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 57

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 57

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buildings have been erected of a permanent character, families have settled amongst us and business has increased. Some of the im- provements are MacIntosh's two-story wagon and blacksmith shop, with three forges; John Levinsky's fireproof building; J. M. Woods & Co., livery and feed stable; Graham & Perry, carpenter shop; Daniel Grist, drinks and fruit ; Dan Kelley, boots and shoes; Neeley & Parr, saddletrees and harness; four saloons, and a hotel. The town in 1877 had reached its high- est pinnacle and had already began to recede, for many of its inhabitants had removed to Lodi, Stockton and other points. "At this time," said Mrs. de Force Gordon, "the town

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possessed a fine Odd Fellows' building, a Ma- sonic hall, three dry goods stores, a black- smith and butcher shop, shoe store, telegraph and express office, and a flour mill. There are two churches, Catholic and United Brethren, a public school with 115 pupils taught by two teachers, and a population of about 300 per- sons."

The town was platted in April, 1859, by the community and named Woodbridge as a com- pliment to J. H. Woods, the enterprising founder of the town. The first sale of lots was made by E. M. MacIntosh and W. Y. Smith for $500, and about the same time Henry Corsaw and John C. Thompson purchased lots, paying $400 for them. Mr. Woods and his wife gave no deeds for the sale of the lots as he had no title. It was Government land and it was not placed on sale until 1865. The citizens took no advantage of the sale and made no effort to obtain a title to their lots. Woods, we remember, was killed in 1864, and his property rights were in litigation. This neglect to preempt their land caused some curious complications. For instance in 1867 Thomas Day filed a claim on a tract of land. It included the burial place of the Masonic lodge, and they were compelled to purchase their graveyard from the preemptor of the land. In 1873 a man named A. S. Thomas preempted another piece of land containing the citizens' dead. Finally the town woke up and in March, 1873, "the citizens of Woodbridge filed their claims to what was left of the old township."

The Messenger of Woodbridge, its sole newspaper, had a short but merry life. It was first issued May 18, 1865, by Shekells & Spen- cer. J. C. Spencer had been publishing the Mountain News at San Andreas, but the min- ing camp was being deserted at that time be- cause of the scarcity of gold, and Spencer re- moved the plant to Woodbridge. In less than eight weeks the partnership was dissolved and Spencer conducted the paper alone two years and then selling out to George Crist, went to Tuolumne City and started the Tuolumne News. Then for the third time he left a dying town and going to Modesto issued the Mo- desto News. Crist continued the Messenger for a couple of years, he was then compelled to suspend operations as the residents were all moving to Lodi.

The United Brethren in Christ held service in the Franklin and Mokelumne school houses as early as 1864. The services were conducted by the Rev. J. W. Harron and Elder Jackway. In 1878 they built a church at a cost of $2,700. The officers were R. Metcalf, chairman; J. A. Sollinger, secretary, H. J. Becker, R. W. Phil- lips, H. J. Keene and Thomas J. Pope. In September, 1878, the annual state conference was held at Woodbridge, and one of the im- portant business events was the taking over

of the Woodbridge Academy and conducting it as a religious institution. It was not a profitable business proposition and they soon retired, handing the building over to the Wood- bridge school trustees for use as a grammar school.

The Presbyterians of the town held services in the Masonic hall as early as 1867, the Rev. Joshua Phelps conducting the services. In May, 1870, they organized a church society, with Andrew Rutledge and John and Andrew Rutledge, Jr., as the elders. In March, 1875, the Rev. Wm. H. Talmage located in Woodbridge and became the pastor.

The Methodist Church South erected a par- sonage in Woodbridge and held services in the Woodbridge hall, with W. W. Winters as pastor.

The Catholic church of St. Ann was organ- ized in 1876 by the Rev. Father O'Connor as a mission church of the Stockton parish. They had been celebrating mass in private houses since 1874, and purchasing the one-story brick building formerly the public school, they re- paired and fitted it up as a church at a cost of $1,100. It was dedicated with great cere- mony November 26, 1876, by Archbishop Ale- many, assisted by the Rev. Father William O'Connor.

Woodbridge lodge No. 131, F. & A. M. was instituted May 10, 1850, with eight charter members. The first officers were: Charles Carpender, worthy master; Wm. H. Young, senior warden; Thomas Henderson, junior warden; L. F. Neeley, tyler. These officers with D. P. McNeil, C. H. Over, John H. Woods and R. H. McCracken constituted the charter members. Their first hall was a two- story building opposite the Bentley store, lo- cated on the river bank. Later they erected a two-story brick building on the present Main Street. At one time the lodge had 135 members, now scarcely more than enough to fill the chairs.

