NATHAN D. HACK

Sacramento County

Biographies

NATHAN D. HACK

NATHAN D. HACK—A very enterprising and public-spirited citizen, a native so of Sacramento County, is Nathan D. Hack, who was born at Freeport, September 23, 1856. His father, George Hack, Sr., is mentioned above, in the sketch of George W. Hack. Nathan Hack, better known as Dock Hack, was reared on the farm at Freeport, the same place on which he was born and which he now owns. He received good education in the public school in Freeport, which was supplemented, with a course at Atkinson’s Business College in Sacramento, after which he took up farming with his father. This partnership was continued until his sire’s death, after which Dock Hack came into possession of 100 acres of the old home place and there continued farming.

Meantime, Mr. Hack had married in Sacramento, on January 3, 1881, being there united with Miss Lavina Kirtlan, who was born at Jenny Lind, Calaveras County. Her father, Thomas Kirtlan, a native of England, was brought by his parents when an infant in arms across the ocean to the land of the Stars and Stripes, and was reared at Salem, Ohio, where he learned the blacksmith’s trade under an uncle. When nineteen years of age he came to California via Panama, in the pioneer gold days, and ran a blacksmith shop in the mining camp of Jenny Lind, continuing there until 1869, when he moved to the capital city. There he conducted a blacksmith shop on Twelfth and K Streets until he located at Freeport, where he purchased the blacksmith shop in partnership with Mr. Lee, which they conducted under the firm name of Kirtlan & Lee until the death of Mr. Lee. Selling out, he then removed to Diamond Spring, where he followed the same business for a period of eight years. He then went to Capay Valley, Yolo County, and there ran a shop until he retired to Oak Park, in the capital city. Here he resided until his death in 1913, a man who was favorably and well known all over this part of California. Mrs. Hack’s mother was in maidenhood Narcissis Tucker, a native of Louisiana, who crossed the plains to California in an ox-team train in the early days, and here met and married Mr. Kirtlan. She passed away in Capay, in 1910. Nine children were born to this pioneer couple: Lavina, Mrs. Hack; Mary Allie, Mrs. Stiners, who died in San Francisco; Frank, living in Sacramento; Fred, of Freeport; Mrs. Lizzie Black of Glendale; Elmer, at Courtland; Arthur, who died at Diamond Spring; Mrs. Maggie Foster, living in Oak Park; and Clarence, who lives in Visalia. Lavina Kirtlan was educated in the public school at Freeport, thus being a schoolmate of Dock Hack, who afterwards became her husband. Their union has proved a happy one, and has been blessed with five children: Hazel, the wife of R. B. Forsyth, a rancher in the Ray district, San Joaquin County; Mrs. Pearl York, of Sacramento; Nathan D., Jr., of Live Oak; Mrs. Blanche Stokes, of Stockton; and Mrs. Mabel Crawford, of Freeport.

Mr. and Mrs. Hack have been actively engaged in farming, devoting their ranching to dairying and the raising of beans and grain; and there they reared the educated their children, who are now nicely located in homes of their own and are highly respected citizens in their various communities. Mr. Hack is a member of Eldorado Lodge No. 8, I. O. O. F., Sacramento, and for many years Mr. and Mrs. Hack were members of the Grange. He was a school trustee for twenty years, and has served as a member of the grand jury. He has always been fond of the great out-of-doors, his hobby being baseball. In religious views, Mr. and Mrs. Hack are both of the Methodist faith; while politically they are Republicans.

Transcribed by Gloria Wiegner Lane.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 609-610. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.