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 160

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 160

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At Lodi, Cal., on November 18, 1915, Mr. Clancy was united in marriage with Miss Marion Ryan, a native of California, born in San Diego, a daughter of Richard E. and Hattie (Morse) Ryan. When she was only one year old, Mrs. Clancy removed with

her parents to northern California, where her father engaged in farming pursuits. Mrs. Clancy began her education in the Live Oak district school; later en- tered the Stockton high school; and after her gradua- tion, entered the University of California, from which she graduated, majoring in history.

Mr. Clancy uses the most improved methods in the care of his orchard, all of his cultivating, plow- ing, and harrowing being done with a tractor; and his property is an example of what can be accom- plished by the most up-to-date methods of irrigation and cultivation. He is very prominent in fraternal circles, being a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons, No. 256 of Lodi, Royal Arch Masons and Command- ery of Stockton, and a Shriner, a member of Ben Ali Temple of Sacramento; he is also a prominent Native Son, of the Lodi Parlor, and a member of the Stock- ton Elks. Politically, he is a Republican.

MILO MILETUS CHURCH .- A well and favor- ably known resident of the San Joaquin Valley since March 18, 1860, Milo Miletus Church was born in the town of Jerico, Chittenden County, Vt., on Sep- tember 30, 1838. He was a son of Ezra Church, a wheelwright and farmer in Jerico, who married Azeneth Chopin, a native of Vermont, who came of an old New England family. Grandfather Church was a native of England who came to this country and settled in Jerico, Vt., where he raised his family.

Milo Miletus Church was the next to the youngest of eight children born to his parents and spent his boyhood on the Vermont farm, receiving a good edu- cation in the public school. In February, 1860, he started for California, sailing from New York City on the "North Star" to Aspinwall and crossing the Isth- mus on one of the early trains to Panama City, whence he took the steamer "Orizoba" to San Fran- cisco, where he arrived on March 18, 1860. He made his way to Stockton, and after working on a ranch for a time he began teaming to the mines. He pur- chased more stock, so that he had one eight-horse team and two freight wagons hauling between Stock- ton and Sonora and Columbia. He continued team- ing for a time and then engaged in the butcher busi- ness at Farmington, San Joaquin County. Afterwards he followed farming and stockraising for five years, and then purchased a ranch of 160 acres and leased 640 more, and began raising wheat and barley. In September, 1899, he sold the ranch and located in Stockton, purchasing the residence at 1325 South San Joaquin Street, where he now lives retired. Mr. Church served as road overseer at Farmington for several years.

In 1875, at Stockton, Mr. Church was married to Mrs. Sivilla (Funk) Campbell, born near Des Moines. Iowa, who in 1850, when a small girl, came with her parents across the plains to California. She was a daughter of Peter Funk, a pioneer farmer of Farm- ington. She passed away in Stockton, March 20, 1920, aged seventy-nine years. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Church was blessed with four children: Ida L., Mrs. Hewitt, of Farmington; Ezra; Eva, Mrs. Mc- Cown; and Esther, Mrs. Dickey, all three of Stock- ton. By her marriage to John A. Campbell of Ohio. who died in Farmington, Mrs. Church had seven chil- dren: John F., ex-county assessor of Stanislaus County, now a realtor of Modesto; Thomas Eugene. living in Stockton; Albert G., of Farmington; Wil- liam L., in Stockton; Nellie, who died in Farmington;

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Birdina, Mrs. Workings, who died in Stockton; and Charles H., principal of schools at Lompoc.

Mr. Church remembers many incidents of the early days when he followed teaming to the mines and when there was plenty of hard work and money was also plentiful. He has been a member of the Knights of Pythias. In politics, he is a Republican.

EDWARD FRANCIS CALLAGHAN .- A native son, and the son of a prominent old-time Stocktonian, is Edward Francis Callaghan, who is maintaining the family traditions as head of the San Joaquin Live Stock Company.

He was born June 4, 1886, at Livermore, Alameda County, a son of John Callaghan, a native of Ireland, who as a young man made his way to- Australia, where he was engaged as a sub-contractor on railroad construction, and who afterwards came to San Fran- cisco, in 1862. Soon after his arrival, he located at Carroll Hollow, where he homesteaded land and en- gaged in sheep-raising, becoming a large landowner and one of the most successful stockmen in his dis- trict. John Callaghan was married in San Francisco, in 1877, to Miss Margaret Moy, also a native of Ire- land. In 1878 he established a family residence in Livermore, from which place he directed his large farm and stock interests until he passed away. His widow survived him until 1910, leaving five children: John J., an attorney in Livermore; Henry J., a wire- less electrician, first class, who has served in the United States Navy for ten years; Margaret, the wife of C. G. Owens, a prominent stockman of Livermore; Edward F., of whom we write; and Susan, the wife of Emmett Moran, a prominent rancher of Stockton.

