D. VAN ZEE (#1)

D. VAN ZEE, farming near Woodland, was born in Holland, September 14, 1828, son of Garret and Mary (Dikop) Van Zee. His father, a farmer, died there in 1878. In 1851 Mr. Van Zee came to America. For the first two years he was employed on a farm in Iowa. He then came to California, and followed mining four years, at Gibsonville. In 1857 he came to Yolo County, rented a piece of land seven miles from Sacramento and engaged in farming one year; then, taking up a piece of land near Willow Slough, six miles from Woodland, he engaged in farming. In 1869 he bought half a section of land two and a half miles from Woodland. In 1879 he bought his present place, and now owns there 395 acres of land, of which forty-one acres are in grape vines.
For his wife he married, in Yolo County, 1869, Ernestina Fourch, who was born in Germany in 1851, and their six children are: William, Mary, Fred, Sarah, Garret and John.

Source: Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, Page 621
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan

Dirk VAN ZEE

To the casual observer who is not a profound student of character the life history of Dirk Van Zee reads more like a chapter from a romance than a record of actual experiences; but to those who understand the relation of cause to effect and who comprehend the unceasing toil and wise intelligence behind every act, the ultimate prosperity and wide influence of the man do not occasion surprise. The home of his childhood was the large stock farm of his father near Rotterdam, Holland. His ancestors belonged to that sturdy class of farmers who laid the foundation of national prosperity that has made their country noteworthy among greater nations of the world. For years his parents, Garrett and Mary (Dikop) Van Zee, cultivated a farm at Herwenia near Rotterdam, and there he was born September 12, 1828, his first recollections being of the most picturesque environment close to the North sea. During childhood he was sent to a school of the neighborhood and made such diligent use of his time that he gained a thorough education in his native language. As he studied concerning the countries of the world and as he listened to the conversation of his elders in regards to prospects in America, he decided that he would cast in his destiny with the United States, nor did he ever have cause to regret the decision that brought him, a young emigrant, to the opportunities of the new world.

Two years (1851-53) spent at Pella, Iowa, afforded Mr. Van Zee the desired opportunity to acquire a knowledge of the English language as well as the customs of the people of American. Meanwhile he heard much concerning California and in the spring of 1853 he joined an expedition that crossed the plains with ox-teams and wagons, arriving in due time at their destination. Ambitious to try his luck as a miner, he spent four years in the mines at or near Gibsonville, but no special fortune rewarded his endeavors and he turned to agriculture as offering a more reliable source of income. His early experiences as a farmer were scarcely more encouraging than those of a miner. Coming to Yolo county in 1857, the following year he took up one hundred and sixty acres on Willow slough. By the most arduous effort he secured a start and had acquired a fine bunch of stock, but in the disastrous drought of 1864 he lost every head of stock except a span of horses. The experience was most discouraging, but he was a man of great determination and began anew with the energy characteristic of his earlier effort. For a time he made a specialty of grain, but eventually he acquired another large herd of stock. Renting the original farm, during 1869 he removed to a place of one hundred and sixty acres which he had recently purchased and which was situated two and one-half miles east of Woodland.

To the new home in 1870 Mr. Van Zee brought his bride, who was Miss Ernestine Furch, a resident of Woodland, but a native of Ludvigsruhe, Prussia, Germany. Her parents, Henry and Ernestine (Blauert) Furch, were likewise of Prussian birth and for years Mr. Furch engaged extensively in the contracting business in that country, but during 1862 he brought the family to America, only to be taken from them by death almost immediately after his arrival in New York City. The mother and children made their way to Minnesota and settled at Henderson, Sibley county, where they soon found friends among the other Germans of the vicinity. Mrs. Furch died in that county during the spring of 1905, when eighty-two years of age. In religion she had been a lifelong adherent of the Methodist denomination and an earnest worker in the church. Of her seven children all but one are still living, but only two of the family, Mrs. Van Zee and Theresa, now the widow of Fred Lothammer, of Sacramento, ever came to California and established homes in this state. Mrs. Van Zee, who was third in order of birth among the children, received her education in the schools of Germany and Minnesota and during 1868 came via Panama to San Francisco, in company with her sister, Mrs. Lothammer proceeding to Woodland, in or near which place she has since resided.

For twelve years after his marriage Mr. Van Zee engaged in farming on his place east of Woodland, but at the expiration of that time he rented the farm and bought one hundred and sixty acres three miles west of Woodland. Removing to a new tract, he took up its improvement and cultivation. Being prospered in large degree, he added to the farm and thus acquired four hundred and eighty acres in one body, the whole forming a splendid estate, devoted to viticulture, grain and alfalfa, and watered by a model system of irrigation. When eventually he retired from agricultural activities in 1892, he came to Woodland and established his home on a tract of nine acres in the east part of the town, where his death occurred December 12, 1905. Since his demise the widow has made her home at No. 552 College street, Woodland, where surrounded by the affectionate ministrations of her children and esteemed by a large circle of friends, she is passing the afternoon of existence in tranquil contentment. Her eldest son, William, is engaged in the automobile business in Woodland. Mary, the older daughter, is the wife of Russ Strong and lives in the vicinity of this city. Fred died in 1892, at the age of seventeen years and six months. Sarah resides with her mother, while the youngest sons, Garrett and John, are engaging in agricultural pursuits near Woodland. The family are earnest supporters of the Woodland Christian Church, with which Mr. Van Zee was officially connected for years and to which he contributed with the generosity that had its foundation in his deep devotion to the cause of religion. As a citizen of his adopted country he was loyal to an unusual degree. Particularly was he interested in movements for the advancement of California, the commonwealth of his affectionate regard, the source of his gratifying personal prosperity, the center of his enterprises throughout a long period of successful endeavor. After he had gained a knowledge of political conditions and national problems in the United States he espoused the cause of the Republican party and always afterward he continued to give his allegiance to its men and measures in both general and local elections.

Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: "History of Yolo County, California" by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 746 - 748.