| Ventura County Biographies |
| Extracted from |
| "A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of |
| Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura, California" (1891) |
Tyler Bither
Tyler Bither is another of the worthy pioneers of California. He was born in Houlton, Aroostock County, Maine, June 15, 1828. His father, Benjamin bither, was also a native of Maine, and his grandfather came from England to that State in an early day. Mr. Bither's mother, Anna (Tyler) Bither, was a native of Maine and of Dutch descent. The subject of this sketch remained in his native State until twenty-three years of age, when, in 1854, he came to California, and for twelve years was engaged in mining in Tuolumne County. He dug from $2.50 to $100 per day, and in one pan got six ounces of gold, which he sold for $102. When he quit mining he went to San Josquin, took up Government land, which he improved, and ten years later sold it and located in San Luis Obispo County, remaining in that place one year. In 1877 he came to Ventura and, after renting land three years, purchased the farm of 100 acres on which he now resides. This he has improved, and his home is a comfortable and attractive one. Mr. Bither is devoting 400 acres to the cultivation of Lima beans and also small white beans, and is realizing from $30 to $80 per acre from his crops.
The subject of this sketch was married in 1852, to Miss Sarah J. Ward, who was born in Massachusetts in 1836. For thirty-eight years she has shared his joys and sorrows, and knows much of pioneer life. They have reared a family of seven children, all now living, viz.: Arthur A., born in Maine in 1853, resides in the San Joaquin Valley; Marion J., born in Tuolumne County, California, in 1861, is now the wife of J. M. Coffman, of Santa Barbara; Annie S., also born in Tuolumne County, now the wife of W. S. Newell, of Ventura; W. W. W., one of triplets, now a resident of Ventura, the other two having died a few hours after birth; B. F. and Minnie M., both born in San Joaquin; and S. J. Eva, born in Ventura in 1880.
Politically Mr. Bither was formerly a Douglas Democrat, but since the war has been a firm Republican. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge. His mother was a Freewill Baptist and his father a Universalist. Mrs. Bither was raised a Congregationalist.