D. A. JACKSON

D. A. Jackson, horticulturist near Woodland, is one of the most extensively known citizens in Central California; is well-known even in the Eastern States as a fruit raiser and packer. He was born February 14, 1831, in Knox County, Ohio, a son of B. B. and Polly (Ruggles) Jackson, natives of Pennsylvania. The father, a farmer by occupation, removed to Ohio at an early age, remained there until 1860, and then came on to California in company with his sons, and here he remained until his death, which occurred in 1868, in Yolo County, when he was bout sixty-eight years old. Mr. Jackson, our subject, was brought up on a large farm in Ohio. In 1864 he came to California across the plains, the trip occupying some ninety days. Going direct to Yolo County, he rented land in the vicinity of Woodland, and began farming, raising wheat. In a few years he found himself able to purchase a home for himself, which he did by buying eighty acres for $1, 750. The farm is now valued at $400 per acre, and improvements $8,000. For ten years he continued wheat-raising, hauling the same to Sacramento to market. He began the fruit industry in 1883, and has sold his land in ten-acre tracts until he now has only thirty acres left, which is in the city limits of Woodland and devoted to choice fruit-trees and vines. He took the first premium at the State Fair in 1889, receiving the gold medal for the best six varieties of table, raisin and shipping grapes. In the season he employs from thirty to forty hands, white labor, all from Woodland. He is also a large buyer and packer. His goods are shipped and sold to all the Eastern States and Canada. This year (1889) he shipped 100 tons.

Mr. Jackson was married in 1850, to Miss Cynthia Cummings, a native of Ohio, and their children are: Ella, wife of Henry Fisher, a resident of Hunford, Tulare County; also one son, Ralph W., twenty-one years old.

Source: Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

George H. JACKSON, M. D.

Among the foremost of Woodland's representative men of to-day stands the gentleman whose name heads this article. A few facts in regards to his career and genealogy will therefore be of value and interest in this volume. His ancestors, on both sides, originally came to this country from England. His great-great-grandfather, on his father's side, was early in life bound to a worsted-manufacturer in England. At that time they combed the wool, tied it to a rack and drew it out just as the women of this country were afterward accustomed to convert flax into linen with which to make their wearing apparel. As this worthy sire grew to manhood, being possessed of uncommon physical strength, he wanted to change his trade to that of a house joiner, but being unable to get free papers from his master he ran away, and gave an indenture upon himself to a ship captain for four years as a compensation for his passage. His indenture was afterward bought by a man named Hughes and taken to Virginia. He left seven brothers in England, but never knew of any of them coming to this country. The wife of this gentleman was the daughter of Captain Jarvis, of England, a captain in the King's Life Guards. Prior to this she had married the captain of an English vessel contrary to her father's wishes, and consequently went with her husband to sea. The ship was lost in a storm, and she with six or seven others floated on the wreck for six or seven days, when the survivors were rescued by a convoy from a French fleet, and she with the others was sold for salvage. The same man bought her service who had previously bought the indenture of Mr. Jackson, and while acting as servants on this man's estate in Virginia they were married.

This constitutes the start of the Jackson family in America, or at least that branch with which our subject is connected. The younger son of these two was Jarvis Jackson, so called after his mother's maiden name. He married a lady who was the daughter of General Lee, and a sister of "Light Horse Harry" Lee, of Revolutionary fame, father of General Robert E. Lee, C.S.A. The grandmother of Dr. Jackson was a daughter of Stephen Hancock, who came to Kentucky with Boone, and settled at Boonesborough, in the fall of 1775. She was then six years old and lived first at Martin's Station, about three or four miles from Boonesborough, and later at Hoy's Station, three or four miles further in the country. Afterward the settlers at Boonesborough were granted a pre-emption upon a settlement of 1,400 acres of land by the Legislature of Virginia, and Stephen Hancock and Christopher Erwin located land adjoining on the tract in Madison County near where the city of Richmond now stands, and built a fort on the Erwin side of the line, and called it Erwin's Station. Stephen Hancock began clearing his land, but had his residence inside the fort until he considered it was safe for him to change it to the outside.

He was a son of George Hancock, who is believed to be a brother of John Hancock, the signer of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. The father of Dr. Jackson was John Lee Jackson, a native of the State of Virginia, as also was the latter's wife, whose maiden name was Mary E. Scales. The heads of these two families emigrated to Kentucky, where John Lee Jackson and his wife were married. He accumulated considerable wealth in that State, but being a man who took a deep interest in the welfare of others he fell a victim to his own generous impulses. Having indorsed to a large amount the papers of several individuals who failed financially, he became seriously embarrassed, and from his entire property only succeeded in saving a section of land in Clark County, Missouri. In his straitened circumstances he decided to remove his family from the scene of his late misfortune to his land in Missouri, and did so in 1850. In the following spring he lost his wife by death, and in 1854 he himself passed to his long rest.

