Yolo-El Dorado-Sierra County CA Archives Biographies.....Gaddis, Henry 1818 - 1870
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com January 13, 2006, 11:19 pm

Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

HENRY GADDIS

    Varied lines of development received the encouragement and practical
co-operation of the late Henry Gaddis, but he was prominent especially in the
agricultural growth of Yolo county and in its educational expansion. Himself the
recipient of academic advantages in Albany, N. Y., and later an instructor of
the young for a brief period, he possessed a broad knowledge of educational
needs and utilized this information to the lasting advantage of Yolo county
schools. The first school district in the entire county was organized largely
through his intelligent efforts. As early as 1854 the board of supervisors chose
him to serve as county superintendent of schools and afterward he was elected to
the office, then re-elected, serving altogether for a period of fourteen years.
The present splendid school system of which the county boasts was devised under
his supervision. A high educational standard was established and first-class
instructors were engaged, so that the county stood second to none in its pioneer
struggles for the mental advancement of its youth.

    Educational activities did not prevent Mr. Gaddis from accumulating a
competency through intelligent farming enterprises and in the one, as in the
other, he proved a true pioneer, paving the way for the generations to follow.
Many were the experiments he tried in his endeavor to ascertain the crops best
suited to this soil and climate. In one particular he proved especially helpful
to the agricultural element of the community and that was through the summer
fallowing of ground, which plan he was the first resident of the valley to
attempt and its success caused its general adoption by grain farmers. From the
time of his arrival in the county until his accidental death, a period of twenty
years, he was a leader in all movements for the general welfare, and many men,
in years of activity, have accomplished less than he during his sojourn in this
community.

    Henry Gaddis was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1818, and was the eldest son and
second child among seven children forming the family of Rev. William and Deborah
(Blair) Gaddis, natives of Ireland. The father was a minister of the Methodist
Episcopal denomination in the state of New York until the early '40s, when he
was transferred to Illinois and there until his death he held a leading position
in his church. Meanwhile Henry was sent to the public schools and academy in
Albany, N. Y., where later he clerked in a grocery for about two years. For a
time he taught school in Lake county, Ill., and also purchased a tract of
unimproved land in that state, but later returned to the grocery business in New
York state. After his marriage he returned to Illinois and settled on his farm
near Waukegan, where he transformed the raw land into a productive estate. Upon
learning of the discovery of gold in the west he determined to join the host of
emigrants to the coast and during the summer of 1850 he crossed the plains,
arriving at Hangtown during the month of July. For a year he engaged in mining
and then returned via Panama to Illinois, where he disposed of his property,
coming back to the west immediately afterward. In November of 1853 he was joined
by his wife and children, who came via Aspinwall, crossing the isthmus by
railroad and on muleback, a native carrying the children.

    After a winter in the mines of Sierra county, in 1852 Mr. Gaddis brought his
family to Yolo county and purchased a quarter section one-half mile south of
what is now Black's Station. For years he devoted his attention largely to the
improvement of the property. In 1870 he bought a ranch of one hundred and sixty
acres three miles from the old homestead, and very shortly afterward, April 30,
1870, at the age of fifty-two years, he was killed in a runaway accident. His
demise was a deep loss not only to his family, but also to the educational and
agricultural interests of Yolo county, to the local ranks of the Republican
party and to the local camp of the Odd Fellows, in which for years he had been a
leading worker.

    The marriage of Mr. Gaddis took place in 1845 and united him with Miss Anna
Campbell, who was born in Albany, N. Y., July 6, 1827, being a daughter of
Andrew and Marjory (Cornwall) Campbell, natives of Ireland, but of Scotch and
English extraction. From his native county Down in early life Mr. Campbell came
to the new world and settled in Albany, N. Y., where he died at the age of about
eighty-four years. The manufacture of brick had engaged his attention throughout
the era of his activity. His wife died in Albany in 1854 at the age of
fifty-four years. Both had been earnest and devoted members of the Presbyterian
Church. Of the nine children in the Campbell family Anna was the only one to
settle in California, and she has made this state her home since 1853. Some time
after the death of Mr. Gaddis she became the wife of Silas P. Barnes, who was
born in Deering, N. H. Since his death in April of 1888 she has made her home on
College street, Woodland. Seven children were born of her first marriage, of
whom Hon. Edward E. Gaddis, superior judge of Yolo county from 1897 to 1909, is
the only surviving son, William H. having died at the age of twenty-two years.
The daughters were unusually well educated and followed, educational work with
signal success in young womanhood. The eldest, Helen A., is now the wife of
Frank Rahm of Oakland; Anna D. married J. O. Maxwell of Woodland; Mary is a
graduate nurse of the French hospital in San Francisco; Kate, Mrs. Frank A.
Grimes, died at Knight's Landing; and Bertha is married to W. L. Wood and
resides in Berkeley.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
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
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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