Ventura County Biographies

W. E. Ready

Submitted by Sandy Neder

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

 
W. E. Ready was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, October 25, 1849. His father, 
W. G. Ready, was born in the same county, and was a farmer all his life. His 
grandfather, Lain Ready, was a native of Delaware, was reared in Georgia, and 
removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, becoming a pioneer of that party of the country. 
Mr. Ready's mother, Margaret (Houston) Ready, was born in Cincinnati, and was 
the daughter of Robert Houston, a merchant of that place. His grandfather 
Houston was of Scotch-Irish extraction, and came from the north of Ireland. The 
subject of this sketch was the fourth of a family of twelve children. In 1861 he 
left Cincinnati and went to Keokuk, Iowa, and engaged in farming there until 
1866. At that time he removed to Northern Missouri, then to Colorado, in 1877, 
being engaged in farming the most of the time. After a year spent in Colorado, 
in the spring of 1878, he came to California, and in September settled in 
Ventura. He worked by the month for four years, and then bought forty acres of 
rich farming land located two miles and a half east of Ventura. He has built 
upon it and improved it, and is now engaged in the production of Lima beans. 
This crops has proved quite remunerative, the average production being from 
1,600 to 2,000 pounds per acre, and the present price four cents per pound. The 
average price is about three cents.
    Mr. Ready was united in marriage with Miss Martha Seward, daughter of A. D. 
Seward, a civil engineer. She was born in Indiana. They have four children: 
Charles E., born October 2, 1883; Virgil E., November 16, 1885; Gracie M., 
January 20, 1887, and Lester, December 8, 1888. Mr. Ready is a Republican. 
Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
 
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF SANTA BARBARA, SAN LUIS 
OBISPO, AND VENTURA, CALIF. by Ida Addis Storke, 1891, p 562