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


WILLIAM YOUD. One of the extensive grain raisers in Merced county is William Youd, who, 
in partnership with his brother, George, owns a section of land fourteen miles north of 
Merced, and four miles from Snelling. They also lease eighteen hundred acres, both properties 
being under grain, in the raising of which they have achieved marked success. Mr. Youd is an 
American from every standpoint save that of birth, for he was just five weeks old when his 
parents, James and Elizabeth (Prescott) Youd, crossed the seas in a sailing vessel, hoping for 
larger opportunities in America. 

James Youd was a brick mason by trade, a calling which he followed for many years in Man- 
chester, England, where his son William was born December 25, 1848. He came direct to New 
Orleans from the English port, finally locating in St. Louis, where he was known as the leading 
contractor for ten years. In 1859 he crossed the plains with his family in an ox-train of forty 
wagons, on the way experiencing many strange happenings, and often encountering the Indians 
who seemed kindly disposed. Inclement weather, illness, and swollen streams retarded their prog- 
ress, so that over a year had elapsed ere they arrived in California. For some years the family 
lived in Eldorado county, where the father engaged in mining, after which he went to Stock- 
ton and followed his trade until 1869. He then moved to Merced county and assisted in the con- 
struction of many of the first buildings in the town of Merced, working at his trade until 
shortly before his death at the age of sixty-three years. During the last years of his life he owned 
a ranch ten miles south of Merced, where he had a dairy, and also raised grain and stock. In 
politics he was a Republican. 

William Youd owes his early education to the public schools of Eldorado and Amador counties, 
and his agricultural knowledge to his father's teachings and his own observation and experi- 
ence. He was ambitious as a boy, and still more so as a man, and in 1863 went into partnership 
with his brother, George, renting four sections of grain land. Since then the brothers have pur- 
chased six hundred and forty acres, and continue to rent eighteen hundred' acres, all devoted 
to grain. Mr. Youd married Laura Thompson, a native of Mississippi, and daughter of James 
Thompson, who came to the coast in 1881. They are parents of three children, namely : Bert, 
twenty-two years old ; Charles, eighteen ; and William T., twelve. Mr. Youd is one of the in- 
fluential and progressive men of his neighborhood, and ranks among the successful and ex- 
tensive grain-growers of Merced county.