History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 133

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660

USA > California > San Joaquin County > History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 133

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The marriage of Mr. Linne was solemnized in 1901 and united him with Miss Annie Collins, a daughter of the late Capt. John W. Collins, an old sea captain, who married Miss Annie Pruser, a native of Germany, born in 1831, who came to America about 1867. Capt. Collins died near Tracy in 1876. Mrs. Linne was reared and schooled in the Jefferson district, the old school . remaining within a half mile of their home until 1915, when it was torn down and the district consolidated with the Tracy public school. Mr. and Mrs. Linne are the parents of two children: Adolph H., Jr, a graduate of the West Side Union high school, class of '21, and Wilma E. Mr. Linne was one of the organizers of the West Side Bank, which is now a branch of the Bank of Italy, and he is a member of its advisory board; also a charter member of the Tracy Parlor, N. S. G. W. No. 186, and an active member of the Knights of Pythias.

Mrs. Collins, who was a sister of the late William Pruser, wealthy pioneer rancher near Tracy, resided with her brother until her death in 1907, his death occurring at a later date. She was well beloved and highly respected, and was the mother of three chil- dren: John W. Collins of Stockton; Annie, Mrs. Adolph H. Linne; and Minnie, the wife of Paul W. Harder, a prosperous rancher residing near Tracy.

CHARLES L. NEUMILLER .- A very popular member of the California Bar, distinguished for his legal knowledge and highly esteemed for his un- swerving integrity, is Charles L. Neumiller, the sen- ior member of the law firm of Neumiller & Ditz, oc- cupying a spacious suite of well-appointed offices in the Commercial and Savings Bank Building, Stock- ton. He is the younger son of the late Christian and Marie (Mey) Neumiller, natives respectively of Rhenish Bavaria and Alsace, whose inter- esting life-stories are given elsewhere in this his- torical work, and he was born, a native son proud of his association with the great Golden State, at Stock- ton on October 21, 1873. He was reared and edu- cated in Stockton, attending the public schools there, and was graduated from the Stockton high school with the class of '92.

While yet a boy, he began to cherish the ambition to become a lawyer; and this ambition he stuck to despite the fact that his father, as a hard-working man, had not the means of putting his son through college, and particularly of affording him a training in the law. Young Neumiller, therefore, was con- fronted with the problem of making his own way and at the same time of saving enough to take him through the law school of the University. Upon his graduation from the high school, he entered the em- ploy of the Farmers Union and Milling Company, of Stockton, filling the position of office boy, and by at- tending closely to the details of the work he was ex- pected to do, he was soon advanced to the position of shipping clerk, both of the mill and the seven estab- lishments called the Eureka Warehouses. In 1893, the Sperry Flour Company acquired the mill and the mill warehouses, but Mr. Neumiller was retained and made superintendent of the grain storage ware- houses. In this capacity, he had an abundant oppor- tunity of becoming acquainted with the leading farm- ers and grain men of San Joaquin County, and some of these associations bore good fruit years later.

The year 1898 was a very disastrous one for the warehouse business-first, because of the great fire, which completely destroyed warehouses No. 5 and No. 6, and secondly because the severe drought caused a crop failure, so that there was no immediate need of rebuilding the structures destroyed by fire. Mr. Neumiller, however, turned this misfortune to good account; he resolved to complete his education and to fit himself for the legal profession. In Aug- ust, therefore, he matriculated at the Hastings Law School and began to pursue the regular law studies, at the same time taking work in the University of California; and each summer he returned to Stockton, where his former employers gave him work, and in that way he managed to pay his way through college. Applying himself assiduously to his studies, he grad- uated in 1901, both from the University of Califor- nia and from the Hastings Law School, which con- ferred upon him the degree of L.L.B. with the auth- ority of the University, with which the Law School was affiliated.

Being thus duly admitted to the Bar of California, he was retained by his employers to close out their interests and large land holdings in Tulare, Kings, Fresno and Kern counties; and in this he succeeded very well, although the varied work required nearly a year. On June 1, 1902, he returned to Stockton and on July 1, 1902, he entered the district attorney's office, under Arthur H. Ashley, of Stockton, then

Botenwillen

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

district attorney of San Joaquin County. On Janu- ary 1, 1903, the law-firm of Ashley & Neumiller was organized, with offices in the Salz Building, for the general practice of law. This firm built up a good practice, but in 1910 the partnership was dissolved and each partner resumed practice for himself, Mr. Neumiller retaining the offices in the Hale Building on Main Street where the firm of Ashley & Neumil- ler removed in 1906.

