Butte County
Biographies
GEORGE W. THOMASSON
GEORGE W. THOMASSON.--A loyal native
son of California, George W. Thomasson
was born on January 27, 1862, on his father's ranch on Big Chico Creek, three
miles northeast of Chico. He
attended the district school near his home in pursuit of an education, and
later on took a course in the Woodman Academy
in Chico. He was only five years
old when his father, William Hardy Thomasson, died,
but he lived on the home ranch until it was sold to Gen. John Bidwell, in 1888.
When he was old enough to strike out for himself he began ranching on his own
account, and for many years he raised grain and stock in his native county. It
was about 1887 that he sold out his interests in Butte
County and moved to Oregon,
where he was engaged in raising horses for five years. The business did not
yield the returns he had hoped for and he came back to Chico
and began working at the carpenter's trade, soon becoming proficient enough to
take and execute contracts on his own responsibility.
Mr.
Thomasson has always had an abiding faith in the
future of Butte County,
and in 1892 he began setting out a prune orchard on some land he had purchased.
His orchards now consist of ten acres of almonds, in which his sister, Mrs. J.
M. Chubbuck, is a partner, and twenty acres in prunes. His ranch is well
improved with a two-story frame house, which he built himself, plenty of barn
and shed room, drying sheds, etc., and the land has been brought to a high
state of cultivation. Besides his residence property he has another tract of
eight acres, which is set to prunes. In the interests of the fruit industry, he
assisted in organizing the Prune Growers' Association of Butte County.
The
first marriage of Mr. Thomasson united him with Miss
Nettie B. Shearer, a daughter of Joseph E. and Mary E. Shearer, who were
natives of New York and Michigan
respectively. They came to California
in 1859. Mr. Shearer ran a livery stable and drove the stage carrying
passengers to and from Chico Landing. Of this marriage three children were
born: J. Hardy, who is employed in the postoffice at
Chico and is owner of a ten-acre tract near town, and who married Linette Mills and has three children; Edith A., who married
George Abbott of Chico, and had two children; and Ella May, who became the wife
of Arthur F. Crum of Chico, and has one child.
The
second marriage of Mr. Thomasson, which occurred in
1914, united him with Mrs. Millie Gessler, a widow
who had one child, Donna, now nineteen years old. Of this union there is a son,
William W. Mr. Thomasson is a self-made man, one who
is always ready to perform any duty for the welfare of the county, and to aid
those less fortunate than himself. He has made his mark in Butte
County and is counted one of her
enterprising and successful citizens. He enlisted for service during the
Spanish-American War and served eight months when he was honorably discharged.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 745-746, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Sande Beach.
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