Edward F. Callaghan attended the Livermore schools, and as a youth started in with his father, rid- ing the range and gaining a full knowledge of the stock business in all of its aspects. The John Callaghan ranch comprised about 6,000 acres at Carroll Hollow. They also owned 320 acres of grainland and forty acres of vineyard. The main ranch, however, was devoted to raising sheep and cattle, and it was there that Edward Callaghan gained the knowledge of the stock busi- ness that has enabled him to win success. His father, who was a director of the Farmers' Union at Liver- more, passed away in 1904. After his father's death, Mr. Callaghan, with an older brother, John J. Cal- laghan, continued the stock business on the old home ranch for several years. During this time Mr. Cal- laghan purchased a part of the old ranch, and as he prospered added to it by subsequent purchases until he had 3,000 acres devoted to stock-raising. On dis- solving partnership with his brother, he became asso- ciated with C. G. Owens in raising sheep, a business which they built up with splendid success. In 1917 he sold his interest to Mr. Flynn. Soon after this he accepted a position with the Union Land and Cattle Company as superintendent of the sheep department. The company have large holdings on the Ione grant, comprising 33,000 acres. At the same time M.r. Cal- laghan was also extensively engaged in sheep-raising on his 3,000-acre ranch at Carroll Hollow, near Tracy. His years of experience in this line of agriculture, coupled with his native ability, have made him one of the best judges of stock in the valley.

After two years with the Union Land and Cattle Company, Mr. Callaghan resigned his position to en- gage in the livestock commission business, with offices in the Yosemite Building, Stockton. The position of

sheep-buyer for the Stockton Live Stock Company was offered him, however, and he closed his com- mission business and accepted it, continuing with them until the spring of 1922, when he resigned to establish his own business, known as the San Joa- quin Live Stock Company, engaged in buying stock. His specialty is the buying and selling of sheep, and at the same time he is also engaged in sheep-raising.

Mr. Callaghan was married in Livermore to Miss Ella Brennan, a native of Nevada, but reared and edu- cated in Stockton and in San Francisco, where she attended the State Normal School. Their union has been blessed with a daughter, Edna Gertrude.

CHARLES G. BIRD .- The president and general manager of the Simpson-Gray Lumber Company, and general manager of the Stockton Lumber Company, Charles G. Bird is one of those- energetic business men who have in a few years brought Stockton to the front rank in the world of commerce. Although Mr. Bird is a man of more than the ordinary social inclination, he is so persistently busy with his affairs that it would seem that a capacity for business is his distinguishing characteristic. By hard work and good judgment he has forced himself in a few years from the bottom of the ladder to one of its highest rounds. He is preeminently a lumber man. As early as 1894 he commenced work with the Zenith Mill and Lumber Company of East Oakland, starting as a "planer man" and rounding out four years of work as an outside man for the company. In 1898 he became bookkeeper and cashier. On July 15, 1899, he became connected with the Pacific Coast Lumber & Mill Company of Oakland, which was the largest concern of its kind on San Francisco Bay at that time. He continued with the company for thirteen years as its secretary and treasurer, and still holds that important position. The president and general manager, A. Kendall, is likewise vice-president of the Simpson-Gray Lumber Company of this city.

On October 1, 1912, Mr. Bird came to Stockton and took over the pioneer firm of Simpson and Gray. He has ever since been its highly successful presi- dent and general manager. In October, 1922, he took over the management of the Stockton Lumber Com- pany, which next to the Simpson-Gray Lumber Com- pany is probably the oldest retail lumber concern on the Pacific Coast, and in December of 1922 consoli- dated these two companies, thus giving him control of the two largest retail lumber companies in the county.

