Yolo-El Dorado-Amador County CA Archives Biographies.....Gordon, William Young 1831 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 23, 2006, 9:58 pm Author: Tom Gregory (1913) WILLIAM YOUNG GORDON Comparatively few of the pioneers of the '50s remain to enjoy the civilization and refinements of the twentieth century and a still smaller proportion of the once vast throng of workers are able now to enter into the activities of existence, to dispense a generous hospitality from beneath their own rooftrees and to appreciate fully the progress made in every year of advancement throughout the west. It has been the rare and delightful privilege of Mr. Gordon to reach old age in comfort and contentment, without impairment of faculties mental or physical, but with a fund of information concerning the past that makes him an entertaining conversationalist and with a breadth of knowledge concerning the present that stamps him as an exponent of twentieth-century progress. Remembering the past with clearness, he nevertheless is not lost in its somber shadows. Appreciating the present with its opportunities, he yet does not fail to realize that its foundation was laid by past efforts as a basis for an unending growth in years to come. The surroundings of the early years of Mr. Gordon were far different from those of his declining days. Born January 8, 1831, he remembers well his native county of Grand Isle, separated from the mainland of Vermont by Lake Champlain, sparsely settled (for the beautiful location had not yet attracted summer tourists) and isolated through the long winter months by the frozen waters of the northern lake. As soon as old enough to work he began to earn his own livelihood by assisting his father on the farm and following the custom of the age he gave his time to his parents until he had attained the age of twenty-one, after which he came at once to California, starting February 19, 1852, and taking the steamer Georgia from New York to Cuba. Next he boarded the Ohio for the Isthmus of Panama. With a party of seventeen he rode seventeen miles on a flat-car, after which the natives conveyed the party in boats for a short distance up the river and they then walked the balance of the distance to the Pacific ocean. The steamer, Isthmus, landed him in San Francisco after an interesting but uneventful passage of fifty-two days out of New York. After having mined at Placerville and Coloma Bar in Eldorado county, also along the Indian creek in Amador county, William Y. Gordon came to Yolo county in June, 1856, and rented a large ranch near Davis. A year later he bought out the squatter right to one hundred and sixty acres in the South Putah section and here he has since resided. A period of fifty-seven years on one California farm represents an unusual identification with landed interests and proves not only that the farm is a rich one, but also that Mr. Gordon is averse to abandoning associations beloved through long familiarity. During early days the land frequently produced twenty-five sacks of wheat to the acre and he has seen three excellent crops of barley harvested from one sowing. He has added to his ranch and now owns four hundred and sixty acres in one body. In addition to his home place he owns a quarter section nearer Davis. Of late years his two sons, George A. and William P., have run the ranch, thus relieving the father of that responsibility. During 1911 they harvested twenty-seven hundred sacks of barley from one hundred and five acres, which is considered an excellent yield, and a part of the tract produced as high as thirty sacks per acre. Fine horses are raised on the ranch and one of these recently was sold for $225. At this writing there are one hundred and sixty-five head of hogs on the farm and the sale of these will add materially to the annual income. Modern equipment has 'been provided for the management of the ranch. Machinery of every needed kind is to be found there, including a large combined harvester and a modern traction engine, by means of which the grain is threshed quickly and without waste. It has been the good fortune of this honored pioneer to receive the capable assistance of a helpmate more than ordinarily energetic and economical. His marriage in 1870 united him with Miss Jane Phelps, who has spent the greater part of her life in the west, but is a native of Vermont. They are the parents of five children, George, William, Mabel, Ira and Florence. The eldest son married Miss Bertha Cecil and has two children, George G. and Buryl E. The second son chose Miss Belle Cecil as his wife and their union has been blessed with two children, Cecil and William. The older of the two daughters in the Gordon family is now the wife of J. H. McCracken, of Lovelock, Nev., and the mother of four children, Florence, Harvey, Gordon and Baby. Ira resides in Roseville; and the youngest, Florence, a graduate of the University of California, after spending five years in Japan as a missionary is now teaching in the Fresno high school. 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] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/gordon888nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb