Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

PRESTON E. GARMIRE

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

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


 
A wide-awake, progressive rancher who knows how to get results is Preston E. 
Garmire, who has �made good� in the Golden State.  He was born in Lagrange 
County, Ind., on November 8, 1850, the son of Jacob and Sarah (Young) Garmire, 
the former a native of Ohio, while Mrs. Garmire was a native of England.  Jacob 
Garmire was a farmer, and he lived and died in Indiana, closing his earthly 
record in his sixty-fourth year, while his devoted wife survived her 
eighty-fifth year.
 Preston E. went to school in Indiana, and in 1874 came out to California and 
settled in Sutter County.  He bought eighty acres near Kirksville and operated 
the tract for four years.  Then he moved onto the banks of the Sacramento River, 
to a point some eight miles below Meridian, and bought forty acres, and lived on 
this place until 1905.  This general farming land he still owns.  In 1905, he 
removed to the George Betty ranch of 100 acres at Kent Station, and leased that 
place for six years, after which he purchased it; and this is a dairy and 
general farm.  In politics he is a Republican.
On April 16, 1879, Mr. Garmire was married to Miss Jerusha Smith, a native of 
California, who passed away in 1882.  Six years later, on October 17, he was 
again married, this time at Colusa, when Miss Mattie Rice became Mrs. Garmire.  
She was born at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1866, and was the daughter of Emil and 
Elizabeth Ann (Alander) Rice.  Her father was a mechanic, hailing from 
Pennsylvania, while her mother came from Iowa.  Emil Rice came out to California 
in 1872; and eight years later, the family followed.  Mr. Rice died at the age 
of eighty-two, and Mrs. Rice breathed her last in 1870.  The Rice family had 
lived at Colusa.  Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Garmire.  Sylvia is 
Mrs. O. A. Mayfield, of Sacramento; Ray is at home; Bessie is Mrs. C. N. Jones, 
of Meridian; Amy; Preston E., Jr.; and Sadie.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 1200