Sutter County
Biographies
EDWARD DEAN
The life record of an honorable and upright citizen and an industrious and successful agriculturist is illustrated in the career of Edward Dean, who was born in Sutter County, on the old Dean ranch, three miles south of Sutter City, on August 9, 1868. His parents, Thomas and Hannah (Hindman) Dean, were natives of old Virginia, near the Ohio line, and of Ohio, respectively. The father came to the Golden State in 1849, during the gold rush. He mined for a while, and soon afterwards purchased a livery barn in Marysville and preempted a piece of government land in Sutter County, in the Tules, where he raised hay for his horses. He made one trip around the Horn and two trips across the plans. Mrs. Dean came to California via the Isthmus route. After her arrival, Mr. Dean made his home on the ranch. Eventually he came to own about 800 acres of land, three miles south of South Butte, now called Sutter City. His ranch was devoted to the raising of stock and hay, and here he built a substantial and commodious home, in which he resided until his death, which came when he was about seventy-four years old. His wife had almost reached eighty-four years of age when she passed on. They were the parents of nine children, of whom Edward was the sixth in order of birth.
Edward Dean attended the Washington school and the college at Auburn, Cal. He was always associated with his father, and after his father’s death he continued to reside on the home place. Of the father’s property he inherited 160 acres, and he also purchased 160 acres of the old Wadsworth place. Later he added 1200 acres to his holdings, from the old Union Lumber Company’s ranch in the Buttes, near Pennington, which he uses for a stock range and which is now conducted by his son. Mr. Dean has a dairy of forty cows, and about 250 head of cattle and 100 head of hogs.
On November 24, 1895, at Yuba City, Edward Dean was united in marriage with Miss Edwina Schlag, born near Yuba City, a daughter of John and Josephine (Whyler) Schlag, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this history. She attended the Prairie district school and the Sutter Union High School. Their union was blessed with five children: Dorothy, Mrs. W. L. Huntington, of Sutter; Ralph, at Butte Island; and Edwina, Shirley and Edward, all residing at home. Dorothy’s husband, Mr. Huntington, was born at Los Angeles. He served in the 1st Division of the Engineers Corps during the late World War, and was wounded on May 18, 1918, while in active service in France. Mr. and Mrs. Huntington have been blessed with two children: Meriam and William. Mr. Dean’s son Ralph married Effie Mudd, a native of Germantown, Cal. In national politics, Mr. Dean is a Republican.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 1048