Merced-Los Angeles-Alameda County CA Archives Biographies.....Ferrel, William J. 1838 - 1911
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 4, 2006, 11:29 pm

Author: John Outcalt (1925)

WILLIAM J. FERREL AND JESSIE F. FERREL

   The story of pioneer days may be told by the biographies of the pioneers who
struggled amid difficult conditions in order that their successors might find
prosperity and comfort. A venerable pioneer, who not only paved the way for
others, but reaped the reward of his own labors, was the late William J. Ferrel,
landowner and farmer on the Merced River, who was born in Dallas County, Texas,
in 1838, and died at Berkeley, Cal., in October, 1911. His father, Walter
Ferrel, was a slaveowner; his mother died when he was two weeks old, and his
father remarried a year later.

   Starting on his own account at the age of eighteen, William J. Ferrel left
Fort Belknap on May 7, 1856, with cattle and horses for the West. He arrived in
Los Angeles in October, 1856, having been successful in bringing his stock
across the plains and selling them after his arrival. He came to Merced County
in the spring of 1857, and for seven years worked on ranches, receiving monthly
wages. By saving his earnings he was able, in 1861, to invest in land on the
Merced River, which proved to be the foundation for his own and his son's
fortunes. He bought 500 acres four miles west of Snelling and in time became a
prosperous grain farmer, and by industry and frugality he obtained financial
independence. By later purchases he added some 1300 acres of hill land northeast
of Snelling to his holdings; this acreage he used for grain-raising and the
stock business. He was a pioneer in the use of modern methods of agriculture,
and on his river ranch he employed hundreds of Chinese laborers. Corn and hogs
were raised as a specialty. Dairy farming and the raising of other stock have
since replaced the corn and hog combination, and the Chinese have long since
disappeared. Mr. Ferrel used to relate the experiences he had had as an early
settler in these parts, but he was a man who boasted very little of his
achievements. He did his first day's work in Merced County for the late J. M.
Montgomery, and they became very close personal friends. Mr. Ferrel was a stanch
Democrat, and he will long be remembered for his good work as chairman of the
board of school trustees of the Dry Creek school district.

   The marriage of William J. Ferrel occurred in the old El Capitan Hotel at
Merced, on January 15, 1879, and united him with Miss Jessie Frances Burns, who
was born in 1860 at Lake Tent House near Roberts Ferry on the Tuolumne River, on
the old Stockton-Mariposa wagon road. She was the youngest of five children of
the late John A. and Luinda Frances (Jennings) Burns.

   John Burns was born in Missouri and came to California across the plains with
oxen and a covered wagon, arriving in Los Angeles in 1849. He spent the winter
of 1850 on Monterey Bay and in the spring of 1851 began farming in Monterey
County, continuing there for three seasons. He made money there; and when he
removed to the Lake Tent country, in Stanislaus County, he conducted a hotel for
seven seasons. The surrounding country was sparsely settled, vast cattle and
sheep ranges making neighbors few and far between; thousands of antelope and
wild horses ran over the unfenced country, and the only marks of civilization
were along the main traveled road. In 1864 Mr. Burns moved to a place ten miles
below Coulterville, and for nine years he conducted a public house, livery
stable and stage station there. He kept many fine horses, which were used by
tourists going into Yosemite Valley. While there Mr. Burns dispensed a broad and
liberal hospitality to the guests and tourists, who made that stopping-place a
lively and enjoyable resort. In 1871 he moved to Merced County, took up land
three miles north of Snelling on Dry Creek, and engaged in grain farming, being
a pioneer in this venture, for up to that time the government lands were not
opened to settlers. He died there at the age of seventy-six.

   The children of the late pioneer and Forty-niner, John A. Burns, are as
follows: John S. was formerly proprietor of the Athlone Hotel in Merced County,
and is deceased. Sarah died in Mexico in 1883. Alia Katherine Welch, widow of
the late P. L. Welch, supervisor, Mason, successful storekeeper and grain farmer
of Plainsburg, resides in Snelling. By her former marriage she was the wife of
Rev. B. A. Hawkins, who was a school teacher and a member of the board of
education in Fresno and Merced Counties, and who died in 1908. Isabel M. Haskel,
of Le Grand, has been married three times, and had two children by her first
husband and eight by her second marriage. Mrs. Jessie. F. Ferrel is the youngest
of this progressive and highly esteemed family.

   The Burns children attended the Anderson district school, where Mr. Burns was
a trustee for many years. The region was built up by the settlers, and there
were but eighty pupils in the district when at its best. Mrs. Ferrel received
the best education the local school afforded. She was reared on a ranch, learned
to shoot and ride, and still finds great pleasure and gratification in going
hunting, for she is able to handle a gun and is a good markswoman. She is active
as a member of the Snelling Lodge of Rebekahs, being a Past Noble Grand, having
served as Noble Grand in 1923, and has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge twice.
She makes use of her franchise, voting on public questions, and handles her own
business affairs. Since her husband's death she has shown a splendid acumen in
the care of her property, which embraces 420 acres of Merced River bottom lands.
Her two sons are both in the dairy business. W. J. Ferrel, Jr., owns and
conducts a dairy and stock business on his ranch, making his home with his
mother at Snelling. Francis Eugene Ferrel, a dairyman, married Miss Ethel
Hooper, and has two daughters, Gene and Joyce. During the Panama Pacific
Exposition at San Francisco, Mrs. Ferrel took a very active part and ably
represented Merced County in an official capacity. She has become well and
favorably known in the State of California as well as in Merced County.

   In 1919 Mrs. Ferrel bought the store building used by Jacobs and Simons, one
of the oldest landmarks in Snelling, the building having been erected in 1858,
of sandstone construction. Since 1920 she has lived on this site in a commodious
home which she rebuilt from the huge stone structure, and she owns ten acres
adjoining this residence property, running back to the edge of the Merced River.
Here Mrs. Ferrel dispenses a liberal hospitality to her many callers and friends.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


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