In 1914, George A. Ditz, a graduate of Stanford University and the Harvard Law School, came as a young lawyer into Mr. Neumiller's office, and two years later he became a partner in the law firm of Messrs. Neumiller & Ditz, now enjoying a large practice, making a specialty of corporation work. They are the attorneys for The Holt Manufac- turing Company, the Sperry Flour Company, the Samson Tractor Company, the Wagner Leather Company, the Monarch Foundry Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the Western Pacific Railroad Company, the Tidewater & Southern Railroad Com- pany, the Rindge Land & Navigation Company, and many other well-known concerns.

Mr. Neumiller is a member of the Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows and Native Sons, and also of Stockton Commandery, No. 8, K. T. In politics, he is a strong Progressive Republican, a warm admirer of the late Theodore Roosevelt, and always has been a close and personal friend of Senator Hiram W. Johnson. Since 1912, he has been a member of the State Board of Prison Directors of the State of California and since 1915 he has served as the president thereof, which speaks for itself, for there, as everywhere else, he has discharged his trust conscientiously and effi- ciently.

CLARENCE LOYD HUGHES .- A very success- ful and enterprising rancher, who resides in the vicin- ity of Manteca, is Clarence Loyd Hughes, who has followed farming pursuits from young manhood, broadening his field of work and material activity and increasing the range of personal usefulness with each succeeding year. He was born near Modesto on the Waterford Road, June 21, 1880, a son of George Tea- gard Hughes, born October 20, 1845, at Jefferson, Pa., and Elizabeth Agnes (Davison) Hughes, born July 24, 1865, at Benton, Mo. George T. Hughes was the eldest son of William Hiller Hughes, who came across the plains by ox-team in 1853 and settled at Sonora. The mother passed away on May 9, 1918, at the age of sixty-two years.

Clarence Loyd Hughes began his education in the public schools of Stanislaus County, then attended a private school at Stockton for two terms. After fin- ishing school he returned to his father's ranch, where he remained until he was twenty-four years old, when he started out for himself. He purchased some farming land and engaged in general farming and now owns two well-improved, valuable ranches. These landed interests have come to him as the result of his own industry and thrifty management, since he began life without any considerable capital and has relied on his own efforts for his success. Successful [in material affairs, he has not neglected the other as- pects of life, and has become an important factor in the development of irrigation in the South San Joa- quin district.

The marriage of Mr. Hughes occurred October 16, 1908, which united him with Miss Elizabeth Louise

Zurcher, a daughter of David and Eliza (Miller) Zurcher, the former a native of Switzerland, the lat- ter born in Illinois, December 19, 1864. David Zurcher, who was born on October 12, 1845, came to America in 1875, and in 1887 was made a citizen at Port- land, Ore., where he passed away in 1910. The mother died October 18, 1920, at her home in Manteca, hav- ing reared five children. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes are the parents of two children: Frederic Loyd was born at Crow's Landing, May 27, 1911, and George Miller was born at San Jose, Cal., April 16, 1913, and both are attending the Manteca grammar school. In poli- tics, Mr. Hughes is a Republican, and fraternally, a member of Tyrian Lodge No. 439, F. & A. M., at Manteca; a member of the Sciots at Stockton; and also belongs to Manteca Lodge No. 425, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The family are members of the Baptist Church at Manteca. In his chosen line of work Mr. Hughes is meeting with well-merited suc- cess and yet he finds time to faithfully perform his duties of citizenship and all who know him respect him for his honorable principles, his upright dealings and his true worth.

PATRICK LYNCH .- A prominent pioneer ranch- er of San Joaquin County, Patrick Lynch is now living retired at his home, 720 East Lindsay Street, Stockton, while his son, James P. Lynch, is active in the management of their large estate of 400 acres, . highly productive and developed. He was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, April 25, 1850, near the village of Lisnaskea, next to the eldest of a family of nine children born to Peter and Mary Ann (Car- roll). Lynch. The Carroll family came from County Monaghan, Ireland, and for many generations both the Lynch and Carroll families had been farmers. Grandfather Lynch was an extensive stock and grain farmer in the old country.

