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


JONATHAN K. MILLS. In the combination of real estate and ranching, Jonathan K. Mills 
has met with a success which places him among the representative men of this section, his home 
near Le Grand, Merced county, three sections of land which he rents for the purpose of rais- 
ing wheat, barley and stock, being one of the best improved and well cultivated farms to be 
found in this region. In his real estate operations he has been no less successful, during his 
residence here of little more than a year having disposed of over a thousand acres of land, which 
has tended materially to develop the country and promote the general welfare. 

Born in Putnam county, Ill., October 15, 1855, Jonathan K. Mills was a son of Pusey and 
Lydia (Hartley) Mills, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, who after their immigra- 
tion to the Prairie state engaged in agricultural pursuits. The elder man died in that location. 
Reared to young manhood upon the paternal farm, Jonathan K. Mills was trained to the 
practical duties of an agriculturist, which life he early elected to follow. On becoming inde- 
pendent he located in Missouri and engaged in farming there for five years, when he decided 
to change his location, and accordingly removed to Kansas. Not quite satisfied with his second 
choice for a home he then came to California, in 1903 taking up his residence in this section 
and renting something less than two thousand acres of land in Merced county. His executive 
ability has proven equal to the enterprise and he is to-day numbered among the successful ranch- 
men of the county. Four hundred acres of his large ranch are devoted entirely to the production 
of barley, which runs as high as twenty sacks per acre. 

In Illinois Mr. Mills was married to Olive Spencer, of Putnam county, and of this union 
were born nine children, four of whom are living, namely: Laura, Mary, Henry and Joseph. 
In his political convictions Mr. Mills adheres to the principles advocated in the platform of 
the Republican party, and fraternally he is associated with the Modern Woodmen of America.