Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Wyckoff, Nick 1818 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 30, 2006, 5:17 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

NICK WYCKOFF, deceased, formerly a prominent agriculturist and wine-maker of
Yolo County, dated his birth April 18, 1818, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
His parents, Henry and Jane (Kline) Wyckoff, were both natives of that State.
His first ancestry in this country were Swedes, who were among the first to
settle Manhattan Island. His father, a farmer and blacksmith, removed in the
fall of 1829 to Hamilton County, Ohio, purchased land, settled upon it and
remained there until his death in 1847, when he was sixty-six years of age; and
his wife died at the same place, at the age of seventy-one years. There were
seven children in their family. Henry Wyckoff, a brother of Nick, came to
California in 1849 and the next year settled upon the land where the city of
Woodland is now located, starting the first store there and the first blacksmith
shop; but he soon went to Oregon, where he was at one time a treasurer of one of
the southern counties of that State; he went thence to Arizona, where he was
shot and killed in 1871 by an unknown assassin, in the village of Wickenburg,
while on his way with a train of mules to some of the mining camps, where he
expected to start a trading post. But very little is known of the tragedy. Jacob
S. Wyckoff, another brother, came to California in 1850, and now resides at 1512
Ninth Street, Oakland.

  The subject of this sketch passed his early boyhood days in Ohio. At the age
of eighteen years he became a teacher of the primary department of Kerby's
Academy, and the same time passed through a course of study. He next went to
Rodney, Mississippi, and engaged as a teacher of the public schools there for
five years; then returning to Hamilton County, Ohio, he remained there until
April 3, 1852, when he started for California, by way of New York and the
Isthmus, and landed at San Francisco May 10. Two days afterward he went to
Sacramento, and gradually worked his way into Yolo County, his health being poor
at that time. In 1852 he located the land in Yolo County, three miles southeast
of Woodland. His wife and two children followed him to this State by way of the
Isthmus in December, the same year. Having acquired at school a considerable
knowledge of civil engineering, he put it to good use in this county. After his
settlement in that year he was in general a farmer, but in later years he gave
more attention to alfalfa and grapes. In 1872 he was employed by F. T. Eisen and
C. G. Frash to engage in wine-making. Frash is a prominent wine merchant of New
York city, and from him Mr. Wyckoff obtained his knowledge of wine manufacture.
The latter was also one of the twelve stockholders of the Yolo winery, which was
built in 1885, with the view of handling only their own grapes. Their annual
production on an average is about 55,000 gallons, which is sold at good prices.
In respect to alfalfa, Mr. Wyckoff was zealous in extending its culture, and
encouraging it in every State and Territory in the Union, he being one of the
most extensive raisers of alfalfa seed.

  Mr. Wyckoff was inducted into the Masonic order in Mississippi, in 1845. He
was a charter member of Yolo Lodge, of that order, and was afterward a member of
Woodland Lodge, No. 156. He also passed all the chairs in the Knights Templar
order; and joining the Odd Fellows, in Mississippi, as early as 1846, he became
a member of Woodland Lodge, No. 111, having filled all the chairs to that of
Noble Grand; and he passed all the chairs, also, in the encampment. He was at
the time of his death President of the Masonic and the Odd Fellows associations.
He was the oldest Free Mason left of the early members in Yolo County.
Politically he was a Republican.

  He was married December 20, 1848, to Miss Harriet Martin, a native of Hamilton
County, Ohio, and they had seven children, all of whom are living, namely: Alice
A., wife of H. S. Deaner; David H., now Deputy Sheriff of Yolo County; James, on
the home ranch; F. C., a resident of Woodland; Hattie J., wife of W. H. Kerson;
Edward, on the home place; and Catherine E., at home.


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.

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