YUBA COUNTY
Biographies
HEZEKIAH POFFENBERGER
A pioneer of the State, and one of the earliest residents of Sutter County, Hezekiah Poffenberger has become widely known as a successful rancher and a progressive citizen. Although of German extraction, four generations of the Poffenberger family have been born in Maryland, and the ancestral acres in that State still belong to a member of the family, having been handed down from father to son for nearly 120 years. Our subject was born three and a half miles north of Sharpsburg and Antietam, December 14, 1840, and remembers vividly the historic battle which took place there on September 17, 1862. His father, Jacob, and grandfather, Henry, were also born there. His mother, formerly Amelia Stoffer, was also a native of Maryland. She was the daughter of John Stoffer, a Maryland farmer, who lived to be eighty years of age. Mrs. Poffenberger died when seventy years of age.
Hezekiah Poffenberger spent his boyhood and youth on the farm of his parents, but upon becoming of age he went to work for himself. After working by the month until 1871, he came to California and located in Sutter County, where he worked by the month for six years. In the meantime, having accumulated sufficient means to buy land, he purchased 400 acres and began farming, making a specialty of raising grain for about fifteen years. Later, however, he turned his attention to stock-raising and added between 200 and 300 acres to his ranch, making 640 acres in all. Since 1915, however, he has resided in Yuba City.
On December 30, 1875, Mr. Poffenberger married Miss Mary Carroll, a native of this State, born near Bidwell’s Bar. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Poffenberger: Emery; Lizzie, wife of Alburtus Kimerer; Nettie, wife of Carl Kimerer; Lillie; Henry; Cora, Mrs. Leslie Keck; and Edward. Politically Mr. Poffenberger is a Democrat.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 396
MRS. AMANDA CATHERINE WHITE
A representative of the pioneers of the early days in Sutter County is to be found in the person of Mrs. Amanda Catherine White, the eldest daughter of that sterling pioneer Daniel O’Banion, for whom O’Banion Corners was named. She was born on her parents’ ranch at O’Banion Corners, on February 12, 1855. Daniel O’Banion was born in Kentucky in 1831, where he lived until he was eleven years old, when his family removed to Missouri. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, the journey consuming five months. After stopping at Placerville for two months, he then came to Sutter County and bought land. In 1853 he returned to Missouri, and was married to Miss Elizabeth Howard, a native of Missouri, who passed away in 1864, aged twenty-seven, leaving a family of four children: Amanda Catherine, of this review, and John Thomas, Daniel Pl. and William B. In 1864, Daniel O’Banion made an overland trip to Missouri, and the same year returned to California as captain of an immigrant train; in 1866 he made another trip to Missouri, remaining there for two years, after which he again returned to California. The O’Banion home place was situated eleven and a half miles southwest of Yuba City; and in 1884 when Mr. O’Banion passed away, he owned 880 acres of rich, productive land in Sutter County.
Amanda Catherine O’Banion received her education in the Gaither district school. On May 15, 1869, she was married to Lewis W. White, a native of Ohio, and a son of Edwin and Emily White. Lewis W. White was reared and educated in his native State, and came to California in 1865, where he engaged in farming for many years. In later years he became a carpenter, and followed this trade for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. White had one daughter, Annie M., now Mrs. F. M. Ensign. Mr. White passed away on October 27, 1911. He was a member of the Foresters of America. Mrs. White is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 396-399
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