Yolo County
Biographies
EUGENE ELLSWORTH LA DUE
A man of ability, energy and enterprise, Eugene Ellsworth La Due holds
rank with the representative ranchers of Yolo county,
of which he is a native, his birth having occurred near Black’s Station,
October 22, 1876. His father, Cary La Due, was born in New York in 1831 and
when a young man of nineteen years came to California via the Isthmus of
Panama. His first employment was in Eldorado (sic) county, where he worked in
the mines for a time, later taking up land near Black’s Station, where he engaged
in farming until 1884. He then removed to another ranch located six miles west
of Black’s Station, Yolo county, in the foothills of
this section, where he began the cultivation of wheat and barley. Removing
again to the vicinity of Black’s he made that place his home until 1896, in
which year he was killed by falling from a wagon. His wife, formerly Caroline Tenness, a native of Illinois, died in Woodland, after the
death of her husband. They became the parents of nine sons and five daughters,
of whom twelve children, seven sons and the five daughters attained maturity.
The tenth in order of birth, Eugene Ellsworth La Due was reared to young
manhood in his native county, receiving his education through an attendance of
the common schools of the vicinity of his home. Later he entered the San Jose
Business College, from which institution he was graduated in 1903. Following
his early training he returned to the country and engaged in general farming
until the death of his father, after which he followed independent work along
the same line. He is now engaged in the cultivation of three hundred and sixty
acres, five and three-quarters miles west of Black’s Station, raising wheat and
barley, and has also forty head of stock. In 1901 he removed to San Jose, where
he makes his home the greater part of the time.
In 1897, in Sacramento, Cal., Mr. La Due was united in marriage with
Jessie Gordon, a native of Wisconsin. Her father, E. E. Gordon, who was a
native of New York state, emigrated first to Wisconsin
and later to California, his death occurring in Auburn, August 11, 1891. His
wife, formerly Elmina P. Earl, makes her home in Woodland. For more complete
details concerning their lives refer to E. E. Gordon’s sketch which appears
elsewhere in this volume. Mr. La Due is a Republican and has been active in his
efforts to promote the interests of the party, serving at various times as
member of committees and delegate to conventions.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: "History of the State of
California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento
Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, Pages
469-470.
The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1906.
© 2017 Cecelia M. Setty.
Golden
Nugget Library's Yolo County Biographies