YUBA COUNTY Biographies

Born in Sandusky County, Ohio, February 5, 1842, Josephine Whyler was a daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Eurp) Whyler, natives of Derbyshire, England. Mr. Whyler came to the United States when he was a young man and settled at Philadelphia, Pa., for a while, where he engaged as a merchant, conducting three stores. He married Elizabeth Eurp in Philadilphia, and they moved to Sandusky County, Ohio, where they conducted a store and hotel. In 1852, during the gold rush to California, he started across the plains with his wife and seven children: Edward, William, George, John, Elizabeth, Josephine (of this review), and Francis. En route, he was taken ill from cholera, and he and his son George were both laid to rest. The family came on via the Salt Lake route, the trip lasting six months from start to finish. However, they had spent six weeks at Salt Lake City during this time. They settled one and one-quarter miles from Yuba City, in Sutter County, and here Mrs. Whyler and her sons took up government land, having three 160-acre claims, which they farmed to wheat and grain. The ranch is now called the Whyler tract and has been developed into a splendid orchard. Mrs. Whyler passed away in Santa Cruz when she was eighty-six years old; and all the other members of the family, excepting Mrs. Schlag, are also deceased.

Josephine Whyler attended the Yuba City school and the convent at Marysville. She saw Marysville when it was a very small place, a rendezvous for miners and gamblers. At Marysville, in 1860, she married John Schlag, a native of Switzerland, who came to the United States when he was a boy of nineteen years and settled in the Golden State, where he was a farmer and dairyman. After their marriage they moved to the tule country south of the settlement of South Butte, where Mr. Schlag had 600 acres on which he raised grain, barley, and stock and kept a dairy. Mr. and Mrs. Schlag were blessed with seven children: Elizabeth, Mrs. Percey, of Sutter City; May; Wilhelmina, Mrs. Hawley, of Santa Cruz; Addie, Mrs. Harris, of Sutter County; Jessie, Mrs. Wadsworth, of Sacramento; Edwina, Mrs. Dean, of Sutter County; and John F., who resides with his mother. Mr. Schlag passed on at the age of seventy-five years. He was a highly respected man and a public-spirited citizen, and served his community for years as a trustee of the Prairie school district. After his death, his widow sold the old ranch to Clayton Williams. Mrs. Schlag is a gifted woman, whose gracious and pleasing personality have made her many friends among her acquaintances. She now resides in her spacious and comfortable home, which is indeed a place of beauty, and a center of genuine California hospitality.

In this land of the Stars and Stripes women are everywhere coming to the fore; and particularly is this true of the Golden State, where they are taking a prominent place in the business and professional world. Such a woman is Mrs. Clara P. Lytle, a leading realtor in Superior California with offices at Marysville. She was in maidenhood Clara Probst, and was born in Dubuque, Iowa. Her father, John B. Probst, was born in Bavaria, Germany, and came to Pennsylvania when twelve years of age, where he grew to manhood. At the first call for troops, he enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment, and thereafter served during the Civil War, being wounded while in service. After the war he migrated to Iowa, where he engaged in the mercantile business in Dubuque. Before coming to Iowa he had been married, in the State of Pennsylvania, to Miss Mary Blahl. Mr. Probst died in Dubuque, in January, 1874. The result of this union was the birth of six children, Clara Probst being the youngest.

The childhood of Clara Probst was spent in Minneapolis, whither her mother had moved after the death of her husband; and there she attended the public schools, as well as the Minneapolis Business College. In that city, too, she married Pleasant W. Lytle, a native of Minnesota; and they went East, locating in Bedford City, Va., where they were engaged in the wholesale and retail furniture business. There they remained until 1907, when they determined to locate in California, and had the good fortune to select Sutter County as their home. Their intention being to raise fruit and cultivate the vine, they purchased thirty-five acres of land from the Sutter County Land Syndicate, situated where now is located Tierra Buena, some three miles west of Yuba City. They undertook the subdivision of 1200 acres of the Elener tract, and were pioneers on the property; and here they raised the first alfalfa, in 1908, and took from it five cuttings a year without irrigation. They also planted the first vineyard on the 1200-acre tract in 1909, and later set out eighteen acres to prune orchard, where there had been alfalfa; and twelve acres also were set to almonds. They encouraged settlers to such an extent that there are now sixty families on the property, two-thirds of whom located there through their efforts. In 1907 they also established a real-estate business in Marysville, and the Lytle Land Company became well and favorably known in the development of lands in Sutter County. During these years, they also had a branch office at Tierra Buena. In 1914 Mrs. Lytle assumed sole management of the business, and has continued reaching out, and building up the business, meeting with splendid success. Mr. Lytle, who has passed on, was a Mason and an Elk, and was popular among his fellow members in these fraternal orders.

In 1919, E. M. Boyd was taken into partnership, and the firm is now the Lytle-Boyd Land Company. The company are [sic] active and prominent in subdividing, laying out, and selling tracts, and are recognized as leading subdivision specialists, realtors and insurance brokers, being the oldest and largest operators in their line in Yuba and Sutter Counties.

During all these years, Mrs. Lytle has worked hard for the improvement of Tierra Buena; and it has been mainly through her efforts that those changes have been wrought which, it is generally acknowledged, have led to such marked advancement in that region. These improvements include good roads, the erection of a new railroad station on the Sacramento and Northern Railroad, and the formation of a school district. The valuable tract is now covered with vineyards and orchards.

Mrs. Lytle was instrumental in securing the formation of the first school district, the Tierra Buena School District, and was clerk of the board of trustees for eight years, until the school district was in first-class shape, when she turned it over to others, not having the time for service longer. She succeeded in getting the Sutter County Land Syndicate to donate the site and build the first schoolhouse, without a cent of cost to the school district or county. Later on, the district put up a $24,000 school building.

Mrs. Lytle has two daughters, Mrs. Gladys Wilson, of Berkeley, and Mrs. Mary Benham, of Sutter County.

Mrs. Lytle is active in civic and social circles, aiding movements that have for their aim the building up and improving of the community, and enhancing the comfort and happiness of the people. She is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and kindred civic organizations. Fraternally, she is a member of Fidelia Chapter, O.E.S.; and her religious enthusiasm finds expression in her membership in the Episcopal Church.

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