Yolo County
Biographies
M. J. McWILLIAMS
a farmer near Woodland, is a son of Andrew and N. Margaret (Stanton) McWilliams, natives of Ireland who came to the United States in 1820, locating in the State of New York, where they resided until 1840. They then removed to Iowa, and in 1849 came overland to California, there being four members of the family. M. J. and his brother Bryan located in Nevada County and engaged in mining until 1852, when they came into the Sacramento Valley and took up a ranch on the banks of the American River. In 1862 they disposed of this farm and settled upon another at Buckeye, in Yolo County. Thirteen years afterward, namely, in 1875, Mr. McWilliams purchased forty acres two miles east of Woodland, where he now resides a prosperous farmer.
He was born October 11, 1833, in Plattsburg, New York, and October 4, 1869, in Iowa City, Iowa, he was married to Mary A. Freeman, a native of that city. Their children are five in number, as follows: Margaret E., born August 7, 1873; Anna F., December 4, 1874; Julia, June 10, 1877; Joseph F., November 1, 1879, and Mary, January 14, 1883.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
DANIEL FARNHAM
a farmer of Yolo County, was born in Cass County, Michigan, October 22, 1839, a son of Daniel Farnham, Sr. He was brought up on a farm, and in 1859 he started for Pike’s Peak, with his father, but meeting many disappointed men returning from that point they concluded to come on to California. Stopping in Placer County, they engaged in mining there until 1861, when Mr. Farnham, the subject of this sketch, purchased a team and followed freighting three years. He then disposed of his outfit and bought the place, in 1865, where he now lives. In 1865 he married Miss S. Dopking, a native of Van Buren County, Michigan, and they have six children, namely: Frank, twenty-two years old; Marcia, thirteen; Harvey, nine; Niah, seven; Claud, five; Ira, three, -- all living in Yolo County, California.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
JOSEPH C. HULSE
Justice of the Peace at Winters, was born in Clark County, Kentucky, March 12, 1816, a son of John and Mary S. (Davenport) Hulse, the former a native of Kentucky; his grandparents were from Maryland. He was brought up as a farmer’s son, and continued on the farm until 1849, when he came overland to California. At Humboldt the company dissolved and came by packed-animals to Sacramento. Mr. Hulse became one of the early gold hunters. He located in Colusa County, was the first Sheriff of that county, and later was elected County Judge. During the administration of James Buchanan he was appointed to a position in the custom-house at San Francisco, by Colonel B. F. Washington. In 1861 he settled in Pleasant Valley, Nevada, and built the mill called the Camlack mills, and lost heavily. Returning to California, he worked for G. P. Swift, and afterward was engaged as a butcher and meat-cutter for F. Roop one year at Sonoma; then he was employed as a guard at the State Prison at San Quentin a year, under Governor Haight, and he then located at Buckeye, Yolo County, where he was elected Justice of the Peace in 1863. In 1864 he resigned, and when in 1875 Buckeye was moved to Winters he went there also, and was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, which position he still holds, and he is also a Notary Public.
He was married in 1839, in Madison County, Kentucky, to Anna Collins, and they had two children: Richard, who died in Kentucky when one year old, and America K., who is now the wife of Thomas G. Hulse.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
CHARLES CANNON
a retired farmer of Woodland, is a son of Calvin and Jane Cannon; the father a native of Kentucky, and the mother of Maryland, who finally settled in Cooper County, Missouri, where Charles was born, June 1, 1842. In the fall of 1862 he went to the vicinity of Topeka, Kansas, where he followed farming until 1869. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted in the Kansas State militia and served a year. Returning to Missouri, he made his home there until the spring of 1880, when he came to California, locating in Woodland. He soon began work on a ranch for a man named Campbell, and continued there two years, during which time he purchased a house and two lots in town, where he now resides on Court street. He is employed as mechanic in a brickyard.
August 9, 1868, is the date of Mr. Cannon’s marriage to Miss Blue, a native of Missouri, a daughter of Stephen Blue, native of Virginia, and Jennie Blue, native of Kentucky.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler