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 88

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 88

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

business and continued his residence there until his death on January 16, 1909.

The marriage of Mr. Fabian occurred in San Fran- cisco and united him with Miss Annie Schwartz, and they were the parents of two sons and two daugh- ters, the eldest son being the efficient business man- ager of the large store in Tracy. Mr. Fabian was a devoted husband and father; his recreation was spent in his splendid gardens surrounding his home in San Francisco, where the many wonderful colors and shades of carnations grew to perfection, among them being many prize winning ones. He was a Republican of the stanchest party loyalty. As early as 1877 he offered to the man who could plan a suc- cessful system of irrigation, as compensation, every other acre of land that he possessed, and they were extensive even in those early days; however, there was no one to plan the system, and Mr. Fabian, him- self, was a prime factor in the struggle for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley.

Many public and charitable institutions have reason to be grateful that such a liberal and broad-minded citizen and captain of industry existed, not only as one of the pillars upholding the financial and indus- trial world, but as one of those who dispensed wisely the profits which his life of diligence and high ability had accumulated. Fraternally he was among the oldest members of the Sumner Lodge of Odd Fellows, which was founded in the old town of Ellis many years ago.

WILLIAM J. ROBINSON .- One of the well known and enterprising citizens of San Joaquin County, William J. Robinson, has for the past twen- ty-five years continuously resided in the Lodi section. A native of California, he was born in San Fran- cisco on January 10, 1859, on the exact ground where fifty-six years later was held the great Panama- Pacific Exposition. His father, Francis H. Robin- son, was born in Indiana and crossed the plains to California during the year 1857, while his mother, who was Rebecca T. Cooper before her marriage, was born in Kentucky and came to California via the Isthmus of Panama in 1858. His father conducted a dairy where our subject was born; and was also a contractor and laid the first brick in the old fort at Fort Point, fronting on the Golden Gate. Mr. Robinson was married in Louisville, Ky., about 1847, and three daughters were born before coming to California and four children in California, of whom three are living.

When William J. was ten years of age, the family removed to Antioch, Contra Costa County, and there finished his schooling and later engaged in farming and stock raising. During the year of 1892 he removed to Lathrop, San Joaquin County, and for eighteen years engaged in farming; in 1900 he re- moved to Lodi and settled on a dairv ranch east of the city, which he conducted until 1906 when he sold it. He then established a feed and fuel business in Lodi, first on Pine Street and later on East Lodi Avenue under the firm name of W. J. Robinson Company, and later his son Willard J., and son-in- law E. L. Weaver became his partners. About two years later Mr. Weaver withdrew from the firm. Mr. Robinson started his business in a small way with little capital, and when he sold the business in 1920 he had built up a large and successful enter- price. A few years previous he had erected a modern plant of concrete blocks covering a considerable area

516

HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

and in selling out he retained his building, selling only the stock and goodwill, which he still owns in partnership with his son.

Mr. Robinson married Miss Helen Johnson, a na- tive of Missouri, but a resident of this state since the age of five years, and they are the parents of two children: Willard J. is a member of the firm of Rob- inson & Lyon, owners and proprietors of a sporting goods house in Lodi, and has one son, William Em- ery; Bira T. is Mrs. E. L. Weaver of Lodi; she was formerly a teacher in Inyo County, and has three children: Leroy, Kenneth and Ralph. Fraternally Mr. Robinson is a member of the Lodi Lodge No. 259, I. O. O. F., joining that order in Antioch, Cal., when a young man. He and his family are members of the Congregational Church of Lodi. Broad-minded and progressive, he has always adhered strictly to high principles in business matters as well as in per- sonal conduct.

W. E. GIBBONS, M. D .- When, on November 21, 1920, Dr. W. E. Gibbons breathed his last, at St. Joseph's Hospital, Stockton, California lost one of its most distinguished men of science and the United States one of its most loyal and worthy citizens, for he was dean of the medical profession of San Joaquin County, and beloved by a legion of steadfast friends in this and neighboring counties. He had entered upon the practice of medicine in San Francisco in the late '70s, and in the early '80s he had established his offices in Stockton.

