California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 GEORGE CRUICKSHANK.� There is a very productive and valuable piece of property adjoining the town of Kelseyville on the south known as Oakdale ranch, owned by George Cruickshank, who has settled down to farm life after an unusually varied career. A native of Scotland, he passed the first sixteen years of his life in his native country, after which he entered the British army, and at the close of his service came to the United States and became a soldier in the regular army of his adopted country, where he had a number of years' experience in touch with the stirring life of the west in the old days. Upon his marriage he left the service in order to lead a more domestic existence, and has since been principally interested in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Cruickshank was born in the Parish of Auctherlees, Aberdeenshire, January 26, 1856, the youngest of the family of seven children of William and Elizabeth ( Foley) Cruickshank, both also natives of Scotland, and both now deceased. George is the only member of the family in California, and he has not seen any of the others since he left Scotland when sixteen years old. He was allowed to attend school about three or four months in the winter time until ten years old, from which age he has made his own living. After herd- ing cattle and sheep on the stony hills of Scotland for several years he con- cluded to try his fortune in America, but before coming to this country, he was a soldier in the British army for five years, being twenty-one when his services ended. Then he crossed the Atlantic, and was soon a soldier in the United States army, having joined Company G, Fourth United States Cavalry, with which he was sent to the Indian territory. During the '70�s he took part with the command in many fights with the Indians, who were eventually rounded up at Red Cloud, Neb., many prisoners being taken at that point. Following his five years of service in the regular army Mr. Cruickshank became a scout and guide under Generals McKenzie and Lawton, in Arizona and New Mexico. During this period he became well acquainted personally with General Lawton. After his marriage Mr. Cruickshank gave up scouting and mined for a couple of years, after which he became interested in cattle- raising on the Cherokee strip in the Indian territory. When Oklahoma was thrown open to settlers in 1889, he was in the first rush and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres near Guthrie, proving up on that land, where he re- mained for seven years. Meantime his wife had become an invalid, and Mr. Cruickshank brought her to California in 1894, traveling three years in the southern part of the state in the hope of finding a beneficial atmosphere. In spite of all efforts she passed away, in Inyo county. Mr. Cruickshank subse- quently went back to Southern California, where he bought a walnut ranch and lived for some time. In 1906 he came to Lake county, arriving here March 7th, and was so well pleased with the soil and climatic conditions that he invested in a pear ranch in Big valley. The next year he sold that land and bought his present property, a tract of one hundred and twenty-six acres lying to the south of Kelseyville. As a fruit grower Mr. Cruickshank has planted prunes, walnuts and pears, experimenting as he goes along, and his orchards now cover twenty-five acres. The rest of his land is devoted to mixed crops. He is a member of Live Oak Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, at Kelseyville, taking an earnest interest in all movements designed to im- prove the conditions of farms and farmers and assist them in making proper progress in their work. Personally Mr. Cruickshank has gained a place in the confidence of his neighbors which is notable. He has become one of the leading workers in the Presbyterian Church at Kelseyville, holding the offices of elder and trustee, as well as superintendent of the Sunday school. His sterling moral qualities and strong influence for good, exerted in an unosten- tatious but effective manner, have won appreciation and respect from a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. He is a Democrat on political issues. At Silver City, N. Mex., Mr. Cruickshank became acquainted with Miss Lydia Bridges, whom he married in 1882. Her father, Franklin Bridges, a Kentuckian, was a rancher there. She died as above related, leaving three children, Claude, Nora and Ruth, the son now a rancher in Oregon. Ruth lives at home. Nora is the wife of L. H. Kane, an engineer, of Portland, Ore., and has one child, Wesley. In Southern California Mr. Cruickshank married (second) Miss Alice Fletcher, of Orange county, who at her death in June, 1911, left two children, Warren and Marguerite.