Mr. Bird has, despite his private business activities, found time for service in many organizations. Dur- ing the years of 1914-1916 he was president of the Merchants, Manufacturers and Employers' Associa- tion of Stockton. He is a director of the Y. M. C. A., of the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, Chamber of Commerce and the M. M. & E Association. Dur- ing the year 1919-1920 he was president of the Rotary Club, in the activities of which he has always taken a keen interest. He was vicegerent snark of the Concatinated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a lumberman's fra- ternal organization, for Sacramento and Sacramento Valley district, during the years 1917-1918. He also holds membership in the various branches of Ma- sonry, including the Shrine. As a member of the Stockton Municipal Camp Committee, he declared that a few years hence Stockton is going to have the finest outdoor camp of any municipality in California. Since coming to Stockton, Mr. Bird has held up his

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end in all public activities, and whatever enlists his allegiance secures a worker who knows only success. Although still a young man, his range of business experience and his knowledge of men are extensive: and his advice is often sought in problems of the business community. Only once was Mr. Bird ever induced to dip outside of business, and that was when he served as constable of Oakland Township for one year. He tells of his experiences as an officer with some merriment, being inclined to extract humor from incidents which some might regard in a serious light.

Mr. Bird is a man who stands very firmly by his convictions and who is not disposed to withhold his position on any question of a public nature. His friends value him highly, and as "Charlie" he is the life of many an innocent frolic by the Rotarians. Likewise, he takes a keen interest in moral better- ment for the community, his position in the Y. M. C. A. and in other organizations indicating his will- ingness to bear his share of the work. Above all, Mr. Bird delights in his home life, and his fondness for the sturdy American virtues is very strong. As a young man he succeeded to the conduct of the great business of the Simpson & Gray Lumber Com- pany, the oldest in its line in the state, and his suc- cess indicates that with keen business ability may be combined high social and civic qualities, all of which go to round out the really successful man.

GEORGE R. CLEMENTS .- An enterprising, suc- cessful merchant who is also a progressive rancher, is George R. Clements, a native of the town of Clements, which bears the family name. He was born on April 28, 1881, the son of Thomas and Jennie (Sprott) Clements, pioneers who are represented on another page in this history.

George Clements attended the Clements grammar school, and later went to Polytechnic Business Col- lege at Oakland and San Francisco; while his brother, John H, attended the Stockton high school, and his sister, Miss Margaret, went to the San Jose State Normal. Another sister, Minnie J., is now Mrs. Brown of Clements, attended the San Joaquin Val- ley College at Woodbridge, and also a girls' semi- nary at San Francisco. George Clements assisted on the home farm until he and George Chrisman opened up the Clements general merchandise store. This store was established in 1907. under the firm name of Chrisman & Clements. They handle groceries, pro- visions, hardware, dry goods, notions, feed and grain- probably carrying one of the largest stocks in San Joaquin County, outside of Stockton.

At Clements in May, 1903, Mr. Clements was mar- ried to Miss Prudence Whipple, a native of San Francisco, and the daughter of Charles and Esther D. (Marrow) Whipple, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Illinois. They were pioneers of Cali- fornia of 1851 and her father was engaged in the livery business in San Francisco. He died at the age of sixty-seven years. Four daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clements. Margaret and Esther are attending the Lodi high school; Patricia and Gertrude are at home. Mr. Clements is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, at Clements, and of the Native Sons at Lodi. He has been past grand of the Odd Fellows. Mrs. Clements belongs to the Rebekahs, of Clements.

ANDREW J. BONA .- Thirty-one years of the life of Andrew J. Bona have been spent in Stockton, where by close application to business and well- directed energy he has gained success, being now the assistant cashier of the Bank of Italy in Stockton and accounted one of the substantial citizens of this sec- tion. He was born at Amador City, Cal., December 29, 1889. His father, a California pioneer, passed away in 1891; and during the same year Andrew J., then two years old, was brought by his mother to Stockton. Here he received his education at St. Mary's College; later, in 1907, graduating from the Western School of Commerce. Following his gradu- ation, he entered the employ of the Holt Manufactur- ing Company as bookkeeper, where he remained for one year. In April, 1910, he entered the San Joaquin Valley Bank as a messenger boy. He became book- keeper, and then teller; and he is now assistant cash- ier and has full charge of the foreign-collection de- partment of the Bank of Italy in Stockton. Frater- nally, he is a member of the Stockton Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W .; the Stockton Elks, No. 218; the Knights of Columbus; and the Stockton Italian Club. Mr. Bona is a busy man, but finds time during the vaca- tion period of each year to spend some time in fishing and hunting, which are his favorite sports.