The death of the parents left the children to look out for their own welfare, and George H. Jackson, the subject of this sketch, who was the eighth child, and is the youngest living member of the family, went to Kirksville, Missouri, where he had an uncle living. The relatives were engaged in merchandising there, and with him our subject made his home, assisting in the store, and spending any time he had in study and in improving his mind for the life struggle he knew was before him. In this way, while his school facilities were of meager order, he laid the foundation for a good practical education. In 1861 his brother-in-law, Dr. B. B. Allen, prepared to remove to California, and our subject joined in the idea. They made the journey by the overland route, and reached California in August. They proceeded to Pine Grove, Sierra County, then known as Howland Flat, where lived an elder brother of young Jackson, who had come here some time previously. Here Dr. Allen entered upon the practice of medicine, and our subject entered a store as clerk. He decided to become a physician, and after he had put in the long hours required of him in the store he would study medicine with Dr. Allen. Work and study absorbed nearly all the time not given to sleep, so that sometimes he became disheartened and felt tempted to abandon his task. In such moments his sister, who sympathized with him in his struggle, encouraged him, and by her hopeful words stimulated him to even greater efforts, and to her the Doctor now gives much of the credit for his ultimate success. For two years he kept up the role of clerk and student at this place; then Dr. Allen removed to Freeport, Sacramento County, where he opened up a small drug store in connection with his medical practice, our subject accompanying him as clerk. He also continued his studies, and by 1866 he had saved enough money to pay his expenses during one course of lectures at a medical college. With this in hand, and relying upon assistance from Dr. Allen during the second course he went to San Francisco and attended the first course of study and lectures at the Toland Medical College, during four months in the spring of 1866. When the time for his second term approached his brother-in-law, who had found but a limited field for practice at his new location, was unable to assist him. In this dilemma he was undecided for a time in which direction to turn his steps. But his determination to enter the profession at length prevailed, and as practice by non-graduation was then allowed in this State, he decided at once to enter the field as a practitioner. He felt justified in this course from the fact that his long experience and study with Dr. Allen, his clerkship in the drug store and attendance at lectures had better fitted him for actual practice than are many graduates, especially those whose hearts are not in their work. Going to Georgetown, Sacramento County, he opened his office as a physician and met with gratifying success, both professionally and financially.

While there he was married to Miss Lizzie E. Julian, then living near Freeport, but now a resident of Oakland. Shortly after his marriage, having made $500 in addition to all expenses, Dr. Jackson removed to Gold River, Placer County, where success again attended him, and at the end of two years he had a practice worth about $800 per month. here he made the acquaintance of a then well-known citizen of Yolo County, Mr. Moore, who urged him to remove to Woodland, assuring him that there was a demand there for a physician of his ability. Following his friend's advice, Dr. Jackson came to Woodland, and here success attended him much beyond his expectations. In 1870, in order to avail himself of college and clinical study, which he was then so fully competent to appreciate and utilize, he went to San Francisco for that purpose, and was duly graduated at the Medical Department, University of the Pacific.

His advancement in his profession has been steady and rapid, and he now holds a prominent place in medical circles on this coast. His excellent qualities as a physician and as a man are held in high appreciation by his fellow-citizens, who have on more than one occasion displayed their confidences in him. He has been physician to the County Hospitals for periods aggregating five years, and has served on the Board of Trustees of Woodland for ten years. He is a zealous Democrat in his political views, and takes a lively interest in the welfare of the party, and an active part in its councils.

Dr. Jackson's career, as viewed from an historical standpoint, is certainly an instructive one. A brief retrospect of the pages of this sketch will show that he started in life for himself at an unusually early age, almost without opportunities except those he made for himself. Against all obstacles, however, he ascended the ladder of success, round by round, and fought his way to the front until he has become recognized as one of the foremost figures in the community with which he has cast in his lot, with a reputation as a professional and business man extending much beyond its limits. His advancement in his profession has been gained by his earnest, conscientious efforts, and the exercise of all the abilities with which nature endowed him. Yet a young man comparatively, he has succeeded so well that the question of giving up or remaining in practice has already become a matter of choice. He is just opening up a business career of such promise that he is already rated as one of the shrewdest and safest financiers of the community, and capitalists are satisfied to invest when Dr. Jackson leads. His judgment must therefore be entitled to much respect in regard to Woodland, which he considered a safe and promising field for investment. His confidence in the future may be gauged by what he has done and is doing toward her improvements. The Curtis residence and grounds, recognized as among the most beautiful in Woodland, are the result of his enterprise, and his own present office and residence block on Main street was also built by him. He has put his money unflinchingly into business property here, and the future will prove that he has other and yet more important improvements in view. He has also made investments in real estate in other and promising localities, notably adjoining the town of Willows.

Dr. and Mrs. Jackson are the parents of four children, viz.: Mary Louise, Georgia, Alice and Julian Allen.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler, July 2004.
Source: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891. pg. 321-323.

