ROBERT WELCH
Bio-Pen Picturesis one of the large land owners of the country. His fine home property, of 183 acres, is located on the Berryessa and Milpitas road, in the Berryessa School District, about six miles north of San Jose, and one and a half miles south of Milpitas. Mr. Welch devotes this extensive ranch entirely to the growing of hay and grain and to stock-raising. In the latter business he is much interested, and accomplishes a great deal in the improvement of the draft horses of the county, as he breeds only the best of stock. He has thirty head of thoroughbred Norman draft horses, among which may be noted two imported full-bred Norman stallions.
In addition to his homestead, Mr. Welch owns 167 acres of hill land, situated just east of his residence. This tract is largely used as a hay and grain farm, but portions of the land are producing large crops of vegetables, and this too without irrigation.
The subject of our sketch was born in Dorchester County, Canada East, July 22, 1832. His parents, Thomas and Mary (Kahoe) Welch, were natives of Wexford County, Ireland. His father dying when he was but three years of age, he was left to the care of his mother. She reared him to the life of a farmer, and that occupation he pursued on his mother's farm until he reached his majority. He then came, by the Nicaragua route, to this State. Immediately upon arriving at San Francisco, he proceeded to Santa Clara County. Here he worked for his brother until the fall of 1854, when both entered the mines on the South Fork of the American River. A trial of about six months convinced him that the life was an undesirable one, and he went to Alameda County, where he remained for a few months. He finally returned to this county and engaged in stock-raising and farming, purchasing and taking possession of the lands upon which he now lives, in May, 1856.
On the eighth of November, 1868, Mr. Welch married Miss Catherine Kennedy, the daughter of Timothy and Margaret (Dorsey) Kennedy, residents of Canada West, but natives of Tipperary County, Ireland. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Welch, and seven of them are now living. Their names are : Mary Ellen, Thomas Francis, Catherine Isabel, Alice, Robert Timothy, Cecilia Viola, and Edmund John.
Mr. Welch is an active and enterprising farmer, and despite the fact that in his youth he was deprived of many of the advantages resulting from a good education, he has acquired a practical and thorough knowledge of his business, and has made it most successful. He is a good citizen and a respected member of the community. He is a member of the Catholic Church, in whose welfare he takes a deep and sincere interest.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
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