Jefferson lodge No. 98, I. O. O. F., was in- stituted August 2, 1860, by Grand Master Charles O. Burton, with five charter members ; Henry Hoeber was elected noble grand; Sam- uel H. Axtell, vice grand; Freeman Mills, recording secretary ; James Taylor, treasurer ; and William H. Smith. They held their meet- ings in the Masonic hall on the bank of the Mokelumne until 1874. At that time the John Levinsky grocery store was remodelled and a second story erected which the lodge occupied.

No recital of the high spots of Woodbridge's history would be complete without mention- ing the San Joaquin and Sierra Nevada Rail- road, a narrow-gauge line which was projected between tidewater at Brack's Landing on the Mokelumne to the mines and timber belt in the Sierras over the mountains if found practicable. The prime movers in the enterprise were the

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Birdsall brothers, Thomas McConnell, Ben F. Langford and Dr. H. Bentley, all prominent residents of the district. In August, 1882, the line was ready for business from Brack's Landing through Woodbridge and Lodi to Lockeford. It was completed as far as Valley Springs in April, 1885. This road, which cost over $400,000 to build, was subsequently absorbed by the Southern Pacific. In 1861, when the Central Pacific was organized, an- other line known as the Western Pacific came to life. . This line had a franchise from San Jose to Sacramento by way of Stockton. Charles Mclaughlin secured the contract to build this line for $5,400,000, but, after getting twenty miles out of San Jose, he failed, and the road was absorbed by the Central Pacific. A later survey took the railroad through Lodi instead of Woodbridge, and this little town, which was one of the mainstays of the county, gave up its metropolitan dreams.

The Woodbridge Academy

Woodbridge, because of its academy, was known as the "Athens" of San Joaquin county, and the academy later called the San Joaquin Valley College was a notable school of educa- tion because of the unusual large number of bright young men graduates in proportion to its enrollment. The school was founded in a very unusual manner. One day in the early 60's T. R. Burkett, then a meat dealer in the town said to C. L. Newton: "What can we do to make the town livelier," and jokingly we remarked, "We might build a high school." "That set us to thinking," said Mr. Burkett. "We concluded to make an effort to found a high school, and when Judge Thompson came into the butcher shop we requested him to · draw up a subscription list in proper form for subscription to a high school fund. The judge wrote out a form on a piece of wrapping paper. I circulated the paper and got subscriptions to the amount of $5,000 but the Woodbridge people made fun of it. One day James P. Folger met us and inquired, 'How are you get- ting along with your high school?' Looking at the list of names he then said, 'I will cash it for ninety-five cents on the dollar, but you want $10,000 instead of $5,000. Give it to me and I will get the money.' In two weeks," said Mr. Burkett, "he had the money, and buy- ing several acres of land we built the building and employed S. L. Morehead as teacher and principal on a five-year contract. His salary was to be a deed of the property at the end of the five years. 'Several complications took place, and the academy was not opened for several years, the building being unoccupied In 1879 J. A. Sollinger, a public school teacher, and member of the United Brethren denomina- tion, in their State conference at Woodbridge succeeded in getting them to take over the

building and open a college. The trustees of the school, Dr. R. Bentley, E. G. Rutledge, John C. Thompson, Jacob Brack, and Victor Jahant, readily agreed to the United Brethren's terms and the school was established. The first president of the college was Darius A. Mobley, a minister. Later he was the princi- pal of the Stockton high school. Two of his assistant teachers were Wm. H. Kleinfolder and E. H. Ridenour, who taught there for fif- teen years and for several years has been an instructor in mathematics in the Stockton high school.

Among the first pupils are many of Stock- ton of today while other have played their part in life's drama and passed on. Some of S. L. Moorhead's pupils were Jennie Wiltze, Frank William, Fred and Belle Perrott, Wm. Trafton, Nathaniel Green, Avery C. White, Belle, William and Mattie Limbaugh, Edward and Alice Thompson, (now Mrs. Richard C. Minor), Fannie and Thomas Jahant, Nellie, Anna and Emma Emerson, Lottie Weber, Al- bert Smith, Charles Barton, Mattie and Gussie Folger (now Mrs. C. B. Hart), Laura Hart, Newton R. Fowler, Carrie Dutlin, Addie Green, Annie Newton, Frank Turner, Charles Adams, Minnie Hansen, Eddie Mitchell, Del- mar Acker, George Spurgeon, Bennie and May Bentley, Loren Knight, Frank Woodruff and Edward Anderson. Among the later scholars are Avery C. White, who became a lawyer and district attorney, Edward Thompson, city attorney, Robert L. Beaslee, state assembly- man, A. L. Cowell, attorney and editor of the Stockton Mail, Mark Keppel, county super- intendent Los Angeles county, and Marion DeVries, congressman and later appointed judge in the United States Court of Appeals. He resigned from all official positions a few months ago. The college closed in the spring of 1897 for lack of support, and the building was used as a grammar school. In Decem- ber, 1922, the building was razed, and on the site of the historic grounds there arose a splendid $50,000 school building.