William M. JACKSON

Among the ranks of the army of brave men who established western civilization, William M. Jackson deserves an honored place. He was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1833, his parents being Benjamin B. and Polly (Ruggles) Jackson. When he was nineteen, in 1852, he and his brothers, Benjamin F. and Bryon B., in company with the Ruggles family, joined a party bound for California, and slowly but surely driving their cattle before them they crossed the plains and entered the borderland of the Golden state. For a time Mr. Jackson mined in Placer county and in 1856 he purchased a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres two miles south of Woodland. After three years he returned east by way of the Panama route and remained about a year, and again, in 1860, he made his way across the pains and once more took up farming. In the meantime he purchased land adjoining until he had four hundred and eighty acres in one body, and here he carried on farming until his death in 1874.

Mr. Jackson's wife before her marriage was Kate Cooper, a native of Ohio. She died in Santa Cruz in 1903. The only child born of this marriage was Benjamin Byron, who was born in Woodland October 1, 1862, and who became the stay and comfort of his mother during her last years. He has since successfully operated the farm, which now consists of three hundred and ninety acres. The place is all under irrigation, having a ditch from Cache creek. For many years he devoted the land to alfalfa and grain and to cattle and hog raising, besides running a dairy, but he now leases it for beet raising.

Twice married, Benjamin B. Jackson's first wife was Nora Epperson, a native of Illinois, who at her death left one daughter, Rowena Fay, now Mrs. Van Norden, of San Francisco. His second wife was formerly Miss Cleopatra Miller, a native of Auburn, Cal. One of the native sons of Yolo county, Mr. Jackson was educated in the public schools here and later attended Hesperian College. This has been his life-time home, and by all he is regarded as a public-spirited and progressive citizen and a successful farmer.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County California with Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present" page 313-314 by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, 1913.

Hon. Isaac W. JACOBS

Had Mr. Jacobs been induced, during the latter years of his honorable career, to depict with pen the leading incidents of his life, the reader would have learned much concerning the history of our country, the privations endured by pioneers as they followed the tide of emigration toward the west, and the hardships borne by men who cleared the forests or taught scantily equipped frontier schools, or practiced law or medicine or preached the gospel in the obscure hamlets that dotted the prairies or nestled on mountains sides. The earliest events in the life of this honored California pioneer were associated with old Virginia. It was in Hardy county, that state, that he was born June 24, 1820, and there it was that he rambled in his care-free boyhood through the woods and along the banks of the streams, observant, receptive and happy. But all too soon a change came into his life, and the necessity for self support brought an abrupt end to all his little careless pleasures. When, at the age of fifteen years, he went to Ohio, it was with the knowledge that thenceforth he must earn his own way and place in the world, but that knowledge did not dampen his ambition or impair his determination to complete his education. After a weary day's work on the farm he took up his books and often he burned midnight oil in an effort to secure the information for which he ardently longed. As a result of his persistence he passed a creditable examination, received a teacher's certificate and was given charge of a school in a country district in Ohio.

Upon his removal from Ohio to Missouri, the young teacher continued his educational work for a year, and during the next year he studied law in the office of Judge Winters. Then, going to Iowa, he entered the law office of the Hon. G. W. Grimes, afterward United States senator from that state, and a year later he was able to pass a brilliant and exacting examination before Judge Mason, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa and one of the most eminent jurists of his day. After having been admitted to practice law before all the courts of Iowa, Mr. Jacobs returned to Missouri and formed a partnership with a well known lawyer of Buchanan county. He was still a young man when gold was discovered in California, and when he realized the possibilities of conditions here he determined to close out his Missouri interests as soon as possible, preparatory to removal to the coast. The summer of 1854 found him crossing the plains with a large expedition of emigrants, with whom he experienced the discomforts incidental to the primitive mode of travel which was the only one available for the occasion. Believing that more gold was to be made in garnering crops than in digging gold dust, he never worked in the mines. In 1854 he was admitted to practice in the courts of California, and in 1858 he was elected district attorney of Yolo county. From that time until he passed away, February 10, 1905, he was identified with the public affairs of the county and with its professional and agricultural activities. He long owned and cultivated a ranch and stock and gradually he drifted into a private banking business, for the accommodation of his large clientele and the business community generally. Recognized as a Democratic leader, he was elected by that party in 1892 to represent his district in the California assembly. In that position he gave to his constituents the best of his talents. He was not only a scholar, but an orator as well, and on public occasions was often engaged by his admiring fellow citizens as the principal speaker of the day.

