San Joaquin County
Biographies
DARIUS ALBERT GUERNSEY
DARIUS ALBERT GUERNSEY, of
Guernsey & Davis, proprietors of the Stockton Stock-yards, was born in New Hampshire in
1846, a son of Aaron and Sally (Blakesley) Guernsey, both natives of that State. They spent the winter of 1886-’87 in this
city, on a visit, and returned to their home in New Hampshire, where the father
died in March, 1888, aged seventy-five. The mother, born in 1814, is still
living in 1890. Grandparents Guernsey, both of the Society of Friends, lived to an advanced
age, somewhat over seventy, and grandfather John Blakesley lived to be almost
ninety. All the grandparents were born, lived and died in New Hampshire, where the Guernseys have been long settled, as have
been the Blakesleys elsewhere in New
England.
D. A. Guernsey received a rather limited
education in his youth, but has since labored diligently and with marked
success to remedy that deficiency. He worked on his father’s farm to the age of
seventeen, and then clerked for three years in a general store in Lancaster, New Hampshire. Born apparently with a love of trading, D. A.
Guernsey was scarcely of age when he engaged in buying and selling lands in Iowa for a year or two. In April, 1870, he came to this
city, finding employment first in a dry-goods store for eight years, and
afterward in a book and stationery store for five years, the firm being
Guernsey & Allen. About 1882 Mr. Guernsey went into the business of buying
live stock, chiefly horses and mules, his second purchase in that line
amounting to 800 head. In May, 1887, he formed the present firm, taking Mr.
Franklin Davis as partner. Their yards cover an entire square on California street, south of Mormon slough, with stables, corrals and
other conveniences for the transaction of their business. Their sales have
probably averaged $50,000 annually since the formation of the firm. Mr.
Guernsey has been a director of the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank since its
organization.
Mr. Guernsey was married in Stockton, January 1, 1878, to Miss Nellie Hutch, born in Maine in 1859, a daughter of Franklin L. and Jane (McMahon)
Hutch, both natives of that State, and settled permanently in this city since
1874. Her mother died here in September, 1887, aged forty-nine; her father,
born about 1834, is still living in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Guernsey have two
children: Franklin Aaron, born October 17, 1879, and Florence, born September 12, 1885.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 364. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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