Photograph of Justin Nelson and Chester Barry bottling beer at the Ocean View Bottling Works, also known as Brewery Gulch Bottling Works, in Mendocino. Chester and Justin were half-brothers, and Chester was the operator of the brewery.
March 18, 1925 – Chester L. Barry passed away in Mendocino at the home of his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Knacke. He had been ill for several weeks, but insisted on getting up for a few hours every day and sitting outside in the sunshine. The night before, he had fallen into a deep sleep from which he never awakened, passing away without a struggle.
Born in Mendocino in 1873, Chester, known to all his old-time friends as “Ches,” was the son of pioneer barber John Barry and Amelia Laurell Barry Nelson. The Beacon reported, “He suffered greatly from asthma from his early youth, and this malady gave him trouble all through life, recurring at intervals each year and no doubt was responsible for the pulmonary trouble that brought about his death. Ches had followed many avocations, principally along this coast where he had worked as a millman, woodsman, fireman, and engineer on local logging railroads. During the war period he was employed in the Union Iron Works at San Francisco. For the last several years he had kept a pool room and soft drink stand in the Johnson building on Ukiah and Lansing streets. He was well-known up and down the coast for his genial ways and generous nature and had a very large number of friends.”
He was survived by 3 sisters, Mrs. Eva Knacke of Mendocino, and Mrs. Sophie Harvey and Mrs. Alice Dunne, both of San Francisco. Funeral services were held in the Odd Fellows Hall, and internment was in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery.
New Exhibit! Neighbors Across the Pond – Vintage Photographs & Objects from the Ford & Kelley Family Collections. Exhibit includes glass bottles, dolls, and clay pipes excavated from the historic Kelley Pond. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 am to 3 pm. Located at 45007 Albion Street, Mendocino.