The first irrigation in this county was that conducted by Capt. Charles M. Weber in the early '60s in irrigating lands on the south side of the Calaveras River. In 1886 Byron Beckwith conceived the idea of irrigating the land south of the Mokelumne River, and hav- ing that object in view he filed a claim of 150,000 cubic inches of water to be taken from the Mokelumne River at or near Woodbridge and carried in ditches to about 100,000 acres of land in that district. In 1888 he enlisted Ben A. Laws in the project and a dam was constructed at Woodbridge and forty miles of canal planned. One branch ran to New Hope and the main branch, ten miles in length, ran towards the Calaveras River with that river as an outlet. In the fall of 1891 everything

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was complete and November 12 the day of the great celebration when the water for the first time would be turned into the canals. A bar- becue preceded the opening of the head gates attended by over 3,000 people. At 11:30 the Stockton Board of Trade arrived, preceded by the Stockton band, and about 1 o'clock the entire party marched to the head gates. By- ron Beckwith, the founder of irrigation in San Joaquin County, opened the gates and the waters rushed into the canals. The crowd later returned to the tent. Judge James Swin- nerton, the president of the day, then intro- duced the orator, William H. Mills, land agent of the Southern Pacific, who delivered a schol- arly address.

Mokelumne City

Probably not one pioneer out of one hun- dred ever heard of Mokelumne City, and but few persons today could tell its location and yet when it was founded, near the junction of the Consumnes and Mokelumne Rivers, its prospects were bright as the second largest town in the county, for it had deep water communication with San Francisco all the year round, an advantage not possessed by any other town in the county except Stockton. Parties began moving there in 1850. In Au- gust of that year the town was surveyed and many lots sold to individual parties for homes and business purposes. During one week five schooners arrived, loaded with groceries, hard- ware and lumber. "Schooners were constantly arriving with goods," said a writer in the spring of 1860, "and the town is increasing in size wonderfully, and several brick and wooden buildings have been constructed." In August, 1861, the town, included twenty-three houses and a hotel, erected by George Keith at a cost of $5,000, with lots selling in price from $600 to $1,000 each. It was a town of just ten years of history, for all the inhabitants then moved to Lodi.

Linden

This little village, located in one of the prettiest sections of the county, amidst a for- est of giant oaks, was first located in 1849 by a teamster named William T. Treblecock. He was hauling freight to the mountain camps and one day during the winter, while driving on the Mokelumne Hill road, he mired in the mud near the present town of Linden. Going on a prospecting search for high land he found it at the locality named. The elevation being high, he believed it a good location for a stage and teamsters' station, and that fall he built there a public house, known as the Fifteen Mile House, at that time being about that dis- tance from Stockton. In time Treblecock sold the hotel to C. C. Rynerson, who had married Mary Wasley, a cousin of Mr. Treblecock.

Again the tavern was sold, together with con- siderable farming land, 1,500 acres to Samuel Forman. Forman took in as a partner to man- age the hotel Alexander C. Bertzhoff, who years after became one of the proprietors of the Stockton Independent. A general mer- chandising store was established there in 1856 by Thomas McCarter. He sold out in '57 to John Wasley and Rynerson, he and his brother, James Wasley, having bought land on that vicinity in 1852. In 1860 the store was sold to Edward Case and J. S. Smith, who sold to Prater & Aull. In 1861 the town boasted of Masonic, Odd Fellows and Temperance lodges, a hotel, three stores, postoffice, black- smith and wagon shop, schoolhouse, church and flour mill. In August, 1861, the town was surveyed by the county surveyor, George E. Drew, the block laid off together with six streets, the Mokelumne Hill road being the main street. The town was named Linden, a name suggested by John Wasley.