Patrick Lynch received a fairly good education in his native country and remained at home assisting his parents in rearing and caring for the large family of children until he was twenty-one years old. Taking passage on the Adriatic he arrived in New York twelve days later and immediately started for Cali- fornia and upon arriving in Stockton he began work on the farms of that section, and during the threshing season worked in the Cowell district He spent sev- eral seasons on the West Side and in 1886 made a purchase of 120 acres in what is known as the black lands, five miles southeast from Stockton; this he eventually sold to R. E. Wilhoit. This property was formerly owned by a Mr. Brown and was a desolate. unimproved portion of the county and at that time there were no roads, no schools, nearer than French Camp, and the outlook for advancement and pros- perity in that section was extremely meager. How- ever, Mr. Lynch had a vision of the time when this would be a productive and prosperous community, had the place under plow, and soon after his first purchase he made a second one of 240 acres, formerly the Austin ranch, ten miles from Stockton, and here Mr. Lynch has continuously made his home, having added 160 acres adjoining. In 1889 Mr. Lynch con- structed a system of levees which are still in fine repair, showing his thoroughness in all that he has undertaken. His ranch now consists of 400 acres, which is highly developed and in splendid productive condition, the chief crops at the present time being alfalfa and grain.

On November 25, 1880, Mr. Lynch was married to

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

Miss Ella McCarty, a native of County Down, Ire- land, who came to California in 1870. She passed away in Stockton March 6, 1923. She had two brothers, William and James McCarty, who reside in Stockton. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch were the parents of five children: Agnes J. and Mary C. are at home; James P., the second child, married Miss Margaret McCartan, of Belfast, Ireland, who came to California in 1906, and they have one son, James Joseph. Since 1915, James P. Lynch has had the active management of the home ranch and has made a splendid success of it. Dr. William P. J. is a graduate of the medical department of the University of California, and with his wife and one daughter, Patricia Ellen, resides in Stockton, where he has become prominent in medical circles' as a physician and surgeon. Nellie M. died aged about twenty years. Two years ago Patrick Lynch moved to Stockton, where he owns a home at 720 East Lindsay Street, content to spend the re- mainder of his days in this thriving and beautiful city of the San Joaquin Valley. He became a U. S. citizen in 1880 and in matters of citizenship he is progressive and takes a helpful part in promoting the progress of the county which has been his home for a half century, being numbered among its honored pioneers.

GIOVANNI MARRACCINI .- Well known as an enterprising and successful grain rancher of Tracy, . Giovanni Marraccini has also long been prominent among the Italian-American citizens in this part of the Golden State, exerting among his fellow-country- men and fellow-patriots the most wholesome influence making for better citizenship and more advanced industrial and commercial relations. He was born near Lucca, Italy, on December 27, 1850, and in that long-famous southern country spent his boyhood on a farm, becoming so adept in agricultural pursuits that, on reaching early manhood, he ran the home farm for his parents. In 1874, wishing to find a larger field somewhere in the world, he left home for America, and reached San Francisco in June of the same year. He at once continued on inland to Yolo County, where he located near Capay, and there, for eleven years, he worked hard as a farm hand. He saved his earnings, however, and invested in imple- ments and stock; and for another eleven years he followed farming on his own account.

In October, 1894, he removed to San Joaquin County and located on the G. Brichetto farm, near Banta; and there he did so well as a rancher that he was able to retire, in 1916, from the strenuous under- takings in agricultural pursuits to which he had for years devoted himself. On November 11, 1882, he had married Miss Eliza C. Canale, a native of Chia- vari, Genoa, Italy, where she was born on July 5, 1862. Mrs. Marraccini came out to California at the age of fourteen, and with the exception of eleven years when she was a resident of Capay, she has always resided near Banta. Four children were granted Mr. and Mrs. Marraccini: Rinaldo J. resides with his wife and two children at the ranch home-place, where he is manager of his father's business; Antoinette is the wife of Charles Boltzen, and resides near Vernalis on a ranch; Angie is the wife of Oscar Buschke, and they live near the home place; and Eda is at home. All the daughters are members of the Native Daugh- ters of the Golden West. Rinaldo J. is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Native Sons of the Golden West, and Mr. Marraccini is a charter member of the I. O. O. F. Lodge at Capay, and has lived up

to the precepts of the order since he joined the lodge some forty-eight years ago. He was made an Ameri- can citizen in Yolo County in 1883, and soon after- ward joined the Republican party.

