Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


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



JUDGE STEPHEN D. HICKS
 
            Several public offices of trust and responsibility have been ably 
filled by Judge Stephen D. Hicks, who for the past twelve years has been justice 
of the peace at Wheatland, and who also figures prominently in business affairs. 
 California numbers him among her native sons.  He was born on Coon Creek, in 
Sutter County, August 20, 1860, of the marriage of James Madison Hicks and 
Antoinette Schultz, the former a native of Wayne County, Ky., and the latter of 
New York State.  The father came to California in 1852, and a year later the 
mother arrived in the Golden State.  Mr. Hicks first settled on a ranch on Bear 
River, in Sutter County, residing there until 1858, when he sold the property 
and acquired a tract of 960 acres on Coon Creek.  There he engaged in farming 
and stock-raising and was very successful in his operations, which were 
conducted on an extensive scale.  One of the foremost men in his community, his 
life was guided by the beneficent teachings of the Masonic order, with which he 
was affiliated.  To Mr. and Mrs. Hicks were born eight children, of whom two 
survive:  Stephen D., of whom we write, and Champ, a well-known stockman of Yuba 
County.
            Judge Stephen D. Hicks was reared on his father�s farm and attended 
the district schools near his home, afterward serving an apprenticeship to the 
blacksmith�s trade, which he followed for eighteen years in Sutter County.  He 
has been a resident of Wheatland since 1903, and in 1911 was elected justice of 
the peace, of which office he is still the incumbent.  His decisions are 
strictly fair and impartial, and he discharges his duties with a sense of 
conscientious obligation that makes his work highly satisfactory to the public.  
He has also been chosen to fill other important offices, serving for four years 
as town trustee and for eight years as constable of Nicolaus Township, Sutter 
County.  He is likewise and astute, enterprising business man, and under his 
capable management the interests of the Wheatland Garage are being successfully 
handled.
            Judge Hicks is a charter member of Wheatland Parlor, No. 40, 
N.S.G.W., and he also maintains fraternal connections with the Masons, the 
Eastern Star and the Foresters of America.  He has devoted much of his life to 
public service, and has always been loyal to every trust reposed in him.  His 
worth to his community is widely acknowledged, and his record as a man and 
citizen is an enviable one.          
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 987-988