Sacramento Valley Biographies

EDWARD E. BUNNELL

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, June 2009.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



          The building of substantial levees and the other improvements
which have brought prosperity to the residents of Merritt Island mark an
epoch in the development of this part of Yolo county. Among the land-owners
who appreciate and have labored for the improved condition of affairs
mention belongs to Edward E. Bunnell, who owns and occupies a ranch four
miles south of Clarksburg. Not only is he himself a member of a pioneer
family of the Sacramento valley, but by marriage also he is connected with
another honored family of pioneers, his wife being a daughter of Ralph Henry
Pylman, represented elsewhere in this volume. In addition to his homestead
of ninety-five acres, valued at upward of $200 per acre, he has charge of
one hundred and forty-two acres in the same neighborhood, and utilizes the
entire tract for the raising of hay, beans and vegetables, and for the
pasturage of his dairy stock, comprising from twelve to fifteen cows. The
soil is adapted to various kinds of fruit, and it is his plan to plant some
fifteen acres in pears, apples and apricots.

          A native Californian, Mr. Bunnell was born in Sacramento, July 6,
1872, and is a son of Charles E. and Elizabeth D. (Woodman) Bunnell, natives
respectively of Connecticut and New York. His parents came to California in
their early years, the father in 1856 and the mother in 1855. The former,
who made the long voyage to the west by way of Cape Horn, settled in San
Francisco and embarked in the draying business, having his stables on the
present site of the Palace hotel. The business not proving profitable, he
sold the lot at a low figure and removed to the San Joaquin valley. As a boy
in Connecticut he had become familiar with agriculture, but when he bought a
ranch near Stockton he found the cultivation of the soil necessitated
different methods of procedure from those employed on the worn-out soil of
New England. About 1868 he sold his ranch and removed to the city of
Sacramento, where he became interested in a delivery business. Later, for
eighteen years, he managed a large dairy for C. W. Clark on shares. With the
savings of that period he invested in a ranch of one hundred acres on the
Sacramento river in the county of the same name. The management of that
estate engaged his attention until his last illness, prior to which time he
had been remarkably active and robust for one of his age (sixty-nine years).
Since his death his widow has made her home with their son in Sacramento
county.

          During his boyhood years Edward E. Bunnell made his home on a
dairy ranch operated by his father and his education was such as the
neighboring schools afforded. At eighteen years of age he began baling hay
for other parties, and after two years he rented a farm lying partly in
Solano, and partly in Sacramento county. The year 1898 found him negotiating
for the renting of land on Merritt Island, and for four years he tilled the
soil of rented property, but in 1902 bought the place where he and his wife
(formerly Miss Jennie Pylman) have established a comfortable home. Together
they have labored to advance their mutual interests, the excellent judgment
of the wife supplementing the energetic efforts of her husband, and the
prosperity they are now beginning to enjoy is justly earned by their
industry and perseverance.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 526-527.