California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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



GEORGE M. TUTTLE.� A good farmer, horseman and cattleman, and 
an equally good, patriotic citizen is George M. Tuttle, the foreman of the 
Silvera alfalfa ranch. He was born at Shelbyville. Ill., on February 3, 1872, 
the son of Elisha Tuttle, a native of Douglas County, Ill., who was engaged 
in teaming at Shelbyville. He was a loyal citizen of the old-fashioned type, 
and during the Civil War served in Company K. One Hundred Fifteenth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry. And in Illinois, in 1915, he passed to his eternal 
reward. Mrs. Tuttle was Elizabeth Parryman, a daughter of Illinois; and 
she died in 1908, the mother of seven children, two of whom are still living. 

George was the second oldest of these, and he was brought up in the 
town of his birth, where he attended the public school of the neighborhood. 
Later, he engaged in coal mining for several years. Then he was appren- 
ticed to the moulders' trade, at Dayton, Ohio, giving to that experience 
eighteen months; and afterward he was in the Shelbyville foundry for a few 
years. The strike of 1908 brought work to a standstill, but it led to his taking 
one of the most decisive steps of his life. 

Looking over the field of opportunity in general, Mr. Tuttle concluded 
to come to California ; and in 1909 he journeyed to Fresno. He was not for- 
tunate in finding an opening as a moulder ; but he secured employment on the 
ranch of W. H. Dillon, who raised alfalfa and had a fine vineyard, and he re- 
mained with him for a year and a half. Then he was in the employ of R. N. 
Barstow and helped run his alfalfa ranch ; and in 1914 he was made foreman, 
a post of much responsibility. Here Mr. Tuttle had charge of 260 acres, most 
of which was devoted to alfalfa, but twenty acres of which were given up to 
a vineyard and a stock ranch. In August, 1918, Mr. Tuttle accepted the po- 
sition as foreman of the Silvera ranch at Tranquillity, where he has super- 
vision of 285 acres, and raises alfalfa and mules. 

Sociable by nature, and fond of society, Mr. Tuttle joined both the Odd 
Fellows and the Knights of Pythias at Shelbyville, and he has continued his 
affiliation with those fraternal organizations. No better and more public- 
spirited citizen could anywhere be found ; in national politics Mr. Tuttle is 
a Democrat, but in local affairs he joins with his neighbors in "boosting" 
whatever is best. He served on the Grand Jury in 1918.