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


BENJAMIN HICKS. From the time of his original settlement in Tulare county until his 
death, a period of about twenty-five years, Mr. Hicks was intimately associated with the agri- 
cultural development of this part of California and by his judicious cultivation of the land accom- 
plished much in assisting to place the farming interests of the locality upon a profitable basis. 
When he began to till the soil here little had been done in that direction and the fertility of the land 
was an unknown quantity, but he and other pioneers by their industrious efforts proved that 
grains can be raised profitably in this part of the state and likewise the stock business can be con- 
ducted on a remunerative basis. 

Of Canadian birth and ancestry, Mr. Hicks was born in Toronto December 30, 1847, and
grew to manhood in his home city. During 1869 he set out to seek a livelihood and at once came 
to the States, proceeding direct to California, where he rented farm land in Tulare county, 
four and one-half miles east of Visalia. After six years on that place he removed to a farm one 
and one-half miles north of Visalia, and from there in 1884 removed to a stock and grain farm 
of eight hundred acres. For nine years he cultivated that land, meanwhile accumulating con- 
siderable savings, a portion of which he invested in a tract of one hundred acres two miles north- 
east of Visalia, and in addition he bought an eighty-acre tract of grain land. When death 
came to him, June 9, 1900, he had attained a position of influence among the farmers of Tulare 
county and was held in the highest respect as a man of keen judgment, high honor and great 
energy. In all his dealings he proved honorable, doing unto others as he would be done by, and 
exemplifying in his life the teachings of the Christian Church, of which he was a devoted 
member. Loyal to his adopted country, he gave his support to all measures for the benefit of 
county and commonwealth. In political matters he believed the principles of the Republican party 
best adapted to promote the material prosperity of the nation and always supported them by voice 
and vote. Fraternally he was connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows. The free school system met with his cordial support and in 
his service as trustee of the Elbow creek school district he displayed a keen interest in securing 
for the children of the district the best advantages possible without unduly burdening the tax- 
payers. 

Near Visalia, in 1871, occurred the marriage of Benjamin Hicks and Elizabeth A. March, a 
native of Merced, this state, and a daughter of Robert and Mary Jane (Holloway) March, na- 
tives of Kentucky. In an early day her parents settled in Missouri, and from there, accompanied 
by his young wife, Mr. March crossed the plains to California in 1849, settling in Mariposa county, 
later going to Merced county, and eventually locating in Tulare county, where he supplemented 
farm work by various mining interests. At the time of his death, which occurred in Tulare 
county in 1903, he had attained the age of seventy-eight years. His wife died in 1881, in Tulare 
county, aged fifty-six years. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Hicks consisted of seven children, but 
three are deceased. Those now living are Albert E., who has charge of the old home ranch ; Mary 
Pearl and Jewel, who reside with their mother at No. 503 North Church street, Visalia ; and Ruby 
Louise, who married A. E. Blair, and lives near Visalia. The family are identified with the Chris- 
tian Church. Upon the death of Mr. Hicks his wife became administrator of the estate, which 
she has managed with a capability and wise judgment that mark her as a woman of unusual busi- 
ness talents.