The first school in the district was on the Charles Hayden ranch and known as the Moore schoolhouse. In 1858 the Jefferson school district was formed and a school estab- lished in Linden. This building was destroyed by fire in 1864 and replaced by a much better school building, subsequently four other school buildings were erected, on the same site as the first house. Last year a handsome $20,000 brick building was erected and the contractor, John Lewis, was a former pupil in the school.

The citizenship of the Linden district has always been of a high standard, not only in politics but in temperance and morality. There was a reason, it was settled up by a high class of men and they would not tolerate any law- lessness in that community. There were never more than one or two saloons in Linden, and they were abolished as soon as it was lawfully possible. The first religious service in that section was held in the Moore schoolhouse in 1855 by the Rev. Thomas Barton, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The church was regularly organized at that time with the Rev. Ira Taylor as pastor. Two years later they erected a $2,000 house of worship.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, North, also had an organization at Linden with the Rev. H. L. Gregory as pastor, the church be- ing dedicated July 7, 1864.

The Catholics had an organization and edifice in Linden. Erecting a new church in 1884 it was dedicated in September by the Archbishop Patrick Riordan, assisted by the parish priest, Father Cassin.

Valley lodge No. 135, F. & A. M., was in- stituted July 27, 1858, with the following offi- cers: J. C. Pendegast, worthy master; J. C. Reid, senior warden; J. H. Cook, junior war- den; M. M. Gardner, secretary ; Thomas T. Wasley, treasurer ; W. B. Stamper, senior dea-

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con; J. S. Haines, junior deacon; William H. Russell, tyler, and the following additional charter members: J. H. Cook, J. E. Howland, Thomas T. Brook and J. W. Jarred.

The Odd Fellows lodge of Linden, Scio No. 102, was organized June 13, 1861, by Deputy District Grand Master Calvin C. Covell of Stockton. The following officers were elected and installed : John Wasley, noble grand; Thomas MacCarter, vice grand; Isaac Smith, secretary. The additional charter members included Charles W. Leach, Andrew Showers, C. W. Martin and Charles Oxtoby. All of these lodges met in the second story of the school building, but on the evening of Feb- ruary 11, 1865, while the Good Templar lodge was in session, the building caught fire from an overheated stove and was destroyed. The second story of the brick warehouse was then converted into lodge rooms and handsomely fitted up at a cost of $4,000. The Masons and Odd Fellows still occupy this hall. They have only a working membership, for the pio- neers are dead and the majority of the young men have moved away.

The Linden Flour Mill

The Linden flour mill, conducted under three different names, has had numerous change of owners. It was built in 1854 by John Doak and N. Burroughs and in 1857 they sold out to Rynerson & Wasley. In 1865 the mill was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt, again went up in smoke in 1868. In 1871 the Linden Flour Mill Company was organized and they erected a brick mill costing them about $35,000. The mill turned out 120 barrels of flour a day, but competition made the running of the mill a losing game and it has been idle many years.

Escalon

Before the advent of the railroad, the trav- eler in riding over the French Camp road to the Stanislaus River would notice far out on the plains a large two-story brick house. It was surrounded by trees and shrubs, barns, granaries, and was the only house for miles around. It was the home of "Johnny" Jones, who crossed the plains in 1852 and pitched his tent where Escalon now stands, the country at that time being Government land covered with sage brush. He acquired the amount of land alloted to actual settlers and started to farm it, planting the first grain ever grown in the Escalon country, seeding it broadcast and dragging it in with brush. The yield was heavy and sold for five cents a pound. He began raising cattle for market and purchasing more land until he possessed a small kingdom, 8,000 acres, a tract of land over three miles square. It was no unusual sight to see from six to twelve-horse teams plowing over the field where Escalon now stands. In 1867 he

built the brick house for his family residence at a cost of $12,000. The bricks used for it were made by his brother Richard, from a field east of Sexton station, on the Tidewater Railroad. In those days all freight carried from Stockton to the mines above Sonora went via the French Camp road, and many of the teamsters boarded and lodged at his farm. The plains were the homes of many antelope, which he often served on his table.

Escalon is a Spanish word meaning stepping stones. What relation it has to the town is difficult to imagine. James W. Jones, the founder of the town, is said to have seen the name in a book in the Stockton Free Library and pleasing him he gave the name to the place. His father died in 1893, leaving quite a fortune. He willed the old home place to James W., together with the adjoining 1,000 acres. The land at that time was not of any great value, but in the following year along came the Valley Railroad, recorded in another chapter, and the land began to increase in value. As soon as Mr. Jones was assured of the railroad crossing the land he engaged a surveyor and laid off the town. The boundary lines run nearly north, south, east and west, but the streets run diagonally, thus some blocks are square, others oblong, some are rectangular and several blocks are triangular in shape.