GEORGE NELSON .- A man of wide and valu- able experience, and exceptional ability, natural and developed, in his important line of work, George Nelson, at present foreman for Messrs. Daniels & Green, Stockton, has been prominent for some years on account of his active and responsible connection with construction work, having much to do with the development of both the city and San Joaquin County. He was born on a farm in Sweden, on October 8, 1883, the son of Jons Nilsson, a farmer, and his good wife, Johanna, worthy folk in moderately independent circumstances, and he was the youngest of five chil- dren that grew up. His parents were devoted to their family, and from his sixth to his fourteenth year, he was sent to the excellent Swedish schools,- so famous for "sloyd" and other progressive fea- tures,-while at the proper age he was confirmed in the Swedish Lutheran Church. After confirmation, toward his middle-teens, he left home and struck out into the world to make his own living; and for a while he followed various kinds of work, in time learning the trade of a carpenter, and learning it thoroughly, as is customary in his native land.

In 1903, spurred on by the many stories of greater opportunity in the New World, he crossed the ocean sailing from Malmo, Sweden, on July 10, on the "Oscar II." of the Scandinavian-American Line, land- ing at Ellis Island after a pleasant ocean voyage of two weeks. He did not tarry long in the metropolis, but pushed on toward the West, to South Dakota and Rapid City, at which place his brother-in-law and sis- ter, Mr. and Mrs. N. F. Nelson, were holding down a homestead. He remained there a week, then found work as a cage tender in the Clover Leaf gold mine at Robaix, S. D., where his brother, Carl J. Nelson, now a building contractor at French Camp, was em- ployed. For a year and a half he worked in their gold mine, sticking to his post as long as the mine was operated.

Thrown again upon his resources, and coming for- tunately under the spell of the still more wonderful stories about California, Mr. Nelson in 1905 continued his migration, accompanied by his said brother Carl J., this time to the Pacific Coast, and arrived at Sac- ramento in the month of March of that year. As he did not find the right kind of work in the Capital City, he went to Camino, in El Dorado County, where he put in a hard year working for the El Dorado Lumber Company, building dry-kilns and other structures. He then secured a job with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as bridge and house-builder; but after two years of continuous work in that company's service, where he added to his reputation for both skill and dependability, in 1907 he went to work for the Western Pacific Railroad Company, and continued there for a year and a half as carpenter and builder. He helped to build the roundhouse and other much-needed structures, and was sent to Stockton, where he assisted in putting up the Western Pacific roundhouse. From the first he liked Stockton and resolved some day to settle here.

During 1909, Mr. Nelson returned to Sweden for a visit to his parents, who are, happily, still living

Jorge Nelson

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

and prosperous there, leaving here on August 6, and arriving at Malmö, the same month. Sweden looked good to him again, despite the attractions of Cali- fornia, and he remained at his old home for some months. Then, like almost everyone else who has once partaken of the pleasures of residence and life in the Golden State, he came back to California, leaving Sweden on January 3, 1910. He first made his way to England, and there took passage on the great steamer "Lusitania," now immortal through her tragic fate in the recent World War; and in time he arrived safely at Stockton again, greatly benefited, and with an enlarged experience, on account of his wide tour. For a while, he re-engaged with the Western Pacific Railroad. It was not long, however, before an offer from Edgar Woodruff drew him from railroad work to the new "Record Building," the future home of the Stockton Daily Record, and he continued with that leading contractor for a year. He then worked for Tom Lewis, the contractor and builder, for another year, and in 1913 entered upon a four months' service with James Mulcahy, a Stock- ton contractor and builder who was just then erecting St. Gertrude's Church in Stockton; and he next went to work for Messrs. Daniels & Green, a firm widely known beyond the confines of San Joaquin . County. That was in the latter part of 1915, and he has remained with them ever since. Mr. Nelson has steadily advanced in the development of their exten- sive operations, having been appointed in 1917 fore- man of construction, a post he has filled with signal ability ever since. He has thus come to have charge of many of the most important buildings erected in Stockton in recent years, including the brick block at the southwest corner of Main and Aurora streets, known as the City Development Building, an addition to the Harris Manufacturing Company's plant, the basement and vaults of the Commercial Savings Bank Building, the office of the Kroyer plant on Cherokee Lane, and the Levy Bros.' Department Store Build- ing on Main and Hunter streets,-an edifice of five stories, with a basement, erected at a cost of $250,000. which will ever stand as a monument both to the contractors, Messrs Daniels & Green, and their super- intendent, George Nelson, attesting remarkable excel- lence of workmanship, especially when it is remem- bered that the old building was torn down and the new one built in the short space of six months, a record in the building line in Stockton. Mr. Nelson also had charge of the remodeling by his firm of the Smith & Lang store building at the corner of Main and San Joaquin streets, and the Raggio building and the structure to be occupied by the Ernest Wilson Company on North Sutter Street, in Stockton.

