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 235

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 235

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On November 24, 1917, Mr. Blair was married to Miss Laura Mason, the daughter of H. T. Mason, a prominent vineyardist and fruit shipper of Lodi, and one daughter has been born to them, Dorothy May. Mrs. Blair, who is a graduate of the Lodi high school, is prominent in the Woman's Auxiliary of the Ameri- can Legion and the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Unusually capable in business, she took charge of her husband's business during his absence in the U. S. service, and not only kept it going but increased its volume. Standing high among Lodi's progressive young business men, Mr. Blair is a member of the Lodi Business Men's Club, the Knights of Pythias, and the American Legion.

JOHN L. BERNADICOU .- An energetic and suc- cessful business man of Stockton is John L. Bernadi- cou who conducts a French hand laundry at 828 North El Dorado Street. His birth occurred in Arette, Basses-Pyrenees, December 3, 1874, a son of Pierre and Marie (Hayet) Bernadicou, both natives of that place. There were nine children in the family: Val- entine, Bernard, Grat, John Louis, our subject, Marie Theresa, Madaline, Marie Louise, and the two young- er children who died in infancy. The father lived to be eighty-four years old and the mother seventy-one. John L. Bernadicou received a public school educa- tion, then spent three years in the French army in the 24th Field Artillery; he then went to Paris and worked for one year and spent one year at Nojent- sur-Marne. In June, 1899, he arrived in Stockton where he worked for his brother in the French Hand Laundry at 140 South California Street, later at 224 East Fremont Street; he then purchased the business and three years ago he erected the modern building at 828 North El Dorado Street, where he has success- fully conducted his business with gratifying results.

In France in October, 1898, Mr. Bernadicou was united in marriage with Miss Madaline Pashur, a daughter of John and Anna Pashur, and they are the parents of four children: Paul was born in France and entered the U. S. Army in December, 1917, en- listing at Angel Island; he was placed in the 2nd Field Artillery and trained three months at the Pre- sidio, San Francisco; then four months at Camp Fre- mont; then to Fort Sill, Okla; and in November, 1918, was sent to France, where he remained until July, 1919, when he was returned to the United States and discharged at Fort Lee, Va., as a first-class private; Alfred, Francis and Anna were all born in the United States.

STEPHEN N. BLEWETT .- A representative of the legal profession, whose efforts have always been used for the advancement of his locality is Stephen N. Blewett, the junior member of the law firm of Webster, Webster & Blewett, patent and corporation attorneys in Stockton. He was born at St. Ives, Corn- wall, England, on January 4, 1890, and at the age of thirteen years left his home for the United States and came to Stockton to reside with his uncle, Richard Noall, one of the pioneer building contractors of Stockton.

Stephen N. pursued his education in the Stockton grammar school and was graduated from the Stock- ton high school with the class of 1910. During his junior and senior years at high school, he was class president, and was also president of the debating club for two years. The spare moments during his four year high school course were devoted to the study of law in the office of Joshua B. Webster, and on July 17, 1911, one year after his graduation from high school, he was admitted to the bar and became a member of the firm of Webster, Webster & Blewett.

The marriage of Mr. Blewett united him with Miss Bess Simard, a native of Stockton and a member of a pioneer family. Mr. and Mrs. Blewett are the parents of three sons: Robert N., Stephen E., and Richard E. Fraternally Mr. Blewett is a member of Scottish Rite Consistory, San Joaquin Lodge, No. 19, F. & A. M. and of the Aahmes . Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of Oakland; a member of the Truth Lodge No. 55, I. O. O. F., and has passed through all the chairs, and is past district deputy of this district; he also

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belongs to the Encampment and Canton, and to the Stockton Lodge No. 218, B. P. O. E. During the World War he was one of the Four-Minute men and his efforts were given unstintedly to the cause for which we fought. His activities in community mat- ters are most pronounced and his influence and sup- port are given freely to all improvements tending to the good of the city and county.

HERMANN BLOHM .- The manager of an excel- lent ranch of 160 acres located nine miles west of Lodi is Hermann Blohm, who is successfully engaged in raising fruit and in general farming, having sixty-five acres in vineyard. He is a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, born May 9, 1886, his parents being William C. and Fredericka (Spenker) Blohm, both natives of Germany. The father came to California in 1893 and settled first in Lake County, where he resided for two years, then came to Lodi and settled on the ranch now occupied by our subject. There were but two children in the family, Hermann and Freda, Mrs. R. T. Stokes, who resides on the home ranch with her mother and brother. The father passed away in 1917, aged fifty-seven years.

Hermann Blohm was educated in the Woodbridge and Turner district schools and spent the days of his boyhood and youth on his father's ranch. He has always been engaged in general farming and the rais- ing of fruit, and today is the manager of the 160 acres purchased by his father in 1900, which he helped his father to improve, and now owned by his mother. The last elk seen in Elkhorn Township were seen under an oak tree, still standing, on the ranch owned by Mrs. Blohm, and the old stage road between Stockton and Sacramento ran through this ranch. Sixty-five acres of the ranch is in productive vineyard, fifteen acres in alfalfa, and the balance is devoted to pasture; the land is irrigated from the Stockton-Mokelumne ditch. He is systematic, methodical, practical and progressive in all his methods, and the ranch with all its equipments is in keeping with modern ideas of fruit-growing and general farming. The ranch is further improved with a fine house, blacksmith shop and other farm build- ings. Mr. Blohm and his father were among the organizers of and Hermann is a trustee of the Syca- more drainage district; he was one of the organizers and the present secretary of the Sycamore Rural Tel- ephone Line. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party.

ARTHUR L. BOARD .- One of the comparatively recent additions to the business circles of Lodi is Arthur L. Board, who since 1918 has been the local manager of the Western States Gas and Electric Company, and whose business ability has resulted in a steady growth to the present volume of business done by this company. He was born near Oakdale, Cal., October 5, 1884, a son of Robert and Harriet Board. Robert Board crossed the plains with an ox team from Callaway County, Mo., and settled first at the Seventeen Mile Bar in Calaveras County. Our subject's mother was a native of California, whose father was a very early settler in the Golden State. There was a family of six children: Robert H .; Arthur L., the subject of this sketch; Mabel; Flor- ence, now Mrs. Winfred Weber; Fred and Vesta, the two latter deceased. Arthur L. is the only member of the family residing in Lodi; the others all reside in Stockton.

Arthur L. Board was educated in the grammar schools of Calaveras and Tulare counties. When he was fourteen years old his family settled in Visalia; and he was fortunate in attending the schools in Visalia, where he attended for three years. Then he began to work for himself at anything he could get to do, doing mostly farm work. Next he went to the Imperial Valley, when that portion of California was in the early stages of its wonderful development, and there he engaged in general farming near El Centro for two years. Twelve years ago he began working for the Mount Whitney Power & Electric Company, and he remained with the company for nine years, his headquarters being at Visalia. Then, in March, 1918, he located in Stockton and began to work for the Western States Gas & Electric Company. On Au- gust 1, 1918, he was transferred to Lodi, where he became the local manager of the company.

The marriage of Mr. Board occurred in Fresno on January 30, 1916, uniting him with Miss Ida Olive Bailey, born in Madera, Cal., a daughter of Horace and Emma Bailey. Horace Bailey was a pioneer of California, and for many years engaged in the trans- fer business. He is now deceased. The mother is still living in Madera. Mrs. Board began her educa- tion in the grammar schools in Madera. She entered the San Jose State Normal, from which she was grad- uated, and then taught school for ten years in the Lowell school, Fresno, until her marriage. She was so well liked that the board of education asked her to continue teaching; but she declined, preferring to devote her time to her home. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Board: James Arthur, Mabel Jeanette, and Florence Nadine. Mr. Board is the owner of valuable real estate in Stockton and Richmond. A Republican in politics, he favors the men and measures supported by that party. Frater- nally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Lodi Lions Club.

JAMES F. BOWMAN .- For a number of years James F. Bowman was identified with the agricultural interests of San Joaquin County; but in May, 1922, he disposed of his vineyard in the Live Oak district and became the proprietor of the Imperial Hotel at Lodi, where he now makes his home. He has made a general success of his undertakings, and is known throughout this section of the county as a substantial man of affairs. He was born at Des Moines, Iowa, on January 19, 1866, a son of John and Jane Bowman, who were the parents of eight children, as follows: Elizabeth, James F., Sarah, Clara, Caroline, Anna, John, and Wallace.

