• This 1918 letter is written to an unknown person since he had no actual sister. “Sister” is likely a term of affection for his sister-in-law Harriet Louise Gorham Eckart, the presumed recipient of the letter [excerpts]:
My dear Sister -
We were greatly pleased to get your letter, as we always are to hear from you.
As regards the genealogy of the Eckart family, I don't think there is any German about it excepting the name. Father was a native of Quebec, Lower Canada, and I never heard him mention anything about any German ancestry. On the contrary I was told that his youngest Sister, Annie Winslow Eckart, had gone to London, and had the genealogy of the family looked up in England. Father and his eldest sister, whom I knew, were both fluent French scholars, but could not speak German, their knowledge of French, was I presume occasioned by their living in Quebec which was largely settled by French. The above is all the information I can give regarding the family. Of one thing I am sure, if there is any German blood in me it is most thoroughly Americanized.941

• Cashier and Manager of the Northern California Bank of Savings, is a native of Ohio, aged forty-five years, and has resided in this city a majority of the time since 1872, and has been engaged in bookkeeping and banking business all of the time. He is one of the best informed men in matters pertaining to banking business that can be found in the State, and was the leading spirit in establishing the present bank of which he is Manager, and which has been so successful in business.
The Northern California Bank of Savings was incorporated December 7, 1889, and commenced business in January, 1890, having as was supposed at the time, but slight prospects of meeting with success in a city of this size where there already two well-established commercial banking institutions. During the first six months, to July 1, 1890, the deposits amounted to $158,388.82, and at the end of the first year, January 1, 1891, the amount had grown to $237,260.79, and the number of depositors was 553, which was far in advance of the expectations of its projectors. Then it became necessary to have additional assistance, and to meet the demands the President, J. U. Hofstetter, assumed a share of the business, and joined Mr. Eckart in the active work.1215

• GEORGE R. ECKART. A man of energetic activity and of strong force of character, G. R. Eckart, of Marysville, as cashier of the Northern California Bank of Savings, occupies an assured position among the leading business men of Yuba county. A native of Ohio, he was born June 11, 1845, in Cleveland, of English ancestry. His father, W. R. Eckart, moved from Quebec, where his birth occurred to Ohio when a young man, settling in Cleveland, where he was engaged in business as a miller and a commission merchant until his death. He married Eleanor Carlisle, who was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, where her father, John Carlisle, was a pioneer resident, settling there in 1798. Mr. Carlisle was a merchant of prominence, a man of influence in public matters, and a Republican in politics. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Eckart, three sons were born, of whom two survive [sic], namely: William R., of San Francisco, a prominent civil and mechanical engineer, and George R.
Brought up in Ohio, George R. Eckart received his rudimentary education in the public schools of Cleveland and Chillicothe, and while living in Putnam, a suburb of Zanesville, where his father had a mill, he was graduated from Zanesville high school. Coming to California in 1872, he located in Marysville, and the following year entered the bank of Rideout & Smith as bookkeeper and accountant...
In Marysville, Cal., Mr. Eckart married Miss Josephine Bilhartz, a native of this city. Mr. Eckart is very prominent in Masonic circles... He takes an active interest in politics, and invariably supports the principles of the Republican party. For four years Mr. Eckart was city treasurer, and for a number of terms served as a member of the city board of education. In 1904 he was the Republican nominee for mayor of Marysville and was elected in March of that year. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and of the California Bankers’ Association.1192, pp 297-8

• 1904-5: Mayor of Marysville, City Councilman, etc.1216, pp 171-2

• Delegate to the Republican Convention (1912).1217, p 6

• George R. Eckart being duly sworn disposes and says:
That he is a citizen of the United States, a resident of the City of Marysville, County of Yuba, State of California, of the age of sixty-nine years, and his Post Office address is Marysville, Yuba County, California, that for the last twenty-five years, he has been and now is the Cashier of the Northern California Bank of Savings in said City of Marysville.1218

• I did meet the wife of George R. Eckart in San Francisco, in the 1930s. Her husband had died as a result of an accident. He had gotten caught between two streetcars, on Market Street, while crossing the street. She passed away a few years later.1201

• 1850 Census: Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio. Age 3, b OH.422
• 1860 Census: Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio. Age 15, b OH. Living in household of Andrew Carlisle.1219
• 1870 Census: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio. Age 25, b OH. Bookkeeper.1220
• 1880 Census: Marysville, Yuba, California. Age 35, b OH. Clerk in bank.1221
• 1900 Census: Marysville, Yuba, California. Age 54, b Jun 1845, OH. Banker. Father b Canada; mother b OH.1222
• 1910 Census: Marysville, Yuba, California. Age 63, b OH. Cashier, Bank. Father b Canada; mother b OH. Listed as George R Eskarer.1223
• 1920 Census: Marysville, Yuba, California. Age 74, b OH. No employment. Father b Canada English; mother b OH.1224