Sutter County
Biographies
WALTER B. CUTTS
A very successful horticulturist and viticulturist, Walter B. Cutts was born at Marysville, May 15, 1887, a son of Albert David and Emily (Wilbur) Cutts. In the early fifties, the Cutts family settled in Marysville, where the father engaged in the hardware business; and in 1862 Mr. Cutts and his partners built a store, which they conducted under the firm name of White, Cooley & Cutts. Mrs. Cutts’ folks came to Yuba County about that time and engaged in farming. Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Cutts were the parents of four children: Albert W., Lillian M., Ralph, and Walter B., the subject of this sketch. In 1900, the firm of White, Cooley & Cutts purchased land and Albert David Cutts assumed the responsibility of supervising their orchard. He then worked at the Riviera orchard near Live Oak, which lies in both Butte and Sutter Counties, and which had first been developed in 1885. Walter B. Cutts accompanied the family to this place in 1904. On September 6, 1909, Albert David Cutts passed away; his wife had died previously in 1902.
Walter B. Cutts attended the public schools, and in 1908 he graduated from the Van der Naillen School of Engineers, in Oakland. He followed his profession as an engineer on private mining projects near Alamogordo, N. M., and also worked near Sacramento, Cal., when he was engaged on the Sutter Basin surveys. In 1915, he purchased land in Sutter County, at Live Oak Colony, No. 1; and since then he has added to his holdings until he now operates about fifty acres, consisting of three orchards, which he has devoted to prunes, grapes, peaches, pears, walnuts and figs. Mr. Cutts handled the laying out of some of the laterals of the Live Oak irrigation survey, and also made surveys of colony lands, most of his work being done since 1920. He is a member of the California Raisin Growers’ Association. Fraternally, he is a Mason, holding membership at Gridley.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 572-575
JOHN HENRY THEODORE VAGEDES
With the history of Sutter City for the past thirty-five years John Henry Theodore Vagedes has been intimately familiar. His birth occurred in Germany, March 14, 1849, and he is a son of Bernard and Katherine (Staupman) Vagedes. Bernard Vagedes was a veterinary surgeon by profession, and lived and died in his native land of Germany.
John Henry Theodore Vagedes received his education in the schools of Munster, Germany, and at the age of fourteen began to learn the trade of the cabinet-maker. In 1872 he arrived in the United States; and coming directly to California, he followed his trade in Marysville for sixteen years.
At Marysville on April 16, 1874, Mr. Vagedes was married to Miss Elizabeth Foss, who had been a schoolmate of her husband in Germany, her native country. In 1888 the family settled in Sutter City, where he purchased real estate and followed his trade of carpentry. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Vagedes; Antone, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Katherine, who resides in San Francisco; and Elizabeth. Mrs. Vagedes passed away in 1912. In politics, Mr. Vagedes is a Republican.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 576
B. M. SWEENEY
A successful orchardist, who has also found it worth while to follow vineyarding, is B. M. Sweeney, of Live Oak, who owns some forty-eight choice acres about two miles to the south of that town, a part of the E. Briick ranch bordering on the Sacramento Northern Railroad. He came to Live Oak on the 22nd of November, 1897, and engaged in grain-farming on the Manaugh place. He had as a partner his brother, J. T. Sweeney. They raised wheat for the most part, that being the chief crop grown in Live Oak. They had previously farmed together successfully for two years on other ranch lands.
Mr. Sweeney was born at Chico, in Butte County, on July 6, 1876, the son of James W. and Mary Ann (McGrade) Sweeney, natives of Ireland, who arrived in California about 1860. Both parents came of farmer stock, and settled in the Wheatland section. They married at Marysville in 1867; and they had a family of six children, among whom our subject was the fifth. Three only have survived. Mrs. Sweeney, now seventy-two years of age, has resided since 1885 at Berkeley; Mr. Sweeney, esteemed by all who knew him, passed away in 1898. B. M. Sweeney attended the St. Joseph Academy at Berkeley, and then learned the blacksmith trade and horseshoeing under Mr. Charles A. Cain, at Berkeley. J. T. Sweeney preceded B. M. Sweeney to Live Oak, and the latter went to work at the forge for three years in the Gridley blacksmith shop, returning eventually to Live Oak from Gridley.
At Marysville, in 1901, Mr. Sweeney was married to Miss Kate Ellis, the daughter of Charles and Mary Ellis. Mrs. Sweeney is the eighth child of a family of nine children by her mother’s two husbands. By her first marriage, to Joseph Clark, she had five children; while by her second marriage, to Charles Ellis, she had four children. Charles Ellis has been deceased for a quarter of a century; but Mrs. Ellis is still residing at Live Oak, and is seventy-six years of age. She is a pioneer here, having crossed the plains with her first husband, Joseph Clark, and her father and mother. Her mother died on the way out and was buried at Virginia City, Nev. Mrs. Sweeney was reared in Sutter County and was educated in the public schools, and then was at home until she married.
B. M. Sweeney has been a member of the Knights of Columbus at Marysville for the past five years; and he served as constable for three years, or from 1905 to 1908, and has always been known as a public-spirited citizen. He is a charter member of the Live Oak Farm Bureau, and as a director during 1923 and 1924 he was very active in this center, doing excellent work as one of the committee on new members. He has unbounded confidence in the future of the fruit industry in Live Oak, and is 100 per cent for cooperative marketing. He also has great faith in the future of the town, and owns fourteen very desirable lots in Live Oak. During the World War he did very important service in the various drives, loyally supporting the government. He is always in favor of good roads and good schools. Since 1915 he has become the guardian of two fatherless nephews, C. P. and W. B. Sweeney, who are youths of much promise, and general favorites.
Mr. Sweeney has never been without influence in the community in which he is such an active personality, and he is especially helpful among young men. Having learned the blacksmith trade, he acquired by purchase, in 1904, the J. F. Nelson shop, which he conducted until 1919, meanwhile working hard to build up a garage and also a Ford agency. He handled all the Ford products; and the only car-load of Ford automobiles ever unloaded in the town of Live Oak was consigned to him, in 1917. He erected a commodious building and was ready to carry on a larger business than ever; but since he disposed by sale of this part of his property to Dunning Brothers, of the California Garage at Marysville, he has devoted all of his time and attention to his ranch properties. For in the meantime, or as far back as 1909, he had invested in some open land, or barley fields, which he at once proceeded to develop by the planting of prunes, now eight years old. He set out the Thompson Seedless grapes about the same time, so that he has a fine vineyard as well as orchard. He uses one Fordson tractor and four horses for his farm-power, and operates only according to the latest and most approved methods.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 576-577