James F. Bowman received his education in the public schools of Iowa. When he was seventeen years old he began to make his own way. Going to Texas, he drove cattle on the trail at Dallas. From Texas he went to Montana and there became a cow- boy. Later he went into the horse-raising business on the plains near Cheyenne, Wyo. He soon had 100 head of horses, which ranged over the government land. Later he took them to the Powder River coun-

try in Montana, where he had a ranch near Buffalo, and there in time he had a herd of 1,000 head, includ- ing fine draft horses, saddle horses, and drivers. He remained in Montana about thirty years and then drove his horses into the Dakotas, where he sold them to farmers. After that he came to California and settled at Lodi in 1'io.

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alfalfa ranch near Lodi, for one year; then he pur- chased a ten-acre prune orchard on the Acampo- Lockeford road east of Youngstown, which he kept for one year. Next he bought a ten-acre Tokay vine- yard and almond orchard three miles northwest of Lockeford. This he later disposed of, and purchased twenty-six acres six miles east of Lodi, east of the Live Oak schoolhouse. Fourteen acres of this ranch was planted to vineyard and the balance was unim- proved; he further improved the ranch with a good pumping plant, insuring the proper cultivation of the land and vineyard. In May, 1922, he disposed of his ranch and purchased the Imperial Hotel at Lod, and this is his present residence.

Mr. Bowman's first marriage occurred in British Columbia in 1896, and united him with Miss Lucy Dallas, a native of British Columbia. She passed away eight years ago. His second marriage, on Octo- ber 18, 1916, at Spokane, Wash., united him with Mrs. Anna R. (Campbell) Sogrodneck, a daughter of James and Anna Campbell. She was born at Ludington, Mich., and received her education in the grammar and high schools of that city. She married Frank Sogrod- neck, an employee of the Great Northern Railroad Company at Superior, Wis. He passed away fifteen years ago, leaving her with two sons, Joseph Gordon and Francis Keith, both of whom have taken the name of Bowman. Mr. Bowman is a Democrat in politics, and in many ways has manifested his interest in the affairs of his community.

EMIL BRAIDA .- Numbered among the enterpris- ing and progressive citizens of Lodi is Emil Braida, the owner of an apartment house located at 217 East Lockeford Avenue and a twenty-two acre vineyard and cherry orchard just south of Youngstown. Viewed from a financial standpoint his career has been a suc- cess, for he started without capital. Realizing, how- ever, that labor is the basis of all prosperity he has worked persistently and earnestly during the greater part of his business career at his trade of mosaic and tile laying, his agricultural pursuits occupying more recent years. He was born near Beaver Falls, Pa., June 20, 1885, a son of John and Madaline Braida, parents of eight children. The father, John Braida, was a stonecutter by trade who left Pennsylvania in 1893 for California, coming direct to San Francisco, where he followed his trade until his death at the age of fifty-nine. The mother was fifty-two when she passed away.

Emil Braida attended the Lincoln grammar school in San Francisco and as soon as he was old enough was apprenticed to learn the mosaic and tile laying trade in San Francisco, which he mastered and fol- lowed for a number of years in that city.

On November 11, 1920, in Stockton, occurred the marriage of Mr. Braida, which united him with Mrs. Lila (Ehrhart) Laughton, born in Amador County, Cal., a daughter of Thomas Ehrhart. Mr. and Mrs. Braida then moved to Youngstown, where he pur- chased twenty-two acres set to vineyard and cherries. In 1921 Mr. Braida purchased a large residence on East Lockeford Avenue, Lodi, which he has trans- formed into an apartment house containing sixteen apartments, thoroughly modern in every particular, and here Mr. Braida and his family make their home. They are the parents of two daughters, Hazel and Vera. In politics he is a Republican, and fraternally is a member of the Neighbors of Woodcraft.

ELMER E. CADY .- A native son of California and the son of a pioneer of the gold days, Elmer E. Cady has succeeded in the cattle and sheep business to a profitable degree. Born on May 2, 1867, at Stone Corral, Calaveras County, Cal., Mr. Cady is the son of Addison and Bridget (McNamee) Cady, the father a native of Massachusetts who walked across the Isthmus of Panama and arrived in California in the spring of 1850. He first engaged in mining in Cala- veras County; then engaged in the hotel business in Pleasant Valley, near Jenny Lind, for a few years, then sold out and located at Stone Corral and ran a hotel and butcher shop. In those days this section of the country was wild and unsettled where Indians and wild animals abounded in plenty. About 1875 the father moved across the county line into San Joaquin County and bought 300 acres of land at Bellota; this he improved by building a residence, barns, corrals and fences and engaged in farming pursuits until his death in 1907. The Cady ranch was a landmark for many years in that section and among the very first to be developed in the Bellota district. Mr. and Mrs. Addison Cady were the parents of ten children, five of whom are living: Addison resides at Linden; Elmer E .; Frank is a farmer near Linden; Charles resides in Waterloo; Mrs. Julia Welch lives at Sac- ramento.

