Yolo County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
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Thomas Hall
 
One of Madison�s oldest and one of her best citizens is Thomas Hall.  He began 
life in Herkimer county, N. Y., October 6, 1828, and today in Yolo county, Cal., 
his farthest past and his nearest present are eighty-four years apart and the 
two places are separated by several thousand miles of American continent.  He 
lived in his native town until he was fourteen years of age, when the family 
moved to Racine county, Wis.  Ten years afterward, in 1852, he found himself 
aboard a very crowded steamer westward bound.  The New Yorker landed in Yerba 
Buena (San Francisco) safely and from there came on to Sacramento, where he went 
to work in the spring of 1853.  He began ranching on the river bottom, remaining 
there until 1867, when he located on Cache creek near Madison, Yolo county.  
There was plenty of land for the mere taking up and he took up a tract of one 
hundred and sixty acres of government land, improving his holdings and making 
additional purchases until he had four hundred and fifty acres of land under 
high cultivation.  There was not a tree on the place.  He set out groves and 
orchard, barnyard fences and buildings.  One fig tree now measures nine feet in 
circumference.
 
Thomas Hall was married in Racine, Wis., in July, 1850, to Miss Fidelia 
Hutchins, a native of Steuben county, N. Y.  Of the eleven children born to 
them, eight are living, as follows:  Charles, Adelbert, Florence, Martha, 
Nellie, Maud, Mary and Minnie.  Charles resides on a part of the old home place. 
 Florence is Mrs. John B. Sankey, of Oakland.  Martha is Mrs. L. T. Brock, of 
Winters.  Nellie, Mrs. E. K. Caldwell, resides in Oakland.  Maud is Mrs. G. A. 
Weihe, of San Francisco.  Mary is Mrs. P. S. Grant, of St. Helena.  Minnie is 
Mrs. George Warren, of Fruitvale.  Adelbert resides on a part of the home ranch. 
 
 
Mr. and Mrs. Hall are now living retired on the old home ranch, having been 
married for sixty-one years.  Mr. Hall never aspired to official life.  He is 
now the only one left of those who settled on the Sacramento river when he did 
in 1853.  After eighty-four years of activity, he is now enjoying a well-earned 
rest, surrounded by his family and respected by his neighbors.
 
Transcribed by Bea Barton
 
Source:  �History of Yolo County, California� by Tom Gregory.  Published by the 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 485 � 486.