Typescript (photocopy).

Thomas Oxnard was born in 1703 in Durham, England. He immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1725. He married Sarah Woodbury Osborn (1715-1773), daughter of John Osborne, in 1737. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania and Louisiana.

The Southern California city of Oxnard has its roots in agriculture. From the original dry-farming crops to labor-intensive sugar beets and most recently strawberries, each crop brought a new group of people to Ventura Countys largest city, located 60 miles north of Los Angeles. Many chapters of Oxnards enduring history have been captured on postcards and distributed to family and friends around the world. Arcadia Publishings Postcard History series allows these images to come home and tell the story once again.

La Colonia is half a square mile of land separated from the rest of Oxnard by the railroad tracks and home to the people who keep an agricultural empire running. In decades past, milpas of corn and squash grew in tiny front yards, kids played in the alleys and neighbors ran tortillerias out of their homes. Back then, it was the place to get the best raspadas on Earth. It was a home to Cesar Chavez and a campaign stop for presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. As one Colonia native put it, "We may not have had what the other kids had, but we were just as rich." Through the voices of the people, the authors share the challenges and triumphs of growing up in this treasured place.