Elmer E. Cady attended school in the Bellota dis- trict and at the age of fifteen went to work on the Prather ranch near Linden, where he spent seventeen years, when he established himself in the sheep busi- ness and has been engaged in raising sheep and cattle ever since, his present partner being Charles H. Har- rold of Stockton. Both of the partners own ranches near Bellota, where they carry on their sheep indus- try, Mr. Cady owning 1,000 acres, a portion of the Gen. Douglass ranch, of which 160 acres is fine rich bottom land, which he farms. Mr. Cady was one of the organizers of the Central California Wool Grow- ers' Association and is a member of the executive committee of the Stockton branch; he is also a mem- ber of the California Cattlemen's Association.

The marriage of Mr. Cady in Stockton, October 3, 1900, united him with Miss Elizabeth A. McDonald, a native of Stockton and the daughter of Patrick McDonald, a pioneer blacksmith who married Miss Margaret Fennell. Mr. and Mrs. Cady are the par- ents of one son, Elmer E., Jr., a graduate of the Stockton high school with the class of 1920. Frater- nally, Mr. Cady is a member of the Stockton Lodge No. 218, B. P. O. Elks, and the Knights of Columbus.

CHARLES P. FENLEY .- Among the younger generation of business men in Stockton is Charles P. Fenley, the proprietor of an electrical store, located at 29 North Sutter Street, where he carries a full line of electrical supplies and fixtures of all kinds; he also does contracting in all branches of electrical work. He was born in the rural district of Jackson County, Mo., on March 15, 1894. When he was six years old the family moved to Page County, Iowa, and settled on the old home place of his paternal grandfather. What schooling Charles P. received was in the dis- trict schools and when a small lad he began to work as a farm hand; when he was nine years old he milked twelve cows daily and when he was ten years old he followed a plow and at fourteen he did a man's work in the hay field. His family then moved to Fort Morgan, Colo., where they raised grain; later they

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removed to Kimball, Nebr., and there his father en- gaged in the livery stable business. It was in Kimball that our subject gained his first lessons in the electrical business, starting as a lineman with a ground gang with the Bell Telephone Company, which was laying a transcontinental line from Nebraska to Wyo- ming. During 1912 his family removed to California and settled in Stockton and during the same year our subject joined them; later he went to Oakland, and found employment with the Union Iron Works in the electrical bureau of the marine department; he then was employed by the S. & O. Terminal Railroad in Oakland in the electrical department; then went to Modesto and worked for the electrical contractor, Jack Nightingale, and during his three years' stay gained valuable experience in his line; he also spent some time in Arizona and Texas following his trade. On June 20, 1920, he purchased the old established business of Gould & Johns at 119 South California Street, Stockton, and built up a good business, until it outgrew the quarters, when he removed to a new building at 129 North Sutter Street.

Mr. Fenley's marriage united him with Miss Mary Weber, a native of Fresno, Cal. She is a fine business woman and has been the manager of the Stockton branch of Reich & Liever of San Francisco for the past five years; and for eight years she was associated with the Wonder store of Stockton. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fenley are held in high esteem in the community and are doing their share toward the progress and upbuilding of the locality they have selected for their permanent home.

PETER FILIPPINI .- Since 1900, Peter Filippini has been an enterprising and prosperous California citizen, and in partnership with his brother, Osvaldo, is the proprietor of the Filippini dairy farm fourteen miles east of Stockton on the Sonora Road, where they own 100 acres, sixty-five acres of which is de- voted to raising alfalfa, besides maintaining a dairy herd of ninety choice Holstein cattle. This is the largest dairy in this section of the county, and the Filippini brothers have proven a success along this line. Peter Filippini was born in August, 1883, and his brother Osvaldo, July 29, 1884. They are both natives of Switzerland, sons of Peter and Camelia (Baffa) Filippini, also natives of Switzerland. In 1900, our subject left his home in Switzerland and came to California, and two years later his mother and three brothers, Osvaldo, John and Frank, fol- lowed. Another brother, Joe Filippini, came to Cali- fornia in 1892, and for the past fifteen years has been a state guard at San Quentin prison. The father passed away in Switzerland about twenty-five years ago.

