Yolo County, California

Biography Project

This Site is part of

The California Biography Project

and

The U S Biography Project

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
History by
Tom Gregory
and Other Well
Known Writers
Historic Record Company
Los Angeles California
1913

It appears that the USGW has transcribed most of the Biographies from the above book.

Additional Biographies can be found here.

Additional Biographies

ALBERT AUGUSTUS MERRITT.

"No name is given a more honorable place among the representative citizens of Yolo county than that of the Merritt family, distinguished alike by their ability to make for themselves that competence which the world owes every man and the high place which they occupy in the esteem and confidence of their fellow-citizens. Of the members of this family the late Albert Augustus Merritt, remembered as a successful farmer and stockman of Yolo county, was for many years a prominent citizen of this section. He was a son of Noble Merritt and a brother of the late Dr. Hiram P. Merritt, the ancestral history of the family being embodied in the sketch of the latter, which appears elsewhere in this volume. He was born in Allegany county, N. Y., October 23, 1831, next to the youngest in a family of three children. He was there reared to young manhood, and remained with his parents until 1857 when he followed his older brother, Hiram P. Merritt, across the plains to California. Upon his arrival in the state he engaged in farming and stock-raising and also spent some time in a like occupation in Nevada. In 1870, immediately after his marriage to Miss Hattie J. Bullard, he purchased what was then known as the old Charles Traver place, located two miles southeast of Woodland, Yolo county, which remained his home until July 1, 1904. He proceeded to an intelligent improvement and cultivation of the property, setting out an orchard, planting his fields to grain and purchasing a large number of cattle. He continued to add to his original purchase of land until he owned twelve hundred acres, all in one body, the greater part being valuable land. He raised high-grade stock, principally Durham cattle, and was one of the promoters of the first creamery in Yolo county. He was a stockholder in the Woodland Creamery and was largely instrumental in the success of that enterprise. As a Democrat he took an active interest in the public affairs of this community, holding various offices through this influence, among them being that of trustee of the Spring Lake district school. In his religious convictions he was identified with the Congregational Church.

Mr. Merritt was united in marriage October 6, 1870, with Hattie J. Bullard, a niece of Francis Bullard, of whom a sketch will be found elsewhere in this work. She is a native of Illinois, her birth having occurred in Winnebago county, the youngest in a family of several children born to her parents, Harvey and Olive (Frost) Bullard, both natives of Massachusetts. She received her education in the Beloit high school, after which (in 1864) she crossed the plains to California, where she engaged in teaching, both in Shasta and Yolo counties.  In 1879 she began the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific course and after four years’ study in her home received her degree. Since her husband’s death she has operated her farm successfully, skillfully conducting the raising of stock (Short Horn and Durhams), and also manages a dairy of no small importance in the agricultural life of this section. She retains her interest in the Woodland Creamery and takes a lively interest in all affairs tending to promote the general welfare of the business in which she engages. She is prominent in both social and religious affairs of Woodland, being a member of the Congregational Church of that city; a member of the Shakespeare and Mutual Clubs; and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which she served as its second president. She is a woman of broad information and reading, a woman suffragist and intelligently interested on the subject. She is the mother of the following children: Alberta L., a graduate of the pioneer class of 1895 of Stanford University, who married Carl L. Clemans, of Snohomish, Wash., where her death occurred in 1899; Charles S., who assists in the management of the home place, and who married Alice Graves and has two daughters, Mildred and Lucille; Mary, a graduate of Stanford University and the wife of Prof. A. C. Whitaker, of Stanford, and now the mother of two children, Ruth and Merritt; and Rowena, also a graduate of Stanford University."

Source: History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California; J. M Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1906, page 833

Source location: California State Library, Sutro Branch, San Bruno, California - Transcribed by: Linda Skaife, 30 September 2009

DR. HIRAM PETER MERRITT.

