Used name : Virginia.

In 1878, when he was 18 years old, Bartolomeo Barca immigrated to the United States, locating at Stockton, California, on July 4, 1878. He remained there about six months, then worked on dairy ranches in Napa and Sonoma counties, his wages being from fifteen to twenty dollars a month. He returned to Stockton for a short time, and then he spent few months in Sonoma. Later, he went to Saint Helena, where he was employed in a vineyard, and afterward moved to San Luis Obispo County, where he was engaged in dairying for ten years. He became an American citizen in San Luis Obispo on August 2, 1886.
He next went to Santa Barbara County, where he was employed for two years, and then he bought the Dreyfus dairy ranch at Eagle canyon, located about 8 miles northwest of Santa Barbara on Eagle Canyon Creek Road. There he met with serious loss, with nearly all of his cattle dying of Texas fever, and he then went to work for a Mr. Muscio in Foxen Canyon, remaining there one year. He then leased a ranch in partnership with D. Baffa, and together they operated the ranch for five years, after which the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Barca continued the operation of the place alone.

In 1901, at the age of 41, Mr. Barca returned to Switzerland to marry Victoria Grossini, but it had been too long a wait that resulted in the promised woman marrying someone else. So, she suggested he marry her 17 year old daughter. He agreed and was united in marriage to Miss Virginia Grossini, daughter of Thomas and Victoria (Jori) Grossini.

In the early 1900's, the Barca's began buying California properties. In approximately 1903 they bought a 2,105 acre ranch (originally part of the Todos Santos y San Antonio Mexican Land Grant) in the Los Alamos Valley (Santa Barbara County) on San Antonio Road East, about 0.7 miles east of its intersection with Highway 135 and this ranch is still owned by Bartolomeo’s heirs as of 2022. In 1912 they bought part of the Careaga ranch on the state highway 135, comprising two parcels, each about 620 acres in size. On one of these parcels, about 5.5 miles west of Los Alamos, they built their Tuscan-style residence in 1926. This parcel, located at 1138 California Highway 135 where highway 135 intersects with Batchelder Road, was eventually inherited by Bartolomeo’s daughter, Adelina, and her family continues ownership of a portion of this land as of 2022. The other parcel was left to their youngest son, Walter, but was subsequently sold. In 1926 they also purchased lots in Grover Beach, then known as Grover City. The subdivision was called the Pismo Beach Gardens located near the intersection of Farroll Road and Barca Street in Grover Beach. At the same time, on his home ranch Bartolomeo continued expanding his dairy business, becoming one of the largest dairy farmers in Santa Barbara County. He also raised large crops of grain and other farm products.

Over the years, Bartolomeo continued buying property. By the time of his death in 1932, in addition to the property described above, Bartolomeo and his wife had amassed considerable real estate holdings including a 160 acre dairy ranch in Arizona, a full block in the Embarcadero district in San Francisco, property in Berkeley, California and Eureka, California, and oil royalties on 14,000 acres of land located to the east of the main ranch. It remains a mystery exactly how a poor immigrant from Aurigeno, Switzerland was able to quickly acquire so very much wealth, but when he left Switzerland he was reported to have said, “I’ll never be hungry or thirsty again.”