Sutter
County
Biographies
EDSON SCHUYLER WADSWORTH
Edson Schuyler Wadsworth, better
known as Schuyler Wadsworth, is a successful farmer and sheep man residing in
Sutter City who also figures actively in public affairs as supervisor of the
third supervisorial district of Sutter County.
He owns fifteen hundred acres of land near Sutter City, four hundred
acres of which is leased out for the cultivation of rice, while the remaining
eleven hundred acres is sheep pasture.
Mr. Wadsworth was born on the old Wadsworth homestead in Sutter City,
California, September 24, 1868, his parents being William Marsh and Martha J.
(Wynecoop) Wadsworth, the former a native of the state of New York and the
latter of Illinois. John Jacob
Wadsworth, the paternal grandfather of Schuyler Wadsworth, was born in the
Empire state, a representative of the New England family of that name. It was in 1853 that his son, William M.
Wadsworth, lured by the gold discoveries on the Pacific coast, crossed the
plains with ox teams, returning to the east in 1857. Two years later, in 1859, he came back to
California accompanied by his family, as well as by his father and the latter’s
family. He settled two miles south of
Sutter City, on the property which became the old Wadsworth home farm,
successfully engaging in agricultural pursuits and becoming the owner of eleven
hundred acres of land. William M.
Wadsworth was married twice and by his first wife had two children, but both
passed away in early life. In 1864 he
wedded Miss Martha J. Wynecoop, of Sutter City, and they became the parents of
nine children, but two daughters of the family died in childhood. The seven surviving children are as
follows: William U., a live stock broker
residing at Orland, California; Edson Schuyler, of this review; Elizabeth, the
wife of J. L. Welter, a farmer in the Franklin school district of Sutter
County; Frank Alva, who is a real estate dealer at Sacramento; George M., a
rancher residing at Napa, California; Everett V., an expert accountant employed
by a firm of assessment experts in Oakland, California; and Alice, the wife of
B. G. Campbell, also an expert accountant of Oakland. The father of the above named is now
deceased, while the mother is still living.
Edson Schuyler Wadsworth, the second
child born to William M. and Martha Wadsworth, began his education in the
public schools at Sutter, continued his studies in Pierce College at College
City, California, and also attended a business college at Stockton, this state. He has become a well informed man on many
subjects, having with the passing years augmented his school training by wide
reading and observation, while the varied experiences of business life have
constantly broadened his knowledge. He
was reared to manhood on his father’s farm of eleven hundred acres and early
became interested in the sheep raising business, in which he has met with a
considerable measure of success. He
raises large numbers of a mixture of Hampshire and Merino breeds of sheep and
sells both lambs and wool on an extensive scale. As stated above, Mr. Wadsworth leases four
hundred of his fifteen hundred acres for the growing of rice but gives his
personal supervision to the sheep business.
He is a director of the Wool Growers Association and also a director of
the State Rice Growers Association.
On the 19th of November,
1890, Mr. Wadsworth was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Pease, a native of
Enfield, New Hampshire, whose parents were prominent early settlers in the
Franklin district of Sutter County, California.
Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth are the parents of a son and a daughter,
namely: Leo A., principal of the Sutter
Union high school, who is mentioned at length on another page of this work; and
Olive E., who is the wife of A. Lemenager, a dairy farmer residing near Sutter,
California. Mr. and Mrs. Lemenager are
the parents of three children: Donna,
Jeane and Austin.
Mr. Wadsworth gives his political
allegiance to the Republican Party. For
four years he served on the state reclamation board through appointment of
Governor Richardson, and is now a member of that board through appointment of
Governor Rolph, while during the period of the World War he rendered patriotic
support to the government as a member of various bond committees. The Sutter district raised its full quota in
each bond issue. In May, 1930, Governor
C. C. Young of California appointed Mr. Wadsworth supervisor of the third
supervisorial district of Sutter County to fill the vacancy caused by the death
of the former supervisor, John C. Ahlf, and he was elected to the office by a
large majority at the following election.
In this capacity he is much interested in building good roads,
especially the Yuba-Sutter by-pass, which is now nearing completion. He is also active in the suppression of
hydraulic mining and the rehabilitation of lands destroyed by the sediment from
hydraulic mining. Fraternally he is
affiliated with the Masonic order, belonging to Enterprise Lodge, No. 70, F.
& A. M., of Yuba City, and to Ben Ali Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of
Sacramento, the Elks Lodge of Marysville and Marysville Rotary Club. He enjoys an enviable reputation as one of
the prosperous and representative citizens of the Sacramento Valley and is well
known and highly esteemed throughout the community in which his entire life has
been spent.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 136-138. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sutter County
Biographies