Of Huguenot stock, the Marriatts came originally from France to the state of Florida; three brothers located there, and their descendants gradually drifted northward, some of them to Vermont. The name was always Marriatt until within the last two generations, when it became Americanized. Noble M. Merritt was born in Vermont and was married to Elizabeth Bates, a native of Virginia. They were the parents of three children, the eldest of whom, Hiram, is the subject of this sketch. He was born at Fair Haven, Rutland county, January 24, 1828, and when three years of age his parents removed to Cuba, N.Y. When a mere lad of fourteen he became filled with the desire to “go west,” and accordingly started on for South Bend, Ind., arriving there with the small sum of $2.50 in his pocket. He made his home with an uncle, Alanson B. Merritt, a practicing physician of that place, and soon found employment in his uncle’s drug store. He occupied his spare moments in the study of pharmacy, and later on medicine. Six years after his arrival in South Bend he went to La Porte, where he entered the Indiana State Medical College, from which institution he graduated. His ability and love of the work enabled him to attain a high position among the students, and he gave promise of a brilliant career in his chosen profession.

In the spring of 1850, however, he and five of his comrades were seized with the gold fever, and they fitted out a company and started on the long and perilous trip across the plains to the land of gold. Mr. Merritt desired very much to go to Philadelphia and pursue the study of surgery and thought that here he saw the way of getting the means necessary. On this trip he found many occasions to use his knowledge gained while at college. The trip was attended with many exciting and trying incidents. Owing to inexperience and poor advice the company had not provided a sufficient amount of provisions for the trip, so that they were obliged to live upon half rations for days and weeks. At one time they were so famished that they were unable to travel. In Utah they had all their horses stolen, and it was some time before they recovered them. Many and thrilling were the hair-breadth escapes of these young men from the Indians. One day as Mr. Merritt was sitting by the roadside, his elbow resting upon a rock, an Indian shot at him from behind; the arrow fortunately struck the rock, filling his face with the splinters. After six months of travel, foot-sore and weary, the little party arrived in Sacramento.

When he had recuperated from this exhausting and perilous trip, be bought a lot of provisions and other necessaries and went back into Nevada to meet incoming emigrants. He traded these supplies with them for their famished stock, put them upon good pasture and soon had them in a salable condition, and thus began the foundation of future prosperity. From this on he traded extensively with the emigrant and miners, and had pack trains running as far north as Siskiyou and Trinity counties. On one of these trips one of his pack mules fell into a creek and was drowned, beside losing his pack load of coffee. From this circumstance Mr. Merritt named the stream Coffee creek, which has since become quite famous for its gold mines.

All this was a long way from Philadelphia in those days of slow travel. The excitement attending life in the wild west gradually diverted the mind of the young man from his purpose of returning east to pursue his studies.

In 1851, on one of his trips from Sacramento to Siskiyou, Mr. Merritt first passed through Yolo county, and the following year returned to what he believed would be the future garden spot of California. By this time he had accumulated enough means to begin stock-raising on rather an extensive scale, and later on wheat growing. Many and varied were his experiences but by perseverance and industry he became the most extensive stock-raiser and mule breeder in central California. At the time of his death, 1893, he owned large tracts of land in Trinity and Mendocino counties, in Fresno and Tulare in Morrow county, Ore., and also had the largest sheep ranch in Nevada, his flocks feeding over four counties, beside his holding in Yolo county. He was the organizer of the Seventy-Six Land and Water Company, which built thousands of acres of land in Fresno and Tulare counties, and was the means of making the dessert blossom like the rose.

Mr. Merritt was largely instrumental in starting the Bank of Yolo, of which he was president up to the time of his death, and was one of the charter members of the Yolo County Savings Bank also. That he was public-spirited was shown by the fact that he was always giving rights of way for irrigating canals, railroads, and everything that had a tendency to develop the country; was also liberal in giving to churches and took great interest in educational matters of whatever character that tended to the uplifting of humanity. While interested in other localities, he was always loyal to Yolo county and often spoke of the time when every ten or twenty acres would be made to support a family. Although always a busy man he never allowed himself to get into such a rut that he could think of nothing else. After the trans-continental railroad was built he crossed the continent a number of times and in 1878 crossed the Atlantic and made an extensive tour of Europe.

Mr. Merritt was married in 1868 to Jeannette E. Hebron, whose present home is at No. 15 Presidio Terrace, San Francisco. He was also survived by two sons, Lanson and George, and two daughters, Florence and Jeannette. The eldest son, Lanson, passed to the great beyond five years after his father. Mr. Merritt’s death removed from the world a man of sterling worth, of tried faithfulness and of proven ability as a factor in the upbuilding of this western statehood.

