Joseph William Cover Sr. ¹

The Cover Family In the late 1940's the families of Joe Cover and Carol Hitch moved from the Modesto area up to the mountains of Long Barn, CA. In 1953 they were married and for the next few years Joe worked with his brother Rudy cutting timber for local saw mills. In 1955 the first of their seven children were born. By 1957 Joe had become self employed with a custom tree felling business which included the cutting and sales of firewood, and later the art of high climbing and topping. For the next twenty years as the business and family grew, so did the responsibilities. In 1965 Joe was called to the Ministry of the Old Brethren Church. In 1978 a partnership was formed with the three oldest sons. They branched out into custom logging and trucking. In 1988 Joe Cover & Sons became a corporation and the three youngest sons were brought on board at this time. Over the next ten years the business has expanded to include other areas of work and the addition of grandsons into the corporation. Joe and Carol are still very involved in the family business with Joe managing and Carol involved in the office. In 1998 the Family took on a new venture with the purchase of Sonka's Apple Ranch. This is truly a Family business, involving Joe and Carol's only daughter, and her family, their six daughters-in-law and their 23 grandchildren.

Joseph married Carol Ann Hitch, daughter of William David Hitch and Sarah Catherine Flora. (Carol Ann Hitch was born on 04 Jun 1935 in Stanislaus Co., CA ^{2 3}.)