Dr. Gibbons was born in Missouri in 1841, and when twenty-two years of age he came to California. For a while he worked at the harness-maker's trade, and then he became attached to the City and County hospital staffs of San Francisco, by whom he was kept busy for six years, during which time his natural talents impressed his associates, and won for him a high place in their esteem. Acting on their advice to take up the profession of medicine, he en- tered St. Mary's College, at San Francisco, and there for two years followed their prescribed course; later he took a medical course in the University of Cali- fornia, and later still special studies in the Uni- versity of the Pacific. In 1878, he first hung out his shingle as an M. D .; two years later, he removed to Sutter Creek, in Amador County, and after. an- other two years he joined the fraternity at Stockton.

Throughout his long professional career he was most zealous in the advancement of his professional attainments, and he enjoyed the highest standing among medical men in this and other counties. Though he enjoyed a very lucrative practice, how- ever, and was ever engaged, he found time to do good deeds and to shower kindnesses and benevol- ences wherever he knew there was need of them. His natural benevolence, cheery presence, kindly wit, democratic characteristics won for him the affection of all with whom he came in contact, and wherever Dr. Gibbons' name was spoken, it was in terms of affection and respect. Ever since his earliest resi- dence here, Dr. Gibbons in particular was prominent in the social, fraternal and political life of the com- munity. He served as county health officer, city health officer, and at various times was consulting physician to boards and hospitals. Standing high in professional attainments, possessed of all the at-

tributes that typify the highest manhood, and benev- olent in the extreme, he endeared himself to the hearts of all who came to know him well.

About forty-eight years ago, Dr. Gibbons married Miss Mary Agnes Rowley of San Francisco; and he was granted the inestimable blessing of her companionship until a few years ago, when she breathed her last. A sole survivor is his daughter, Mrs. John Raggio, also an esteemed citizen, and a worthy representative of this well-known pioneer.

NEIL B. FABIAN .- A worthy representative of that honored class of Californians who are native sons of the state and who have throughout their active careers been closely and usefully identified with the welfare of their respective communities, Neil B. Fabian has been a resident of San Joaquin County since 1917, and is a prosperous agriculturist. He was born in San Francisco on October 14, 1895, a son of Philip and Annie (Schwartz) Fabian, natives of Zempleberg, Germany, and California, respect- ively. The father, who died in 1909, became a pro- gressive citizen of San Joaquin County and his inter- esting life sketch can be found on another page in this work.

Neil B. Fabian began his education in the public schools of San Francisco and from the grammar school entered the Polytechnic high school where he completed the course in three and a half years; then entered the employ of Baker & Hamilton, San Fran- cisco, where he remained for another year; then he entered the agricultural branch of the University of California at Davis, spending two and a half years in the study of animal husbandry, horticulture and agriculture. In 1917 he leased thirty acres of the A. Grunauer ranch on Union Isle, where he planted pink beans, which yielded twenty-two sacks to the acre, each sack averaging 100 pounds, for which he received eight cents per pound, a result most grati- fying. The next year he located on 160 acres of his father's estate south of Tracy and there has erected a fine residence and substantial ranch build- ings. Mr. Fabian has experimented on thirty acres of his land with Peruvian alfalfa which was seeded in February, 1921, and the same year harvested 160 tons of hay; this year his expectations are that the acreage will yield 275 tons. In time, Mr. Fabian . expects to seed the entire 160 acres to alfalfa; he is also establishing a thoroughbred stock and hog busi- ness and is rapidly shaping his ranch to be one of the show places of Central California. Thus, Mr. Fabian has demonstrated the wisdom of scientific farming methods properly and intelligently applied.

The marriage of Mr. Fabian occurred at Tracy and united him with Miss Lorraine Ritchey of Seattle, the accomplished daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Ritchey. Mr. Fabian is an active member of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau and is now serving his third term as secretary of the local bureau at Tracy; he is also a director in Division No. 5 of the West Side Irrigation district; fraternally he belongs to Sumner Lodge I. O. O. F. of Tracy and the Moose fraternity of Stockton. The work which his father inaugurated in behalf of this county in pioneer times he carries forward and he is today classed with the leading agriculturists of his locality.

- --

Neil 12 Fabian

519

HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

MILTON JASPER MOWRY .- Among the hon- ored pioneers of the '70s of San Joaquin County is Milton Jasper Mowry, who has made his home in the county since 1873. He is, therefore, familiar with many of the events which shaped the early history of the state, has witnessed much of its trans- formation and growth, and in all these years has been loyal to its best interests. He was born near Cin- cinnati, Ohio, November 18, 1853, a son of Lazarus, born 1831, and Electa (Morgan) Mowry, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. There were nine sons in the family, three of whom are living: Milton Jasper, our subject, Grant and John. In 1854 the family moved to Iowa. In 1861 they moved to Illinois, and in 1866 to Missouri. On March 6, 1873, the family left Shelby County, Mo., for Cal- ifornia on an emigrant train, which took eleven days from Omaha, Nebr .. The fare was $61.50 and was a hard, tiresome trip, there being no sleeping cars in those days. At the time of their arrival in Moke- lumne Station, now Lodi, there were very few resi- dents in the place and the country surrounding was covered with liveoak brush. The business portion of Lodi was composed of Brown's livery stable, three saloons, the Spencer hotel, Hill's jewelry store, John Bell's barber shop, and Smith's butcher shop. After a year, the father purchased fifty acres known as the Dr. Pitcher place, just north of town, for which he paid $1,050, with a cow and a span of mustangs thrown in to complete the sale. In 1876 the father set out a vineyard, one of the first in that section, and there he lived until the time of his death in 1915, at the age of eighty-four, while the mother passed away at the age of seventy-four. The father was a Civil War veteran, having served in an Illinois regiment. He and his wife were devout members of the Methodist Church.

Milton Jasper Mowry had few of the advantages afforded young men at the present day, but his early privileges were supplemented by the knowledge and training gained from practical experience in a busy life. His first job was grubbing out willows on the Ed. Bryant ranch; then to Staten Island where he planted barley on the Falkner-Styles ranch; then he went to Butte County where he worked for Albert Woods for a time. He and his brother George conducted a butcher shop at Lockeford for six years, then one in Lodi for three years. In the early '80s he located in Tulare where he ran a butcher shop for thirteen years, then he removed to Stockton and engaged in the livery business for twenty-two years, his first stable being at El Dorado and Sonora streets, the second, Pat Field's stable, the third was on Hun- ter Street, the fourth, the old Sonora stable, and the fifth the Golden Gate on Hunter Street. He then bought a forty-acre ranch six miles southeast of Stockton, which he farmed for two years together with 200 acres adjoining. Returning to Stockton in 1912, he traded his ranch for Lincoln Street prop- erty which he still owns. He also owns the Blake stable and later bought the old Wolf stable at Cali- fornia and Main streets. Three years ago he entered the butcher business in Stockton and now conducts the meat market at the corner of Weber Avenue and Aurora Street.

Mr. Mowry has been married twice, the first time on July 18, 1877, to Miss Nellie Pygall, and they were the parents of five children: the only one living

is Walter, who has been associated with his father in business many years; he lives in Stockton, is mar- ried and has two sons. Mrs. M. J. Mowry passed away in 1909. They adopted three baby girls, unre- lated, reared and educated them to womanhood. Corinne is Mrs. George Newcomb and they have two children: Vera is a bookkeeper with the H. C. Shaw Company; and Evelyn is a student in the Stockton high school. Mr. Mowry's second marriage united him with Miss Helena Robinson on May 15, 1910. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fel- lows Lodge No. 11.

JAMES CALVIN MCCOWN .- A well-known and highly respected Grand Army man whose residence in California covered a period of forty-six years, was the late James Calvin McCown. He was born in Ohio in 1839 and there grew to young manhood and married. During the Civil War he enlisted in Com- pany C, Eleventh Regiment, New York Volunteer Cavalry, and served until the conclusion of the war. After the war he removed with his wife to Colorado where he engaged in the general merchandise busi- ness in Erie, a small town near Denver, until 1876, when they came to California and located in Mendo- cino, later going to Eureka, Humboldt County, where he conducted a merchandise store. Later Mr. McCown conducted hotels at Sisson, at the base of Mt. Shasta, Siskiyou County, and at Adin near Al- turas, Modoc County. In 1895 the family located at Stockton and Mr. McCown retired from active busi- ness cares. He passed away on February 26, 1922, and his wife, Electa Ann McCown, survived him until May 10, 1922. This worthy couple are survived by four children: William E., the eldest child, was born at Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa, December 16, 1869. He received a good public school education and fin- ished with a course in a commercial college in Stock- ton. He was married in Stockton, October 19, 1911, to Miss Eva S. Church, born at Farmington, Cal., a daughter of M. M. and Sivilla Ann Church, pioneer residents of the Farmington section of San Joaquin County. The mother, Mrs. Church, died in March, 1920; the father is still living. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. William McCown: Wil- liam E., Jr., and Edna Birdena. William E. Mc- Cown is a Mason and a past grand and past chief patriarch of the I. O. O. F. The other surviving sons are Nathaniel T. and Edwin L., Nathaniel T. was born in Iowa in 1871, and is now clerk in the freight office at Stockton for the Southern Pacific. He was public administrator of San Joaquin County for one term. Edwin L. was born at Adin, Modoc County, Cal., September 7, 1880. He received his education in the public schools of Modoc County and when twelve years of age began to make his own living by delivering newspapers; in 1898 he learned the boilermaker's trade and for the past seven years has been conducting his own business. Mary E., the only daughter, was born in Erie, Colo., and received her education in California schools. In Stockton on June 3, 1902, she was married to Wil- lard Loveland, a native of California, who passed away in March, 1909. The third son, James Calvin, Jr., died April 30, 1917, thirty-eight years old. He was a linotype operator and a law student at the time of his death.

520

HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

ROBERT L. GRAHAM .- Prominently identified with the development and progress of modern Cali- fornia the late Robert L. Graham was one of the most prominent and representative citizens of the Lodi section of San Joaquin County, where his life was so ordered as to gain and retain the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen. He was born Decem- ber 16, 1855, on the old Graham homestead south- east of Lodi, where the A. E. Angier home now stands, and was a son of Robert L. Graham and his wife, Caroline Roe (Stokes) Graham, both na- tives of Kentucky. The father was born December 27, 1826, his parents being Levy and Mary (Tatum) Graham, natives of North Carolina. The maternal great-grandfather of our subject, Thomas Tatum, was a teamster in the Revolutionary War. Grandfather Graham' was a farmer by occupation and emigrated from North Carolina to Kentucky with his father, when a small boy, remaining there owning land until about 1860, when his wife died and he sold out and went to Missouri; there he remained but a short time, when he went to Arkansas, where he died in 1881 at the age of eighty-six years. The father re- mained at home with his parents until twenty-four years of age, then, February 22, 1852, he left for Mis- souri, where he remained for one year, when he crossed the plains to California, arriving in San Joaquin Valley September 2, 1853. In 1847 he was married to Miss Caroline Roe Stokes, whose grand- father was a fifer in the Revolutionary War. Arriv- ing in San Joaquin County he purchased a claim of a man named Adams, situated nine and a half miles from Stockton and five miles from what is now Lodi. He sold the place in 1857 and went down to the - Lower Sacramento Road, where he purchased 200 acres where he had stock. He remained there until the fall of 1862, when on account of flood he came back and purchased again near the old place. Not long afterwards, however, he traded that for 300 acres, ten miles from Stockton and five miles from Lodi, on the Cherokee Lane Road. He was a pioneer in agriculture, there being only three farms under plow before he settled here. Four chil- dren were born to this worthy pioneer couple; Rob- ert L., our subject; Surelda, Mrs. A. M. Hale of Ama- dor County; Della, Mrs. C. Hull; Eugene D., the county clerk of San Joaquin County.

The first twenty-five years of Robert L. Graham's life was spent on his father's farm. When he was twenty-six years old he came to Lodi and started to work in a drug store owned by Byron Beckwith. He received his grammar school education at the lit- tle red schoolhouse at Live Oak and was graduated from a college at Stockton, then passed the state board examination and became a licensed pharmacist. At this time there were only three business houses and a few dwellings in Lodi and much of the site of the present city was covered with brush and scrub oaks. The first drugstore Mr. Graham owned was on Elm Street on the corner of Sacramento and at this location he served as postmaster and postal telegraph and telephone operator; later he moved his old store and built a brick structure. Sacra- mento Street was at that time nothing more than a road through the tangle of brush. Little business was done in those days, and Mr. Graham often said that if he had five or six customers a day he thought he was doing well. He was in business for forty-one years and was located on the corner of Elm and

Sacramento streets all of that period. The first long distance telephone and the first telephone exchange in the town were placed in his store and he also had the first postal telegraph office, and after learning the code, he sent, received and delivered all mes- sages in Lodi for a long time.