John McGinnis, in recording some of the first events in Escalon says, "In the month of August, 1894, I was accosted, in Stockton, by a promoter of the townsite, Mr. Harlon, and was prevailed upon to make the trip to Esca- lon. The four-horse stage was brought for- ward by the hostler and James Jones, popu- larly called 'Jim, 'took the ribbons. Leaving there about 9:00 o'clock A. M., driving out the old French Camp Road, we arrived at the Jones home place, the brick house, about noon. With hospitality, an attribute of the Jones family, we sat down to a feast, fit for a king, and did full justice to it. We afterwards walked over and viewed the townsite, east of the then only graded roadbed. It was graded by a railroad company called the 'Valley Road.' We then passed. through a thrifty vineyard, the very first vines to be propagated by Johnny Jones-'Jim's' father. We then passed the Jones' blacksmith shop just east, across the road from where the Tidewater de- pot is now located. I again visited Escalon in 1900. There was then a depot, a store had been built but had not opened for business, the pioneer saloon, and a temporary hotel on the Jackson property, also used as a dwelling and postoffice, Mrs. Jackson being postmis- tress."

As soon as the town was surveyed Mr. Jones built a good sized hotel to accommodate the

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prospective buyers who came by stage from Stockton, which was located about where the Presbyterian Church now stands. The first Santa Fe train rolled into Escalon in the spring of 1896. The postoffice and the first store were started by Mrs. Charles Jordan, wife of the station agent, on ground now occupied by the Tuolumne Lumber Company. The second store was built by Nelson Leighton, a large two-story building facing the railroad with a hall above used for social functions. Mr. Leighton installed in his store the first tele- phone switchboard in Escalon. The first warehouse was built by David L. Jones and John A. Coley in 1897, and another was built later by Haslacher & Kahn, of Oakdale. The first long distance telephone was installed in John Coley's residence; and he was the first real estate agent and grain dealer in the town, and built many of the dwellings for rent and sale.

The Escalon Commercial Club, formerly known as the Escalon Board of Trade, was or- ganized March 11, 1911, with the following of- ficers: A. St. John, president; C. H. Sheldon, vice-president; H. L. MacPherson, secretary ; and R. N. Haines, treasurer. They carried out successfully a Fourth of July celebration in 1913, were active in the formation of the irri- gation district, saw the Union high school erected, installed a lighting system; succeed- ed in getting the supervisors to lay some splendid streets, the town not being incorpor- ated, and held a successful community fair in 1917. The following are the past officers of the club elected in June, 1912: H. L. Mac- Pherson, president; S. J. Irvin, vice-president ; O. A. Fish, secretary; and W. F. Searcy, treasurer ; September 8, 1914, H. L. MacPher- son, president; J. H. Martin, vice-president ; E. W. Bidwell, secretary; A. Kerr, treasurer ; October 16, 1916, H. L. MacPherson, presi- dent; E. W. Bidwell, vice-president; H. L. Morgensen, secretary; and Dr. J. M. Carr, treasurer ; March 10, 1917, John R. Martin, president; S. R. King, vice-president; H. A. Bierschal, secretary ; and C. Moorehead, treas- urer.

The school was first opened near the cele- brated lone tree as early as 1878. It was in session only six months of the year, with an enrollment of 31 boys and girls, with an aver- age attendance of 15 pupils. After the. found- ing of Escalon the school district was divided, and a new district school started in the new town. The trustees of the new district, two of them, W. A. Owens and J. A. Coley, suc- ceeded in getting the people to bond the dis- trict for a small sum and the money was used in purchasing a lot about 1903 and erecting a two-room schoolhouse. The first teacher, Miss Stella Reynolds, had formerly taught the

Lone Tree school, with splendid success. The school has had a steady and substantial growth during the past decade and in 1914 it was found necessary to provide larger accom- modations for the pupils. The citizens cheer- fully voted more bonds, the present grammar school grounds were purchased and a hand- some building constructed of hollow tile. The number of scholars continued to increase and last year an additional four class rooms were built at a cost of $18,000. The entire building was then covered with mastic. One of the features of the additional rooms was an as- sembly hall seating about 400 persons which can be used as a public auditorium. Mrs. Grace Taylor Pearce has been principal for the past nine years and under her administra- tion the school has been placed on the accred- ited list of the county.

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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 57

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