YUBA COUNTY Biographies

JACOB YOUNG

A successful orchardist, whose practical application of the last word in science pertaining to his department of horticulture has been an inspiration to others in the great work of advancing California husbandry, is Jacob Young, of Live Oak, where he owns and operates some thirteen acres of the H. Luther farm. A native of the Buckeye State, he was born in Pomeroy, on September 13, 1868, the fifth of twelve children, all born in Ohio, save one, who first saw the light in West Virginia. His parents, Valentine and Ann Marie (Durst) Young, were both natives of Germany; and about 1882 they removed to Lafayette County, W. Va., from Ohio. Both parents are now deceased, having left an enviable record for usefulness in the world as patriotic citizens, good neighbors, and sterling friends.

At the age of fourteen, Jacob Young started to work in a coal mine; and later, he left for Colorado with his brother, whose health was impaired. In 1890, he came on to California, and the following year located at San Francisco. Messrs. Cutts & Hudson, orchardists at Live Oak, needed workers, and he found employment there, under Superintendent E. A. Boynton; and for four years he worked for wages. He came to know and like this section, and hence he invested in five acres of land adjoining Live Oak, to the northeast of the railroad, which he set out to almonds; and at present this is the site of the warehouses at Live Oak. Later, Mr. Young acquired a tract of thirteen acres that had been a part of the farm belonging to the late H. Luther, about one-half mile to the north of Live Oak; and this he has brought to a high state of development, capable of growing most successfully certain fruits best adapted to that soil. He has French prunes and Muir peaches, and a dry-peach and prune yard on the ranch; and the vineyard includes choice wine-grapes. In 1912, he made an extended visit to the East, and passed some very delightful hours with his folks, a short time before they passed away; and he came back to California better pleased and having more faith than ever in this section. He has succeeded where many have failed, and is an esteemed and influential member of the California Peach and Apricot Association, the Peach and Fig Growers, and the California Walnut Growers’ Association.

At Live Oak, in 1894, Mr. Young was married to Miss Anna Sophie Luther, the second daughter and the fourth child of the late H. Luther, whose life story is given elsewhere in this historical work. Five children blessed this fortunate union. Marie Belle is the wife of C. M. Thayer; and they have one son. Luther F. is a rancher; he was married, in 1923, to Miss Fay Constant, and resides in Live Oak. Viola Mae married L. E. Rider, and they reside at Alameda. And Jacob, Jr., and Arthur M. are still students. Mrs. Young passed away on June 20, 1918, the same year in which her father died. Mr. Young is a member of the Live Oak branch of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he is a past officer and an Escort.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924

p 645

WILLIAM ASBURY STRAUB

A representative man of affairs who has demonstrated that he can do more than one thing well is William Asbury Straub, the progressive rancher and popular merchant of West Butte. Mr. Straub hails from Pike County, Mo., where he was born on March 8, 1860, a son of George Straub, a native of Bavaria, Germany, and one of that contingent who came from the Fatherland to the United States in earlier days and did so much to help found and develop our country in almost all departments of science and industry. He was a blacksmith by trade, but later went into the general merchandise business at West Butte, at the same time that he took up farming. He had married Miss Martha A. Zumwalt, a popular belle of Pike County, Mo., and came with his wife and part of his family to California in October, 1881, almost immediately settling in West Butte.

William A. Straub attended the grammar and high schools of Louisiana, Mo., and then topped off his elementary and secondary studies with a course at the Parson Commercial College, at Louisiana; and on coming to California, he had the companionship of a brother, George Straub, at Monterey. He grew up to engage in business with his father, and preceded him to California by a year, arriving here in the autumn of 1880. He had also learned the blacksmith’s trade in Missouri, profiting by his father’s instructions. In 1881 he formed a partnership with his father, and since that time he has managed the store. With his father, too, he bought a half-section of land, known thereafter as the Straub ranch, at West Butte; and he went into the cattle business to the extent of having 100 head, with thirty head of dairy cows, and about 300 head of hogs. In politics a Republican, Mr. Straub maintains a broad-minded attitude toward political questions, endorsing the best men and the best measures for the locality.

Mr. Straub was married at West Butte, on November 5, 1884, to Miss Alice Mary Hoke, who was born on the famous old Hoke ranch at West Butte, the daughter of Frederick and Mary Louisa (Erke) Hoke, both natives of Prussia, who were married at St. Louis. Frederick Hoke came to California in 1849, and mined for a while on the Yuba River. He tried his luck in partnership with Fred Tarke; and as has been narrated in more detail in another review in this work, they later both returned to the East, were married there and, traveling westward again together, both brought their brides out to California. Alice Mary Hoke was reared at West Butte, and received her share of the Hoke estate. Mr. and Mrs. Straub built their comfortable and attractive home in 1885, and there they have lived ever since. Mr. Straub bought eighty acres of the Hoke ranch, and also forty acres of dairy ranch in District No. 70. Two children have added to the happiness of their family life: Cecil Hoke Straub, a grain broker and farmer of Yuba City; and Mrs. Lola L. Ballou, of West Butte. She married John Kendrick Ballou of Sioux City, Iowa, a minister of the Christian Church, now retired and farming on the old Straub ranch; and they have one daughter, Joyce L. Ballou.

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