On April 27, 1912, Mr. Nelson was married to Miss Caroline Johnson, a native of Sweden but at that time living at Oakland, an accomplished woman who has made him just the right kind of a helpmate; and their fortunate union has been blessed with the birth of three children: Elsie Mona, Clara Elizabeth, and George Walter. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson own their comfortable residence at 420 East Arcade Street, Stockton. Mr. Nelson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and also of the Swedish social and fraternal lodge, the Vasa Orderen, of Stockton; and those well acquainted with him will agree that there can be no more popular and welcome mem- ber in either of these organizations.

MORRIS HENRY GRATTAN .- Among the prominent citizens and leading farmers of San Joa- quin County is Morris Henry Grattan, who is also a native of the county, where he has lived all his life and has witnessed the development and improve- ment from a wild frontier region to one of the best districts of the great state of California. Henry Grattan, as he is best known to his many friends, devotes his ranch of 160 acres principally to grain farming. Born on his father's ranch five miles north of Stockton on the Cherokee Lane Road, April 12, 1857, he is a son of John and Sarah Jane (Davis) Grattan. John Grattan was born in Albany, N. Y., July 4, 1827, and when a mere child his parents removed to Pennsylvania, where he was reared. When eighteen years of age he went to New York City, staying there about six months. In the fall of 1846 he made another trip there and entered the office of his brother Christopher, who afterwards was a prominent physician and surgeon of Stockton.

On March 31, 1849, John Grattan left New York City in company with his brother, Dr. C. Grattan, and his wife, on the sailer Canton, which rounded Cape Horn and reached San Francisco October 5 of that year. He engaged in mining for awhile, then helped his brother in the private hospital which he had established in Stockton; then in 1855 turned his attention to farming, buying 160 acres on Cherokee Lane Road, six miles from Stockton, where he lived until his death. From 1861 to the day of his death, John Grattan was a stanch Republican; prior to that he had been a Democrat in national politics. The only public office he ever accepted was that of inspector of customs from 1872 to 1876. On October 19, 1854, he was married to Miss Sarah Jane Davis, a native of Missouri, daughter of Judge Anderson Davis, a pioneer of San Joaquin County, who crossed the plains with ox-teams in 1852. They were the parents of six children, of whom Morris Henry is the only one now living. During the dry season of 1864, when everything was dried up, Mr. Grattan, together with C. M. Weber and others, commenced to try to get water from the Calaveras River by making ditches through to his place, obtaining the right of way. The first water was turned on Grat- tan's place and this was the commencement of the irrigation system in this county. He might be called the father of the gravel roads, for he took the initia- tory steps toward their construction. He was a member of both the Odd Fellows and Masonic orders in Stockton. He lost his wife in 1896, aged fifty-six years. He spent his last years with his son Henry, and on January 17, 1917, he passed to his reward, aged ninety years and six months.

Reared in San Joaquin County, Henry Grattan received his education in the schools of his neighbor- hood and in the Stockton high school, and since his school days were over has led an active and profit- able career in this section of the state. For two years he was a clerk in the well-known grocery establishment of Southworth & Grattan, a firm that did a large business some years ago in Stockton. In the fall of 1884 he went to Stanislaus County and leased the Dr. Grattan grain ranch of 1,600 acres near Hickman, where he farmed for eighteen years. His farm work was done by four ten-mule teams and his harvester required a thirty-six-mule team. In 1902 he purchased his present ranch of 160 acres north of Stockton on West Lane, which is principally

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History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 133

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1660

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660