Colusa Biographical Sketches.
CHAPTER XII.
COLONEL GEORGE HAGAR.
The subject of this biographical notice was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1820, and is the son of Elisha Hagar, a sturdy tiller of an exhausting soil. Young George in early life had the advantage of receiving a common-school education and a course of study at Woburn Academy, which laid for him the foundation of a life of usefulness. Upon leaving the academy, the alternative was offered to him by his father of choosing one of two vocations. He could either pursue his studies further by taking a full collegiate course in some of the many eminent institutions of learning in his native State, and thus prepare himself for one of the professions, or he might devote himself immediately to mercantile pursuits. In consonance with his own tastes and ambitions, young Hagar chose the latter course, and so at the age of sixteen years he entered a general merchandise store at Keene, New Hampshire. Here he remained seven years, justifying, by his aptitude for business, the wisdom of his selection of a career, which was destined to make him years afterwards one of the most successful business men in Colusa County.
With one of his prlonounced talents for commercial pursuits, it was but natural that he should engage in business for himself. Hence we find him seven years later in business for himself, conducting a general store most successfully in the same town of Keene. The announcement that gold had been discovered in California had scarcely more than reached the quiet little New Hampshire town in which Mr. Hagar was engaged in business, when he became seized with an ardent desire to cast his lot in the new gold-fields. Disposing of his business, he left the land of small profits and social comfort and, on March 1, 1849, embarked in a sailing vessel for California via Cape Horn, and after nearly a six months' voyage he arrived in San Francisco, and immediately thereafter he set out for the mines. Everybody went first to the mines in these brave old Argonaut days.
Colonel Hagar first located at Big Bar, on the Mokelumne River, studying the rude mechanism of sluice-box, rocker and "long tom" and endeavoring to wash a fortune out of them. Two months' trial here convinced him that the precious yellow flakes, or grains, which were coaxed from the grass roots and river beds were not inclined to come his way. Then he started for Stockton, which at this period had become quite a supply-point for the mines. No sooner had he arrived there than he returned to his old love, the mercantile business, and continued to conduct a general store for a period of four years.
In 1852, Colonel Hagar first came to Colusa, and in company with others purchased the Jimeno grant. Having now become fairly well off in this world's goods, he decided to locate in San Francisco and there branch out in pursuits large enough to be commensurate with his ambition. But after frequent visits to Colusa, he abandoned this design and concluded to locate permanently in this place, in the year 1860.
In conjunction with several prominent business men of Colusa, he was one of the charter members in the organization, in 1870, of the Colusa County Bank (a sketch of which prosperous institution will be found elsewhere), and of which Colonel Hagar has been president for the last eight years. As a conservative and reliable factor in a large and rapidly-increasing agricultural community, the influence of this bank has been beneficially felt in a co-operative way, in full touch and sympathy with the county's needs and growing condition.
Colonel Hagar's home is located on the outskirts of the town of Colusa. His residence is one of the most roomy and sightful in the county, surrounded by beautiful and well-kept gardens. In 1867, he was married to Miss Sarah A. Winship, of Colusa, by whom he has an only child, Miss Alice W., born in 1871, and who was graduated from Snell Seminary, Oakland, last year with high honors.
Besides being the owner of several extensive ranches in the county, Colonel Hagar is largely interested in property in the town of Colusa. For the Indian he has especial sympathy, and for those of the old Colus tribe, or their children, he will always provide work, help or a home on his ranches.
In his young manhood he enlisted in the New Hampshire militia and was elected colonel of the Twentieth Regiment. Always a consistent member of the Republican party, he can view a Democratic majority snow his ticket under in the county at every election with undisturbed composure and then "fix his flint" and cast another Republican ballot at the succeeding election with the same good-humor as if his party had been triumphant. During the war he was enrolled in the Union Army, but was never mustered into service.
A quiet, far-seeing, mentally well-poised gentleman in business is Colonel Hagar, and when not found at his own hospitable home or at the bank in Colusa, he is generally either attending to his extensive farming interests or is enjoying a period of rest in San Francisco, where he is a member of the Pacific Union Club and of the Association of Pioneers.
COLUSA COUNTY
ITS
HISTORY TRACED FROM A STATE OF NATURE
THROUGH THE EARLY PERIOD OF SET-
TLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT,
TO THE PRESENT DAY
WITH A
DESCRIPTION OF ITS RESOURCES, STATISTICAL
TABLES, ETC.
ALSO
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS AND
PROMINENT RESIDENTS
by Justus H. Rogers
Orland, California
1891
Page 343-465
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 6/27/2009
Colusa County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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