Arriving in California, Peter Filippini found work on a large dairy in Marin County, where he worked for eight years. While residing there he received his United States citizenship, and through the years his loyalty to his adopted country has never been brought in question. In June, 1914, the oldest son of the family died, and soon after Mr. Filippini purchased his property from the widow; and as has been stated above, a successful dairy is conducted on this ranch, a credit to the locality and a source of fine profit to its owners.

Mr. Filippini is a Republican in politics and a pro- gressive citizen of more than ordinary activity in sup- porting measures for the prosperity and advancement

of the Farmington district. Both brothers are men of honorable principles and upright dealings.

C. H. FINK .- Interesting as a successful, re- tired vineyardist. C. H. Fink, of 401 West Walnut Street, Lodi, is able to look back upon an honorable association not only with one of the most impor- tant industries in the Golden State, which he him- self did so much to forward, but with one of the most promising of California towns. He was born in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, on July 25, 1859, and on the 28th of May, 1873, he with his parents left for California.

The family located in Stanislaus County, near Crow's Landing, and there the father and five sons became large land-owners and also extensive growers of grain, farming together as many as 2,400 acres, and continuing in this partnership for thirty-three years, all of the sons being still living, and most of them still farming in Stanislaus County. This land which Mr. Fink farmed was bought for ten dollars an acre, and it is now worth $300 per acre. In 1888, barley sold for fifty-four cents per bushel, and wheat at eighty-five cents, and this will afford a clue as to the farmers' re- wards in some years.

Tired of farming a large ranch, however, C. H. Fink and his younger brother, in the fall of 1905, came to Lodi and bought a ranch of fifty-six acres. They planted thirty acres to Tokays, and later four acres to cherries and alfalfa. Their first crop was valued at $1,000, and their ranch cost them $9,000, or about $160 per acre. This they farmed until December 17, 1920, when they sold it at a handsome profit and retired. They had made their home upon the ranch, and naturally during their residence there had greatly improved the property, in part by the introduction of water from the Lodi District Pumping Plant, and partly by the erection of houses, etc. Mr. Fink was married at Crow's Landing to Miss Emma Hirsch, born in Wisconsin, and she died at Lodi, May 13, 1907. They had three children, Della and Stella, twin

sisters, and Vernon. His second marriage, in Lodi, united him with Miss Esther M. Hirsch, a native of Wisconsin. The family attend the Seventh Day Ad- ventist Church, of which Mr. Fink has been a member for thirty-three years, in excellent standing. Mr. and Mrs. Fink and their family have always enjoyed the esteem of a wide circle of devoted friends, and the confidence of business and financial leaders who have been familiar with their dependable methods, and their high standards of patriotic citizenship.

C. W. FORBES .- Prominent among the most highly-esteemed citizens of Manteca may well be numbered C. W. Forbes, who has been a popular resi- dent of the live town since October, 1918, having there, with M. A. Forbes, built up the extensive cor- poration called the Manteca Telephone and Tele- graph Company. Mr. Forbes was born on a farm in Wayne County, New York, in 1871, and as a boy enjoyed the advantages of a good common-school education. When sixteen years of age he entered the employ of the Bell Telephone Company of New York State, after which he gradually worked up from line- man to be general manager of a private telegraph al telephone company at Chicago.

In 1909 he went into Mexico, to the State of So- nora, where he pioneered by the dark net a the Sonora Telephone Company, with their headquarters at Hermosillo; and in the vestire Mas Logo. ...

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a partner throughout the nine years required for ex- panding the extensive business; and during their stay there they became intimately and pleasantly associ- ated with prominent Mexican families, including that of the present President Obregon. Before coming to California, however, Mr. Forbes sold his entire interest, on account of the unsettled state of affairs there.

In 1916 he reached the Golden State, and since that time he has built up a business consisting of five hun- dred and thirty phones within a radius of three miles from Manteca to a territory fully seven miles in length with a steady growth from six suburban lines in 1918 to twenty-two lines in 1922, while the long- distance service has more than tripled in this period. From an investment of $6,000, the volume of busi- ness has so increased as to call for an investment of some $40,000-which speaks for itself.

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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 235

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