve pristine Fernandez Ranch: Fund raising begins to save last vestige of historic site |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 1, 2004 |access-date=December 18, 2018 }}</ref> and expanded in 2010 with the addition of the adjacent Franklin Canyon property, also originally part of the ranch.<ref name=Franklin/><ref name=opening/>

In 1859 he married Carlotta Cuadra, a member of a Marin County pioneer family from Chile; they had six children.<ref name=obit/><ref name=book/> Their third home, a 22-room mansion built in about 1894, is preserved as the Bernardo Fernandez House.<ref name=house/> He died at home in Pinole in 1912.<ref name=obit/>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Bernardo}} Category:People from Pinole, California Category:Portuguese emigrants to the United States Category:1828 births Category:1912 deaths Category:Ranchers from California