San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ASHER D. HICKOK
Going back in memory fifty years,
Asher D. Hickok can vividly recall those days spent in riding the range, when
not even the most optimistic could foresee the wonderful transformation in the
development of the Golden State now enjoyed by the present generation. Mr. Hickok was born in 1855 at Rochester, New
York, and after a boyhood spent at Troy, in that state, he came to California
in 1872 on an emigrant train, landing at Marysville. He secured work in the Coast Range in Colusa
County with Skillings & Corey, large stock
raisers, and he rode the range for them, sometimes driving cattle to Nevada,
continuing with them until 1875, when he went to San Francisco and entered the
employ of John Morton in the transfer and express business.
In 1879 Mr. Hickok returned to the
sheep business in Colusa County. In 1894
he purchased a mountain ranch of 897 acres on Stony Creek in Indian
Valley. He started in with a capital of
$600 and a collie dog, engaging in dairying and raising cattle and hogs, and
this he developed into one of the finest stock ranches in northern California,
paying for it in thirteen years. He had
175 acres in alfalfa, and this he irrigated with water from Stony Creek. The place was stocked with registered Jerseys
and Durham cows, and he sold thousands of pounds of butter. Some of the corn he raised made eighty
bushels to the acre and one stalk which reached the height of eighteen feet was
taken to Willows and placed on exhibition.
In 1912 Mr. Hickok disposed of his ranch and came to Lodi, where he
purchased a thirteen-acre vineyard, which he developed into a fine property,
disposing of it in 1916, and since that time he has lived retired from active
business.
In 1879 Mr. Hickok was married to
Miss Ella L. Leyde, who was born in Minnesota, and
four sons have been born to them: Frank
W., William R., Ralph A. and Clyde E.
Having gone to work at the age of seven, Mr. Hickok has realized the
great benefit a more extended period of schooling would have been, so that he
has always been a supporter of all progressive movements in educational
affairs, serving for a number of years as trustee of the Stony Ford School
District in Colusa County. With his wife
he attends the Christian Church at Lodi, in which he is a deacon, and a
generous supporter of all its benevolences.
A Republican in national politics, Mr. Hickok was elected one of the
city trustees of Lodi in April, 1920, and is a member of the committee on
streets. He has proven a most efficient
public official and with the other members of the board of trustees is enjoying
the full confidence of the people of Lodi, who appreciate the fine business
administration being given this thriving city.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1180-1183. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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