Yolo County Biographies


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




William Albert STITES
 
One of California�s native sons, who is engaged in viticulture and horticulture 
near Citrona, is William A. Stites, who set out and improved his vineyard and 
orchard from the raw land.  Possessed of the qualities of courage and manliness, 
he has not only made a decided success of his own life, but, by his 
well-directed efforts and generous aid, has assisted in countless ways his many 
friends and associates, who regard him with warm esteem and admiration.  
 
Mr. Stites was born near Geyserville, Sonoma county, May 5, 1863, the son of 
Alexander Hill Stites, who was born in Dekalb county, Tenn., August 3, 1837, and 
was reared in Missouri.  In 1856 the father left the farm and, accompanied by 
other emigrants, crossed the plains to California via Salt Lake City and the 
sink of the Humboldt.  After a long and wearisome journey of six months, during 
which time the travelers were obliged to maintain constant vigilance against the 
Indians, they arrived in Santa Rosa September 4, 1856.  Until 1858 Mr. Stites 
remained in Sonoma county, working at various occupations, and then went to 
Humboldt county, to which section he drove several hundred head of cattle, the 
majority of which, however, were either stolen or killed by the Indians.  
Returning to Sonoma county he embarked in the livery business at Healdsburg, but 
a year later disposed of the same and settled on a farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres near Geyserville, where he resided until his death, April 30, 1904.
 
On July 25, 1861, Alexander H. Stites was united in marriage with Miss Mattie 
Kilgore, who was born in Iowa, January 30, 1841, and who now resides in 
Geyserville.  To their union nine children were born:  William A., the subject 
of this review; Effie, Mrs. McDonough, who died in Cloverdale; Belle, Mrs. Ellis 
of Geyserville; Emma, deceased; Adelaide, of Berkeley; Maggie, deceased; Luella, 
deceased; Kate, Mrs. Brooks, of Turlock; and Estelle, Mrs. H. G. Hill, of 
Berkeley.
 
William A. Stites was brought up at Geyserville, where he received his education 
in the public schools.  In 1898 he removed with his family to Yolo county, where 
they became possessors of a tract of eighty acres near Citrona, a part of the 
Mathew Hays ranch.  In addition to twenty acres of alfalfa, Mr. Stites conducts 
an eighteen-acre vineyard and an eight-acre orchard planted to apricots, peaches 
and prunes.  In 1904 he erected his present comfortable residence and otherwise 
improved his property, which now ranks among the most valuable in that section.  
In Madison, March 3, 1887, he was married to Miss Hattie E. Hays, who was born 
in Healdsburg, the daughter of Mathew and Jemima (Linville) Hays, born in 
Tennessee and Missouri, respectively.  They crossed the plains in 1857 with 
ox-teams, and settled in Yolo county, where Mr. Hays was a farmer and 
stock-raiser.  After spending a few years in Sonoma county he returned to Yolo 
and purchased a ranch east of Citrona, where he was engaged in grain-raising.  
He died in Woodland April 22, 1898, and afterward his wife made her home with 
her daughter, Mrs. Stites, until her death, May 5, 1912, when over eighty-six 
years of age.  Mr. and Mrs. Stites have two children, Manford, a resident of 
Sacramento, and Leland, who assists his parents on the home farm.  Mr. Stites is 
a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West and maintains a deep interest in 
all public enterprises of merit.
 
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source:  �History of Yolo County, California� by Tom Gregory.  Published by the 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 706 � 707.