Yolo County Biographies


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



JAMES T. HADLEY
 
James T. Hadley, a well-to-do farmer of Yolo county, and one of the best known 
and highest esteemed, was born in Clermont County, Ohio, October 26, 1835 and 
was but two years of age when his parents moved with him to Henry County, 
Illinois.  In 1861 he came to California by water, landing at San Francisco 
January 14, 1862.  Shortly he went up the Sacramento with his wife, two children 
and a sister-in-law, landing on the steps of the What Cheer House, when the 
ground was all under water.  The next morning they started in a small boat 
across the country for Yolo.  The swift current of the Sacramento was full of 
whirlpools and the oarsman failed to manage the boat.  A fisherman near by saw 
the danger, hurried to their assistance and took the passengers back to 
Sacramento, except Mr. Hadley 
himself, who with the oarsman continued on their journey over fences and through 
orchards until they reached a barn belonging to the Gamble Brothers.  After a 
few minutes rest they started out again, and the next point they reached was the 
Herald House, where they stopped over night.  The next morning they reached 
Woodland, a very small place, and stopped over night, and the next day Mr. 
Hadley went on to Yolo, five and a half miles distant, but it seemed to him 
about twenty miles!  Shortly after his arrival there he was engaged by C.S. 
White and George W, Park, and he was there employed until the fall of 1863. He 
then went to Cherokee Flat and followed mining there until 1864, when in May he 
returned to Yolo County.  During the following February he visited Illinois with 
his family, and on returning purchased 160 acres of first-rate land in Yolo, and 
has since been a prosperous farmer and a favorite citizen.
 
His parents were Harry and Sarah T. (Cooper) Hadley, the former a native of New 
York State and the latter of England.
 
In 1857, in Illinois, Mr.Hadley was married to Miss Sarah A. Moore a native of 
Indiana, and they have five children:  Lena M., William C., Julia E., Nellie E. 
and Walter P.  Mrs. Hadley died in California in 1871, and June 11, 1874, Mr. 
Hadley was united in marriage, in Illinois, with Miss Addie Glissen, a native of 
Ohio, and by this marriage there was one child, Grace Lee.  Julia died in 1881 
and Walter P. was shot and killed March 24, 1889, probably by accident in taking 
a rifle from the shelf at his father's house when no one was a witness.  He was 
a splendid specimen of young manhood, not only physically but also in qualities 
of heart and mind.  He was born in Yolo County in the very house and in the very 
room where his handsome, manly form was laid out and prepared for burial.  The 
afflicted family have the heartfelt sympathy of numberless friends in their 
great sorrow.
 
Source:  Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, Lewis 
Publishing Co., 1891  page 763
Transcribed by:  Melody Landon Gregory  August 2004