Yolo County Biography
John W. Freeman
For many years associated with the early and later development of Yolo county, Cal., John W. Freeman, born in 1842, retained an important place among the citizens of this part of the state until his death, which occurred on Christmas Day, 1906. Then almost twenty years had elapsed since he had located in Nevada as a rancher and stockman. In Woodland, however, he had had a beautiful residence which he had made his home, ever giving to the welfare of the city and surrounding country the support which might have been expected from one of his generously helpful nature.
A native of Buchanan county, Mo., Mr. Freeman was left an orphan at an early age and endured many hardships and privations which taught him that self-reliance which stood him in such good stead in his later life. At the age of twelve years he began to acquire a knowledge of printing in a printing office in Nebraska City, established and owned by the Hon. J. Sterling Morton, in which he labored faithfully four years. Deciding to follow his brother, Major Frank S: Freeman, to California, he came overland to the state in 1860, and was employed as a clerk by his brother, in the latter's store at Yolo City, now Woodland. Four years later he entered into partnership with his brother, and the two established a general merchandise enterprise at Lakeport, Lake county, Cal. Two years later they sold out and opened a store in Cacheville, Yolo county. After four more years had passed Major Freeman withdrew from the enterprise and A. J. Hall became John W. Freeman's partner, and the new firm existed about four years. Then Mr. Freeman sold his interest in this store and again entered into partnership with his brother, the two conducting the Pioneer store at Cacheville. About that time they opened a branch store at Capay and a hardware and agricultural machinery business in the College block, Woodland. The brothers continued in business until 1885, when John W. Freeman sold out, after which he improved a large ranch in Capay valley, raising fruit and stock. In 1888 he located in Nevada, where, he bought an extensive stock ranch in the sink of the Carson river, fourteen miles from Fallen and twenty-seven miles from the Southern Pacific Railroad. He eventually owned 12,000 acres of land, a part of which had been under irrigation from the old ditches until 1905, when the great government canal was completed, the government still recognizing that right. He devoted his attention to the cultivation of alfalfa and the raising of cattle, sheep and horses, having thousands of head grazing on the broad lands of his ranch. In his work he met with the most gratifying results and was justly mentioned as one of the most successful stockmen of the West, his indomitable energy and strict application to business having won him his competency and his proud place among his cotemporaries.
In Woodland, October 2, 1867, Mr. Freeman married Hannah Swain, sister of Mrs. Gertrude Freeman, who was born in Marshall, Mich., the daughter of George G. and Ruth (Kimball) Swain. After spending the first thirteen years of her life in Calhoun county, Mrs. Freeman came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1862, and was educated at Hesperian College, Woodland. She is a woman of culture and refinement, widely known for her generosity of heart and for the kindly hospitality of her home. She bore Mr. Freeman two children: Mary was born in Yolo county and was educated at Stanford University, where she was graduated in 1897 with the B. S. degree. She is now the wife of John H. Crabbe, an attorney of San Francisco. John Ernest Freeman was a graduate of St. Mathew's Academy at San Mateo. While manager of the Freeman ranch in Nevada he became very ill and came to San Francisco, where he died June 22, 1912, at the age of twenty-eight. In January, 1909, he married Elizabeth Williams, a daughter of Senator W. W. Williams of Nevada.
Fraternally John W. Freeman was a Mason of the Knight Templar degree, and was a member of the Knights of Pythias. Politically he was a staunch Republican. Mrs. Freeman is a member of the Order of Eastern Star and is a past matron of Yolo Chapter No. 60. She attends the Protestant Episcopal Church and assists all of the varied interests of that organization at Woodland. With her sister she was active in the establishment of the city library which, when it was popular and prosperous to a degree, was turned by its management over to the city of Woodland. Since her husband's death she has retained the ownership of the Freeman ranch in Nevada, which is under her management, and she also has valuable property in Woodland and in San Francisco.
