Yolo-Sacramento-Placer County CA Archives Biographies.....Jackson, George H. 
************************************************
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 18, 2005, 2:02 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co.

GEORGE H. JACKSON, M. D.—Among the foremost of Woodland's representative men of
to-day stands the gentleman whose name heads this article. A few facts in regard
to his career and genealogy will therefore be of value and interest in this
volume. His ancestors, on both sides, originally came to this country from
England. His great-great-grandfather, on his father's side, was early in life
bound to a worsted-manufacturer in England. At that time they combed the wool,
tied it to a rack and drew it out just as the women of this country were
afterward accustomed to convert flax into linen with which to make their wearing
apparel. As this worthy sire grew to manhood, being possessed of uncommon
physical strength, he wanted to change his trade to that of a house joiner, but
being unable to get free papers from his master he ran away, and gave an
indenture upon himself to a ship captain for four years as a compensation for
his passage. His indenture was afterward bought by a man named Hughes and taken
to Virginia. He left seven brothers in England, but never knew of any of them
coming to this country. The wife of this gentleman was the daughter of Captain
Jarvis, of England, a captain in the King's Life Guards. Prior to this she had
married the captain of an English vessel contrary to her father's wishes, and
consequently went with her husband to sea. The ship was lost in a storm, and she
with six or seven others floated on the wreck for six or seven days, when the
survivors were rescued by a convoy from a French fleet, and she with the others
was sold for salvage. The same man bought her service who had previously bought
the indenture of Mr. Jackson, and while acting as servants on this man's estate
in Virginia they were married.

  This constitutes the start of the Jackson family in America, or at least that
branch with which our subject is connected. The younger son of these two was
Jarvis Jackson, so called after his mother's maiden name. He married a lady who
was the daughter of General Lee, and a sister of "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, of
Revolutionary fame, father of General Robert E. Lee, C. S. A. The grandmother of
Dr. Jackson was a daughter of Stephen Hancock, who came to Kentucky with Boone,
and settled at Boonesborough, in the fall of 1775. She was then six years old
and lived first at Martin's Station, about three or four miles from
Boonesborough, and later at Hoy's Station, three or four miles further in the
country. Afterward the settlers at Boonesborough were granted a pre-emption upon
a settlement of 1,400 acres of land by the Legislature of Virginia, and Stephen
Hancock and Christopher Erwin located land adjoining on the tract in Madison
County near where the city of Richmond now stands, and built a fort on the Erwin
side of the line, and called it Erwin's Station. Stephen Hancock began clearing
his land, but had his residence inside the fort until he considered it was safe
for him to change it to the outside.

  He was a son of George Hancock, who is believed to be a brother of John
Hancock, the signer of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. The
father of Dr. Jackson was John Lee Jackson, a native of the State of Virginia,
as also was the latter's wife, whose maiden name was Mary E. Scales. The heads
of these two families emigrated to Kentucky, where John Lee Jackson and his wife
were married. He accumulated considerable wealth in that State, but being a man
who took a deep interest in the welfare of others he fell a victim to his own
generous impulses. Having indorsed to a large amount the papers of several
individuals who failed financially, he became seriously embarrassed, and from
his entire property only succeeded in saving a section of land in Clark County,
Missouri. In his straitened circumstances he decided to remove his family from
the scene of his late misfortune to his land in Missouri, and did so in 1850. In
the following spring he lost his wife by death, and in 1854 he himself passed to
his long rest.

