Biographies
JOHN B. HICKS
The self-made man is in evidence in
California as manifestly as in any part of this country of self-made men.
Sacramento has as many men of this class as any city in the state, population
considered, and of the younger ones few are better or more favorably known than
the one whose name is the title to this brief notice. Mr. Hicks was born at
Watseka, Ill., December 2, 1869, a son of James V. Hicks and a grandson of John
J. Hicks. His father and his grandfather and their families had come to the
coast in 1874 and located in San Diego county, where
they had turned their attention profitably to sheep-raising, their operations
covering extensive tracts of land and giving employment to many men in
different ways.
It was in the public schools of San Diego county that the immediate subject of this sketch gained a
practical primary education. His more advanced education has been obtained by
hard and sometimes discouraging study and observation in the school of
experience. His first active participation in the battle for life was a farmer.
Later he became identified with the hotel business, and it was by a five years'
experience as a hotel clerk in San Francisco that he gained that knowledge of
men and their ways that has stood him in such good stead in his subsequent
business career. In 1898 he became connected with the transfer business of John
F. Cooper and the Walrath Brothers, in which he later
became half owner. The enterprise of which he is now manager is known as the
Capital Sacramento Transfer, Van and Storage Company, and it is one of the
largest of its class in Northern California. This company is duly incorporated
under the state law.
Maud L. King became the wife of Mr. Hicks
April 16, 1902, and they have a daughter named Ruth, who was born May 12, 1903.
Mrs. Hicks was the daughter of William and Sarah A. King of Sacramento. Her
father came to California in 1850 and mined several years with varying success.
For twenty-five years he was identified with Yolo county and some of its well
known interests. He passed away in Sacramento in 1900. In everything pertaining
to the advancement of his adopted city Mr. Hicks has taken an earnest and
helpful interest. While he has not figured as an active politician he has ably
done his part in such political work as has appealed to his public sense of
duty. In 1912 he was prevailed upon by influential citizens of the Third ward
of Sacramento to accept the nomination of his party for the office of trustee.
He is a York rite Mason, a Shriner, and Odd Fellow, a
Woodman of the World, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and
in some of these orders he has been raised to important office. Mr. and
Mrs. Hicks are communicants of the Presbyterian church,
active in the work of that religious body and generous in support of its varied
interests.
In the matter of investment Mr. Hicks has
been as wise as he has been enterprising. Firmly believing in the safety as
well as profit of land investments he has become possessed of real estate, notably
of a tract of forty acres on the Riverside road, five miles from the Sacramento
city line. His public spirit impels him to do all in his power to advance the
best interests of his community and his state, and there are few reasonable
demands on his patriotism to which he does not respond with cheerful
liberality.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 949-950. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.