Yolo-San Joaquin-Stanislaus County CA Archives Biographies.....Hughson, George W. 1870 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 22, 2006, 10:57 pm

Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

GEORGE W. HUGHSON

    While the results achieved in California bring the state into favorable
comparison with the old commonwealths of the east, the fact that the state
boasts of but comparatively few native sons indicates that it is yet in the
infancy of its material development and of its interesting history. The
distinction of having passed his entire life within the limits of California
belongs to George W. Hughson, a prosperous resident of Yolo county and one of
the progressive farmers of the vicinity of Woodland. Born and reared in San
Joaquin county, in young manhood identified with the ranching interests of
Stanislaus county and ultimately a large land owner there, he became a citizen
of Yolo county of recent years and expresses himself as convinced of the
superior advantages of this section of the country from a standpoint of soil,
crop results, natural advantages and high quality of citizenship.

   As early as 1857 the Hughson family became identified with the west. During
that year Hiram Hughson came from New York via Panama to San Francisco and
proceeded thence to Marysville, where he secured a clerkship in a store. For a
brief period he followed the fortunes of a miner on the Feather and American
rivers. The occupation, however, was uncongenial and the returns unsatisfactory,
so that he looked up an agricultural opening. For some time he engaged in the
raising of grain and stock in San Joaquin county, near Stockton, and later he
farmed extensively in Stanislaus county, near Modesto, where at one time he
operated seven thousand acres of grain and pasture land. In his ventures he was
willing to risk, although at no time was he reckless in his investments, and
although at first hampered by heavy debts he finally acquired large means and
became widely known as a wealthy rancher. On the completion of the Santa Fe
Railroad, through the home ranch, the town of Hughson, in Stanislaus county, was
named in his honor. Toward the close of his life he bought a ranch of ten
hundred and twenty acres in Yolo county, all devoted to and well adapted to
grain-raising.

    An identification of more than one-half century with the agricultural
development of the west was terminated with the demise of Hiram Hughson, January
15, 1911. Some years after his arrival in California he had married Miss Luella
R. Avery and they became the parents of ten children, all of whom survive him.
They are named as follows: Belle, who is married and living at Riverside; Orra,
a resident of Stanislaus county; George W., of Yolo county; Mary, who is the
wife of Joseph Diehl and a resident of Stockton; Edna, Mrs. Charles Craig, of
Westley, Stanislaus county; Minnie, who married Harry Sturgill and lives at
Stockton; Hiram, a citizen of Modesto; Levyne, who is Mrs. Charles Nichols, of
San Jose; Ollie, who married Frank Hatch and makes her home in Modesto; and
Lester, the youngest of the family.

    The home ranch near Stockton, San Joaquin county, where he was born in 1870,
continued to be the home of George W. Hughson during his childhood years. After
he had completed the studies of the common schools of Stockton, lie entered the
University of the Pacific at San Jose, and there took the regular course of
study through several semesters. Upon leaving school he returned to assist his
father on the ranch and remained there until 1892, after which he operated six
hundred and forty acres in Stanislaus county in partnership with his
father-in-law, J. G. Hudelson. At the end of three years he removed to Hickman,
in the same county, and rented one thousand acres. Desirous of acquiring land
for himself he bought five hundred and sixty acres in Stanislaus county, and for
nine years he devoted his attention closely to the improvement and cultivation
of the tract. During October of 1909 he came to Yolo county and assumed the
management of the large ranch owned by his father, the tract lying twelve miles
southwest of Woodland, together with three hundred and twenty acres adjoining.
From that place he came to the immediate vicinity of Woodland in May of 1911, at
which time he bought an alfalfa and grain farm of forty acres on Cemetery
avenue. With the raising of alfalfa he combines the management of a dairy and is
meeting with encouraging success on his new farm. He still owns five hundred and
sixty acres of land near Modesto which he leases for grain. In politics he
supports Republican principles. During 1892 he married Laura L. Hudelson, who
like himself has the distinction of being a native of the state, her father, J.
G. Hudelson, having crossed the plains in early days and settled in Stanislaus
county, where he died in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Hughson are the parents of four
children, Carroll C., Howard H., Georgia L., and Paul.


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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