Sacramento County
Biographies
GEORGE SPENCER BULLOCK
The
significance of lifelong identification with California
appears in the loyalty uniformly exhibited by the native sons of the
commonwealth. Patriotic devotion to the land of his birth forms one of the
chief attributes in the character of George Spencer Bullock, the son of an
honored pioneer and himself a native of Yolo county,
where his earliest recollections are associated with sights and scenes around
the then insignificant village of Woodland.
The Hesperian College, which in 1861, his father had assisted in founding,
afforded him the advantages of a classical education and later he completed a
commercial course in the Woodland Business
College, of which he is a graduate.
Availing himself of these excellent educational opportunities, he laid the
foundation of a broad fund of information and by habits of continued
studiousness and close observation he has become the possessor of a high degree
of culture. To some extent he has specialized in the acquisition of knowledge,
being particularly interested in financial problems and in monetary matters.
From early manhood he has been connected with the banking business, first at Woodland,
where he clerked in a bank for two years, and later in Sacramento,
where he entered the national bank established by D. O. Mills and from a
clerkship won his way to the position of paying teller. After twenty years of
service he resigned this position in November, 1911, to fill the offices of
director and cashier of the Citizen's Bank of Oak Park to which he had been
elected. After six months with this firm he again resigned, having been elected
assistant cashier of the Fort Sutter National Bank, the duties of which office
he assumed in May, 1912. It may be predicted that future years will witness a
steady advance in his prominence in banking circles, for he possesses the keen
insight, time discrimination, conservative judgment and unfailing tact that
almost invariably bring success to men in every line of activity. Some years
ago he purchased the old homestead of five hundred and ninety acres on Grand
Island from the estate, and this he has now under
process of perpetual reclamation. The tract is devoted to the raising of grain,
alfalfa and garden produce. Aside from a growing prestige in financial circles
he devotes some of his leisure hours to the activities of the Sutter Club and
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Under Governor Gillett he was
appointed a member of the board of commissioners of Sutter's Fort and at the
expiration of his first term he was again appointed to the position by the same
executive.
In
studying the lineage of the Bullock family we find that they are of English
stock and southern associations. As early as 1830 Thomas and Agnes (Ware)
Bullock (the latter of Scotch-Welsh descent) removed from Kentucky, their
native commonwealth, and settled in Illinois, taking up a large tract of raw
land in Woodford county near the county-seat of Eureka. He was one of the first
settlers in his locality, and he named the county
Woodford from his native county in
the Blue Grass state. From there Mr. Bullock went to the front to assist in
subduing the savages during the progress of the Black Hawk war. Both he and his
wife continued to make their home in Woodford county
until they died. Of their nine children James P., the third in order of birth,
was born in Woodford county, Ky.,
May 24, 1829. During boyhood he attended country schools in Illinois.
Later he matriculated in a Presbyterian college near Hannibal,
Mo., and continued his studies there until
he was graduated at the age of twenty. It was his father's ambition that he
should become a physician and accordingly he was sent to Palmyra,
Mo., to begin the study of medicine, but the discovery
of gold in California changed all
of his plans and caused him to relinquish all intention of becoming a
professional man. Having no money to pay for the trip to California
he began to teach school and thus secured the necessary funds, so that early in
1850 he crossed the plains with an expedition of Argonauts. When he arrived in Sacramento
in July he had only seventy-five cents in his possession. However, he was
strong and willing, hence a lack of capital did not
discourage him in the least. The first job he found was that of cutting
cordwood on L and M streets in Sacramento.
Next he engaged in teaming and freighting to the mountains. While thus engaged
he went on a trip to Downieville, Sierra county, became interested in the place, and later opened a
butcher shop there. During the fall of 1852 he located on the Sacramento
river in Sutter county, taking up a claim
on what he supposed to be government land, but when he discovered it to be a
grant he removed to Yolo county. During February of 1858 he bought five hundred
and ninety acres fifteen miles northeast of Woodland, on Grand
Island, and there he engaged in stock-raising and
general farming.
As
assessor of Yolo county James
P. Bullock served from 1864 to 1870 and the tact with which he discharged the
responsibilities of the position won for him many friends. During 1870 he was
elected sheriff of Yolo county by a large majority,
and at the expiration of his first term he was honored by re-election to the
office. Meanwhile he had established his home in Woodland
and had built a substantial residence on Court street.
After having served as sheriff for two terms he retired to private life and
resumed the management of his farm, also superintended the Colonel Hagar land
grant in Yolo county, which he had managed in previous
years. After having been an invalid for five years he passed away September 25,
1888. He was buried in Woodland cemetery with Masonic
honors under the auspices of the Knights Templar. Politically he always voted
with the Democratic party. For years he served as a
trustee in the Christian Church and was one of its most influential workers in Woodland.
His wife likewise was prominent in the activities of that church and she was
also for years a leading worker in the Woodland Chapter of the Eastern Star.
The
marriage of James P. Bullock and Mary Jane Powell took place in Sutter county
November 9, 1854. Six children were born of their union, namely: Agnes, Mrs. C.
F. Thomas, of Woodland; George Spencer, whose name introduces this articles;
Lela; Fred, proprietor of the Bullock clothing store in Woodland; Mrs. Mary
Nelson de Merritt, and Mrs. Helen Fregidgo. During
1902 Mrs. Bullock and those of her family yet at home removed to Oakland,
but later became residents of San Francisco
and she is now living in that city, retaining, however, her property interests
in Yolo county. Her father, Jeremiah Powell, was the
son of a Virginian, of Scotch descent, who served in the Revolutionary war as a
boy and long afterward gave further service to his country during the war of
1812. This Virginian patriot spent many years of his later life in developing
land in Kentucky, where Jeremiah Powell was born and
reared and whence he removed to Missouri
during the original settlement of that state.
During
the summer of 1853 Jeremiah Powell and Captain Levi Blunt crossed the plains
with five hundred head of cattle. In the expedition were Mrs. Powell and three
children. At Downieville they were met by James
Powell, a brother of Jeremiah, and with him the journey was completed on
horseback to Sacramento. Taking up
land in Colusa county Jeremiah
Powell began to raise stock, but he later discovered the land to be a grant,
hence he removed to Kellogg's slough near Colusa, where he bought a tract of
raw land. The development of the farm was a difficult task and occupied the
remaining years of his busy existence. On that farm he died in 1887 at the age
of eighty years. Fraternally he was a Mason, in politics a Democrat, and in
religion a member of the Christian church. His first marriage united him with
Amanda Noe, a native of Kentucky,
her father, George Noe, having removed to that state
from Virginia and later making another move to Missouri,
where he died. The second wife of Mr. Powell was Priscilla Ferguson, a native
of Virginia. In April of 1900 she
passed away at the age of ninety-four. Mrs. Bullock is now the sole survivor of
the Powell family, her elder brother, George Spencer, having died in Mexico,
while the younger brother Charles Shelton, passed away at the old homestead in
the vicinity of Colusa.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 867-887. Historic
Record Company, Los
Angeles,
CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.