Notwithstanding the mists of obscurity out of which all genealogical records emerge, there is abundant evidence that the Culton family remained for many generations in the highlands of Scotland, that they embraced the Calvinistic doctrines expounded by their original exponent, also that during the era of religious persecution in their native country they were forced to flee for their lives, thus establishing the name in the north of Ireland, whence in the colonial history of our own country some of the descendants emigrated to Virginia. Later generations followed the tide of settlement toward the further west. James Culton, a Virginian by birth and education, spent his last days in Tennessee. The next generation was represented by Alexander Culton, also a Virginian by birth, but from early manhood a resident of Tennessee. For some years he engaged in operating a plantation near Athens, McMinn county, near the state lines of North Carolina and Georgia and later he removed to an adjoining county, where he settled near Charleston. His last days were passed in that locality, and there also occurred the death of his wife, Sarah (Newman) Culton, a native of Tennessee, her father, Robert Newman, having been a descendant of German ancestry.
Out of nine children in the parental family all but one attained years of maturity, but only three now survive, one of these being Rev. Henry Crockett, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Winters since December of 1877 and widely recognized as a theologian of fine mental powers, an honor to the denomination which he represents and a leader in the community where for thirty-five years he has made his home. In boyhood he lived in southeastern Tennessee, first near Athens and then near Charleston, and after he had graduated from the Calhoun academy he entered the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tenn., from which in 1874 he received the degree of A. B. Remaining in the institution, he began a course in theology and in 1875 he was ordained to the ministry by the Memphis presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. Called to the pastorate of the Vance Street Church in Memphis, Tenn., he continued there from December, 1874, until November, 1876, and at the latter date became pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Cleveland, Tenn., in his home county and only twelve miles from his father's place. For one year he remained in that position and then came to California, where he has been pastor of the church at Winters since December of 1877, meantime giving to this important charge the fullness of his remarkable mental powers and the self-sacrificing devotion of his keen spiritual vision.
The history of the church extends back as far as 1863. According to such records as are obtainable, the congregation had services at Pine Grove schoolhouse, one mile west of town, as early as the year named. After two years they began to hold their services in the Wolfskill schoolhouse across Putah creek in Solano county. During 1875 a house of worship was erected on Eussell and Second streets, "Winters, and this building, with improvements and modifications, is still in use by the congregation. The first pastor, Rev. T. M. Johnson, served the congregation from Monticello and at the close of the year 1877 Dr. Culton became the first resident minister, beginning a pastorate that has been markedly successful and far-reaching in influence. Today the congregation is perhaps as large as any in Winters, while in the breadth of its benefactions and the extent of its missionary services it has been surpassed by none. About 1902 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon the pastor by his alma mater. Frequently he was honored with election as moderator of the presbytery and he was occupying that position in the Pacific synod when the union of the Presbyterian denomination with the Cumberland branch was accomplished, after which he preached the opening sermon of the United Synod at Mount Hermon, this state. As a result of this amalgamation since 1906 his congregation no longer claims Cumberland Presbyterian affiliations, but forms a part of the larger brotherhood known as the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. Among his parishioners he is greatly beloved, while his influence among other denominations has increased with the passing years as the full extent of his devotion to Christianity has been recognized with growing appreciation. As early as 1884 he embraced the tenets of Prohibition and since then, by precept no less than example, he has given the weight of his influence to the cause, believing that the sate of intoxicating liquors is a curse to our country and should be sternly repressed by the aid of the law. The city of Winters voted "dry" in 1904, and is still dry and prosperous.
The marriage of Dr. Culton and Miss Martha E. Crawford was solemnized at Charleston, Tenn., January 2, 1877, the bride having been a native of Greene county, Tenn., and a daughter of Eev. W. H. Crawford, D. D., an honored and useful minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. After years of acceptable and helpful ministerial service in Tennessee, removing to California Dr. Crawford entered the ministry in this state and it was while supplying a pulpit at Newman, Stanislaus county, that he passed away. There were nine children in the family of Dr. and Mrs. Culton and seven of these are still living, as follows: Maud, who married N. A. McArthur, of Winters; Mrs. Sarah Owen and Mrs. Clemruie Stone, both of Colton, this state; Perry and Carroll, who are engaged in the horticultural industry at Winters under the firm name of Culton Brothers; Gertrude and Lenis, who remain with their parents.
History Of Yolo County, California
With Biographical Sketches
History By Tom Gregory
And Other Well Known Writers
Historic Record Company,
Los Angeles, California, 1913
Transcribed by Julie Appletoft, November 2007 Pages 185-191
Yolo County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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