Yolo County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
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WILLIAM SIMS
 
WILLIAM SIMS, a prominent citizen near Winters, Yolo County.  California is a 
wonderful land.  Its inhabitants have become renowned the world over for a 
spirit of enterprise and perseverance that has never been witnessed elsewhere.  
It is indeed a land of gigantic undertaking and grand achievement, even in this 
country of great attainment, remarkable for the conspicuous success which the 
resources of the country so uniformly grant to them who are diligent in 
attention to business and adopt judicious methods.  It is therefore a peculiar 
pleasure to write the history of the lives of Californians.  A striking example 
is the gentleman whose name heads this article.
            He dates his birth July 14, 1832, in Fayette County, Virginia, of 
humble parentage.  His early days were spent upon a farm.  He left Virginia 
March 19, 1849, and located in Cass County, Missouri, expecting to begin the 
study of law with an uncle there; but the gold excitement of California drew him 
on as with a hurricane.  May 7, 1850, he crossed the western line of the State 
of Missouri, his mind not full of adventure but of honest principle.  Coming 
with an ox team, he met with the usual experiences of the route, and remained 
about eight days in Salt Lake City.  The last 300 miles he came on foot, 
arriving at Georgetown, August 31, 1850.  He began work in the American River 
mines at $7 a day, but worked only three days and a half when fever attacked him 
and held him to his bed for three weeks.  Alone in a strange land and his means 
exhausted, not having even a �two-bit� piece with which to secure a scanty meal, 
he soon found a man with a heart that recognized his condition and took him in; 
but his exposure had caused a relapse and for nearly three years he was an 
invalid.  He spent some time in a store as a clerk and book-keeper.  In 1856 he 
went to Lake County, where he was engaged in farming until 1861; then he went to 
Yolo County and purchased a squatter�s title, which he afterward sold, in 1863 
for $400.  Purchasing an outfit, he commenced teaming to the mines, and at the 
end of the first season he had $20 as the result of all his work! But with a 
remarkable degree of grit he continued in the same business the following 
season, and made sometimes as much as $100 a trip.  In 1866 he put on another 
outfit and made as high as $700 a trip.  From 1867 to 1876 he was engaged in 
running threshing-machines, in which business he was successful.  In 1869 he 
took a contract to cut 900 acres of grain for $4,500.  In 1870 he purchased his 
present property,�240 acres across three miles northeast of Winters,�upon which 
he built a large and elegant residence in 1887.  He now has some 560 acres in 
Yolo County, on which he carries on general farming, and he also has some 
thirty-five acres in fruit.  Thus, after the privations, failures and sickness 
already referred to, on his coming to California, we find him to-day enjoying 
prosperity in connection with a fine ranch and a comfortable home.  He takes 
great interest in political affairs, but does not aspire to office, although he 
has often been asked,�even to fill some of the highest stations in the county 
and State.  He voted at Murderer�s Bar, at the first election held in 
California.  He has been one of the School Trustees since 1862, and now nearly 
all the business in that relation is imposed upon him.  He became identified 
with the Grange movement in 1873, in which he has taken a very active part.  He 
is a large stock-holder in the warehouse at Winters, and also in the Bank of 
Winters, of which he has been vice-president since its organization.  He is a 
member of Lodge No. 195, F. & A. M., of Dixon Chapter, No 48, R. A. M.; of Lodge 
No. 33, K. of P. at Winters, and for fourteen years of the I.O. G. T., of which 
he is now G. C. T.
            In 1857 he married Miss L. A. Sims, a native of Ohio, who was reared 
in Virginia, and they have four children: George, Wilburn, Nora and Fred.  
 
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing 
Co., 1891
Transcribed by:  Wendy Sandino