  The death of the parents left the children to look out for their own welfare,
and George H. Jackson, the subject of this sketch, who was the eighth child, and
is the youngest living member of the family, went to Kirksville, Missouri, where
he had an uncle living. The relatives were engaged in merchandising there, and
with him our subject made his home, assisting in the store, and spending any
time he had in study and in improving his mind for the life struggle he knew was
before him. In this way, while his school facilities were of a meager order, he
laid the foundation for a good practical education. In 1861 his brother-in-law,
Dr. B. B. Allen, prepared to remove to California, and our subject joined in the
idea. They made the journey by the overland route, and reached California in
August. They proceeded to Pine Grove, Sierra County, then known as Howland Flat,
where lived an elder brother of young Jackson, who had come here some time
previously. Here Dr. Allen entered upon the practice of medicine, and our
subject entered a store as clerk. He decided to become a physician, and after he
had put in the long hours required of him in the store he would study medicine
with Dr. Allen. Work and study absorbed nearly all the time not given to sleep,
so that sometimes he became disheartened and felt tempted to abandon his task.
In such moments his sister, who sympathized with him in his struggle, encouraged
him, and by her hopeful words stimulated him to even greater efforts, and to her
the Doctor now gives much of the credit for his ultimate success. For two years
he kept up the role of clerk and student at this place; then Dr. Allen removed
to Freeport, Sacramento County, where he opened up a small drug store in
connection with his medical practice, our subject accompanying him as clerk. He
also continued his studies, and by 1866 he had saved enough money to pay his
expenses during one course of lectures at a medical college. With this in hand,
and relying upon assistance from Dr. Allen during the second course, he went to
San Francisco and attended the first course of study and lectures at the Toland
Medical College, during four months in the spring of 1866. When the time for his
second term approached his brother-in-law, who had found but a limited field for
practice at his new location, was unable to assist him. In this dilemma he was
undecided for a time in which direction to turn his steps. But his determination
to enter the profession at length prevailed, and as practice by non-graduation
was then allowed in this State, he decided at once to enter the field as a
practitioner. He felt justified in this course from the fact that his long
experience and study with Dr. Allen, his clerkship in the drug store and
attendance at lectures had better fitted him for actual practice than are many
graduates, especially those whose hearts are not in their work. Going to
Georgetown, Sacramento County, he opened his office as a physician and met with
gratifying success, both professionally and financially.

  While there he was married to Miss Lizzie E. Julian, then living near
Freeport, but now a resident of Oakland. Shortly after his marriage, having made
$500 in addition to all expenses, Dr. Jackson removed to Gold River, Placer
County, where success again attended him, and at the end of two years he had a
practice worth about $800 per month. Here he made the acquaintance of a then
well-known citizen of Yolo County, Mr. Moore, who urged him to remove to
Woodland, assuring him that there was a demand there for a physician of his
ability. Following his friend's advice, Dr. Jackson came to Woodland, and here
success attended him much beyond his expectations. In 1870, in order to avail
himself of college and clinical study, which he was then so fully competent to
appreciate and utilize, he went to San Francisco for that purpose, and was duly
graduated at the Medical Department, University of the Pacific.

   His advancement in his profession has been steady and rapid, and he now holds
a prominent place in medical circles on this coast. His excellent qualities as a
physician and as a man are held in high appreciation by his fellow-citizens, who
have on more than one occasion displayed their confidence in him. He has been
physician to the County Hospitals for periods aggregating five years, and has
served on the Board of Trustees of Woodland for ten years. He is a zealous
Democrat in his political views, and takes a lively interest in the welfare of
the party, and an active part in its councils.

  Dr. Jackson's career, as viewed from an historical standpoint, is certainly an
instructive one. A brief retrospect of the pages of this sketch will show that
he started in life for himself at an unusually early age, almost without
opportunities except those he made for himself. Against all obstacles, however,
he ascended the ladder of success, round by round, and fought his way to the
front until he has become recognized as one of the foremost figures in the
community with which he has cast in his lot, with a reputation as a professional
and business man extending much beyond its limits. His advancement in his
profession has been gained by his earnest, conscientious efforts, and the
exercise of all the abilities with which nature endowed him. Yet a young man
comparatively, he has succeeded so well that the question of giving up or
remaining in practice has already become a matter of choice. He is just opening
up a business career of such promise that he is already rated as one of the
shrewdest and safest financiers of the community, and capitalists are satisfied
to invest when Dr. Jackson leads. His judgment must therefore be entitled to
much respect in regard to Woodland, which he considered a safe and promising
field for investment. His confidence in the future may be gauged by what he has
done and is doing toward her improvements. The Curtis residence and grounds,
recognized as among the most beautiful in Woodland, are the result of his
enterprise, and his own present office and residence block on Main street was
also built by him. He has put his money unflinchingly into business property
here, and the future will prove that he has other and yet more important
improvements in view. He has also made investments in real estate in other and
promising localities, notably adjoining the town of Willows. Dr. and Mrs.
Jackson are the parents of four children, viz.:  Mary Louise, Georgia, Alice and
Julian Allen.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/jackson179bs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/

File size: 11.7 Kb