Contra Costa County
Biographies
VOLNEY FRANK WILSON
On Senter road, three and a half miles southeast of San Jose lies a ranch of eighteen acres which for the past ten years has been the special pride and care of Mr. Wilson, although the land is owned by his father-in-law, Eugene Sullivan. Eleven acres have been set apart for the raising of prunes, and the balance is in apricots and peaches. In Contra Costa county, four and a half miles southeast of Antioch, Mr. Wilson owns a ranch of forty-one acres, which he set out to fruit trees in 1900. Besides four hundred peach trees, he planted apricots and various assorted fruits, and there is also a good-sized family orchard on the place. Both ranches are under the care and supervision of Mr. Wilson, and abundant evidence of his ability as a thorough-going fruit raiser is distinctly noticeable.
A son of Joshua and Fannie (Templeton) Wilson, Volney F. Wilson was born in Lucas county, Iowa, September 29, 1871. Born in Indiana, later in life Joshua Wilson removed to Lucas county, Iowa, where as a farmer he spent the remainder of his life. His wife was a native of Ohio, and her death occurred in Nebraska, while on a visit among relatives. Of the thirteen children born to these parents six sons, and six daughters are living, one daughter having died. Volney F. Wilson was the youngest child, and when he attained sufficient years conned his lessons in the common schools near the parental home in Iowa, subsequently following in the footsteps of his father and becoming a tiller of the soil. In 1894 Mr. Wilson came to California, and during the years which have since elapsed he has seen wonderful changes throughout the Santa Clara valley, and has taken no small part in its advancement and well-being. In addition to caring for the two ranches already mentioned, Mr. Wilson has the agency for the Hercules gas engine, which is manufactured in San Francisco. In order that there may at all times be sufficient water to supply his ranch, Mr. Wilson has put in a pumping plant, which has solved beyond all question any possibility of short crops on account of lack of water.
A marriage ceremony celebrated at Sheridan, Iowa, November 14, 1892, united the destinies of Volney F. Wilson and Miss Kate Sullivan, who was born in Iowa, a daughter of Eugene Sullivan, who came to California in 1891. Four children came to brighten the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, named as follows: Eugene, Fannie Eunice, Jay and James, but Jay is now deceased. On questions of a political nature Mr. Wilson may at all times be counted on the side of Democratic candidates.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 671-672. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Joyce Rugeroni.
Contra Costa County Biographies