Sutter County
Biographies
JAMES D. CARROLL
Prominent among the most highly esteemed residents of Sutter County, James D. Carroll was born on the old Carroll ranch at West Butte, on May 24, 1863. His father, John Carroll, was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and was born on February 15, 1830. He emigrated to the United States in 1846 and lived in New York until 1855; and then he came out to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He first engaged in mining in Sierra County, as early as 1859; but during that same year he came into Sutter County, and from that date he has resided at West Butte. In 1853, John Carroll was married to Miss Ellen Sheehan, also a native of the County Cork, who had come to the United States a young girl; and five children were born to them: A girl who died in infancy; Maggie, Mrs. N. S. Wilson, of West Butte; Ella, Mrs. W. F. Hoke, of Sutter; John J., who lives at West Butte; and James D., of our review. Mr. Carroll took up farming a mile south of West Butte, where he acquired in the old home place a ranch of 220 acres. He lived to be eighty-nine years old, passing away on December 7, 1918; his wife had died in 1889.
James D. Carroll went to school in West Butte and then topped off his preparation for his life work with a fine commercial course at a business college in Oakland. He was then associated with his father in farming, and also had a place of his own, comprising at first about 400 acres near West Butte, to which he added, from time to time, and from which he also occasionally sold a strip. Now he owns about 1000 acres of valuable lands on which he raises stock and grain. He is also the representative hereabouts of the Lindley Wholesale Grocery Company of Sacramento, and covers part of Sutter County, and also Colusa and Glenn Counties, in their interest, having been in their employ for fifteen years.
At West Butte, on October 12, 1886, James D. Carroll was married to Miss Louisa M. Hoke, a native of West Butte, where she was born on August 19, 1865, the daughter of Frederick and Louisa (Erke) Hoke. There were five children in the Hoke family: W. F., who died in 1922; Henry, also deceased; August; Alice M., who married Mr. Straub, and is deceased; and Louisa M., Mrs. Carroll. Louisa M. Hoke attended the West Butte Grammar School, and then went for a while to the Notre Dame Convent at Sacramento. Two children were granted to Mr. and Mrs. Carroll: Vera and Verne B.
John J. Carroll, Jr., the brother of our subject, was married on April 17, 1893, at Colusa, to Miss Julia Hagan, a native of Colusa County, and the daughter of Patrick Hagan, a farmer who owned about 1000 acres of choice land. Mrs. John J. Carroll, Jr., died on March 1, 1895, leaving a daughter June, who is a popular teacher at Oakland.
James D. Carroll is a Democrat, and has served on the Democratic Central Committee of Sutter County.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 420-421
CHARLES SUMMY
In the occupation of farming, success depends upon individual effort and a thorough understanding of the soil and of climatic conditions, and among the farmers in the vicinity of Sutter City none have been more successful than Charles Summy. His birth occurred in Sutter County, near Meridian, November 1, 1880, and he is a son of Leonidas and Sidnia Jane (Wood) Summy, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Missouri. Leonidas Summy came to California in the early sixties and at first settled in Long Valley. Later he acquired large farming interests in the vicinity of Meridian, where he has since made his home. Eight children were born to them: Frank, deceased; William; Theodore, also deceased; Almira; Charles, our subject; Grover, deceased; Margaret; and Winifred, who is now Mrs. Weiss. Charles Summy received his education at the Slough district school and in the Sutter Union High School.
The marriage of Mr. Summy occurred on December 19, 1906, and united him with Miss Cornelia Forderhase, born in Missouri, a daughter of William and Louise (Wisbrock) Forderhase. They were farmers who settled in Sutter County in 1888, and Mrs. Summy is one of eight children born to them. Mr. and Mrs. Summy are the parents of three children: Clarence, Shirley and Charles. Mr. Summy’s first land purchase was an eighty-acre tract in the Slough country near Meridian, where he conducted a dairy and did general farming; he also leased another eighty-acre tract in the same vicinity. In 1920 he sold his ranch and purchased the Forderhase home place in Sutter City. This ranch contains thirty-five acres devoted to almonds. In politics Mr. Summy is a Democrat.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 422