Biographies
WILLIAM R. GORE
On a slight elevation overlooking the
beautiful valley to the south a visitor to the Fair Oaks district notes with
admiration the attractive residence owned and occupied by Mr. Gore, who in
selecting the location bore in mind the need of a soil adapted to his
specialties in fruit, but at the same time did not fail to note the advantages
of the eminence as the site of a modern country home. Adjacent to the residence
are the three fruit ranches which have come under his ownership and to which he
devotes considerable attention, personally directing their management and
overseeing the harvesting of fruit. In the main, however, he has given his time
to business pursuits. For a time after his arrival in Fair Oaks he conducted a
general mercantile establishment and in this he still owns an interest,
although no longer its proprietor. Recently he has been interested in the
management of the lumber business which he has bought and now manages with the
same keen comprehensive energy characteristic of him in every commercial
association.
The birth of this influential citizen
occurred in Clark county, Ohio, November 18, 1858. At
an early age he was taken to Illinois by his parents, who settled on a farm in
Sangamon county near the city of Springfield. There he
passed the years of youth and received a common-school education, supplemented
by attendance at the Springfield high school. Immediately after completing his
studies he began to learn the profession of a pharmacist, in which he soon
acquired proficiency. For some twenty years he carried on a drug store at
Mechanicsburg, Ill., near Springfield, and meanwhile he devoted his leisure
hours to the supervision of a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres
which he had bought with the profits of the business. At Mechanicsburg he was
also a local leader of the Democratic party and a
well-known politician, serving as a delegate to numerous conventions and
influencing the decisions of many assemblies of local party men. The only
office which he consented to hold was that of assessor, but he aided his
friends in their candidacies and kept himself thoroughly posted in regard to
all important political measures.
Having made visits to California in 1896
and '98 and having purchased property in Fair Oaks in 1896, Mr. Gore located
permanently in California in the year 1900. Settling at Fair Oaks, he
identified himself with the district by the purchase of a tract which he has
since developed and still owns. His activities have been varied, for he has
been a fruit rancher, merchant and owner of a lumber yard. In addition he
promoted the organization of the Fair Oaks Bank, bought stock in the concern
and now serves as one of the directors. A further proof of his devotion to the
community is given in his zealous promotion of the Fair Oaks Fruit Company, in
which he was one of the first to buy stock and to which he has tendered time as
well as means with a firm faith in its importance to the community. Indeed,
every enterprise of value to the town has the impetus of his energy and
sagacity and he even has found leisure to promote numerous commercial ventures
outside of Fair Oaks, for while this place naturally receives the principal
share of his time, thought and investments, he possesses the broad patriotic
spirit that foresees the general prosperity of the commonwealth and desires to
aid in its permanent up-building. Sharing with him in the good-will of the
community are his wife, a woman of culture, and his daughter, Miss Hortense S., who is a graduate of Mills College. The only
other child in the family, Flutie, died during
infancy. Prior to their marriage, which was solemnized at Springfield, Ill.,
December 6, 1882, Mrs. Gore bore the name of Miss Lizzie McDaniel. The family
of which she was a member bore a part in the early upbuilding
of Sangamon county, where she was born and where
during girlhood she received the educational training, afterwards graduating
from St. Mary's College at Knoxville, which forms the foundation of her broad
fund of general information and her wide scope of mental attainments.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 886-887. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.