Source: History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California; J. M Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1906, pages 1542 and 1545

Source location: California State Library, Sutro Branch, San Bruno, California; Transcribed by Linda Skaife

GEORGE NOBLE MERRITT.

The qualities which have distinguished the business career of George Noble Merritt are largely a matter of inheritance, to which he has added by a development along commercial lines, establishing a fine record as a financier, although he is numbered among the younger generation of Woodland and Yolo county citizens. A native of the sate, he was born at Merritt’s Station, Yolo county, December 6, 1872, a son of Dr. Hiram P. Merritt, an old pioneer of California, whose history is given in another part of this volume. His mother, formerly Jeannette Hebron, was also the representative of an old and distinguished family. The second in a family of four children, George N. Merritt was reared to young manhood upon the paternal farm, receiving his preliminary education in the district schools, after which he entered Hesperian College and later Trinity School, of San Francisco. He eventually became a student in Hastings Law School, from which, at the age of eighteen years, he was called home to take up the major part of the management of his father’s farm, the latter being stricken with illness which left him an invalid. He was assisted in this work by his brother, L. A. Merritt, who, however, since 1898 has spent his time in Nevada, the duties of administrator of the estate of his grandmother Hebron devolving upon him. G. N. Merritt has kept intact the old Merritt homestead, and now rents his mother’s farms. He owns a large stock ranch in Trinity and Mendocino counties and from the time of its passing into his possession has continued to add to it by purchase until he now owns twenty-two thousand acres, the most of which is very valuable. The greater part of his stock consists of a good breed of Shorthorns, whose brand is the number 71. The property just mentioned also has fine deposits of copper. In addition to this property Mr. Merritt also owns a handsome residence on First street,* Woodland, where he located in 1902, and where he has become an honored citizen, useful in all practical affairs of the city. He is also associated with the affairs of Yolo county, being a director in the Bank of Yolo, and having recently bought a ranch of four hundred acres seven miles west of Woodland.

In Woodland, March 14, 1895, Mr. Merritt was united in marriage with Louise Elizabeth Bandy, a native of this county and the daughter of J. W. Bandy, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. They are the parents of two children, James Bandy and Jeannette Hebron. Both Mr. Merritt and his wife are members of the Episcopal Church, of which he is now serving as vestryman. Politically Mr. Merritt is a stanch Republican, and, although active in his efforts to advance the principles he endorses, does not desire public office, as his private affairs engross his attention very largely. He is a member of the Round Valley Stockmen’s Association, the Pacific Coast Stockmen’s Association and the National Cattlemen’s Association, being one of the organizers of the last named.

Source: History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California; J. M Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1906, pages 1644 and 1645

Source location: California State Library, Sutro Branch, San Bruno, California; transcribed by Linda Skaife

THE YOLO HORSE INDUSTRY

[Dr. Hiram P. Merritt]

Probably the pioneer horseman of Yolo was Dr. H. P. Merritt, who lived a few miles south from Woodland. On New Year's day, 1851, he passed through Yolo county afoot and exceedingly poor in cash, driving four little pack mules loaded with merchandise, bound for the Shasta mines. The next year Dr. Merritt was buying American horses at all prices and selling at an advance. During 1852 he went east and brought one hundred head of horses back to California, settling on a ranch in Yolo county. While his stock was fattening for market the doctor put in a crop of wheat, paying nine cents a pound for the seed. He raised a fine harvest of smut which cost him about $4,000. His horses saved him from bankruptcy, as he immediately sold fourteen span to the California Stage Co. at $700 a span. Merritt frequently got $500 and $800 apiece for his horses, as most of them were splendid animals, large and strong. In 1852-3-4 Yolo county was the prize horse county of the state. During these years a number of thoroughbred mares got into the country,—such as "Tom Moore," brought in '52 from Missouri by Humphrey Cooper; the same year James Moore imported two fine horses, which he called "Bulwer" and "Lola Moutez." Henry Williams in 1854 brought in "Owen Dale," by Belmont, and during that year Carey Barney laid out a mile track near Knight's Landing, where for years the fastest horses were trained and speeded.

Source: History of Yolo County, California with Biographical Sketches of the Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
 Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present; Tom Gregory, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, page 49 - Source location: GoogleBooks.com; transcribed by Linda Skaife

Site Updated: 9 January 2010

Martha A Crosley Graham

Rights Reserved: 2010