Gene Hummel

Gene Hummel

Born Oct. 2, 1894 in Cincinnati, Ohio
to Louis G. Hummel and Emma Yockey
His birth name was Eugene George Hummel
but always went by the name 'Gene'.

All four of Gene's grandparents immigrated from Germany
in the middle 1800's. They settled in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Gene's father, Louis, was a successful attorney in
Cincinnati, but he had a strong interest in mining
in the west. In 1907 he moved his family to Arizona
including children, Villette, Louis C., Floss, Gene, Della, Don
and Villette's husband, Percy Seybold, to Arizona where he, his
wife Emma, her mother Elizabeth Yockey, and the children that
were old enough homesteaded land in an area what was
known as 'The Cottonwoods' located in Sonoita, Pima County
this area is listed under The Greaterville precinct
in the census. They had one more child, Gail who was
born on the ranch in 1911

Eventually the family moved to Tucson leaving Gene to
run the ranch by himself. He helped support
the family by doing this. He ended up buying the
ranch from his father. He left long enough to go to school
in California to learn drafting, but he opted to go back
and become a cattle rancher when he was finished with school.

He met his wife Alvessa Ochoa at a party given by
a mutual friend and married in 1936.
They had one child, Linda.

Gene was an unusual cowboy. He did his everday cowboying
from a 1948 Army jeep. He would ride the range, ride fence,
rope and doctor calves from the jeep. He was written up
in one of the western magizines about his jeep cowboying.
He usually saddled up his horse twice a year for round-ups.

Gene loved to read, listen to music (especially Alvessa's)
He enjoyed a good political argument. He loved animals.
He was a very gentle and kind man.

Gene was cremated, and his ashes scattered
over the ranch in Sonoita. He has a memorial
headstone in Black Oak Cemetery, Canelo, Arizona

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