Alvin Sikes & Clara Thomas

Family Picture

George Alvin Sikes was born in 1880, on the ranch his father, Jonathan, established in the Tremont district of Solano Co. between Davis and Dixon, CA.

He met Clara Thomas while on vacation on Adams Springs Resort and married in 1914 and they had 3 children Jean, Jack and Dorthy.
The Thomas family also has American roots going back over 10 generations.

Alvin modernized the ranch. He got a car, a Velie, sometime prior to getting married in 1914 and a tractor around 1918, however he kept his buggy horse"Bud" so he could get around with the buggy when the roads were too muddy forthe car. He also kept two mules, Maud & Jerry, to pull the hay wagon andseeder. He replaced the coal oil lamps with a 72 volt Delco home lighting system in 1922.He also added indoor plumbing.

In the days before genetically engineered crops, herbicides and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, he produced quality crops with a combination of good soil and hard work. His method of weed control was to meet his children on their way back from school and have them walk the last 1/4 mile through the wheat field with him pulling weeds as they went along. He always got the top price for his grain because it was so clean.

He continued to farm the ranch until 1951 when he turned it over to Jack. Alvin died in 1960 in Davis, CA. Jack farmed it with a break when he served in the military during WW II until he succumbed from polio.

The ranch is still owned by the family and leased to a local farmer.

DNA test results for one of my cousins confirmed Alvin is related to Richard, who immigrated to Boston in the 1630's and also the majority of Sykes in England, including Bryan Sykes, the Oxford geneticist, DNA testing pioneer and author and Sir Richard, chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and most likely to William del Sykes who farmed near Flockton, Yorkshire, England around 1280.
A BBC special based on DNA testing of Sykes in England showed that they were all with a few exceptions from non-paternal events (adoptions, etc.) related to a common ancestor.
There are two main groups of Sikes/Sykes in the U.S. Sykes from immigrants who settled in the southern U.S. (NC, VA) and Sikes' decended from Richard who immigrated to Boston, MA.

Many of the descendants of Alvin and Clara and their spouses attended UC Davis
See Historic Northern California Family Calls UC Davis Home | One Aggie Network See

Links:
Memories - Current family photos
Jean
"Past Reflections, Growing up on the Sikes Ranch", Jean Sikes McBride, 1992
Ben Davis
Bill Davis
Davis Cemetery
Sikes Headstone Pictures