San Diego County
Biographies
WILLIAM H. BALDRIDGE
was born at Wapello, Iowa, in the year 1850.
At the age of fourteen he entered a drug store in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to learn
the business, where he remained four years, when he opened a drug store at Fort
Dodge, in the same State. In consequence of poor health he sold out after two
years, and went to Kansas, where for three years he was in the employ of the
Union Pacific Railway Company, in train service. He then went to Texas, and for
thee years was conductor on a passenger train on the Texas Pacific road. In 1877
he opened a drug store in Fort Worth, Texas, where he remained three yeas. In
consequence of an attack of “Texas fever,” he sold out his business and removed
to Kansas City, where he again engaged in the drug business. In October, 1887 he
came to Escondido, San Diego County, and once more engaged in his favorite
business, having now (January, 1890) the largest and best drug store in the
place. He has a large trade, which extends over the larger portion of the
surrounding country.
He was married November 25, 1873, to Miss Fannie H. White, daughter of F. White
of Wyandotte, Kansas. He has four children, three sons and one daughter. He is a
member of Escondido Lodge, No. 344, I.O.O.F.
An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. pp 368 Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben
G. C. ARNOLD
was born at Toulon, Illinois, July 13, 1846,
and came with his parents to California in May, 1853. For some months he lived
in Sonora, Stanislaus County, where his mother died. In the fall of the same
years his father moved to the Montezuma Hills, in Solano County, where he
engaged in stock raising. Here the subject of this sketch resided until 1876, a
portion of the time attending the University of the Pacific at San Jose, from
which he graduated in 1869.
While a student at the University he made the acquaintance of Miss S. J.
McConaughy, of Yreka, also a student, and October 10, 1870, they were married.
At the time of his marriage Mr. Arnold was engaged in farming , and continued in
the business until 1876, when, in consequence of the failing health of his
family, he sold his farm and moved to San Francisco, where he opened a money and
stock-broker’s office. Having heard much of the city of San Diego and its
advantageous location for commerce, etc., he visited the place in 1878.
Realizing the benefit that would accrue to the city by the advent of a railroad,
as soon as the A. T. & S. F. Co., made known its intentions to build its line to
that point, he removed to San Diego in 1880 and immediately opened a real estate
office. Although a stranger, he at once stepped to the front in the business and
is now January, 1890, the senior member of the firm of Arnold, Jerry & Mouser,
the oldest regular real-estate firm in the city He is also a trustee of the
Escondido Seminary and of the Ramona Seminary, and secretary of both boards of
the trustees. He was one of the originators of the University of Fine Arts, now
being erected on University Heights, which will be one of the finest educational
institutions of the Pacific coast. Mr. Arnold is an enterprising,
public-spirited man, as is shown by his having been prominently connected with
nearly every leading enterprise inaugurated in San Diego. He took an active part
in the Grange movement, and was a member of Denverton Grange of Sonoma for some
years. In October, 1887, he was elected a member of the city council of San
Diego and served until the adoption of the new charter in 1889. He is a member
of the Methodist Church, and is an active, earnest worker in every good work.
An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. pp 368-369 Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben