Yolo County Biographies This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Harvey C. GABLE The intense activities characteristic of the Californian of the twentieth century cannot dim the memory of the labors of the pioneers nor will the luster of their achievements ever fade from the grateful recollections of later generations. The lives of these early settlers were as varied as their temperaments, but destiny brought to all of them a common service for their adopted commonwealth, a common endurance of privation and a common struggle for success. Some, however, passed away ere yet success had set its seal upon their brows; some from the nature of their environment or their erring judgment failed to grasp the coveted measure of prosperity; but some there were of whom Harvey C. Gable was one, who rose from an orphaned lad without means and attained a remarkable degree of prominence and popularity. The annals of the Gable family show a genealogy characterized by industry, honor and patriotism. The pioneer spirit has been strong in the blood. Early established in the new world, each generation bore its share in the development of the land and followed the tide of migration toward the west. The privations incident to frontier existence they bore with a patience that never murmured. In these characteristics Solomon Gable proved a worthy descendant of colonial ancestry and his was the arduous task of clearing land, improving a farm and earning a livelihood for his family of fourteen children. With his wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Dull, he removed from Washington county, Ohio, to Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1843, and later took up government land in Appanoose county, where he died in June of 1846. The family were left without means and it was necessary to separate the children by putting them out to farmers to earn their board and clothing. At the death of the father, Harvey C. Gable, who was born in Ohio March 11, 1836, was a child of ten years and afterward he had no home but earned his livelihood by the hardest of work on frontier farms. When his brother, eighteen months older than himself, secured a chance to work his passage to California in 1853, he determined to join him as soon as possible. The opportunity came in the spring of 1854, when he had a chance to work his way across the plains. The journey was one of unusual privations and hardships. When he reached the destination of the party he was bare-headed and barefooted and his clothing was ragged to the point of extreme discomfort. Without any delay he secured work and later he met with some success in the mines. After having secured $700 in the mines he joined his brother in 1861 and invested in cattle, later buying one-half interest in the Porterfield ranch. The prolonged drought of 1864 caused a heavy loss of cattle and threatened the brothers with bankruptcy, which, however, was averted by the kindness of creditors. Never afterward did they have to ask for leniency. The tide in their affairs changed for the better, advances in the price of land made them wealthy and from that time until they died they held a place among the most prosperous and resourceful stockmen of the county. In judgment they seldom erred, in generosity to young and struggling cattle-raisers they had few equals and in kindness to the sorrowing they were constant. The events of their long identification with Yolo county justified a high estimate of their characters. For years Harvey C. Gable owned stock in the Yolo County Savings Bank and at the time of his death in 1901 he was serving as vice-president of the institution. In addition he acted as a director in the Bank of Yolo. Fraternally he stood high in Masonry, as did also his brother, both being connected with the lodge, chapter and commandery. The high principles for which Masonry stands found in them stanch believers. Their lives flowed on harmoniously side by side, there being little difference in their histories except that caused by the marriage of the older brother. Both lived to be about sixty-five years of age. Both had the same discouragements to meet and both inherited the same rugged constitutions and high principles. Their vast properties continued in one estate until they died and are now managed by the son of the older brother, Harvey Hayes Gable, a native son of the state and a leading citizen of Woodland, the sole male inheritor of the honored family name in this county and himself the possessor of admirable traits of character. Transcribed by Bea Barton Source: �History of Yolo County, California� by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 733 � 734.