San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE WASHINGTON LLOYD
As a worthy representative of one of
the early California pioneer families, George Washington Lloyd is one of the
highly respected farmers and citizens of San Joaquin County. The family is of Scotch-Irish origin, first
represented in America by Thomas Lloyd, the grandfather of our subject, who
settled in Rhode Island in an early day.
He married Miss Rosa McLaughlin, also a native of Ireland, and she and
her husband removed from Rhode Island to Massachusetts, where they both
died. George Washington Lloyd was born
in San Joaquin County on the Lloyd ranch west of Lodi August 12, 1877, a son of
Robert Lloyd. Robert Lloyd was reared on
his father’s farm in Massachusetts, remaining at home until he was twenty-one
years old. In 1854 he came to California
via Panama, sailing from New York and landing at San Francisco on April 13,
1854. The following two years he spent
in mining and during the year 1856 he settled in San Joaquin County and took up
a quarter-section of land near Lafayette, which is now the home place of his
widow and son, George W. This land was
covered with a dense growth of trees, but by hard work the father cleared
enough land to plant the first crop in the fall of 1857, and the following year
he commenced a general farming business.
He came to own 333 acres, and was busy in improving and developing it,
later selling off all but sixty acres, which he owned at the time of his death
November 19, 1906. On October 14, 1873,
he was married in Stockton to Miss Susan B. Murray, a native of Tipton, Iowa,
daughter of Edward and Jane (Boyd) Murray, both natives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd were the parents of four
children. Three grew up and are
living: Gertrude, George Washington, our
subject, and Lucretia G. The mother resides with our subject on the
old home place where she first went as a bride in 1873. Mrs. Lloyd lost her mother when still very
young. She lived on the home ranch until
ten years of age. The home farm was sold
and she began shifting for herself. She
received her education in the public school.
In 1873 she made a trip to California, coming to Mokelumne
Station, where her sister, Mrs. Jane Herren, and also
two brothers, William and Hugh Murray, were also living.
George Washington Lloyd began his
education at the Turner district school in the vicinity of his home, and later
attended the San Joaquin Valley College at Woodbridge. His earliest recollections are of the old
home farm, where he was reared and where he has always lived. His practical training in agriculture has
been in the means of making him one of the most successful viticulturalists
in his section of the county. The ranch
has been developed to vineyard of table and wine grapes, irrigated by two
pumping plants with four-inch pumps and seven-and-a-half-horse-power motors;
and in his cultivation and developing of the property he uses both tractors and
horses. The first house was built in
1857 and has since been remodeled into a comfortable and commodious
residence. In politics Mr. Lloyd is a
Republican. He is public-spirited and
favors everything to improve his district and elevate society, and he has made
a wide acquaintance in the county of his nativity and is well-known as a
representative agriculturalist.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1539-1540. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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