• Source: Henry T. Oxnard

      • Henry Thomas Oxnard (June 23, 1860 – June 8, 1922) was a French-born, American entrepreneur and namesake of Oxnard, California and its Henry T. Oxnard Historic District. Oxnard was president of both the American Beet Sugar Company (which later changed its name to American Crystal Sugar Company) and the American Beet Sugar Association, which represents all the beet sugar factories in the United States. He and his brothers controlled five sugar factories in the United States.


      Background


      Henry Thomas Oxnard was born to Adeline (née Brown) and Thomas A. Oxnard. He had three brothers, Robert, Benjamin A. and James G. In 1860, Oxnard's French-born father sold his sugar cane plantations and refinery in Louisiana, and by doing so was able to escape the business risks of the American Civil War by returning to his native France where Henry was born in Marseilles the year before the Civil War started. The family returned to the United States where Henry Oxnard would grow up in Massachusetts and attend Harvard College.
      In 1889, Oxnard and his associates established a sugar refinery in Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1891, two more plants were built in Chino, California and Norfolk, Nebraska. In 1899, Oxnard opened a factory in Ventura County, California. The area around the plant later would become the town of Oxnard.
      In 1900, Henry Oxnard married Marie Pichon with whom he had two daughters, Adeline (1901) who was named for her paternal grandmother, and Nadine (1903).


      Thoroughbred horse racing


      Henry Oxnard raced Thoroughbred horses under the nom de course Albemarle Stable. In 1902 he hired future Hall of Fame inductee R. Wyndham Walden to train his stable of horses.
      In 1903, Henry Oxnard purchased the 517 acre Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville, Virginia where he established a Thoroughbred breeding operation. In 2006, the farm was designated for its historical significance by the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
      Many involved in the horse racing industry were greatly harmed by the 1908 Hart–Agnew Law which led to the closing of all racing in New York state in 1911 and 1912. A February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division saw horse racing return in 1913. Prior to the restart, in April Henry Oxnard and other wealthy industry leaders created the "Owners Fund" to cover losses for 1913 and 1914 incurred by those less fortunate who might need financial assistance while attempting to get back on their feet again.


      Death



      Henry Oxnard died on June 8, 1922, in New York City. He is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.


      Notes




      References


      Union Pacific Railroad Company - Passenger Department (1893). The Resources and Attractions of Nebraska: Facts on Farming, Stock-Raising, and Other Industries, and Notes on Climate. St. Louis: Woodward & Tiernan Print. Co. pp. 31–38, 43–46. OCLC 38425712.
      Myrick, Herbert; Stubbs, William Carter (1899). The American sugar industry; a practical manual on the production of sugar beets and sugar cane, and on the manufacture of sugar therefrom. New York, Springfield, Mass.: Orange Judd. OCLC 187475732.
      "Statement of Mr. Henry T. Oxnard, Sugar manufacturer and president American Beet Sugar Association". Reciprocity with Cuba. Hearings before the Committee on ways and means, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. January 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 1902. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1902. pp. 164–183.
      "Testimony of H. T. Oxnard". Maintenance of a Lobby to Influence Legislation: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States, Sixty-third Congress, First Session, Pursuant to S. Res. 92, a Resolution Instructing the Committee on the Judiciary to Investigate the Charge that a Lobby is Maintained to Influence Legislation Pending in the Senate. Vol. 2. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1913. pp. 1186–1256.


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