Sutter County
Biographies
KRULL & BENDER
Two men who have made a success through their own efforts are the energetic and conscientious partners of the Krull & Bender ranch. The senior member, Joseph Bender, a native of Baden, Germany, was born March 30, 1875. He was one of the ten children , five of whom are living, born to Fred and Emilia (Souter) Bender, also natives of Baden, Germany. Fred Bender passed away when he was sixty-five years old and was laid away to rest in the land of his birth. Mrs. Bender came to California, where her son Joseph provided her with a comfortable, happy home, and where she resided until her death at the age of seventy-one years.
When Joseph Bender was sixteen years old, he emigrated to the United States, his sister Lena and brother Marx M. having preceded him to Marysville, Cal. Mr. Bender came to Sutter County and worked on the White, Cooley & Cutts ranch for seventy-five cents per day. For ten years he was employed on the Riviera ranch, and then he worked on the Krull ranch for eight years, becoming joint partner with E.C. Krull in 1905.
On October 26, 1899, Joseph Bender was united in marriage with Ada Krull; and they were blessed with one child, Eunice. Mrs. Bender owns forty acres of highly developed orchard, which was given to her by her father, Joseph Krull. Both Mr. Bender and his wife are members of Rebekah Lodge, No. 267, I.O.O.F., of North Butte. Mr. Bender received his citizenship papers at Marysville; he is a stanch advocate of the Democratic party. A true American citizen in every sense of the word, he is a strong supporter of all movements that have for their good the betterment of the community.
The junior member, E. C. Krull, is the youngest of the children of Joseph and Elizabeth (Pfoh) Krull, also represented in this work. He attended the Clay district school, and the Sutter High School for one term, and was reared on the Krull ranch in Sutter County, where he first saw the light. He grew up in the fruit industry, having first started to work when a youth for fifty cents per day. In those days, most of the labor was done by Chinese, who worked for small wages. For eighteen years he has conducted the Krull & Bender ranch with his brother-in-law, assuming full responsibility. Mr. Krull also owns a highly developed orchard, on land given to him as his share of his father’s estate.
In 1904, E. C. Krull married Miss Josephine Wilcoxon, a native of Yuba City, and a daughter of S. E. and Mary (Butler) Wilcoxon, pioneers of Sutter County. Mr. and Mrs. Krull became the parents of one son, Walter W., who was born in October, 1905. Mr. Krull and his wife are members of the Rebekah Lodge, No. 267, of North Butte. Since 1922, Mr. Krull has served as a director of the reclamation board, District No. 777.
The combined efforts of Mr. Krull and Mr. Bender have made a success of all of their affairs, and they enjoy the honor and esteem of all who know them. They are raising choice prunes and raisins and conducting a fruit-drying and packing business, which is very remunerative.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 564
MRS. EVELYN J. BRILL
Exceptionally gifted with all those qualifications which conduce to the public good and the welfare of others, and possessing a kindly heart and winsome personality, Mrs. Evelyn J. Brill occupies an enviable position in the social and educational circles at Live Oak, where she wields a potent influence. She was born at the old White home in Marysville, Yuba County, on I Street, the only daughter of the late John Henry White, a native of Madison County, Ind., where he was born on Christmas Day, 1830. He was reared and educated in Ohio and in Cass County, Mich., and learned the fancy leather trade, which he followed for five years in Michigan. He migrated to California in 1859, arriving in Sacramento in August, and soon thereafter engaged in teaming; and later he conducted a transportation business, carrying freight to Marysville and into the mountains, to Virginia City and the mines, driving twelve mules to a wagon. In 1864, he returned to Michigan and married Miss Sarah Eliza Hain; and the same year he returned to California with his bride, coming by way of Panama, locating in Marysville. During the winter season, he worked at his trade in Marysville, making harness and fancy saddles, and in the spring he set out to team to the mines with supplies. He worked hard, dealt fairly, was thrifty as well as industrious, and he came to own half a block of real estate at Twelfth and I Streets, and built a home in that locality. In 1867, he bought land west of Yuba City, the ranch now owned by the Jake Onstott family, Jake Onstott having bought it from John H. White in 1873. Mr. White was a careful investor; on finding a favorable opportunity, he purchased 465 acres half a mile to the west of Live Oak, in 1873, then a sparsely settled region, with much wooded land. He cleared forty acres of it, and thereafter engaged in cereal farming, building his home, and living there happily with his family. In 1878, Mr. and Mrs. White and their family returned to their old home in Cass County, Mich. They remained there only a year, and then came back to California and Sutter County; and at Four Corners, Evelyn White went to the Columbia School, and had her first school-day experiences. In 1883, the Whites removed to San Jose, and Mr. White purchased sixteen acres of highly developed orchard, on Stevens Creek road, which he held and operated for twenty years, but eventually sold; and then, in 1893, the family returned to Live Oak. The old White home was destroyed by fire some years ago, and was later replaced by a modern structure, located about one mile from the original site, on the Pennington road, one mile east of Live Oak.
Miss Evelyn White was graduated with honors, in 1888, from the University of the Pacific, when she received the B.S. degree. By her marriage she had one child, Evelyn B., who is now the wife of C. C. Schell and the mother of two daughters, Roberta E. and Marjorie B. Schell. Besides her regular college work, Mrs. Brill took up extra studies, including art; and several canvases of artistic merit, her handiwork, grace her home. In 1893, she accompanied her parents back to Live Oak, and there made their declining years as happy as possible. She gave her tenderest care to her father, who passed away on January 23, 1917, aged eighty-six years and one month. Nearly three years later, on November 20, her mother also breathed her last, after ten long years of constant care by her daughter, such as only a daughter can bestow. Mrs. White will long be remembered for her heroic efforts, together with those of Miss Everett, in starting here the pioneer movement against intemperance, which was the foundation of all Woman’s Christian Temperance Union work in Sutter County. Both parents were stanch, consistent Christians; and they were prominent in the grange work of a generation ago.
For seventeen years, the White ranch was leased to near-by farmers; but about six years ago, Mrs. Brill resumed management, and further developed the estate. Her son-in-law, Mr. Schell, also has attained to some excellent results in the growing of fruit, having given his attention especially to 100 acres taken from the estate in 1912, for special cultivation. It thus happens that the splendid ranch deeded to the White heirs – Mrs. Brill and A. H. White of Marysville – stands out as among the choicest in Sutter County. Mrs. Brill still owns about 200 acres of this family estate, much of which yet awaits development into orchard and vineyard.
Mrs. Brill has made an enviable record as a trustee of the grammar school at Live Oak, and has also had a hand in organizing the Live Oak High School, for which a fine building was recently erected, gathering the materials to be placed in the corner-stone, and otherwise preparing for the dedication; and she has always been a patron of art and education. She is an ex-president of the Live Oak Woman’s Club, and at the present time is the secretary of the Sutter-Yuba Federation of Women’s Clubs.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 566-569