In 1849 Mr. Jacobs married Almira E. Martin, only daughter of James Martin and a native of Virginia. Her father emigrated from Missouri to California in 1854 and passed away in Yuba county. Mrs. Jacobs proved herself a devoted wife and mother and her earth life terminated November 4, 1901. She bore her husband twelve children, John M., the first in order of birth, died, aged forty-seven years. Linnie J. was the next in order of nativity. Oscar E., of Blacks Station, is represented elsewhere in this work; George N. and James R., of Woodland, are also represented elsewhere; William R. is a well known lawyer of Los Angeles; Isaac W. died in infancy; Joseph A. lives at Knights Landing; Martha is Mrs. James Taylor of Yolo; Mary is Mrs. Edward Baldwin of Berkeley; Annie E. is Mrs. Welch of Red Bluff; Van W. died, aged thirty-five years. Mr. Jacobs died, full of years and of honors, leaving the priceless legacy of a good name to his children and grandchildren and the example of a life well spent, which should be of benefit to the people among whom he lived so long and with so much credit to himself and to the community.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 357 - 359.

James Randolph JACOBS

If any residents are entitled to speak with authority concerning the resources of Yolo county it is those who, born within its limits and educated within its schools, trained to a knowledge of its soil possibilities and identified constantly with its landed development, still remain within its boundaries content to pass life's afternoon amid the scenes endeared to their earliest recollections. To this class belongs J. R. Jacobs, who is proud of being a native son of the county as well as a lifelong resident thereof and a continuous operator farm lands. He was born on a farm near Knights Landing October 23, 1856, the son of Isaac W. Jacobs, who is represented on another page in this volume. He was educated primarily in the schools of Yolo county and completed his studies in Hesperian College. Subsequently he became an assistant to his father on the ranch and later was the active manager of the home place, remaining there until he was thirty-five. He then started to rent other properties, and later took up farming and leasing tracts in different parts of the county.

It was not until 1907 that Mr. Jacobs acquired the tract of forty acres whose cultivation consumes much of his time and whose improvements bespeak his skill and thrift. The little farm lies two miles west of Woodland and has a neat residence built since the present owner acquired the property. Ten acres of the farm are in alfalfa, which furnishes hay for his dairy herd of nine milch cows. A large drove of hogs, some Poland-China and other Berkshire, brings the proprietor a substantial addition to his annual income. Ten acres of the farm are in a vineyard, which last season produced a large crop of wine grapes. Peach trees of the Orange Cling variety are in bearing, although only two years old. Almond trees also began to bear at two years, although entirely without irrigation. Indeed it would be difficult to find any ranch as small that equals the Jacob farm in point of production and in the annual income from the sale of the varied crops.

With a desire to invest further in the fine farming land near Woodland, during 1910 Mr. Jacobs bought a ranch of eighty acres north of Yolo and here he gives over the land to the raising of barley. The crop for the past season averaged eighteen sacks to the acre and yield undoubtedly will be larger after the land has been longer under the efficient management of the present owner. Besides his other grain and stock interests he engages in raising horses and mules. Resourceful and energetic, he is of the type of native sons who contribute largely to local development and form a desirable addition to the citizenship of the county. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During 1892 he was united in marriage with Miss Tena Nickell, a native of Yolo county and a graduate of Hesperian College. They are the parents of four children, Mary E., Anita E., Henry R. and Fay. Mrs. Jacobs is the daughter of the late James J. Nickell, a native of Kentucky and an honored pioneer of California, who crossed the plains with horse teams from Missouri during the summer of 1864 and took up a land claim in Hungry Hollow, later settling on a ranch near Yolo. For many years he engaged in ranching in Yolo county and when death ended his activities in 1907 he was deeply mourned as a man of high principles of honor and unwavering integrity. Mrs. Nickell was formerly Mary Ann Taylor, also a native of Missouri, and since the death of her husband she has continued to reside on the old homestead north of Yolo.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 837 - 838.

Oscar E. JACOBS

The earliest memories clustering around the distant days of childhood are associated in the mid of Mr. Jacobs with Yolo county, its broad stretches of unimproved land, its tiny villages, its scanty population laboring against the discouragements of the frontier and its genial climate bringing health and sunshine and bountiful crops in compensation for the privations of the pioneers. While he is not a native of the west (for he was born in Texas August 7, 1853,) in all but the accident of birth he is a typical Californian and the native-born sons do not surpass him in devotion to the commonwealth and in loyal affection for the county of his home. Years of industry and frugal self-denial enabled him to purchase the property where long he had lived as a tenant and he now owns the well-improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres lying near Black's Station and evidencing in its bountiful harvests the skill of his husbandry and the sagacity of his supervision.

The name of Hon. Isaac W. Jacobs, father of Oscar E., is honorably associated with the early history of Yolo county, where he engaged in the development of farm property and in the practice of law, where he filled a number of offices with marked intelligence and bore a part in early movements for the local upbuilding. Of Virginian birth and parentage, he read law and was admitted to the bar while still making his home in the Old Dominion. During young manhood he removed to Missouri and opened a law office at Chillicothe, Livingston county. While living there he married Almira Elizabeth Martin, a native of Virginia. For a few months the young couple made their home in Texas, where a son, Oscar E., was born, but in a short time they returned to Missouri and made preparations to move to California, crossing the plains in 1854 and settling in Stockton. In a few months they came to Yolo county and bought a pre-emption claim on one hundred and sixty acres, later securing a patent from the government. Establishing his home on the tract he cultivated the land, harvested the crops and invested his earnings in other property until he had acquired the title to four hundred acres of fertile land.

