Barnwell, Robert W.

Robert W. Barnwell, born in Gilmer, Texas, on July 5, 1872, became one of the most prominent fruit growers and shippers in Fresno County, California. He arrived in Fresno with his family on January 1, 1888, and later completed his education at the West Park School under the tutelage of educator E. W. Lindsay. As a young man, he gained valuable industry experience working in the vineyard of his father, D. M. Barnwell, a Confederate veteran who built a large 220 acre raisin growing estate in the West Park Colony Tract. Robert later established himself as an expert fruit buyer, working six years for A. L. Hobbs and five years for J. K. Armsby before returning to Rosenberg for two years.

He eventually launched his own highly successful business buying and shipping green and dried fruit, managing annual shipments valued at 500,000 dollars. His commercial operations expanded to include a dried and green fruit plant in Parlier, a green fruit plant in Clovis, and personal holdings consisting of a fig orchard, a vineyard, and 320 acres of grain land. In January 1919, he sold his fruit business to Kelley and Simpson to manage his own and his father ranch interests. Married to Arah B. Holcomb of Texas and father to a daughter named Achsah, he became a deeply respected citizen, a thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner, and a prominent Elk.