San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. ALICE LASELL HURD
A well known resident and general
agriculturist of the Lodi section of San Joaquin County, Mrs. Alice Lasell Hurd
was born on the old Norton homestead, purchased in 1862 by her father. She is the daughter of Oscar O. and Maria J.
(Elliott) Norton, the former a native of Schulyer County, New York, born
January 1, 1832 and the latter a native of New Hampshire born October 8, 1836. Grandfather Willis W. Norton was also a
native of New York and he was a schoolteacher and farmer; he passed away in
1884 at the age of eighty-two years, and Grandmother Norton passed away three
years later at the age of eighty-three years.
Oscar O. Norton was the second
oldest in a family of seven children, and was reared on a farm in New York
until the age of nineteen, attending school in the winter, and going two years
to Starkey Seminary. When
nineteen years old he went to work for himself teaching school. In 1854 he went to Illinois, where he taught
school and worked at the carpenter’s trade, which he had learned in New
York. In 1859 he came to California,
going on a visit to his old home first then taking passage at New York City on
the steamer Star of the West; on the Pacific side he took the Golden Age,
arriving in San Francisco, July 15, 1859.
He came immediately to Stockton and obtained work in the harvest fields
and worked until he purchased his first property from Thomas F. Smith, which
was located about ten miles from Stockton and they farmed in partnership until
Mr. Norton bought him out. In 1865 he
bought an added eighty acres, and in 1872 eighty more, making 320 acres. His next purchase was the property, a portion
of which is now the home place of Mrs. Hurd, in 1880, consisting of 160
acres. The following year, Mr. Norton
erected a handsome residence and carried on general farming, raising grain and
stock and also planted about eight acres of vineyard, this being one of the
first commercial vineyards in the county. He became one of the leading farmers
of his locality and his home was one that attracted the attention of the
passers-by.
Mr. Norton was a member of Lodi
Grange, No. 92, and also of the Congregational Church at that place. On October 4, 1860, he was married to Miss
Maria J. Elliott, daughter of Edmund and Sarah Elliott, who had crossed the
plains in 1859. The ox-team train in
front of the Elliott train was burned by the Indians and many of its members
came on to California with the Elliott train.
Alice E., the subject of this review, and Arthur L., now residing in
southern California, are the surviving members of a family of three
children. The father passed away on
April 28, 1909, at the age of seventy-seven years and the mother age the age of
seventy-six on December 31, 1912.
Alice E. Norton attended the old red
school house south of Lodi until she was thirteen years old, then to Lodi and
finished her education at Mills College at Oakland. On January 1, 1885, she was married to Alvah S. Lasell, born at St. Albans, Vermont, on October
26, 1856, a son of Smith and Sarah Lasell.
In 1875 Mr. Lasell came to California and for six years was employed as
miller with the Sperry Flour Company at Stockton; in 1888 he moved to Santa
Cruz County and conducted a lumber mill between San Jose and Soquel; then as
Mrs. Lasell’s father became unable to handle his
ranch, they moved there and conducted it until Mr. Norton’s death. When the estate was divided by Mrs. Norton,
Mrs. Lasell received forty-five acres with the buildings as her share. Mr. and Mrs. Lasell were the parents of one
son, Lester Norton Lasell, who is residing on ten acres of the old Norton
place. He married Lillian Widerey and they have three children: Donald W., Marion Alvah,
and Lois Ellen. Mr. Lasell was a trustee
of the Live Oak school board and was instrumental in securing the erection of
the present school building; he was also an active member of the Almond Growers
Association and fraternally was a member of the Odd Fellows and the Knights of
Pythias of Stockton. Mr. Lasell died in
1917.
In 1919, Mrs. Lasell was united in
marriage with Clarence W. Hurd, a son of Charles Hurd. A splendid, new residence was completed on
her ranch in August, 1920. The ranch has
sixteen acres in vineyard, nine of which is in full bearing and ten acres are
devoted to alfalfa. Mrs. Hurd is a
Republican and a member of the Lodi Woman’s Club and is a past noble grand of
the Rebekahs of Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
452-455. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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