Merced County
Biographies
DON P. CROOKHAM
A business which was established at Atwater in 1918 and keeps up with the steady growth of the town, in fact keeps ahead of it by anticipating the wants of the people, is the Atwater Plumbing and Sheet Metal Works owned by Don P. Crookham. He employs two men in the conduct of his business and has unbounded faith in the future of the town as a good place for his business.
The eldest of four sons, Don P. was born in Phillipsburg, Kans., on April 28, 1884. The other boys are, Earl; Warren, who has been with our subject since he started his business; and Roe. Earl and Roe are also residents of California. The father, Perry J. Crookham, in his younger days was a school teacher, but for over forty years he has been a successful contractor and builder in Kansas and Missouri. During the World War he was engaged in building dry docks on the Atlantic Coast for the United States government. His wife was Olive King, born in Iowa; she died in April, 1904. Don P. was educated in the public schools and grew up to learn the trade of carpenter with his father. At the age of eighteen he had charge of a crew of twenty men and was engaged in railroad work for six years. In 1908 he came West to Los Angeles and spent four years in the traffic department of the Los Angeles Electric railroad; then he was foreman for the Richard-Neustadt Construction Company, and was also employed by the Selig Polyscope Company, spending two years altogether with these concerns. In 1915 he was interested in a twenty-acre ranch at Winton and came north at that time. He was employed by the California State Highway Commission in the bridge building department in Mariposa County, only to leave them to engage in business for himself at Atwater.
Mr. Crookham was married in 1905 in Norton, Kans., to Miss Margaret Rodell, the eldest of three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Rodell, now of British Colony, Merced County. She was reared in Kansas and was a school teacher in that State. They have seven children: Russell, in the Merced High School, class of 1925; Paul, in the class of 1926; Doris and Mildred, grammar school pupils; and Helen, Wayne and Norma Lee. Mr. Crookham is a charter member of the Atwater Camp, Woodmen of the World; also of the Atwater Pentacost Club Association, and of the Atwater Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Atwater volunteer fire department and is a supporter of all public movements to keep Atwater on the map.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 848-849
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
GUST T. PAPPAS
As far as lies in the power of any one individual Gust T. Pappas illustrates in his life the dominant characteristic of the ancient and honorable race from which he sprung. "He who does the best his circumstances allow, does well, acts nobly; angels could no more." It is no small achievement for a foreigner, unacquainted with our language, to come here with limited means and in a few years establish the leading business in his line in a thriving city like Merced and win general respect and honor for his public spirit and interest in every movement that promises to make for the progress and welfare of the community.
Gust T. Pappas, proprietor of the French Grocery Company, in Merced, is a native of Greece, born in May, 1888. His parents, Theodore and Asfacia Pappas, are still living in their native land. The father was in the grocery business but is at present retired. That the son should follow the business of his father might be expected, but it was not until after he had encountered varied experience in various places. His early education was acquired in the public schools, after which he was employed in a drug store in Constantinople. As a foreigner, under the Turkish law, he was not permitted to extend his business outside of chemicals. After five years he returned to Greece to go into the grocery business. The lure of the great West was drawing him as it has so many of his countrymen, and 1907 found him in the State of Washington, where he found occupation in various places until 1910, when he went to San Francisco and engaged in a grocery business under the name of The French Grocery Company, until 1919, when he came to Merced and established a branch of the San Francisco store in company with P. Krekos, whom he eventually bought out; he is now the sole owner. It is one of the finest stores of the kind in California.
Mr. Pappas married Miss Anna Etchegaray. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Lions Club. As a loyal American he is a Republican. He is devoted to his business and to the interests of Merced City and County.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 849-850
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
BENNETT M. JOHNSTON
A young man who occupies a prominent position in society in Atwater, and who is highly esteemed for his enterprise and business integrity, is Bennett M. Johnston, the youngest child of W. H. and Clara Johnston, whose sketch is given in another place in this book. He was born in Berryessa Valley, Napa County, on May 17, 1898, and was educated in the common schools and in the Merced High School. He was reared on the ranch near Atwater. Soon after leaving the school room, in 1918, he engaged in the dray and transfer business and made a splendid success of it, developing the Atwater Transfer Co., and operating a fleet of five motor trucks and employing five men steadily. He dealt in hay, coal and wood, and his trucks made bi-weekly trips to Stockton with produce, returning with freight for local merchants. In January, 1925, Mr. Johnston sold his dray business to devote his time to the office of peace officer of Atwater, to which position he had been elected in 1922.
Bennett M. Johnston was married on January 17, 1923, to Miss Margaret Howard, daughter of Anne Howard, of Arbuckle. She was born in Winters, Yolo County, and was in charge of the Arbuckle public library. Mrs. Johnston is one of the charter members of the Atwater Women's Club. Mr. Johnston is owner of valuable realty holdings in Atwater. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E., both at Merced; and of the Atwater Booster Club.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 850
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler