Merced-Tuolumne-Santa Cruz County CA Archives Biographies.....Whitworth, Geo. H. 1856 - 1922
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com February 5, 2006, 11:25 pm

Author: John Outcalt (1925)

GEO. H. WHITWORTH

   After many years of faithful public service in Merced County, the late Geo.
H. Whitworth passed to his reward on October 8, 1922. He had been elected and
reelected to the responsible office of supervisor again and again, and his
associates honored him with a term as chairman of the board. So long had been
his identification with this county, and so intimate his association with local
development, that, viewing the remarkable transformation wrought within his
memory, he could well exclaim "All of which I saw, and part of which I was."
Great as had been his activity in general, it was as supervisor that the people
of his home county most appreciated Mr. Whitworth, who served them in that
office more than twenty years, having been chosen by a good majority at each
succeeding election. His heart and mind were engrossed in the well-being of the
county, and such was his success in the solution of many difficult problems that
his fellow-citizens more and more reposed their confidence in him.

   Geo. H. Whitworth was born at Dutch Bar, on Woods Creek, Tuolumne County,
March 10, 1856, the son of Henry and Ann (Hall) Whitworth, natives of
Lincolnshire, England. His father left Liverpool for America on September 12,
1848, and pushed his way west to Chicago. On learning of the discovery of gold
in California, he with others planned to reach the new Eldorado. They outfitted
at St. Louis, Mo.; and with a train of wagons drawn by mules, there being fifty
men in the party, he crossed the plains, coming by the southern route.   During
the trip, each night the train was guarded with military precision, and
particularly was this necessary while passing through the Apache Indian country.
On reaching California they made their way up the coast to San Jose Mission, and
from there they traveled south to cross the Coast Range at Pacheco Pass and,
after crossing the San Joaquin River at Hill's Ferry, went into the Mariposa mines.

   Later, Henry Whitworth came to Tuolumne County, where he hauled provisions
with an eight-mule team from Stockton to the stores and miners at Chinese Camp
and vicinity. Later he kept a provision store for Walkerly .Brothers at Dutch
Bar, where our subject first saw the light. Afterwards he was engaged in mining
at Chinese Camp, and then, still later, near Crimea House on Keystone Flat,
where our subject first went to school. Henry Whitworth acquired an interest in
the old Eagle Quartz Mining Company at Blue Gulch, on Woods Creek, where they
had a mill. He had so won the confidence of his associates that it was his task
to divide the gold and weigh each one's share as it was handed to the different
parties interested in the mine. Mr. Whitworth and Ann Hall had become engaged to
be married back in England, and she made the trip to California early in 1855.
She was met by Mr. Whitworth, and their marriage was immediately consummated;
and he then took his bride back to the mines, where he continued until 1863. The
family then moved, with teams and wagons, to Contra Costa County, taking three
days for the journey. There he farmed until 1869. In 1868 he had homesteaded and
preempted land on Quinto Creek, in Merced County, about twelve miles south of
Newman, and in 1869 located on the place and engaged in farming and
stock-raising, in which he was very successful. In 1877 he was bereaved of his
faithful wife, whom he survived for twenty years, passing away in 1897.

   Of the three children born to this worthy pioneer couple, Geo. H. Whitworth
was the oldest, and was the last one to pass away. As has been stated, he first
went to school near the old Crimea House on Keystone Flat; and later for a short
time he attended a preparatory school at Berkeley. Thereafter his education was
obtained by his own efforts through reading and studying at night and through
firsthand practical experience, until he came to be known as a well-informed
man. In 1877 he started out for himself, embarking in grain-raising on Quinto
Creek on a ranch of 600 acres. He really acquired for his enterprise 450 acres
and then leased adjoining land. In 1882 he came to the present location and
purchased 120 acres three miles south of Newman, under the San Joaquin River
canal, and later added eighty acres to his holding. This land he leveled and
checked and sowed to alfalfa. The soil is very rich and productive and yields
large crops. The 200 acres have been divided into two ranches, each leased to
tenants and improved with a set of farm buildings, with sanitary barns for
dairying, the two places carrying about 150 cows. He also owned eighty acres
across the canal, which he planned to put out to alfalfa, but this has since
been sold.

   In December, 1892, Geo. H. Whitworth was married at Santa Cruz to Miss Agnes
Mahoney, born in San Francisco, by whom three children were born. John Henry and
George Hall are living; and the youngest was Carol, who died when she was six
months old. Mrs. Whitworth passed away in 1903.

   On May 27, 1905, Mr. Whitworth married the second time, being united with
Miss Harriet Collier, born at Shaw's Flat near Sonora, Tuolumne County, a
daughter of William G. and Ann Eliza (Jackson) Collier. On the maternal side she
is related to Gen. Stonewall Jackson and to Gen. Robert E. Lee. Her parents
moved to Merced County when she was but three years old, her father becoming a
large stock-raiser, owning some 2500 head of cattle and a ranch of some 1500
acres of land on Merced River. He was born in Kentucky, had the advantages of a
fine schooling, was a civil engineer and served as county surveyor of Merced
County. He went to Missouri when young, and there his wife was born. In 1853 he
started across the plains and upon his arrival in California settled in Tuolumne
County, in the mountains, and was engaged in lumbering. Both parents passed away
in Merced County after long and useful lives. Their daughter, Mrs. Whitworth,
attended the grammar schools of her district and later graduated from the San
Jose State Normal and became a teacher in the schools of Merced County, where
she spent twenty years. She inherited 156 acres of the Collier estate on the
Merced River, and later Mr. Whitworth bought 104 acres adjoining, all of which
they improved with a pumping plant and devoted to alfalfa. This property was
later sold at a good advantage.

   In 1922 the Whitworths completed a thoroughly modern stucco residence of fine
style of architecture, the inside being finished in ivory and mahogany, making
it one of the finest residences in the San Joaquin Valley. Mrs. Whitworth is a
woman of culture; and with her artistic tastes, the home is most beautifully
furnished.

   In 1900 Geo. H. Whitworth was nominated on the Democratic ticket for
supervisor of the Fourth District in Merced County and was elected, and so well
did he discharge the duties of his position and office that he was reelected
five times by good majorities. In the primaries in August, 1920, through the
apathy of his friends, who were away on vacations and who were confident of his
nomination, his opponents won out by 124 votes. Then Mr. Whitworth and his
friends instituted a write-in campaign, and his long and efficient service was
rewarded by his election by a safe majority; and he entered upon his duties of a
sixth term. He served longer than any former incumbent in that office. During
his years on the board many permanent improvements were accomplished all over
the county; these included the new jail, new county hospital, many substantial
bridges, and many miles of new roads, and the expenditure of a $1,250,000 bond
issue in constructing county highways.

   Fraternally, Mr. Whitworth was a member of the Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the
World, Neighbors of Woodcraft and the Degree of Honor at Newman. Politically he
was a Democrat. All in all Geo. H. Whitworth, in his long years of residence on
the West Side, had an enviable record, and his life was an open book; so much so
that his honesty of purpose and integrity were never questioned, and in his
unselfish way he tried to do all he could to help build up his community and
enhance the facilities for the comfort and happiness of the people.


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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