Yolo County
Biographies
Thomas G. Hughes
A well-known citizen of Woodland, Yolo county, Cal., whose name is the title of this brief notice¾Thomas Green Hughes¾was born at the old town of Liberty, San Joaquin county, Cal., a son of William G. and Clementine (Aull) Hughes. His father was a native of Liberty, Clay county, Mo., and was educated in the Missouri public schools and at William Jewell College, Liberty, where his brother, George Hughes, was a teacher. He came to California in 1853, his party crossing the plains with the primitive ox outfits then in vogue for trans-continental travel and transportation. For awhile he taught school. Then he engaged in merchandising in the town of Liberty, Cal., near where the town of Galt has since grown up on the railroad, trading there until 1862, when he passed away, aged thirty-two years. Clementine Aull was born in Barry, Clay county, Mo., and came to California with her father, Dr. Thomas M. Aull, physician and surgeon, who practiced his profession in Barry, Clay county, Mo., and at Linden, Atchison county, in that state, until 1852, when he crossed the plains to California. He located in Martinez, where he was in 1853 and 1854 surveyor of Contra Costa county. From there he went to Libery, San Joaquin county, and continued there the practice of his profession, giving some little attention to politics with such success that he represented his assembly district in the California Legislature in 1856 and 1857. His wife, who was Clara Fugitt, was born in Howard county, Mo., and died at Sacramento in 1888. Charles Aull, one of the sons of this pioneer couple, was the deputy warden of San Quentin Prison until 1888, when he was made the warden of the State Prison at Folsom, which office he held until his death in October, 1899. The second husband of Mrs. Hughes was Abiel Leonard Boggs, a nephew of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs of Missouri. He crossed the plains by way of old Mexico and Magdalena Bay, finishing the trip by boat. That was in 1849, making him literally a forty-niner. He became a farmer and stockman in Sonoma county, where for eight years he was deputy sheriff. Later he came to Woodland, where he followed the business of contractor and builder until 1902, when he died. Mrs. Boggs has been a member of the Christian Church since 1859. Of three children of her first marriage only one, Thomas G. Hughes, is living. By her second marriage she had nine children, of whom five are living, four daughters and one son, as follows: Clara, Mrs. W. H. Hooper, of Woodside, Cal.; Sophia, Mrs. A. G. Sterns, of Los Angeles; Mary, the wife of Dr. C. R. Wilcoxon of Woodland; Helen, the wife of the Rev. T. G. Picton, of Los Angeles; and Jefferson, of San Francisco.
Thomas G. Hughes was brought to Woodland in the spring of 1870, and was educated in the public schools of that enlightened city. He was an officer of the State Prison at Folsom under Charles Aull for six years, resigning as deputy warden in the fall of 1893. Later he was for some years an accountant for different business houses in Woodland. By 1911 he formed a partnership with Judge E. T. Lampton under the firm name of Lampton & Hughes, to transact a general abstracting business, in which he gives special attention to the perfecting of titles. Mr. Hughes is a charter member and past president of Woodland Parlor No. 30, N. S. G. W., and is the present master of Woodland Lodge No. 156, F. & A. M. He served seven years as a member of Company F, Fourth Artillery Regiment, N. G. C., retiring as first lieutenant. He is a member of the Christian Church of Woodland, and is president of the board of trustees. In his political convictions he is a 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 435 – 439.
John Carl Altpeter
Born near Saarbrucken, Prussia, March 2, 1832, John Carl Altpeter was a son of Frank and Magdalene (Dinner) Altpeter. The parents both died in their native land, the father when John Carl was eight years old. The youngest of the three children of the family, he is the only survivor. He remained in Germany until he was seventeen years old, educating himself in the public schools, then, in 1849, came to the United States, making the voyage on board a sailing vessel which landed at New York. Having too generously rendered financial assistance to comrades on shipboard, he arrived in America penniless, but accidentally met a cousin, who helped him reach Rochester, N. Y. From there he went to Orleans county, that state, and found work on a farm at $72 a year and his board, and at the end of the year had $44.75 in cash. Continuing to work and save, his mother soon joined him and eventually they bought twenty acres of land in Orleans county, N. Y., and later more land until they owned a farm of eighty acres.
December 20, 1860, in Monroe county, N. Y., Mr. Altpeter married Miss Catherine Nessel, a native of Patterson, N. J. Her father, Peter Nessel, was born in Alsace, France, became a leather-dresser and immigrated to New Jersey, where he worked at his trade until he moved to Monroe county, N. Y., where he continued in the same line of endeavor, established a leather store and acquired a farm. He died in Rochester and his wife, Margaret (Koerner) Nessel, a native of Bavaria, died in 1876 having borne him seven children, four of whom are living and of whom Mrs. Altpeter was the eldest. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Altpeter located on a farm in Monroe county, N. Y., which they operated ten years. Then they removed to Mr. Altpeter’s farm in Orleans county, where they lived nine years.
In 1882 Mr. Altpeter removed with his family to Berkeley, Cal., making his home there about three years. In 1885 he moved to Woodland, Yolo county, where he bought a six acre ranch, on which he has since lived. For sixteen years he rented twenty-five acres of vineyard land of Professor Loughridge, half a mile east of town. In 1901 he bought a ten acre vineyard four and one half-miles out on Cache creek, and five years later sold it an invested in improved property in Woodland. At this time he owns eight houses in the city, which he rents. Mr. Altpeter’s success is the well-deserved success of the self-made man, made in fair competition with the world and with a due regard for all the rights of others. While prospering abundantly he has not forgotten the community at large and has never failed to respond generously to any appeal for the good of his fellow citizens.
On the 20th of December, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Altpeter celebrated their golden wedding. They have had three sons, Louis, Charles and Edward. Louis is in Seattle, Edward in San Francisco, and Charles is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Altpeter are communicants of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, and he has been a member of its board of trustees ever since its organization. Politically he is a Republican.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County, California” by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 439 – 440.