JAMES W. FORWARD
DAIRY, SAN JOSE
Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: WALKER, PETERS, LYTH
—An alert and far-seeing dairyman who is striking
into new paths in the interest of the
patronizing public, is James W. Forward,
whose ideal dairy ranch is on the Brokaw Road, northwest of San Jose. He was
born near Spokane, Wash., on January
29, 1884, the son of J. A. Forward, a
native of Montreal, Can., and a carpenter
and builder. He married Miss Edna Walker, a native of Bloomfield, Cal., and a member of the Walker family
who were early pioneers at that place, being
a daughter of Alonzo and Elizabeth (Peters) Walker. J. A. Forward took up a homestead in Washington, and later
came to Santa Rosa; but he remained there for only a short time and then moved back to Washington. In 1891 he came to San Jose; and
here James W. Forward attended first the grammar
and then, for two years, the high school long such a credit to the city.
When he started out
for himself, James W. Forward worked
for one year in the mills of the Santa Clara
Valley Mill & Lumber Company, and after that he learned the
carpenter's trade under the direction of
his father. Later, he took up a course in drafting and from that he
passed on to architecture, which he used in
connection with contracting, in which
he engaged in for eight years. Next he went to British Columbia and
acquired a tract of land, but after three years he returned to San Jose, where
he again engaged in contracting; but in 1914 he bought twenty acres of land on the Brokaw Road, northwest of San Jose,
and thereon he has since built his home. He
planted the land to alfalfa and started a dairy. He commenced in a small way, and at present he has forty cows, to which he will add from time to time. He sells all the milk direct to the
consumer, and under his unique method of handling the milking, he has
evolved the highest-test milk in the vicinity
of San Jose. The cows are milked with machinery,
and after passing through a pipe line, the
milk is cooled to a very low temperature and deposited in a large tank from which it is bottled, the milk at no time coming in contact with the person handling it. The machine and pipe line are taken
apart every day and washed and sterilized. Mr. Forward has two feeding pens,
each with a • feeding capacity for thirty
cows; these pens face each other, so
that all the cattle can be fed from the same carrier. Mr. Forward has a separate milking pen where the cows are taken to be milked, and this pen has a capacity for thirty cows. All that is necessary
to increase the capacity of his plant is the addition of another set of
feeding pens; the one milking pen will suffice
for as many cows as he cares to handle. He also has special cooling
rooms and milk rooms.
At San Jose, on June 27, 1909, Mr. Forward was married to Miss Leola Lyth, the daughter of Frank and
Prudence Lyth who came out to California from Nebraska
when she was three years old. Mr. Lyth was a contracting builder. Miss
Lyth went to the grammar and the high school,
and the San Jose Normal; she then taught school for a short time previous to being married. Two children have been born
to this union, Frances and Robert.
Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California,
published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 1095
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT