Sutter County
Biographies
GEORGE E. BRITTAN
Prominent among the early pioneers is the name of George E. Brittan, who was born on March 13, 1821, in Shenandoah County, Va., where he lived until 1834. He then moved to Missouri with his father’s family, and remained there until 1849, when he and his father crossed the plains to California. The father, Thomas Brittan, was born and reared in Old Virginia. As a country gentleman, he was identified with the plantation life of that State. In 1834 he moved his family overland to Missouri, where he cleared a pioneer farm and created a new home. When he crossed the plains in 1849, the rigors of the overland journey proved too severe, and he died soon after reaching Marysville. The mother, Elizabeth Finks Brittan, was a native of Virginia, who crossed the plains and lived in Sutter County until the ripe age of ninety-three years.
In 1848 George E. Brittan married his former schoolmate, Mary A. E. Garr of Virginia, the daughter of Mark F. Garr, a planter. Having gained a start in the West, Mr. Brittan returned to Missouri in 1852 and brought his young wife, and his mother, brother, and sister, to California. He built his home from stone hewed out of the solid rock of the Buttes, and it still stands to illustrate the endeavors of a hardy pioneer. Ten children came to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brittan: Mary, deceased; Elizabeth, who married J. N. Davis, deceased; James O., now of Colusa County; Henry H., also of Colusa County; George Jr., deceased; A. F., deceased; Robert L., deceased; Mattie V., who married O. Wulwebber and now lives in Chicago; Anna C., deceased; and Mark Thomas, deceased.
Mr. Brittan was a Democrat, and was prominent in the affairs of the county as well as in the neighborhood in which he lived. He served as supervisor of his district, and the grammar school of Sutter City still bears the name of the Brittan District. When his health failed, he retired from ranching and moved to San Francisco, where he spent his last days. George E. Brittan died in the year 1910, leaving a name that is still honored in Sutter County.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 353-354
HENRY TUTT GIRDNER
A resident of California all of his life, and until his retirement actively engaged in progressive occupations, Henry Tutt Girdner is now enjoying the fruits of his more active years. He was born on the Sacramento River near Cranmore, Sutter County, December 19, 1869, a son of Joseph and Virinda Catherine (Brittan) Girdner. Joseph Girdner was a prominent figure in the fight in early days between the farmers and the hydraulic miners. The fight was finally won by the farmers, and an act of legislature, the Anti-Debris Law, put a stop to hydraulic mining. Joseph Girdner lived to be seventy-eight years old; his wife was but fifty-two when she died. Tutt Girdner, as he is familiarly called, received his education in the public schools of San Jose and in his early teens began to work with his father on the home ranch.
At Sutter City, on December 24, 1890, Mr. Girdner was married to Miss Josephine L. Epperson, also a native of Sutter County, and a daughter of Cassius Clay and Fannie (Sisk) Epperson. Mr. Epperson was born in Lexington, Ky., June 24, 1834. He came to California at the age of sixteen in a sailer around Cape Horn. Shipwrecked off the coast of Mexico, he made shore and remained in that country for a year. He then made his way to San Francisco, arriving in 1852, and for a time worked on ranches, until he took a preemption, in time becoming owner of 320 acres. In 1887, when Sutter City was laid out, he sold eighty acres, known as the Epperson Addition to Sutter City. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Epperson, five children were born, two of whom are living: Josephine L., now Mrs. Girdner, and Mrs. Fannie M. Pease, of Sacramento. Mr. Epperson passed away at Sutter City, and in his passing the county lost one of its most worthy pioneers and upbuilders. After his marriage, Mr. Girdner farmed in Sutter County for a couple of years. Then he was with a lumber company in Siskiyou County for three years; and thereafter the family removed to Sacramento, where Mr. Girdner was employed in the Southern Pacific Railroad yards for eight years. Returning to Sutter City, he farmed for one year, after which he sold out and went to Pacific Grove, where the family remained for five years. Since then the family have resided in Sutter City. Mrs. Girdner is the owner of a one-fifth interest in 649 acres in the tules.
One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Girdner, Margaret Virinda, a graduate of Stanford University and of the library school in Sacramento, and at the present time librarian of the Palo Alto High School. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor fraternity, and also of Alpha Phi sorority. Mr. Girdner is a member of Washington Lodge No. 20, F. & A.M., Sacramento; Washington Chapter No. 13, R. A. M., Marysville; Marysville Council, R. & S.M.; and Marysville Commandery No. 7, K.T.; and he is also a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, holding membership in Sacramento Consistory, as well as a life member of Islam Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in San Francisco. With his wife and daughter, he is a member of Naomi Chapter, O.E.S., Sacramento. Mr. Girdner is a member of Eureka Lodge No. 4, I.O.O.F., of Sacramento; and he and his wife are both members of the Rebekah Lodge of Sacramento. He is also a member of the Woodmen of the World of Sisson, and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of Monterey.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 355