Sutter County
Biographies
ADOLPH FRED BECKER
A native of Missouri, born July 5, 1870, Adolph Fred Becker was educated in the public school, and in 1887 went to New Mexico, where he spent a year. In 1889, when nineteen years of age, he arrived at Vacaville, Cal., and found employment in orchard work for one year; and then he went to Winters, Yolo County, and worked four years on ranches. Going from there to Shasta County, he sought employment in the mines at Anderson, but the mines had shut down for the winter. In the spring of 1898, he located in Sutter County, where he worked for a number of years on a ranch, two and a half miles northeast of Sutter City. Then he was able to lease 320 acres of grain land in District 10, Yuba County, which he farmed for a couple of years. Returning to Sutter County, he purchased a ranch of twelve acres near Live Oak, which he set to orchard and vineyard. In 1909 he added ten acres to his original purchase, when he set to Thompson Seedless grapes. He operated this ranch until 1919, when he sold out. In 1922 he bought an orchard in the north end of the Gledhill Colony; and he also owns an entire block within the limits of Sutter City, on which are planted almonds.
Adolph Fred Becker is the third in a family of six children born to Louis and Sophie (Elsner) Becker, both natives of Germany. Louis Becker came to the United States when he was only sixteen years old, and the mother came with her parents when she was four years old. Their six children, Edward, Oswald, Adolph Fred, Louis, Regina, and Oscar, were all born in Missouri.
On April 26, 1900, at Marysville, Mr. Becker was married to Miss Fredricka Henrietta Ziegenmeyer, born in Franklin County, Mo., a daughter of William and Lizzetto (Dieckmann) Ziegenmeyer, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Missouri. Many generations ago, one of the ancestors of William Ziegenmeyer was a goat-herder for a nobleman, who took a fancy to him and not only gave him a number of goats, but took him into partnership in the business, giving him the name of Ziegen (meaning goats), which was used as a prefix to his own name of Meyer. William Ziegenmeyer came to the United States when thirty years of age and settled in Missouri, where he was married and where his nine children were born. He passed away at the age of eighty-two; but the mother is still living in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. and Mrs. Becker have had three sons: Louis William, deceased, Herman Otto, and Frederick Adolph. Mr. Becker is a Republican.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p . 1302-1303
HUGH A. MORRISON
Among the successful horticulturists of the Barry district of Sutter County is Hugh A. Morrison, who has always been alert to every business opportunity and whose success is due to the fact that he has been able to recognize and utilize advantages which others have passed by. He was born on the Morrison home place at Ostrom Station, Yuba County, January 25, 1889, the fourth in a family of seven children born to J. H. and Henrietta (Scott) Morrison, whose life history may be found on another page in this volume.
Hugh A. Morrison received a good education in the district schools of Yuba County, and as a boy he became familiar with farm work on the home place, which was devoted to grain and live stock. Ten years ago, Hugh A. Morrison and three of his brothers located in Sutter County, where they engaged in developing the Bogue ranch, which they later purchased and improved. In 1919, Hugh A. Morrison sold his interest to his brothers, James and Eugene Morrison, and purchased his present home place, consisting of twenty-one acres, which he has developed to a fine cling-peach orchard.
In Sacramento, on June 12, 1918, Mr. Morrison was married to Miss Laura Odell Castle, a native of Nebraska, but reared near Council Bluffs, Iowa. She is a daughter of Seigel and Ida Castle. The mother died when Laura was a baby, and she was reared in the home of Fred and Louisa Jones, and came with them to Sutter County in 1912, where she finished her education in Sutter Union High School. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morrison: Maxine and Hugh A., Jr. Since 1917 Mr. Morrison has been a member of Marysville Lodge No. 783, B.P.O. Elks. He is a charter member of the Barry Center of the Sutter County Farm Bureau, and recently he has joined the California Canning-Peach Growers’ Association. Mrs. Morrison is a member of the Barry Methodist Episcopal Church, the Ladies’ Aid, and the Bogue Wednesday Club.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p . 1303