Butte County
Biographies
CHARLES WESLEY HICKS
CHARLES WESLEY HICKS.--Perhaps there is
no resident of Butte County
more familiar with its resources than Charles Wesley Hicks, who having spent
his life within its boundaries is therefore qualified to judge concerning its
prospects and advantages. Mr. Hicks was born four miles north of Chico,
on October 17, 1862. His father, John Wesley Hicks, was born in Indiana,
in 1820, and was engaged in farming there. His first wife
died, and he moved to Tennessee,
where he later married Dorothy Isabelle Speegle, a
native of Tennessee. Soon after
their marriage they located in Missouri, from which state, in 1857, he brought
his family across the plains with ox teams, and settled on a farm four miles
north of Chico, and here he engaged in farming and stock-raising, until he
retired to Chico, where he died in October, 1909, almost ninety years of age.
The mother died on the home ranch. Of their family of seven children, three are
living, and Charles is the youngest. Grandfather Hilliard Hicks came from his
farm in Illinois, in the seventies, and passed his last
days in Butte County.
Charles
Wesley Hicks attended school at the Webster schoolhouse and learned farming
during his early youth spent on the ranch. When a young man he bought one
hundred sixty acres on Mud Creek, leased land in addition, and engaged in
raising grain. Later he became the owner of forty acres on the old home place,
and locating on that, he farmed both places until 1908, when he sold the forty
acres and purchased a half block in Chico Vecino at
Ninth and Spruce Streets. Here he built a residence and generally improved the
place. Mr. Hicks then rented his other farm for three years, finally selling
it, and then began working as a carpenter, later entering into the contracting
and selling business, and in well drilling, since 1940, in partnership
with his son, Leon Valentine Hicks. Their enterprise was a splendid success and
they have drilled wells over the territory from Vina,
Tehama County, to
Gridley, and from the mountains to the Sacramento River,
and in connection with their drilling operations they install pumps and pumping
plants; they also handle motors and gas engines.
In
1883, at Enterprise, Mr. Hicks was married to Miss Alvina Wickman, a native of Enterprise,
Butte County, a
daughter of J. J. and Marie Wickman, who were miners
at Enterprise. Five children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Hicks; Leon Valentine Hicks, a partner with his father in
the firm of Hicks and Son; Bessie, living at home; Edna, who is Mrs. L. W.
Phillips of Chico Vecino; Charles Verne, a carpenter
in Berkely; Velma Isabelle, a graduate of Heald's College, and a stenographer in Chico, residing
at home.
In
Mr. Hicks' activities and business pursuits, he has made a great number of
acquaintances, all of whom hold him in high esteem. He is a member of Chico
Lodge, No. 113, I. O. O. F., and is a Past Grand in the order and belongs to
the Encampment. Mr. Hicks is also a member of Great Oak Camp, Woodmen of the
World, and has been delegate to the head camp and with his wife is a member of
the Rebekahs and Neighbors of Woodcraft. He has
served as trustee for two terms in Webster
School district, and was also clerk
of the board.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 553-554, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2007 Sande Beach.
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