Yolo County
Biographies
George F. Hamel
Farming operations conducted upon an extensive scale form the basis of the partnership existing between George F. and Henry J. Hamel, native-born citizens of the Golden State of the west and members of a pioneer family honorably associated with agricultural development and material upbuilding. The property which came to them as an inheritance and which has been increased through their own capable efforts yields to their keen supervision an annual income that furnishes abundant proof of the fertility of the soil as well as their own sagacious oversight. At this writing they have charge of eleven hundred acres near Davis and two hundred and eighty-five acres in the vicinity of Winters, the whole forming a vast tract whose care and cultivation demands their diligent attention.
George F. Hamel was born at Placerville, El Dorado county, Cal., in 1859, and received his education in the academy of his native town, the German school at Sacramento, St. Augustine’s College at Benicia and Heald’s Business College in San Francisco. To the knowledge gained in text-books he has added a large fund of information gained from contact with the world, from habits of close observation and from the careful perusal of current literature. Throughout life he has made ranching his chief occupation and under the oversight of his father, Henry Hamel, he learned his first lessons in agriculture, the same being the foundation of his present intimate familiarity with the occupation. In the operation of the farm the most modern machinery for facilitating the farm work is used and the grain crop is gathered with a combined harvester. Fair crops are raised, returning a gratifying dividend upon the investment. The barley crop for 1911 averaged twenty-five sacks per acre, although some of the land yielded as high as thirty-five. The wheat crop in 1912 averaged twenty-five sacks to the acre. Stock-raising is a leading feature of the Davis ranch, where twenty-five calves of the short-horn Durham variety are raised every year, as well as eight or ten colts of Clydesdale and Norman breed. As much of the land is well adapted to pasture, the stock industry proves profitable as well as interesting. The meadows produce large crops of hay and the entire tract under the capable supervision of the proprietors gives evidence of soil fertility, careful cultivation and an intelligent rotation of crops.
Upon organization of the Davis branch of the Bank of Yolo George F. Hamel became one of the original stockholders and still retains his connection with the concern, while the association with the village is further enlarged through the ownership of real estate. In January, 1898, he was united in marriage with Miss Katherine M. Dietrich, a native of Sacramento, Cal. They are the parents of two children, Carolyn M. and Lestenna H., who are receiving excellent educational advantages in the schools of the neighborhood. Mr. Hamel was made a Mason in Athens Lodge No. 228, F. & A. M., of Davis, of which he was master for two years. He was raised to the Royal Arch degree in Woodland Chapter No. 46, R. A. M., and to the Knight Templar degree in Woodland Commandery No. 21.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County, California” by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 463 – 464.
Edward W. Culver
A man who is making a success of his business, in Woodland, Yolo county, Cal., and whose work is appreciated by his townsmen, is Edward Culver, a purveyor of first-class plumbing, tinning and gasfitting. He was born in Middlebury, Vt., December 13, 1886, a son of A. E. Culver, a farmer in that old town, and was educated in the public schools near his boyhood home. In 1903, when he was about seventeen years old, he came west as far as Eureka, Nev., and during the ensuing year and a half rode the cattle range, acquiring experience as a cowboy and knowledge of western ways. Then he went to Oakland and began an apprenticeship to the plumber’s trade, which he completed under the instruction of Robert Dalzell. He worked at his trade in Oakland until 1907, then went to Sacramento, where he was employed as a plumber on the state capitol. This latter work was on a contract held by Mr. Dalzell. His trade took him to other work in Sacramento and to Lodi, and then to Marshfield, Ore., where he remained until February, 1909, when he came to Woodland, Yolo county and established himself in the plumbing business. Here he has remained, winning the good opinion of his fellow citizens both as a workman and as a man of affairs. He did the plumbing in the A. C. Morris residence, the Dr. Fairchild residence, the Woodland sanitarium, the First National Bank, the Harry Potter residence and other notable public and private buildings, and has several fine contracts to which he will give attention in the near future. His store and shop, under one roof, are located at No. 425 Main street.
In Ukiah, Cal., Mr. Culver married Mrs. Edna (Overmeyer) Bush, who has, by her former marriage, children named Yerba and Zorah Bush. In political alliance Mr. Culver is a Republican; he is an attendant upon the services of the Congregational church, and socially he affiliates with the L. O. O. M. and the K. O. T. M.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County, California” by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 464 – 467.
Burlin Cecil
Throughout the development of California, Yolo county has ever been to the front, her citizens, substantial and progressive, having exerted in her behalf all the assistance in their power to make her one of the most highly cultivated and modernized counties in the state. Burlin Cecil, a retired farmer of Yolo county, has done much toward the improvement of this section, and, in retrospection, views a life well spent and holding few regrets. He was born January 20, 1845, in Scotland county, Mo., the son of Samuel Stewart and Lillie B. (Richardson) Cecil, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively. The Cecil family came originally from England, where the grandfather, John Cecil, was born, being closely related to Lord Burleigh and Lord Salisbury, who were both Cecils. Samuel S. Cecil was reared in Scotland county, Mo., attending public schools there and also Fayette College, and afterward he took up farming there. On April 10, 1863, with his family he joined a train of one hundred and five wagons en route to California, the journey holding one event which the emigrants never forgot. At Deep Creek, Utah, they came upon a party of United States soldiers engaged in conflict with a large band of Indians who had already killed several of the white men. The pioneers promptly took a hand in the battle, routing the red men and safely guarding their own company until reinforcements arrived. Proceeding on their way without further incident, they reached their goal in July, then separated to locate in various sections of the country. The Cecil party went to the Robert Armstrong ranch in Solano county, arriving there July 23, and thereupon the father and son took charge of the farm until their removal to Oregon with their stock. They remained in the Upper Williamette valley about eighteen months, after which they returned to Yolo county by horse teams. For one year after their return they were located on the Ike Chiles ranch of five hundred acres near Davis. About one year after this the father purchased a farm which his sons managed until 1870, when Burlin Cecil withdrew to take up clerking in a mercantile store in Davis, remaining thus engaged for two years. Later he farmed the well-known Lillard ranch and subsequently, in 1882, bought one hundred and sixty acres which he later sold. He then purchased two hundred and fifty-one acres northwest of Davis, upon which he resided until December 22, 1910, when he sold it and retired from active farm life to a comfortable home in Davis, and has since then devoted his attention to the real estate business, making a specialty of buying and selling farm lands.
In speaking of his agricultural success Mr. Cecil remarked that he had secured as high as twenty-one sacks of wheat to the acre, each sack weighing one hundred and fifty-one pounds. Barley crops frequently ran twenty-five sacks to the acre, also an exceptional record. In connection with his general farming pursuits, he raised also cattle, hogs and mules with profit.
Mr. Cecil was united in marriage May 12, 1872, with Miss Eliza Lillard, who passed away in Davis December 22, 1908. Eight children were born to them, as follows: Bertha, now Mrs. George A. Gordon, of Davis, who has two children, George and Beryl; Burlin, Jr., farming near Davis, who wedded Miss Grace Rogers, and who has a daughter, Merrea; Ida Belle, the wife of William P. Gordon, of Davis, who has a daughter and a son, Cecil and Burleigh; Lola, now Mrs. W. H. Pike, of Oakland, who has two daughters, Ruby and Buryl; Grace, Mrs. Roy Alter, of Roseville, who has son, Wesley; Lillard, of Oakland, who married Jessie McIntyre; Hazel, Mrs. R. Hildebrand, of Sacramento, who has a daughter, Helen; and Granville. Mr. Cecil has been much interested in education and has been an advocate of and liberal contributor toward the upbuilding of churches and schools. Politically he is a stanch Democrat.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County, California” by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 467 – 468.