The development of a valuable farm did not engross the attention of Mr. Jacobs to the exclusion of other activities, for he engaged in the practice of law and served with conspicuous ability in the offices of district attorney and member of the general assembly. Eventually he retired from agricultural and professional cares and in his last days he enjoyed the leisure and the comforts to which his long labors justly entitled him. His wife passed away in 1903 and two years later he also entered into eternal rest. In the annals of the county his name is worthy of a prominent place, for he was one of the pioneers who laid the foundations upon which the present prosperity has been rendered possible. Talented in an unusual degree, he used his abilities to promote the welfare of his community and proved a public-spirited citizen.

There were eight sons and four daughters in the parental family of whom nine are still living. Oscar E., who was born during the temporary sojourn of his parents in Texas, has lived in California from his earliest recollections and passed his boyhood years on the home farm in Yolo county. After he had completed the studies of the common schools he was sent to college and remained for one year, after which he returned to Yolo county. Later with a brother he went to Ventura county and entered four hundred acres of land, which he worked for one year. From that county he moved south to San Diego and for a year he was employed in that part of the state, returning in 1881 to Yolo county. Shortly after his return he rented a quarter section and began to operate the land. For twenty-five years he remained on the farm as a renter, meanwhile saving with a resolute purpose in view. At the expiration of that time he was in a position to purchase the ranch. On the property in 1908 he erected a commodious residence. An excellent system of fencing divides the fields from one another and from the pasture. The barn facilities are adequate for all needs. Durham cattle are raised in considerable numbers and are of the best grades.

The marriage of Mr. Jacobs took place in San Diego September 12, 1880, and united him with Miss Dora Caldwell, who was born and reared in California, being the daughter of a Forty-niner, Tarleton Caldwell, a native of Virginia and for some time a successful miner in the west. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs are the parents of three sons and two daughters. William T., the eldest son, is engaged in business at Woodland. O. E., Jr., and Van V. are at home, as is also the youngest child, Bernice E. The older daughter, Eliza, is the wife of Rodney Ely and lives on a farm in Yolo county. For years Mr. Jacobs served as a member of the school board and meanwhile aided greatly in the development of educational interests. Stanch in his advocacy of Democratic principles, he has served the party as a delegate in county conventions and in other ways has endeavored to advance the party success locally, but he has not sought office for himself nor has he craved any honor except that of serving the county as a progressive and public-spirited citizen.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County California with Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present" page 232-234 by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, 1913.

Jephtha JEANS

Jephtha Jeans, dealer in fresh meats at Winters, Yolo County, is a son of B. F. Jeans. Both his parents were natives of Kentucky, and he was born in Pike County, Missouri, June 28, 1842. In 1866, he came overland to California, stopping at Vacaville two months and then locating at Smith's Landing, where he purchased a band of dairy cows, drove them to the Humboldt River, and wintered there, but in the spring of 1860 went to Idaho and ran a dairy for three and a half months. Disposing of his stock there he returned to Vacaville and was engaged in the butcher business there three years, when he sold out, in 1875, and located in Winters, where he now conducts a neat butcher shop, or meat market, doing a good business. The town of Winters was started during the spring preceeding the autumn in which he settled there.

He was married in Solano County in 1874 to Miss A. Starks, and they have four children, named Frank L., Ida, Mabel and Robert H. She died in 1881 and he afterward married Mrs. Swan and by this marriage there is one child, Veda by name.

Source: Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, Page 655
Transcribed by: Christine Helmick

W. F. JEANS

W. F. JEANS, poultryman near Woodland, was born in Vacaville, Solano County, this State, March 18, 1854, a son of T.J. and Isabel (Hoyle) Jeans. Father was a farmer by occupation, lived in Missouri, his native State, until 1851, when he came over-land to California. A short time afterward he returned to Missouri, and in 1853 recrossed the plains to the Golden State. He is now a resident of Woodland, aged sixty-seven years. The subject of this sketch was brought up on the farm, but since the age of seventeen years he has been employed with machinery, in which a [sic] has exhibited great talent. He has invented a number of useful devices which have been patented, and some are in use in the large harvesters of the coast. One of these is a spreader, operating upon the grain going to the machine, and is considered almost indispensable nowadays. The patent right is now owned by Byron Jackson of San Francisco. Another device is a sack-holder, now in use two years, which saves one man's labor in connection with the harvester. For the past year, however, Mr. Jeans has been giving his attention to the raising of thoroughbred chickens, --White Leghorns and Plymouth Rock, --at his place two miles southwest of Woodland. Both varieties are of the single-comb strain. Mr. Jeans has also invented an incubator, which promises to be a success; it will soon be placed upon the market.
He was married in 1887 to Miss Lottie Copland, a native of California. Their children are Jessie and Raymond. Mr. Jeans is a member of the I.O.G.T., at Woodland.

