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 176

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 176

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

that belongs to his father. Both of these places are well irrigated.

The marriage of Mr. Moran occurred at Oakland, Cal., on January 22, 1921, and united him with Miss Winifred Whitman, a native of Florin, Cal., and a daughter of Albert and Effie Whitman. Years ago Albert Whitman came from Massachusetts to North Dakota, and from there to California. He is now residing in Oakland. Winifred Whitman received her education in the grammar and high schools of San Jose. She has one brother, Neil. In politics Mr. Moran is a Democrat. Fraternally, he was made a Mason in Lodi Lodge No. 256, F. & A. M., and with his wife is a member of Lodi Chapter No. 150, Lodi. He is also a member of American Legion Post No. 22, Lodi. Mr. Moran is intensely interested in good roads, thinking them essential to the building up of the county. He is an advocate of a'l measures for the advancement of his community and labors for its improvement and progress.

CLARENCE A. REASONER .- An experienced garage operator of Clements, where he now con- ducts the Service Garage, is Clarence A. Reasoner, who was born at Clements on November 9, 1888, the son of Charles and Ada (Megerle) Reasoner. His father came to California about forty years ago; but his mother was born in Clements, the daughter of Philip L. Megerle, who was born in Richland County, Ohio, in October, 1840. He came to California across the plains in 1853, and made a difficult journey, re- quiring six and one-half months. He settled in San Joaquin County, and resided there until his death. In 1875 he purchased the farm today called the Old Megerle Rancho, a quarter-section of fine grain land lying near Lockeford. The ranch was well equipped in his time with a fine home, barns, shed, and all necessary tools. In 1867, on October 8, at Woodbridge, he married Miss Theodocia Boyce, a member of another pioneer family. They had five children, one of whom is Mr. Reasoner's mother. Charles Reasoner died in 1920. Mrs. Reasoner re- married and is now the wife of Joseph Steely, of Lockeford, partner of Clarence A. Reasoner.

Clarence Reasoner attended the Athearn school at Clements. He has been working for himself ever since he was ten years old. In 1921 he and Joseph Steely established themselves as proprietors of the Service Garage in Clements. They own their own building, and also deal in plumbing and electrical supplies. They carry farming machinery, and under- take to do general garage repairing. They have an enviable reputation for efficiency and willingness to accommodate, and the community has not been slow to respond in profitable patronage.

On December 14, 1917, Mr. Reasoner enlisted in the United States service for the World War, and was sent to Camp Lewis, where he became a member of Company G, 362nd Infantry, 91st Division. He sailed for France in June, 1918, and partook in all the drives until he was wounded in October, in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Sailing from New York, he went to France by way of Liverpool and South- ampton, England, and eventually reached Havre; and in France his regiment trained at Bonnecourt before going to the trenches. Upon being wounded, he was sent to Base Hospital No. 61, and there he remained until he recovered and returned to the United States. On March 11, 1919, at the Presidio,

in San Francisco, he left the service as a corporal with his coveted documents attesting honorable stand- ing and faithful service; and then he 'returned to Clements. He belongs to the Clements Lodge, No. 355, I. O. O. F., and is a past grand in that lodge. He is also a member of the Rebekah Lodge at Clements.

DAVID BAUMBACH .- A well-known citizen and prosperous vineyardist residing about one mile north of Victor, is David Baumbach, who was born at Olivet, in Hutchinson County, S. D., on May 9, 1894, a son of George and Charlotte (Delk) Baum- bach, both natives of southern Russia who came to South Dakota from the Crimea, filed a timber claim and located a homestead.

David Baumbach acquired his early education in the schools of South Dakota, and resided there until he was thirteen years old, when he came with his father to California. He is the youngest of a family of eight children: K. G., of Lodi; Elizabeth, now Mrs. John Bechthold, of north San Joaquin County; Helena, Mrs. Reimche, residing on Kettleman Lane, near Lodi; George D., residing at Orland; Lydia, Mrs. Seibel, of Lodi; Jacob, residing on Dry Creek, east of Galt; Katie, Mrs. Werner, of north San Joa- quin County; and David, of whom we write. The father passed away in 1920, but the mother died when David was a boy of ten years, in 1904. After arriving in California, David had the privilege of attending the Salem school in Lodi for three years, and then for a time attended the Emerson school. His father had purchased twenty acres of land; and when sixteen years old, David began taking care of it. When twenty-one he started out for himself. He became possessed of ten acres and later added ten acres more, so that now he has twenty acres in a fine vineyard about one mile north of Victor, on which he has erected a fine bungalow. He has an irrigating well and a pump that throws 750 gallons per minute, driven by an electric motor.

On January 5, 1916, at Lodi, occurred the marriage of Mr. Baumbach, which united him with Miss Marie Young, a native of Marion County, Kan., born near Ramona, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Scheide- man) Young. John Young resided in Kansas for thirty years previous to coming to California and the parents now reside on a ranch on Kettleman Lane, near Lodi, and are prosperous and well-known. Mrs. Baumbach is one of eleven children: Daniel D., of Lodi; Marie, Mrs. Baumbach; Rachel, Mrs. Schaefer, of Victor; Lydia, Mrs. Wagemann, of Lodi; Lizzie, Mrs. Lewis Baumbach, of Acampo; Esther, Mrs. Seibel, of Lodi; and Leah, Emanuel, Hilda, Ruben, and Eva, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Baumbach are the parents of one daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth.

In 1917 Mr. Baumbach went to Montana to take up a homestead in Valley County; but in about six months' time he entered the service of his country, on October 2, 1917, and was sent to Camp Lewis in Company 33 of the 166th Depot Brigade and was there one month. He was then sent to Camp Mills, N. Y., where he was transferred to Company L, 163rd Infantry, of the 41st Division. He was sent overseas during December of 1917 and spent Christmas on the ocean; landing in Liverpool Christmas eve, he was sent to Camp Morn Hill at Winchester, then to Southampton and across the channel to France. His company spent three months in guard duty at Bor-

David Baumbach Marie Baumbach.

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deaux, and then Mr. Baumbach was transferred to Company G of the 127th Infantry and trained for one month preparatory to going to the Vosges sector, where he was stationed at St. Marie in Alsace, in the defensive sector. He went into action in the Chateau- Thierry and Aisne-Marne drive and was wounded in the leg. After spending three weeks in the hospital he was able to rejoin his company and was in the Argonne offensive. He was again wounded on Octo- ber 3, 1918, by a piece of shrapnel that tore a hole through his left wrist. He was sent to the hospital, where he remained six months. He spent thirteen months overseas, returning to the United States dur- ing January of 1919, and was discharged May 1, 1919, at the Presidio at San Francisco and returned to his home in Victor. His wife had made her home with her parents in Lodi while her husband was overseas. On his return, they moved onto their ranch, and since then he has given all of his attention to viticulture. Mr. Baumbach is a member of Lodi Post No. 22, American Legion, and of the Wounded Veterans of the World War. He received from the government the Foreign Service or Victory medal.

DILLARD S. FAGAN .- Decidedly popular among the officers in charge of one department or another of the well-organized and well-maintained Holt Manu- facturing Company of Stockton, is Dillard S. Fagan, the storekeeper, a native of Stanislaus County, where he was born on a farm on June 27, 1881, the son of Frank and Emma (Petty) Fagan, the former, now deceased, a native of Illinois, the latter, who is still living, of Tuolumne County, Cal. Mr. Fagan came to California in the late fifties, and with his brother John located on a farm near Linden, in San Joaquin County. They farmed there for a few years, and then they took up a large tract of Government land some twelve miles east of Oakdale, in Stanislaus County. Later, the brothers divided the property, and Frank Fagan farmed the same to grain up to his death on Febru- ary 24, 1891. His widow, now a resident of San Francisco, was born in Sonora, the daughter of Isaac and Virginia (Gooch) Petty, the father a California pioneer who settled in Tuolumne County in 1849, and later was a prominent farmer near Knights Ferry, in Stanislaus County. The children of this worthy cou- ple still living include Dillard S. Fagan, the subject of our interesting review; Cora A., the wife of W. E. Morrow, of Santa Rosa; and Theil and Louise H, residents of San Francisco.

Dillard, the only surviving son of the family, at- tended the district schools in Stanislaus County, .en- joying the grammar school and high school as well as the courses at Oakdale, and in 1899, when a young man of eighteen, came to Stockton and secured em- ployment in the storekeeper department of the Holt Manufacturing Company. His duties as floor man included looking after the extra parts of the harvester machines and other general duties; and by strict at- tention to business, when work was expected of him, he justified his advancement to the position of store- keeper in charge of the department, in 1907. Since then, he has administered his important trust so well that he is still filling this post, to the satisfaction of everybody concerned. He has seen, indeed, twenty- three years of continuous service there, and is one of the oldest employees of the company; and as his is one of the most important departments in the famous concern, it will be realized that his work there is fully

appreciated. Here are to be found some 50,000 differ- ent extra parts of harvester and caterpillar tractors- some of the parts of the harvesters built in the eighties being still kept in stock and supplied to owners who bought harvesters of the company thirty-five years ago; but it is not alone that Mr. Fagan's efficiency makes it really possible to find these, when wanted,- it is the more important fact that, long ago, he made the interests of the Holt Manufacturing Company pre-eminently his own, and gave them his first, best and last service. Fidelity of that sort seldom goes un- rewarded-and never by the Holt Manufacturing Company.

When Mr. Fagan married, at Stockton, in the year 1908, he took for his wife Miss Bertha Briggs, a native of Modesto; and theirs has truly been an ideal wedded life. Mrs. Fagan shares her husband's social life and popularity in the circles of the Stockton Lodge No. 11 of Odd Fellows, Stockton Lodge No. 218, of the B. P. O. Elks, Stockton Parlor No. 7 of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and the Golf and Country Club.

JOSEPH A. SILVER .- A leading cement con- tractor of Stockton, known throughout San Joaquin County for the high grade of his work, Joseph A. Silver is a native son, born at Santa Barbara on March 17, 1883, his parents Frank and Carmelita (Lopez) Silver, being well-known pioneer settlers. It was necessary for him to go to work at the early age of twelve and while working on the Potter Hotel, Santa Barbara, he became interested in the steam- fitter's trade, which he learned under Henshaw & Buckley, San Francisco, and helped put in the Key Route power plant. However, he quit the trade and took up cement work with Sorensen Bros., of West Oakland, and has been in that business ever since. Notwithstanding his youth he was made foreman for this concern after two years, and he was the young- est member of Cement Workers Union No. 19, of Oakland, at this time. He was next with Lindgren & Hicks of Berkeley, and while with them was fore- man on the construction of the following buildings: St. Mark's Hotel, Bruner Building, Bekins Van & Storage Company building, Melrose school, Fourth Avenue power plant and as foreman for Dalzell & Brown worked on the construction of the Stanford Museum for eighteen months. He also worked on the Humboldt Bank Building and Balboa Building, San Francisco, and started the work on the Fairmont Hotel there. From there he went to Reno, Nev., as foreman of construction for the buildings of the Uni- versity of Nevada.

In 1908 Mr. Silver started in business for himself at Newman, Cal., and laid miles of sidewalks there. the first to be put down in the town. The following five years were spent with Trewhitt & Shields of Fresno as foreman on all the large buildings erected by that company, among them the Godschalk Build- ing, Matti Winery, Delano school and many others at Fresno, and a large school building at Richmond, Cal. Los Angeles was his next location and there he was

foreman for the Richards-Neustadt Construction Company on the Eagle Rock School and the Occi- dental College buildings. Finishing these large con- tracts, he was for a year and a half at Visalia as fore- man for M. Nelson, completing a number of jobs in that locality. While in Fresno he made a trip to the Imperial Valley to look for a location, but gave it up.

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Coming to Stockton in 1916, Mr. Silver started in business for himself and since then he has been kept extremely busy, handling the cement contracting on the following: mattress factory on East Weber Ave- nue, the big garage at Oak and El Dorado streets, U. S. Garage on San Joaquin Street, all of the cement work on the Stockton Mineral Baths, the finest piece of cement work ever done in the county, Oranges Bros. Garage, The Georges Company building on South Aurora Street, Tucker's garages on American Avenue and Weber Avenue, large walnut warehouse on Jack Tone Road, Superior Manufacturing Build- ing at Lodi, Hobbs-Parsons Produce House, three warehouses for the Stockton Box Factory, concrete oil tank for the Stockton Brick Company, Gall & Sons building, Tucker's Garage, Zerwicks Apart- ments, Parisian Dyeworks, Dawson Storage Company building, ninety bungalows in Tuxedo Park, eighteen bungalows in Yosemite Terrace, the Test, Powell, Bacheller, and Dr. Haight residences, the cement work on the Dickenson residence, and a number of large dairy barns in the county. His equipment is the latest and most modern obtainable.

Mr. Silver was married at Oakland on September 26, 1911, to Miss Florence H. Hastings, the daughter of Greene and Sarah (Reavis) Hastings. Her father was a '49er, but returned East again. Conscientious and thorough in every detail of his work, Mr. Silver's early training, combined with his own initiative and industry, has given him a reputation for high class work throughout the county, second to none. In fra- ternal life he is a member of Fruitvale Aerie No. 1375, of the Eagles, and the Builders Exchange, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants, Manu- facturers and Employers Association.

JOHN T. HALL .- A successful general contractor of Stockton, well known for his association with pub- lic development work, is John T. Hall, a native of Missouri, born in Stone County, April 4, 1868. In 1890 he made his first trip to Stockton, remaining for one year, and on his return East, located in Denver, Colo., and for eleven years was in the transportation department of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. In 1904 he returned to Stockton and took charge of the planting of 300 acres of vineyard at Farmington, the property of the Raymond Granite Company of Ma- dera, Cal., and for the following three years had charge of the property. Next he took a trip to Can- ada, looking over the country and its possibilities, but the lure of California proved too strong and he came back to Stockton and opened a hospital at 711 North Hunter Street. After disposing of this he was for three years superintendent of the Juvenile Home for Boys and Girls.

Mr. Hall then entered the general contracting busi- ness, building bridges for the city and county and doing extensive sewer work, building the sewers in Lakeside Terrace and Stockton Acres, two of the new subdivisions in the northwest part of Stockton. He is now engaged in general contract work. Mr Hall's first wife died within a year after their marriage; his second marriage united him with Miss Elizabeth Mil- ler, a graduate nurse, who had charge of the East Side Sanitarium at Stockton for about six years. They have one daughter, Ruth, who had the honor of be- ing the first child to buy Liberty Bonds during the late war, and was a blue ribbon prize winner when one year old at the Better Babies Show at Stockton.

Mr. Hall was made a Mason at Salida, Colo., and he also belongs to the Sons of Veterans and the Loyal Order of Moose. He made a most creditable run for councilman in 1914, receiving 1207 votes, and is very popular in Stockton.

CORWIN DOUGLASS WHITE .- A highly es- teemed resident of San Joaquin County, whose life- story is as instructive as it is absorbingly interesting, is Corwin Douglass White, who was born near Alma, Gratiot County, Mich., on October 25, 1858, the son of Amos and Sarah Elizabeth (Rosetter) White, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. They had nine children, but only two are living today-Charles, who is in Nebraska, and Corwin Douglass.

Corwin Douglass White was educated in the public schools of Michigan, and when seventeen years of age went to work for himself, and learned the carpenter's trade. In 1884 he came out to California, and settled in Stockton. He was engaged as a stationary en- gineer for the Williams & Moore soap factory for four years, and then he embarked in various kinds of work for several years; trying his hand in the bakery trade, and traveling for two years for the Stockton Paint Company. After that he came to Lodi and resumed carpentering, working first as a journeyman and then engaging in building as a contractor and investor. He bought lots, and built and sold no less than twelve different homes, among the most attrac- tive in Lodi. Then he purchased eighty acres of land two and one-half miles east of Clements, a grain ranch, formerly the Isaac Miller place, where he conducts a small dairy.

At San Francisco, on March 26, 1902, Mr. White was married to Miss Effie Posey, a native of Hills- boro, Texas, and the daughter of G. Jack Posey, who had married Miss Isabelle Staton. Her father was born in San Joaquin County, his parents having crossed the plains from Ohio in pioneer days. They were farmers near Thornton, where the father was reared and educated. There he married Miss Staton, who was born on Staton Island, this county. Her parents were pioneers of California and the first settlers on Staton Island. Isabelle Staton was a teacher up till the time of her marriage to Mr. Posey. They then removed to Hillsboro, Texas, where their three children were born. The wife and mother passed away in 1884, and the baby boy, Jack, died a month later. Mr. Posey then brought his two remaining children, Clara and Effie, back with him to Lodi, where he followed farming until his death. Clara is now Mrs. S. A. Gillingham, and Effie is Mrs. White, of whom we write. When Effie Posey was three years old her father returned to California. He retired and made his home in Stockton, and there she was sent to grammar school, afterward attending the high school. Mr. Posey's health failed, and the family moved to San Andreas, in Calaveras County. Here she finished her high school course, and then fitted herself for teaching, completing her course at the Summer Normal School held at the University of California in Berkeley. The last fifteen years she has been teaching for the most part in San Joaquin County, although she taught a year at Calveritas and two years at Burson, in Calaveras County. She taught at Live Oak, Mt. Carmel, and Alpine, and was principal of Athearn school at Clements; she is now principal of the Lockeford school, where she is

Corwin & White Effie F. White

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giving entire satisfaction. To her experience is added real enthusiasm for her work, in which she is most conscientious and painstaking. She is a member of the County Teachers' Association, and the California Teachers' Association.

Three children have been granted Mr. and Mrs. White: Emily Evelyn, now in Lodi high school, George Henry, and Howard Corwin. Mrs. White is an active member of the Lodi Women's Improvement Club. Mr. White is a member and past master of Lodi Lodge No. 256, F. & A. M .; a member and past grand of Charity Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., of Stockton; a member and past chief patriarch of Parker Encampment; and a member of Ridgely Can- ton, Stockton. Mrs. White is a member of Lodi Chapter, Eastern Star, and also a member of the Rebekah Lodge at Lodi, of which she is a past noble grand. Both husband and wife are Republicans; and both are members of the Christian Science Church in Lodi, in which they have served as readers.

EDWARD VAN VRANKEN .- Equipped with a fine legal training, and fortified with the virile experi- ence of an artillery officer three years on our borders and overseas in the World War, Edward Van Vranken, district attorney of San Joaquin County, needs little introduction to Northern Californians. He was born on July 11, 1876, in Marysville, Yuba County, Cal., the son of Eber and Maggie (Schmidt- ler) Van Vranken, the former having been born in the state of New York, while the mother was born in Luxembourg, and grew up in Wisconsin, where she came with her parents as a child. Mr. and Mrs. Van Vranken were married in California. The father was a gold miner at first, coming to California in 1852, but later he became a successful farmer and stockman.

Edward attended the Brothers' School in Oakland and later the public grammar schools, graduating from the Washington Grammar school near Clements, San Joaquin County in June, 1894, having come to San Joaquin County with his parents when he was ten. In 1895 he left San Joaquin Business College after a year's tuition and entered Hon. Frank H. Smith's law office in Stockton as a student. He was admitted to the bar January 15, 1906, and a year later he entered active practice, for twelve months with O. B. Parkinson, and then alone until 1909, when he entered a partnership with John E. Budd, which terminated in January, 1911, when he was appointed deputy district attorney of San Joaquin County.

On March 22, 1909, Mr. Van Vranken was appointed prosecuting attorney of the city of Stockton, com- pleting the term of M. J. Henry, who resigned. As a young man our subject had served as a deputy in the county clerk's office and in 1908 and again in 1910 he was named secretary of the Republican County Cen- tral Committee. Nearly three years of strenuous life were devoted to war service, from June 18, 1916, to May 13, 1919. As captain of Battery C, 1st California Field Artillery, he served during the Mexican trouble, being stationed at Nogales, Ariz., on the border, in summer and fall. On July 3, 1917, his battery was ordered to the Presidio, San Francisco, for World War service, and was merged into the 143d Field Artillery, U. S. A. In the summer of 1917 he was commissioned major of the second battalion, 143d Field Artillery. While the second battalion was be- ing trained at Arcadia, near Los Angeles, he was camp commander, also having a detachment of in-

fantry under him. In October, 1917, he went to Camp Kearney. In July, 1918, with a detachment of field . artillery officers he proceeded to Camp Mills, N. Y., and embarked on a transport August 5, reach- ing France, via Liverpool, Southampton and Havre on August 16. He remained some weeks in Meucon, near Vannes, France, in the Officers' Training School, then at De Souge, near Bordeaux, where he rejoined his outfit. In November, 1918, he was transferred to the 323d Field Artillery, 32d Division, and with the Army of Occupation proceeded to Coblenz on the Rhine. He was in command of the second battalion, and later of the first battalion. He was on duty in Ger- many until May, 1919, reaching New York on May 13. He obtained honorable discharge at the Presidio at San Francisco, June 21, 1919.

On July 8, 1919, Mr. Van Vranken was named dis- trict attorney by the board of supervisors to fill the unexpired term of Charles Light, who had died in office. One of the cases which he tried as district attorney, which attracted much attention, was that of nineteen men indicted by the Grand Jury for crim- inal utterances against the Government. Four of these were tried, Mr. Van Vranken personally han- dling the first case, C. F. Bentley, who was convicted. The other three were tried by the deputy district attorney J. Le Roy Johnson and were also convicted.

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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 176

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