On June 22, 1886, occurred the marriage of Mr. Graham and Miss Sarah J. Schu, a native of Mis- souri, a daughter of John Adam and Frances J. (Martin) Schu. Her father was a native of Alsace- Lorraine, who came to the United States when a young man, first settling in New York, later going to Illinois and still later to Missouri. When Mrs. Graham was three years old her parents came to California settling at Woodbridge where they re- mained for three years; from there the family re- moved to Galt where they lived for a short time; then removed to Biggs where the father followed his trade of shoemaker; then he followed his trade in Oroville for a short time, then moved his family back to San Joaquin County where he passed away at the age of sixty-three; the mother still living in Sacramento at the age of eighty. There were seven children in the family: Josephine, John and Aggie are all deceased; Sarah J., Mrs. Graham; Charles and Robert reside in Sacramento and Etta is de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Graham were the parents of two daughters, LaRelda Roe, Mrs. R. L. Patton, of Lodi, and Gladys Frances, Mrs. Oscar H. Wood, of Lodi, has one daughter, Janis Maurine. Mr. Graham was the owner of an eighty-five-acre ranch in the Elliott district of north San Joaquin County. For the past thirteen years, a niece, Miss Marion Schu, the daughter of Charles Schu, has made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Graham. She attended the Lodi high school and is now employed by the First Na- tional Bank of Lodi. Mrs. Graham is a past grand of the Pythian Sisters lodge of Lodi and is a mem- ber of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs and of the Lodi Woman's Club. Mr. Graham was en- joying his first vacation in thirty-five years, in the Yosemite Valley where he was stricken and passed away on June 20, 1922, before any assistance could be rendered him. He was a charter member and past chancellor commander of the Lodi Knights of Pythias; the Foresters of America, and was also a member of Lodi Parlor No. 18, N. S. G. W. He was widely known and esteemed and had many ex- cellent traits of character which endeared him to a large circle of friends, and in his death the community deplored the loss of an enterprising business man and honored citizen who for many years had wit- nessed the county's growth and had contributed in no small way to its development and substantial upbuilding.

CHARLES W. HUNTING .- The distinction of being a native of California and the son of a Cali- fornia pioneer belongs to Charles W. Hunting of Lodi. He was born on Roberts Island, San Joaquin County, on October 25, 1882, a son of Luther and Marietta (Peters) Hunting, the former a native of Iowa and the latter of California. His father crossed the plains to California in 1863 and located near Acampo and engaged in farming pursuits. Charles Hunting, the grandfather, brought his family in 1863 and became the owner of 640 acres of land near Acampo. There he spent the balance of his days, raising grain and stock. Luther Hunting in-

523

HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

herited 80 acres and set 32 of it out to vineyard. Charles W. is the youngest of a family of four chil- dren, the others being Mrs. H. Smithson, Edward, deceased, and Mrs. J. A. Carroll. His father died in 1907, aged about 63.

Charles W. was educated in the district schools and the Stockton Business College. After finishing his course at these he returned to the home ranch and further improved the property his father had begun. Later he became a clerk in a grocery store in Acampo and in 1913 removed to Lodi and found employment with the City Fuel & Ice Company. By close application he steadily advanced until in 1918 he was made manager of the company, which was originally established by the late Charles Sollars many years ago and in 1918 was purchased by the City Fuel & Ice Company; this company also operates a bottling works. Mr. Hunting's degree of success has been accomplished by hard work and a determination that tolerates no defeat.

Mr. Hunting's marriage, November 8, 1908, united him with Miss Mary Vest, a native of Missouri, and they are the parents of three children, Josephine, Warren, and Kenneth. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Fraternal Brotherhood; in local affairs he belongs to the Lodi Business Men's Club. Public- spirited and willing at all times to support measures for the advancement of his native county, Mr. Hunt- ing can be counted upon to lend a hand for the wel- fare of county and city.

WILLIAM H. THRUSH .- A California agricul- turist who well has merited, by his progressive, sci- entific industry and his practical results of value to others as well as himself, all the prosperity which has finally crowned his efforts up to the present day, is William H. Thrush, whose splendid ranch on the Waterloo Road has become as fine a demonstration as would be possible of the productivity of San Joa- quin County soil. A native son, he was born in the Harmony Grove district of this county, one mile west of the Harmony Grove schoolhouse, on March 14, 1864, the only son of George and Dora Elizabeth (Ebeling) Thrush, both now deceased.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 88

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