California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

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


 R. E. HYDE. The career of no leader in commercial affairs of Tulare county furnishes a more 
striking example of the wise application of sound principles and safe conservatism than does 
that of Richard E. Hyde. Like many others who were important factors in shaping the destinies 
of the new west, he is a product of the east, bringing to the coast the priceless heritage of 
industry, energy, brains and confidence. These are the men whose influence has been far 
reaching and notable in the history of the west. The Bank of Visalia, the pioneer monetary 
institution of Tulare county, Cal, and one of the oldest in the San Joaquin valley, was 
established by Mr. Hyde in August, 1874, and has since been under the presidency of this able 
and high-minded financier, his present associates being C. J. Giddings, cashier; S. C. Brown, C. L. 
Adams and E. O. Larkin, directors. 

Richard E. Hyde was born in what is now Port Ewen, Ulster county, N. Y., and is a son of David 
and Sarah (Houghtaling) Hyde, natives also of New York state. The circumstances surrounding 
his youth were such as to inspire an appreciation of honest toil, of frugality and sterling 
integrity, and also of sympathy with and good-will toward his fellow men, and with these assets 
he set forth at a comparatively early age to earn his own living as clerk in a mercantile store. He 
had six brothers : Abram, Jeremiah, Alfred, Christopher, John and William. His father dying 
when he was quite young, the training of the sons was watched over by a devout Christian 
mother, whose love and ceaseless devotion were rewarded by the knowledge that all of the 
sons developed into exemplary men and were a credit to their respective communities. Two of 
them, Christopher and John, settled on pioneer land in Wisconsin, and became important 
agricultural factors in their neighborhoods. John reared a large family, and Christopher reared 
two daughters and one son, the latter, Clarence, being now in business in Oakland. 

Mr. Hyde began his western career as clerk in a mercantile store in one of the mining districts of 
California. Later he engaged in the mercantile business on his own responsibility in Santa Cruz, 
still later establishing the Bank of Visalia. Mr. Hyde combines the conservatism and caution of 
the east with the energy of the west and opportunity has never had to knock twice at his door. 
His interests are large and invade many avenues of activity, and the faculty of success has 
found in him a master of strong proportions. The many buildings erected by him in Visalia and 
his association with commercial undertakings attest his faith in the city and county. He is known 
as the wealthiest, as well as one of the most dignified and reserved men in the business world 
of the San Joaquin valley, where he embodies the personification of commercial and social 
honor. Newer generations will profit by his example and revere his memory.