Butte County
Biographies
JOHN F. KING
This
thorough-going and prosperous rancher has been a resident of
After his arrival in this state, Mr. King
settled ten miles northwest of Gridley, where he took up a government claim of
one hundred sixty acres. This he farmed
to grain until 1900, when he settled in Gridley on account of his wife’s
health. She died there in 1902, and
since that time Mr. King has been living with his son, John F. He is hale and hearty, and at the age of
eighty-six is enjoying life to its full.
For years he was a member of the Landow school
district board of trustees. He belongs to the Catholic Church. The children include six stalwart sons: John
F., William J., Thomas, Edward, Louis, and Lee; and five daughters: Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Riley: Birdine King, D.D.S., practicing in Los Angeles; Grace;
Alice, who married Frank Cook, of Oakland; and Carmalita,
the wife of James Sullivan, of San Leandro.
The sons all reside in
John F. King received his education in the Landow and Biggs district schools, and worked at home with his father and brothers until he was twenty-two. He had saved his money, and with it bought one hundred sixty acres of land from William Dow, seven miles west of Gridley, which he set about improving, and which he operated until 1914, when he sold it a good advance in price. He then invested in his present place of twenty acres, five miles west of Gridley. In partnership with his brother Thomas, he owns a ranch of four hundred sixty-seven acres across the Cherokee ditch, ten miles west of Gridley. This place is devoted to the raising of wheat, barley and rice, and also cattle and mules. The wheat crop of 1917 ran twelve sacks per acre, and the barley, twenty sacks. They have a dairy of twenty-six cows of mixed breed. One special branch of agriculture that is carried on by them is the growing of rice. In 1915 they had one hundred sixty acres planted to this crop, that ran forty sacks per acre; in 1916 there were two hundred fifty acres in rice, which yielded the same amount, as did also the same acreage that was planted in 1917; and the 1918 crop shows up just as well.
In 1909, was
celebrated the marriage of John F. King and Miss Katherine O’Rourke, who was
born in
Transcribed
by Roseann Kerby.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1032-1033, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Roseann Kerby.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies