Yolo-Placer County CA Archives Biographies.....Jackson, William M. 1833 - 1874 ************************************************ 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@gmail.com December 8, 2005, 11:31 am Author: Tom Gregory WILLIAM M. JACKSON Among the ranks of the army of brave men who established western civilization, William M. Jackson deserves an honored place. He was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1833, his parents being Benjamin B. and Polly (Ruggles) Jackson. When he was nineteen, in 1852, he and his brothers, Benjamin F. and Bryon B., in company with the Ruggles family, joined a party bound for California, and slowly but surely driving their cattle before them they crossed the plains and entered the borderland of the Golden state. For a time Mr. Jackson mined in Placer county and in 1856 he purchased a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres two miles south of Woodland. After three years he returned east by way of the Panama route and remained about a year, and again, in 1860, he made his way across the plains and once more took up farming. In the meantime he purchased land adjoining until he had four hundred and eighty acres in one body, and here he carried on farming until his death in 1874. Mr. Jackson's wife before her marriage was Kate Cooper, a native of Ohio. She died in Santa Cruz in 1903. The only child born of this marriage was Benjamin Byron, who was born in Woodland October 1, 1862, and who became the stay and comfort of his mother during her last years. He has since successfully operated the farm, which now consists of three hundred and ninety acres. The place is all under irrigation, having a ditch from Cache creek. For many years he devoted the land to alfalfa and grain and to cattle and hog raising, besides running a dairy, but he now leases it for beet raising. Twice married, Benjamin B. Jackson's first wife was Nora Epperson, a native of Illinois, who at her death left one daughter, Rowena Fay, now Mrs. Van Norden, of San Francisco. His second wife was formerly Miss Cleopatra Miller, a native of Auburn, Cal. One of the native sons of Yolo county, Mr. Jackson was educated in the public schools here and later attended Hesperian College. This has been his life-time home, and by all he is regarded as a public-spirited and progressive citizen and a successful farmer. 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/jackson104bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.1 Kb