Source: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson August 2004

Charles JOHNSON

Those who are qualified to make the statement assert that few men in the west possess a more thorough knowledge of the horse business or are more thorough judges concerning equine flesh than is Charles Johnson, the energetic and well-known liveryman of Woodland, who since 1905 has been connected with this line of business here. It has also been his good fortune to acquire a familiarity with the training of fine horses in other parts of the state, so that he understands even the minutest details of a specialty in which few men attain prominence and to which comparatively few men of large ability devote their lives. When he first embarked in the livery business in this city he carried on a stable on College street, but later he bought the City stable from Dan Wooster and moved to his present location, where now he conducts the largest barn in the entire county. Here are the headquarters of Eirlie Demonia, a bay stallion of five years, sired by Demonia, dam Potrero Girl, this young animal having a wide reputation for fine markings and general excellence. In addition he owns some valuable standard-bred mares and Mary Ladd, a dark-brown stallion, imported from England and showing the best qualities of the Shires.

The Native Sons of the Golden West have the name of Mr. Johnson enrolled as a member of their Woodland Parlor, this being by virtue of his birth in Brighton, Sacramento county, where he was born February 14, 1853. His parents, William and Hattie (White) Johnson, died respectively in 1856 and 1858, leaving him wholly orphaned when he was but five years of age. The father, who was a Kentuckian by birth, crossed the plains to California shortly after the discovery of gold and arrived at the mines at the end of an uneventful journey with oxen and wagons. He was then a single man, but shortly after his arrival he formed the acquaintance of Miss White, whose father was a pioneer of the gold era. They established their home in Sacramento county after their marriage and remained there until death, at which time they left three children, Charles having been the second in order of birth.

It was necessary to find homes for the children who had been left homeless and friendless. Mr. Seargent, a farmer near Brighton, took Charles to his place and sent him to the public schools in the winter months, while in the summer he taught him the rudiments of farming. At the age of fourteen the lad started out to make his own way in the world and since then he has been wholly self-supporting. His first work was with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Next he secured employment on ranches. From his earliest recollections he has been fond of horses and when his employers noted this, they gave him the care of animals and taught him to appreciate their best qualities. At the same time they were astonished at the quickness with which he picked out the leader in a large herd. Without any delay he could pick out the choicest animal and subsequent examinations seldom reversed his decision. By reason of these natural abilities he was led to become a dealer in fine horses and his success proves that he made no mistake in selecting his life work.

Since establishing himself in business in Woodland Mr. Johnson has married one of the young ladies of this city, Miss Hattie Rogers, a native of Illinois, and a woman of splendid attributes of mind and heart. In social circles they have many friends and their worth is appreciated by people in every walk of life. The companionable disposition of Mr. Johnson leads him into fraternal activities. Besides having been actively associated with the Native Sons, as heretofore indicated, he ranks among the leading local workers in the Woodmen of the World, also belongs to the lodge and encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and furthermore has risen to prominence in the Knights of Pythias as a participant in the work of the Uniform Rank.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 705 - 706.

H. B. JOHNSON (#1)

H. B. JOHSNON, a farmer of Yolo County, is the son of Keener and Grace (Jones) Johnson, natives of North Carolina, who moved from that State to Alabama in an early day, and died when the subject of this sketch, who was born there in 1840, was a small boy. He was brought up by Joseph Bullard, who kept him at hard work. At the age of sixteen years he came by way of the Isthmus of Panama to California, being thirty-five days on an ocean vessel, and landing in San Francisco in 1859. He at once went to Yolo County and was employed on different ranches until he purchased his present place of 300 acres August 3, 1878. It is now well improved, and he makes a specialty of wheat. He is a member of Madison Lodge, No. 253, F. & A.M. His wife, Martha C., was born in North Carolina in 1845, a daughter of James D. Butler, a farmer of that State. Mr. Johnson's family now have raised five children,-James H., Sallie R., Mabel, Richard F. and Josephine C.

Source: Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson

Henry Bonapart JOHNSON (#2)

This prominent citizen of Madison, Yolo county, was born in South Carolina, in September, 1840, and at an early age he moved with his parents to Cherokee county, Ala. His father, Enoch Johnson, a planter, died in Alabama. The mother dying when Henry was six years old, he was left an orphan and knew little of a parent's care. His brother Robert was killed in the Mexican war. His brother John enlisted as a soldier in the Civil war, went away to the field of carnage and never returned. Henry was sixteen when he struck out for the Pacific, but he "rounded" the Isthmus all right, and landed in San Francisco one stormy December day in 1856. Subsequently he came to Yolo county and here he worked on ranches for about twelve years. Finally he "fetched up" near Madison and became a real farmer and for himself. He bought a tract of one hundred and sixty acres southwest from Madison, where he remained for several years.

Mr. Johnson married Martha A. Sneath, a native of Missouri, who had come to this state across the plains in 1857. After her death, which occurred about two years later, he returned east by way of the Isthmus for cattle. In Texas he and several others who were on the same quest bought stock young and old for as low as $6 a head, and they soon had a band of three thousand. As they drove their great herd along working towards the west, Mr. Johnson saw that they would be late getting over the mountains and down into the California valleys. He thought of the snows of the Sierras and concluded to sell his band of about six hundred cattle, which he did. It was a fortunate conclusion for him, for between the cold and cattle thieves many of the herd were lost enroute. He returned to this state in 1868 and went back to ranching. Having sold the Madison farm, he leased for a while, then purchased. His second marriage was to Martha C. Butler, from his native Alabama. Their five children are James, Richard, Sallie, May and Josie. James resides on the home farm. Sallie is now Mrs. Fred Thomas of Winters. May married Dr. D. Heran of Porterville. Richard lives near Woodland. Josie is Mrs. Linn Caruth, of Esparto.

During the last fifteen or twenty years Mr. Johnson has been very successful in his farming ventures. First he raised grain and stock exclusively, later he planted fruit trees and grape vines, and now he has a fine vineyard of about twenty acres of wine grapes on his home place. But he is a grain producer and his farms have always turned out full harvests. He keeps about thirty-five head of stock horses and cattle on his places. He is a breeder of thoroughbreds, and has several blooded draft stallions at the stock farm. Fraternally Mr. Johnson is a member of Buckeye Lodge No. 195, F. & A. M., at Winters, and in politics is a Democrat. He also takes much interest in the educational matters of his neighborhood and for several years has served as a trustee of the high school board at Esparto.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 870 - 871.

John JOHNSON

Through the sunshine and the storms of almost sixty years, through hardships and successes, John Johnson has retained a deep affection for the commonwealth of his adoption. The trails of early days did not dismay him nor did repeated adversities lessen his enthusiastic faith in the country's future greatness. Now in the afternoon of his well-spent life, surrounded by the material accumulations of many industrious years, he looks back upon the past with pleasure and experiences a feeling of justifiable pride in his association with the early agricultural development of the west. When the decision was made to leave the east for the vast undeveloped regions near the western coast, he was a hardy young man, willing to undertake any enterprise, but wholly without means, and it was necessary to borrow the money with which to defray the expenses of the trip to the coast. The steamer, Northern Light, conveyed him from New York City to the Isthmus of Panama, which he crossed on the back of a mule, and then took passage on the vessel, Sierra Nevada, up the Pacific to San Francisco. The long and tedious journey presented a remarkable contrast to the opportunities of travel afforded in the present century, when swift-speeding engines followed by sumptuous parlor and dining cars bear the westerner to the Atlantic coast in a time that would have seemed incredibly short to the emigrants of the gold-discovery days.

While Mr. Johnson feels himself to be a Californian in all else save birth, he is of eastern nativity and was born in Greene county, Pa., June 1, 29, and is a son of the late David and Edith (Cummings) Johnson. The father was born December 4, 1776, and died September 12, 1870, after nearly a century of usefulness. The wife and mother was born January 14, 1786, and died March 5, 1863. The record of their children includes the following names, with dates of birth and death: Lewis, born April 22, 1804, died June 5, 1854; Reuben, April 22, 1806, January 6, 1873; Simon P., January 8, 1808, March 23, 1877; Mary, February 6, 1810, March 21, 1901; Nancy, April 6, 1812, July 22, 1889; Robert, May 6, 1814, February 20, 1891; William, April 3, 1816, March 14, 1894; David, born September 3, 1818, and still living, being a resident of Hepler, Kan.; Owen, born October 16, 1820, and died April 17, 1899; Rebecca, born February 12, 1823, and also living in Hepler, Kan.; Edith, who was born October 29, 1825, and died April 16, 1868; Phebe, born February 20, 1828, and died July 25, of the same year; John whose name introduces this article and who was the youngest of the large family circle. The sons and daughters married and established homes of their own in various parts of the country. Longevity was characteristic of the family and the most of the name lived to advanced years. The majority also had eight or more children, so that at the present writing there are more than one hundred descendants of the Pennsylvania couple who, about 1837, settled on a farm in Guernsey county, Ohio.