CHARLES H. BUCK .- An exceptionally progres- sive and successful vineyardist, the owner of the fine ranch a little east of Youngstown on the Acampo- Lockeford road, Charles H. Buck was born at Viro- qua, in Vernon County, Wis., on December 4, 1858, the son of Ingalls K. and Sarah E. (Councelman) Buck. His father was born near Seneca Falls, in Cayuga County, N. Y. He went out to Wisconsin in the early frontier days, and there established him- self as a hardware merchant and tinsmith. When ten years old, Charles Buck removed with his father to Hardin County, Iowa; and there, under the helpful direction of his father, he learned the tinsmith's trade. He had one brother and one sister: Frank Herbert, residing at Merced; and Lillian B., Mrs. H. A. Fair- banks, of Acampo.

Charles H. Buck attended the common schools of his neighborhood, and he also had academy train- ing in Iowa. He accompanied his father to Vacaville on February 26, 1884, where Mr. Buck acquired twenty acres of land and engaged in fruit culture, growing peaches, apricots, plums and grapes; but in 1889 he sold out and came to San Joaquin County. That same year he purchased eighty acres on the Acampo-Lockeford road, in the Christian Colony. Later he sold this place to his brother-in-law, H. A. Fairbanks, who still resides there. He then pur- chased a half-interest in the eighty-acre ranch, where Charles H. Buck has lived since 1907. Ingalls Buck died aged eighty-one, while Mrs. Buck attained the age of eighty-two, both passing away at the home of the daughter, Mrs. H. A. Fairbanks. Charles Buck's partner is Joe Friedberger. On their eighty-acre ranch they have seven acres in alfalfa and eleven acres in peaches, while the balance is in vineyard. They have two large pumping plants, with motors of fifteen horsepower. Mr. Buck is a man of business affairs, and has been president of the Acampo Fruit Growers. He served as clerk, for three terms, of the Brunswick district school board.

At Acampo, on September 20, 1891, Mr. Buck was married to Miss Samantha C. Eddlemon, a native of

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Lodi and the daughter of George W. and Ruth Eddle- mon, who had six children: Adolph, Ambus, Daniel, Luvina, now Mrs. J. W. Wakefield, of Acampo, Ruth, and Samantha (Mrs. Buck). Mrs. Buck attended the grammar schools of Lodi. Her father and mother lived to be eighty and seventy-six years old, respec- tively, passing away within a few days of each other in 1919-on June 2 and June 9. Mr. and Mrs. Buck are the parents of three children: George Ingalls, re- siding in Lodi; C. Herbert, of Youngstown; and Edith, now Mrs. Frank Miller, also of Youngstown. Mr. Buck is a Mason, a member of Lodge No. 256, at Lodi. In politics he is a Republican.

JOHN N. BALLANTYNE .- A pioneer establish- ment of San Joaquin County that has made a steady and satisfactory growth during the past thirty-eight years, is the Frank H. Buck Company of Lodi; and the man most responsible for the increased growth of its business during the past three years is John N. Ballantyne, the industrious manager of the San Joa- quin County plants. He was born in Brooklyn, Iowa, and when eight years of age was taken by his par- ents to Des Moines. He was educated in the public schools, and at the Capital City Commercial College of that city, where he was duly graduated in 1902. His first position was with the Remington Typewriter Com- pany, and later he was employed by the Charles Hewett Company, wholesale grocerymen of Des Moines. In 1905 he came to California, whither- his father and a brother-in-law had migrated a few months previously, and located at Acampo, on a fruit ranch which his father had purchased. After three years with them, he sold his interest and purchased thirty acres of the Nelson orchard, located near Youngstown, and on this place he makes his home. He has improved the place with all modern equip- ment, including a pumping plant, fruit sheds, etc. Of the thirty acres, thirteen are in grapes of the Tokay and Zinfandel varieties, and fifteen in orchard. A six- acre apricot orchard produced in 1920 a gross income of $4500. Mr. Ballantyne owns another thirty-acre tract, in the same vicinity, twenty acres in vineyard and ten acres in orchard. The net profit from the 1920 crop on this place more than covered the original cost of the ranch, and the 1921 crop did almost as well. With a partner, P. J. Mclaughlin, he owns a twenty-five-acre ranch near Youngstown, twenty acres in vineyard and the balance in orchard.

In his management of the Frank H. Buck Com- pany, Mr. Ballantyne has oversight of the plants at Lodi, Youngstown, and Victor. The company packs and ships peaches, pears, apricots, table and wine grapes, and many varieties of plums, and during the season handles the output of about 1,500 acres. This company was among the first to enter the fruit packing and shipping industry, that has made California famous and has been such an important factor in the development and prosperity of the state.

The marriage of Mr. Ballantyne united him with Miss Anna Larson, a native of Iowa. His energies are expended toward the building up of his business, and at the same time he never loses sight of the devel- opment and prosperity of the city and county with which he has become so actively associated.

CHRISTOPHER N. ADAMS .- Prominent among the enterprising, influential and progressive residents of the Elliott district are Christopher N. Adams and his family, extensive ranchers living about two and one-half miles west of Elliott, near which town he was born on July 27, 1876. His father, Henry Adams, came to California in 1869 and settled near Elliott. He was a native of the north of Ireland, having been born at Snow Hill, near Fermanagh, Ulster County; and Mrs. Adams, who was Susy Peck before her marriage, came with her parents at the same time that Judge Terry of Stockton arrived. Her father was from Texas, and she was a native of the Lone Star State. The first year of his resi- dence here, Henry Adams chopped wood for a living, and he then took up sheep-shearing, in which he became an expert. In the spring and fall he would shear sheep, and in the winter he would chop wood, while in the summer-time he worked on the thresh- ing machine. Soon, however, he purchased eighty acres of land near the Elliott schoolhouse; and when he traded that off he received 240 acres on Dry Creek, along the road now known as the Adams Road. He added to his farm until he had acquired 1,080 acres before his death, 440 of which was on Dry Creek, while the balance was plain land.

Christopher Adams attended the Elliott district school, and later went to the Stockton Business Col- lege. He was the eldest of a family of eight children, the next younger being Bessie, a most attractive child, who was killed at the age of five through being run over by a wagon. The third-born is William A., who lives at Lodi; then comes Mary Estella, who is Mrs. Hatton Lockeford; and after her Eliza J., who is in Stockton; John H., of Crockett, Cal .; Walter C .; and Robert P., who is with the California State Department of Architecture. Walter and Robert were educated at Ann Arbor, Mich .; and John attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons at San Francisco.

Christopher Adams was reared on the home place and remained with his father until the latter's death in 1909, just prior to which his father deeded him some forty acres of the estate. According to the wish of his father (who died so soon after an opera- tion that he could not make a will), his brother, the uncle of our subject, received eighty acres of the property. Afterwards, Christopher Adams bought out his uncle's interest. He also bought a forty-acre tract from one of his brothers, and bought out, as well, his youngest brother, Robert. The eldest daughter had been left 238 acres, and this he also purchased. At present he owns 240 acres, on which his home is located, and has also acquired some 312 acres of land one and a half miles above Elliott on the Galt-Elliott road. He leases out his Elliott ranch. On his home ranch he is at present running a sanitary dairy and stock-farm. He raises all his young stock, and devotes all of the 240 acres to farm- ing, using the land mostly for pasturing of cattle and the making of hay. His father built the home he now lives in. He had just passed his sixty-third year when he died, having lost his devoted wife when she was thirty-eight years old.

At the home of the bride, two miles south of Bel- lota, Mr. Adams was married on September 15, 1906, to Miss Mary E. Dalton, the daughter of Thomas and Celia (Longhurst) Dalton, a charming and gifted lady who was born in Angle, South Wales, Great Britain. She came to California with her parents

C.n. adams Mary. 6. adams

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when she was ten years old, and they settled at Peters, east of Stockton. She had already attended the grammar schools in South Wales, and when she came to continue her studies at Peters the teacher, Mr. Anderson, complimented her on her proficiency and declared that she was so far ahead of her natural grade that one could see the efficiency and superiority of the Welsh schools. Mrs. Adams has one sister and one brother living in California today: Mrs. Eliza M. Fairbanks, and Thomas G. Dalton, who is in business in Stockton. Her father was a sea cap- tain in the British Navy, and was in the Coast-Guard service. He contracted influenza in Wales and was not expected to live, and on recovering came out to California for his health. Mrs. Adams, the mother of our subject, had a sister living at Peters, and so the family came to California and settled there. Later, Henry Adams settled near Lodi, and Mrs. Christopher Adams' father moved to Lockeford, where he operated a grain farm of 640 acres for four years. The family then moved to a ranch two miles south of Bellota, and it was here that Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Adams were married. Henry Adams also ran a ranch near Elliott for five years. Mrs. Dalton passed away at the age of about seventy-seven years. The father resides at Peters and is seventy- nine years old.

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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 160

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