Barry, James H., 1855-1927

James H. Barry Co., printers and lithographers, was founded in San Francisco in 1878. James H. Barry was founder and editor of The Star, an influential San Francisco weekly newspaper in existence from 1887-1921.

Biographical Information

James Henry Barry was born on February 15, 1856 in New York City to Mary Ann Harris Barry and William Barry. In 1859, his parents came to California via the Isthmus of Panama, but his mother died in 1862, leaving five young children. His father then married his sister-in-law, Mrs. Fischer, and together they had two more children before his death in 1870. The second Mrs. Barry raised the children, and lived until 1910.

James H. Barry attended San Francisco grammer school until obliged to join the work force at age 12, although he attended night school and studied privately. He worked in the composing room of a general book and job printing office. After 10 years he became a master printer, and embarked on his own business without any capital. His business prospered and in 1904 was incorporated as the James H. Barry Company. The company's plant, at the corner of Montgomery and Sacramento Sreets, was totally destroyed in the fire started by the 1906 earthquake. Barry began printing in Berkeley two days later, and in six weeks returned to San Francisco to a newly erected corrugated iron building on Leavenworth St. near the old City Hall.

In 1884, Barry founded the Star, a weekly journal published by him until its suspension in 1921. The paper was conceived for and consecreated to the fight against corruption in government, extremely rampant at the time of its inauguration, especially in the judiciary. Every effort was made to crush Barry's paper, and his life was threatened more than once. Barry had some libel suits to defend in unfriendly courts, which brought financial problems, but he always won, successfully backing up his accusations and swaying public opinion so that no judge or jury would convict him.

Barry was among the first and most ardent supporters of the Australian secret ballot, as well as the initiative, referendum and recall measures. He advocated public ownership of utilities such as the water supply and street railroads. He sounded the alarm against an undercover and secret early renewal of the franchise of the Geary Street Railroad, and fought for public ownership of it. This achievement was the foundation for San Francisco's Municipal Railway System.

Barry was a supporter of the 8-hour day for labor, and unilaterially implemented it at his business years before the Typographical Union demanded it. He also supported and adopted the Saturday half-holiday and the "forty-four hour week," and was an early advocate of the doctrines of Henry George and the "Single-Tax" movement.

Barry ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 1898. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Naval Officer of Customs at San Francisco, an office he held until December 1921. He received the nickname of "Commodore" at that time, fitting since the original Commodore Barry of American Revolutionary War fame was an ancestor.

Barry married Nellie V. Barnum of Utica, New York on January 11, 1883. Her father, Henry Barnum, an editorial writer for the Utica Observer, was at one time editor of the Pacific Rural Press. The Barry's had three children: Edith Barry Walthew, William Henry Barry, and James Milne Barry. In August 1925, returning from a European vacation on the liner Franconia, Barry slipped and fell while disembarking and seriously broke his leg. He died on August 20, 1927.