California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


GEORGE C. HENDERSON. In the struggle of life which results in the survival of the 
fittest, George C. Henderson had only those qualities with which nature had endowed him 
to depend upon, and the story of his life is the story of what a man can do if his energies are 
directed along the channel where his interest lies. For when a man pursues a calling for 
which nature has peculiarly fitted him and which possesses a never-ceasing interest for him,  
success will crown his individual efforts in almost every instance. It is so in the case of Mr. Hen- 
derson, one of the early pioneers of California, which has been his home for more than half a 
century, and for more than thirty years he has followed ranching pursuits in Merced county, of 
which he is now a retired and honored citizen. In observing this well-known, keen-looking gen- 
tleman, it will be seen at a glance that his seventy-five years sit lightly upon him and his activity 
would shame many a younger man. 

Of Scotch-English ancestry, born March 10, 1829, in the town of Chester, Warren county, 
N. Y., Mr. Henderson is a son of Carlton and Lovina (Smith) Henderson, both of whom were 
also natives of the Empire state, the father being of Scotch extraction and the mother of Eng- 
lish. When but eight years old George C. was deprived of his father by death. He continued 
to live in New York and during his boyhood and early manhood, receiving his education in 
the local schools. In 1852, in his twenty-third year, he sailed for California, coming by way 
of the Nicaragua route, and shortly after landing at San Francisco went to the mines of Yuba 
county, near Marysville, but paid very little attention to mining. He ditched one hundred and 
sixty acres in that county, working for wages, and subsequently assisted in threshing wheat 
the same fall in the vicinity of San Jose, and the following four months were spent by him 
in the Redwood district, in San Mateo county. He was located next in the Santa Clara valley, 
where he worked for a year and a half, then went to Stockton and for .ten years he followed 
teaming from that city to Sonora and Columbia. 

In 1864 Mr. Henderson went back to Warren county and September 10 was married to Emma 
Brusie, and, accompanied by his wife, he returned to California. Purchasing land in the 
vicinity of Modesto, Stanislaus county, he followed farming until 1874. During that year he 
came to Merced county and four years later he purchased the place where he now resides and 
which has since been his home. His original purchase contained one hundred and eighty-five 
acres and is located four miles west of Merced. He has raised principally grain and hay, paying 
some attention, however, to fruit and alfalfa. Being very productive, the place has yielded him 
an income above the ordinary and has placed him in comfortable circumstances, in addition 
to having enabled him to rear and educate his family of five children : Cora became the wife 
of A. E. Burnside of Merced county and has one child ; Ruby, who married S. T. Baker, lives 
in Oregon and has two children, Lora Belle and an infant unnamed ; Charles is an engineer living 
in Everett, Wash. ; Henri Herbert, a surveyor, lives in Merced; and Fred, an electrician, lives in
 Redlands, Cal. 

Politically Mr. Henderson was a Whig in the early days, but afterwards, upon the organization 
of the Republican party, joined its ranks. He is a prominent character in the history of Merced 
county, of which he is one of the early settlers and one who is held in highest esteem by all who 
know him for his generosity and public spirit.