Tehama County
Biographies
GEORGE A. HOAG
Prominent among the citizens of
Tehama County is George A. Hoag, who is engaged in general farming, in sheep
and livestock raising, and is now serving as mayor of
Corning, California. Mr. Hoag has been a
leader in civic affairs for many years, and has earned a well merited
reputation as being an upright, public-spirited and enterprising member of the
community. He has carried on well the
traditions and ideals established by his worthy father, who was one of the most
respected pioneers of this county.
George A. Hoag was born in Tehama
County, California, February 20, 1881, and is a son of George and Mrs. Mary (Trumpler) Prussing Hoag. George Hoag, the father, was born near
Dundee, Scotland, in April, 1837, a son of John and Catherine (Kidd) Hoag, who
spent their entire lives in that locality.
In 1857, George Hoag took passage on the vessel, City of New York, with
New York as his destination. Equinoctial
storms delayed the voyage of the ship, which was in great danger at times, but
eventually the passengers were disembarked safely at New York City. George Hoag then joined an uncle in Michigan,
and in the Wolverine state he tarried awhile, then went down the Mississippi
River to New Orleans, thence to Havana and Aspinwall,
then sailed up the Pacific coast, and landed at San Francisco, August 13,
1858. The cost of the trip having been
unexpectedly large, Mr. Hoag was without funds when he stepped from the ship,
but he secured employment on a farm near Sacramento. He became interested in the sheep raising
business, and in 1860 he and his partner drove their flock to Tehama County,
where it was divided, and then Mr. Hoag came to Corning, the site of which was
at that time mostly wild land without a house to be seen. His flock gradually increased until he owned
ten thousand sheep. He drove the first
band, comprising thirty-five hundred sheep, into Montana from California. On one of these long trips he and his
companions were snowed in while crossing the Rockies and their lives were saved
solely because they happened to have two wagons filled with flour and pork,
upon which food they subsisted. The men each
had eight thousand dollars in gold dust rolled in their blankets, but struggled
through without losing any of their capital.
Sheep raising in California became unprofitable
to Mr. Hoag as the land was divided into smaller farm tracts, so he engaged in
grain raising on a large scale. Still
later he disposed of some of his holdings to the Maywood Colony, which had been
established by Warren N. Woodson as a farm colony. He sold about three thousand, seven hundred
and fifty acres to this colony, but retained large sections in various parts of
the county for himself. He also owned
many buildings in Corning; was interested in fruit raising
and stock raising, and held responsible positions in different
organizations. He was a representative
citizen in every respect and commanded the admiration of all who came in
contact with him. His death occurred
January 18, 1921, when he was in the eighty-seventh year of his age, at which
time he was the owner of over six thousand acres of land. His wife was born at New Orleans, Louisiana,
and died on the home ranch in Tehama County, October 2, 1882. She was a daughter of John Trumpler, who came to California in 1852 and was a leading
businessman of the Sacramento Valley during his life. George and Mary (Trumpler)
Prussing Hoag were the parents of four children,
namely: Catherine, who is the wife of
Charles Mellen, formerly of Corning, but now a
resident of San Rafael, California; Mary, the wife of Dr. H. C. Foster, a
physician of Berkeley, California; Clara, the wife of R. A. Foster, of Corning,
a rancher on the Sacramento River; and lastly, George A., the immediate subject
of this sketch. The genealogy of the
Hoag family is traced to the early days of Scotch history. George Hoag was exceptionally interested in
historical matters, and was one of the best informed men on events of the early
days in California.
George A. Hoag was educated in the
grade and high schools of Red Bluff, and attended business
college at Stockton, California.
He now resides on the old home farm, and is extensively engaged in sheep
raising, also raising cattle, horses and hogs, and
does general farming. He has about
fourteen hundred acres, and leases additional land for his two thousand sheep,
one hundred cattle and two hundred hogs.
The Hoag home is about one-half mile from the city of Corning. Mr. Hoag is prominent in Masonry, holding
membership in the blue lodge at Corning, the chapter and commandery at Red
Bluff, and Bel Ali Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Sacramento. He belongs to the Woodmen of the World and
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Red Bluff. His political affiliation is with the
Republican Party, and he served as supervisor of Tehama County for eight years
and upon the Corning city council for one year.
He is now mayor of the city of Corning, being first appointed and
afterward elected to the office. He is
also a member of the high school board at this time, and he was the first
chairman of the supervisors for the new courthouse of Tehama County.
In 1915, George A. Hoag was married
to Miss Altha Sutfin, a
daughter of William and Mary (Litzenberg) Sutfin, the father now being deceased. He was a farmer and one of the pioneer
settlers of Tehama County. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hoag there have been born two
children, George and Barbara Jeanne.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 384-386. Pioneer Historical Publishing
Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's Tehama County Biographies