From Greene county, Pa., where he was born, John Johnson accompanied the family to Ohio at the age of about eight years and in that locality he remained until he had attained maturity. When he landed in California December 31, 1853, he went at once to Nevada county and secured work as a day laborer. Besides he engaged in prospecting. Mining occupied his time until 1864, when he removed to Solano county and took a squatter's claim to land in the Montezuma hills, only to find later that the claim already belonged to Dr. Toland. However, he remained on the place and farmed the land on shares with the owner. Through the most persistent efforts and constant labor he acquired a competency. During September of 1888 he retired from farming and removed to Woodland, where he owns and occupies a comfortable home at No. 609 Third street. Under his supervision the residence was remodeled and the grounds improved, making the place attractive and valuable. During his experience as a farmer he made a specialty of raising grain and the highest price he ever received for his products was $2.38 per hundred pounds. On the organization of the Solano County Grange he became a charter member and until he removed from the county he was a prominent figure in the activities of the organization. Politically he has always supported the Republican party.

Sharing with Mr. Johnson in the good will in the community and the affection of old-time acquaintances is his wife, whom he married in 1874 and who bore the maiden name of Vina S. Micheud. She was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and was a daughter of Marcum and Marcelina (Willits) Micheud. When very small she lost her mother by death and thereupon was given a home with friends in Maine. When only thirteen years of age she began to teach school and for seven years she continued to earn her livelihood in that occupation. By her first husband, Dennis Farrell, she was the mother of three children, Charles C., Margaret and Rose, while to her second union daughter, Mary O., was born. Her second husband, John Menzyes, a mechanic by trade, brought the family to California in 1870, but died shortly afterward. A woman of true and noble character, she has been of the greatest assistance to Mr. Johnson in his efforts to secure a competence and in her declining days she enjoys with him the fruits of their honorable labor and intelligent industry.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 728 - 730.

Mrs. Halcyon JOYCE

One of the comparatively few women as yet holding public office in California, Mrs. Halcyon (Williams) Joyce has had a career which in some of its aspects is of more than usual interest. Halcyon Williams was born near Carthage, Ill., a daughter of Rolla T. and Mollie (Irwin) Williams. Her father was born near Urbana, Champaign county, Ohio, and in 1862, enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which organization he did gallant service as a soldier until the close of the Civil war. Returning to his home, he soon moved to Illinois, and settling near Carthage, engaged in farming. There he remained till in 1877, when, with his family, he came to California and located in Yolo county, where he resumed farming and was thus employed until, retiring from active life, he made his home in Woodland. His wife was a native of Lexington, Ky., and a member of the family of Breckinridge long prominent in our national history. Halcyon Joyce is their only child.

Mrs. Joyce was educated in the schools of Woodland and at the Woodland Business College. Soon after her graduation from the institution just named she was appointed official reporter of the Superior court of Yolo county. From 1897 until the present time she has held that office by repeated appointment except during eighteen months. She has won much praise from high sources for the accuracy with which her work has been done as well as for her devotion to the duties of an exacting office. Among stenographers she is widely and favorably known because of her prominence in the state and also for her activity in the California Short Hand Reporters' Association, of which she has long been a member.

At Buffalo, N. Y., July 29, 1905, Miss Williams married William Allen Joyce, M. D., a native of New York city and a graduate of the Baltimore Medical College, who has been in the practice of medicine and surgery in Woodland since 1903 and has attained much prominence in his profession in Yolo and nearby counties.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 699 - 700.

David O. JUDY

a liveryman of Winters, is a son of Philip and Sarah A. (O'Rear) Judy, natives of Kentucky, who in the spring of 1859 moved to Boone County, Missouri, where he, the father, died, February 15, 1888, and where the mother is still living, at the age of fifty-four years. Mr. Judy, of this sketch, was born April 25, 1859, in Missouri, and lived there until March, 1882, when he came to California. On his arrival here he worked four months in the lumber business for Towle Brothers; then was foreman of a ranch for fourteen months for M. V. Sparks; next he attended Heald's Business College at San Francisco for four months; then for five months was employed upon the ranch of John Wolfskill in Solano County; next he and his brother Henry F. rented 400 acres of land near Davisville for five years; and finally, in 1889, David bought a half interest in the only livery stable at Winters, of McArthur; and a month later his brother Henry purchased the other half, and now the Judy brothers have a stable from which they turn out very fine rigs. They are gentlemanly in their disposition and well adapted to their business. They have fourteen head of fine road horses. Their building spot is 80 x 120 feet in dimensions. Mr. Judy, the subject of this notice, is yet unmarried.

Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

Henry F. JUDY

Henry F. Judy, of the firm of Judy Bros., liverymen, at Winters, was born in Clark County, Kentucky, March 21, 1858. (See sketch of David O. Judy). In March, 1860, he was taken by his parents to Missouri, where he lived until 1880, when he came to California. The first three and a half years in this State he was a resident of Lincoln, Placer County. In 1883 he came to Winters and worked for Edward Wolfskill a year, when he entered into partnership with his brother, as stated in his sketch.

He was married in Oakland, September 15, 1885, to Lucy Sparks, who was born October 26, 1864 in Sutter County, this State, a daughter of E.J. and Mary (Duncan) Sparks; her father is a native of North Carolina and her mother of Missouri.

Source: Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, Page 625
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan