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 180

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 180

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I P Newcomb Etta L. Newcomb

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Lazarus Mowry married Miss Mary Louis, on August 20, 1846, and she died two years later, on June 4. When he married for the second time, he chose for his wife Miss Electa Vida Morgan, of Virginia, the cere- mony taking place on December 31, 1848. She was a direct descendant of General Daniel Morgan, who fought in the Revolutionary War and defeated Tarle- ton at Cowpens, on January 17, 1781. Miss Morgan came to Ohio with her parents, and later, in the fall of 1855, accompanied them to Iowa, and several years afterward moved to Illinois. Lazarus Mowry enlisted in Company C. 118th Illinois Volunteers, but after three months of service came home and then moved to Missouri, where he remained until the spring of 1873, when he came to California.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lazarus Mowry. Following are their names and the dates of their birth: Lewis C. (now deceased), February 24, 1850; George M. (the father of Mrs. Newcomb), De- cember 21, 1851, also now deceased; Milton J., of Stockton, November 18, 1854; John B., Portland Ore., October 6, 1858; David, and William M. (both de- ceased), April 16, 1860, and November 2, 1862, re- spectively; Ulysses G., Arizona, May 15, 1866; and Wesley A. (also deceased), June 6, 1868.

Mr. Newcomb has a trim vineyard of five acres on the present twenty-five which is half of the old Mowry homestead, and an orchard of three acres, the balance being open land. The ranch is equipped with a first- class pumping plant. Four children have made up his family. Irma is Mrs. L. A. Kalk, of Lodi. She is the mother of one child, Gwenelda; George P. is with the Standard Oil Company, and has two sons, George, Jr. and Wilbur; Irwin is at home; Alfred married Mary L. A. Garcia, and resides at Wood- bridge. They have one child, Goldy Fern. Mr. New- comb is a member of the Lodi Lodge, Modern Wood- men of America. He and his wife are Democrats, and are intensely interested in forwarding, in every way possible, the best interests of the community.

HERBERT M. SCHAUR .- Among the more im- portant building supply organizations of the West Side section of San Joaquin County is the Tracy Lumber Company, of which Herbert M. Schaur is the general manager; he is also a stockholder in the parent company, known as the Santa Fe Lumber Company with headquarters in San Francisco, own- ers of the following branches: Tracy Lumber Com- pany at Tracy, Brentwood Lumber Company, at Brentwood, Cal., Patterson Lumber Company, at Patterson, Cal., and the Newman Lumber Company, located at Newman, Stanislaus County, Cal. A na- tive of Baltimore, Md., Mr. Schaur was born on Au- gust. 26, 1883, a son of Charles E. and Florence E. (Arminger) Schaur. His paternal ancestors were of German birth, while his maternal ancestors were of Scotch origin. In 1895, his father passed away and the responsibility of the support of the family rested on the shoulders of our subject, then a lad of about twelve years. His first job was as stock clerk for a large dry goods house and within two years he was advanced to the position of clerk in the office; however, the opportunity came to enter an attorney's office with a chance to study law and he also availed himself of a course in a night school; he then obtained a position as a traveling salesman for a wholesale provision house of Baltimore, covering the territory of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Car- 78

olina, continuing until 1905, with the exception of two years that were spent in Pittsburgh, Pa. Re- moving to California, he located in Los Angeles, where he remained three years. Then he went into the large lumber camps of Mendocino County; grad- ually working his way up from the bottom he be- came the superintendent of two mills which he con- ducted with the utmost success. Some nine years ago he became associated with the Santa Fe Lum- ber Company and in 1917 was sent to Tracy to as- sume the general oversight of their branch yard.

The Tracy Lumber Company has aided in the growth and upbuilding of Tracy and other towns nearby, and the merchants and business men have found its management ever ready to cooperate with them in achieving results; its officials and employees have all been boosters in aid of irrigation move- ments, which have shown so forcibly how valuable water is in crop production, and they are strong for the upbuilding of this section of Central California. They are distributors for the famed Simplex silo and the Papec ensilage cutter.

The marriage of Mr. Schaur occurred on June 4, . 1907, and united him with Miss Carrie N. Beattie, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. G. Beattie of Tracy, prominent in professional and social circles. They are the parents of two children, Margaret N. and Herbert M. Jr. Mr. Schaur is past president of the Chamber of Commerce and is now a director and has accomplished much as a member of the execu- tive committee. In politics he is a Republican and fraternally is a Mason and Odd Fellow, and past patron of the Eastern Star Lodge of Tracy. He is the owner of desirable real estate in the Rosedale subdivision of Tracy.

CLIFTON C. WILLIAMS .- The house of Wil- liams & Co., Stockton, leading employment agency was founded more than a quarter of a century ago by David D. Williams, the father of the subject of this review, Clifton C. Williams, the genial owner and proprietor of the business, for which he was thoroughly trained, and he fills his father's position in an able and intelligent manner, following out the founder's principles of steadfast reliability.

A native son, he was born in Biggs, Butte County. Cal., October 20, 1887, a son of David D. and Lulu E. (Brown) Williams. The former was a native of Sonora, Tuolumne County and the latter a native of Hollister, San Benito County. His father was reared and educated in Tuolumne County and when he grew to manhood he removed to Biggs and was engaged in farming pursuits. In 1894 he removed to Stockton and opened an employment agency and was a pion- eer in that line, and followed same to the time of his death, which occurred at Stockton, April 23, 1902. He started in a small way by furnishing farmers with help on the ranches and the business grew to great pro- portions and he became well known for his reliability throughout the San Joaquin Valley. At one time he sent between three and four thousand men to Blue Lake, Lake County, to work on the project of the Standard Electric Company. In order to transport this large body of men, he established a stage line from Stockton to the Blue Lakes, running three stages; this he kept up until the work was com- pleted; later he branched out and conducted a real estate and insurance business as well as the employ- ment agency His acquaintance among the html.

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of the valley was very extensive, and he was an hon- ored member of Truth Lodge, I. O. O. F., in Stock- ton, Mrs. Williams, whose maiden name was Brown, is the daughter of a large land owner and stockraiser of San Benito County, and the owner of Brown's Valley, which was named after him. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were the parents of two children, Birdie, now Mrs. T. Gillis, and Clifton C. of this sketch.

Clifton was a small child when his parents re- moved to Stockton, where he was reared and edu- cated in the public schools. During the year of 1907 he took full charge of the business his father had so successfully carried on and he is making good. A specialty is made of supplying help to the farm on short notice, and many ranches are in constant touch with this old-time and reliable agency, because of the highly satisfactory service rendered and good class of help furnished. Williams & Company constantly endeavor to keep their calls filled promptly, study- ing labor problems and conditions for the benefit of their hundreds of patrons, and it is this prompt at- tention to business that has won for them an enviable record during the past twenty-five years. Help is furnished for factories, industrial plants and besides this, expert and professional help, such as engineers for traction engines and harvester outfits. In the month of April, 1921, Mr. Williams removed to No. 6 West Market Street, where it is now located and meeting well merited success. Clifton C. Wil- liams established quite a reputation because of his splendid work before the legislature during the ses- sion of 1921, where in a clear and comprehensive manner he demonstrated to that important body the real necessity of private employment agencies, when properly conducted by people who know the business. He showed in figures and statistics the great value of the independent agencies to the farmer and rancher, and to employers of labor in all lines of endeavor, and his good work had much to do with the defeat of leg- islation aimed to injure the private employment agencies of California. Fraternally, Mr. Williams is a member of the Elks and Loyal Order of Moose.

JOHN H. SOLKMORE .- An influential citizen of Lodi, who is now serving his locality as justice of the peace, is John Solkmore, a native son born in Tehama County on September 26, 1881, a son of John W. and Margaret (Evers) Solkmore. His father was a native of South Carolina and his mother of Louisiana. The former was a Civil War veteran and Grandfather Solkmore served in the Mexican War. John W. Solkmore was an early settler of California, crossing the plains with ox teams in 1867, settling in Colusa County; Margaret Evers came to California during the same year via the Isthmus route; and they were married in California. Mr. Solkmore farmed in Colusa and Tehama counties and in 1884 located in Woodbridge, San Joaquin County. In the late '90s he removed to Texas and spent three years there, then returned to the San Joaquin Val- ley. He passed away about seventeen years ago, his wife surviving him until 1919.

John H. received his education in the Woodbridge grammar schools and was graduated from the Lodi high school with the class of 1902. For seven years he taught school in Clements and on Union Island, and later was principal of the Woodbridge and Hous- ton schools. During these years he studied law in the office of Judge Steele and was admitted to the

bar in 1908. He was elected justice of the peace in 1914 for a four-year term and was reelected in 1918 and 1922 each time without opposition and now is serving his third term. In politics he is a Democrat and his influence is cast on the side of all worthy pro- jects that are for the general good of his locality.

WILLIAM HENRY GRAHAM .- Business enter- prise has found a stalwart supporter in William Henry Graham, whose progressive spirit and determination have been manifest in all that he has undertaken and who by reason of his individual effort, intelli- gently directed, has gained a prominent position in the business circles of Lodi. He was born in Iro- quois County, Ill. on December 29, 1886, a son of James M. and Martha C. (McCray) Graham, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Illinois, both of Scotch ancestry. His parents came to Cali- fornia, settling in Whittier in 1897, when our subject was eleven years of age.He was employed at var- ious occupations, setting pins in a bowling alley, sell- ing ice cream and many other odd jobs. When he was twelve years old he accompanied his father on a trip through California and Oregon, with a team and wagon, the trip consuming four months.

When he was seventeen years old he entered the employ of Kiler & Cushing at Whittier with the intention of learning the manufacture of concrete piping and during a part of the time he was privileged to attend school. Then he went to the Imperial Valley and for four years was employed by the San Diego Cement Pipe Company. During the nine years of his employment while learning his trade he had not accumulated any money and when he arrived in Lodi on August 14, 1912, he possessed a capital of $2.60, but his determination to succeed was never lost sight of and as he knew how to make cement pipe, he established a business in that line. He had a considerable struggle to make good, and was ad- vised by interested friends not to start such a busi- ness, as there was not enough call for his product, but his thorough understanding of his chosen occu- pation enabled him to continue and his business has steadily grown until he is considered among the most prominent business men of Lodi. His plant is modern in every way and is located on S. Main Street, fully equipped with the most up-to-date machinery for the manufacture of cement pipe, in- cluding a machine for the manufacture of Blystone building tile, which is used in the construction of residences and buildings. This is a new invention and the tile is giving general satisfaction. His first contract for the laying of concrete pipe was on the ranch of Warren Fowler, riding out to his ranch on a bicycle to solicit the order. He has made and laid many miles of pipe in the Lodi district wherever pipe is used for irrigating purposes in the orchards and vineyards. He laid over two miles of pipe on the C. C. Woodworth ranch, over three miles on the Peter Joens ranch, one of the largest Tokay vine- yards in the county, and Ing Bros. who have the larg- est in the county. In the immediate vicinity of Lodi, among others he has laid pipe on the ranches of J. T. Langford, John B. Cory and W. H. Lorenz. He laid two miles of pipe on the Hunt Bros. ranch at Linden and was the successful winner of the contract for the $17,000 storm sewer for the city of Lodi; he also manufactured $14,000 worth of pipe for the Stockton sewer system. In 1923 he finished a con- tract to lay four miles of pipe at Davis, Cal., for the

H.T. Paskam

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

University of California. His work is guaranteed and his products are thoroughly tested and entire satisfaction is given before a contract is considered completed, thus enabling him to secure the best class of business of the county.

Mr. Graham is the father of three girls, Myrtle Evelyn, Mildred May and Elenore Juanita, who re- side with their father at 339 East Oak Street. Fraternally he is a member of the Stockton Elks, No. 218, the Eagles, Knights of Pythias, Lodi Lodge No. 256, F. and A. M., the Lodi Business Men's Club and the Mokelumne Club.

JAMES L. PICKERING .- An interior and exterior decorator whose artistic talents have been used to embellish and beautify many homes and public buildings throughout the country, James L. Picker- ing has established a statewide reputation for the ex- cellency of his work since locating at Lodi, sixteen years ago. Ohio is Mr. Pickering's native state and he was born near Columbus, April 10, 1871. He learned the painter's trade when a young man, spend- ing a number of years in New York, St. Louis and Kansas City. He did a great deal of work for the Eastern Packing- Company, now Swift & Company, and was foreman of a crew of men who painted the branch houses of this company throughout the East. He was employed on some of the buildings of Colum- bia University and Grant's Tomb, in New York, and on removing to St. Louis he worked on the Union Station, the National Bank of Commerce, both nota- ble structures, and on many of the millionaires' homes of that city, being foreman for Marks & Jones, interior decorators, one of the leading firms in their line. In 1901 he was engaged as foreman for a large force of painters engaged in decorating the buildings for the World's Fair, being employed there until 1904. He had general supervision over this work, and the artistic blending of the delicate pastel color- ings used in the decorations of these buildings will ever be remembered by those who were privileged to see them. Just before beginning this contract, he had taken a large force of men to Eureka Springs Ark., where he had charge of the decorations of a large hotel.

In 1904 Mr. Pickering came to California and be- came foreman for A. H. Recht at Stockton, remain- ing there until the spring of 1906, when he came to Lodi and formed a partnership with S. E. Loss- ing. At the end of a year he bought out his part- ner and has been in business for himself ever since. He established his paint and paper store at 122 North Sacramento Street, Lodi, in 1907, where he has since maintained the leading establishment of its kind here. In the past twelve years he has done at least sixty per cent of the best residences and public and business buildings, among which we note the follow- ing: Residences of Miss Ann Brack, Dr. J. E. Nelson, and A. C. Boehner; Hotel Lodi, Lodi Theater, Van Buskirk Building, M. Newfield Store, Friedberger and Blodgett Block, Catholic Church, Congregational Church, all of the schoolhouses erected in recent years. except the Union high school, the Moquelumne Club and the Farmers & Merchants Bank Building. His work on homes around Lodi include residences for the following: Ed Pope, J. V. Bare, J. B. Cory, C. C. Woodworth, Mrs. R. C. Bridge, T. H. Beckman, the Misses Anderson, C. M. Ferdun, Fairbank & Dement ranch, and the Norton and Angiers resi-

dences at Manteca. In Stockton he did the resi- dences of J. D. Peters, Dr. C. L. Six and Harry T. Fee, and one job in particular which is worthy o! special comment is the $40,000 residence of Carl S. Ortman in Yosemite Terrace, Stockton. This was the finest and most expensive piece of decorating ever done in San Joaquin County, and won for Mr. Pick- ering wide newspaper publicity, attracting artists in this line from all over the country, and the workman- ship and artistic color scheme were declared to rank with the best in the state. Mr. Pickering has re- cently erected a fine home for himself at Church and West Lodi streets, formerly the site of the Lodi high school. He personally canvassed all the resi- dents of Church Street and succeeded in securing seventy-five per cent of the landowners to petition for the new street paving and electric light posts for a mile along this thoroughfare. This movement had been tried before and failed, but due to Mr. Pickering's perseverance, these improvements are now an accomplished fact. In 1922, on property ad- jacent to his home, he erected a four flat apartment house, thoroughly modern.

In 1903 Mr. Pickering was married to Miss Emily E. Roth, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and they are the parents of one son, Robert. Mr. Pickering or- ganized the painters' union of Lodi, having their wages increased and their hours reduced from ten to eight hours a day. He is a member of the Master Painters Association of California, having served on the executive board, and in 1913 entertained a body of delegates at the banquet at the Moquelumne Club, of which he is a popular member. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World and was formerly assistant chief of the: Lodi Fire Department. Mrs. Pickering is a member of the Lodi Woman's Club.

MARTIN SCHNEIDER .- A successful business career is that of Martin Schneider, an early settler of Stockton and the founder of the firm of M. Schneider and Sons, furniture and show case manu- facturers. located at 248 North Aurora Street. He was born in the town of Leidringen, Wurtemberg. Germany, on December 25, 1856, was educated in schools of his native town and learned the trade of cabinetmaker and woodcarver with his father, John Schneider; later he went to Switzerland as a journey- man worker and remained there for three years, mostly in Zurich. He returned to his home to con- scribe to the military service in the German army, but was rejected on account of physical disability. which left him free to go where he liked. In May, 1878, he left Germany for America; on arriving in New York City he spent three days there and five days in Philadelphia and crossed the plains by emi- grant train and landed in Stockton during the same year. During the summer months he worked as a carpenter building ranch houses and buildings and in the winter time returned to Stockton and secured employment with the furniture factory of Fickett & Robbins; in 1880 he started to work for himself manu- facturing furniture, show cases, and office fixtures to order. His present factory at the corner of Miner and Aurora streets was erected thirty-five years ago and was then considered away out in the country. and was the first building in that section In the early days he did interior house finishing and many of the fine old residences in Stockton still standing

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were done by him. He has installed store fixtures in the Wagner meat market; the Ruhl-Goodell hard- ware store, the Tully & Kramm clothing store and the Samuel Aaron clothing company; he designed and installed the woodwork design in the lobby of Hotel Stockton; he also designed and built the furni- ture for some of the millionaries' homes in San Francisco.

The marriage of Mr. Schneider occurred in Stock- ton, June 8, 1879, and united him with Miss Anna Wille, also a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Schneider are the parents of ten children, of whom eight are now living: one child died in infancy and Emma G., the wife of Sherwood Norton, also passed away. The living children are as follows: John F., Louis C., Martin Otto, Hilda M., Anna K., who is now Mrs. Eugene Goodrum, Elsie, the wife of Myron Page, Mrs. Marie Paxton, and George J. who served in the World War in an infantry regi- ment and was stationed at Camp Kearney. For seven terms Mr. Schneider was president of the old Turnverein and also served as trustee of the same organization; he is a member of the Knights of Py- thias; at present he is the district deputy of the Sons of Herman. He takes great pleasure in the reading and study of the Bible and it is indeed interesting to converse with him on Biblical-subjects.

JACOB G. HANDEL .- Although a native of Rus- sia, where he was born January 20, 1872, Jacob G. Handel has been a resident of the United States since his second year, having come to this country with his parents in 1874. They were pioneers of Hutchin- son County, S. D., helping to settle the country there, and Jacob was reared on those bare prairies, thirty miles from Yankton, where human habitations were few and far between. As a boy he helped his father on the home farm, starting when very young to work in the harvest fields, and later he'engaged in farming on his own account on 160 acres near Menno, S. D. In 1899 Mr. Handel came to California and located at Lodi. He had saved some of his earnings and seeing the possibilities of the business future of this city he bought eleven acres in the north end of town on Sacramento Street, west of the railroad, this tract then being in alfalfa and orchard. This district has now become quite an industrial center and Mr. Han -. del has sold lots to the Superior Manufacturing Com- pany, the Producers Fruit Company and the Cali- fornia Almond Growers Association, and they have erected their warehouses and manufacturing plants on the property. A number of résidences have also been built there, including the fine new home of Mr. Handel, and he still has twenty-one lots left that are steadily increasing in value.

An active factor in the upbuilding and real estate development of Lodi, Mr. Handel is the owner of the modern two-story business block occupied by the Lodi Hardware Company, which he built in partner- ship with J. G. Hieb, and in company with J. G. and John W. Heib, he built and owns the White Front Store building, a modern, two-story brick block on Elm Avenue, which has since been sold. He is also the owner of a ten-acre vineyard in full bearing, five miles southeast of Lodi, from which he received $3,300 in 1920, and has a fourteen-acre alfalfa ranch two and a half miles east of Lodi, a valuable property. For eight years Mr. Handel conducted a hardware

business in Lodi, but he disposed of it some time ago and now his time is fully occupied in looking after his varied interests in town and country. In 1923 he bought 100 acres near Livingston, Merced County, which he is improving.

Mr. Handel's marriage united him with Miss Mag- dalina Hieb, a native of South Dakota, and they are the parents of seven children: Lea is Mrs. Walter Thompson, and the mother of two children; Leonhart, Wilhelmina, Mrs. Bolding, Theodore, Reinholdt, Lillie, and Benjamin. A successful self-made man, Mr. Handel ranks high among the upbuilders of Lodi, where for more than twenty years he has been identi- fied with the community. He is a stockholder in the Superior Manufacturing Company, and active in the Salem Reformed Church, where he was superinten- dent of the Sunday school and a former member of the church choir.

CARL HENNING NELSON .- A successful and prominent building contractor of Stockton, whose operations have extended over a period of thirteen years, Carl Henning Nelson is a native of Sweden, born near Stockholm on May 12, 1879, and there he was reared and educated, learning the carpenter trade. At the age of nineteen years he came to the United States and locating at Republic, the copper district of Michigan, engaged in construction work and bridge building for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. During 1901 he removed to Alaska, where he followed mining for two years, after which he returned to the states and located at Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was occupied in con- struction work on a number of large buildings, in- cluding theaters, office buildings and hotels, covering a period of seven years; he also worked on the union depot of the Oregon Short Line Railroad and along the Union Pacific Railroad doing construction work. He then spent one year traveling throughout Eng- land, Norway and Sweden, visiting his old home city. Returning to California, he met and married Miss Esther P. Nelson, a resident of Los Angeles, but a native of Sweden, who came to California at the age of seventeen years, and they are the parents of two children, Vivian, and Carl H., Jr.

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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 180

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