Almeda E. McDevitt was a very successful turkey farmer, raising up to a thousand turkeys each year on her farm about eight miles northeast of Wheatland. Born near Wheatland, she was one of six children of Susie Kuster, who had also been born near Wheatland, and John Kuster, who had immigrated from Switzerland at the age of 12. In 1901, she married blacksmith Joseph McDevitt of Bodie, Nevada.

Joseph McDevitt's mother had died when he was three years old. Because of that, he had spent the next seven years of his childhood living in the Boys' Convent at Grass Valley. At the age of ten, he was taken in by Miles Vineyard of Smartsville and attended the original Lone Tree Elementary School (for which the current school is named).

The McDevitts moved to Sacramento for approximately two years at the beginning of their marriage, and later lived in Nevada City for a time. Between and after these periods, they intermittently lived in the Elizabeth District of Yuba County. In each location, Joseph continued to work as a blacksmith. The couple had one son, Thomas.

Joseph McDevitt died of the pandemic flu in 1919. After his death, Almeda took up turkey farming to support herself and built the successful career for which she is remembered today.

Links

Mrs. Almeda E. McDevitt from History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, 1924