San Joaquin County
Biographies
JOSEPH N. ADAMS.
Joseph N. Adams was born at Pattonsville, Scott County, Va., on June 2, 1877, but was reared near Gate City, Va. His father, the Rev. James M. Adams, was not only a Methodist divine in that state, but was presiding elder of Abbington district, and became one of the locally famous men of the South. He was a noted debater, and was called before President U. S. Grant and his cabinet to preach a sermon. James M. Adams was born near Pattonsville, Scott County, Virginia, July 22, 1840. Although a Southern man, he was for the freedom of slaves and he espoused the cause of the Union. He was forced into the Southern Army, but left it and made his way to Kentucky and enlisted in the Union Army, in which he served until the close of the war. After the war he returned to the South, and feeling the call to preach, became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a member of the Masonic Order. He died on July 9, 1878. A monument was erected in his honor, and now stands in the beautiful public square at Pattonsville, an imposing and lasting memorial to one of the noblest Americans who contributed, by his industrious life and unselfish efforts, to make that portion of the United States a place worth living in. He was the father of nine children, of whom Joseph N. Adams is next to the youngest.
Joseph N. Adams attended the public schools. At the age of twelve years he worked in the Virginia logging camps for the meager salary of six dollars a month, and later he farmed and ran a hotel. In 1905, he came out to Stockton and worked for three months for the Southern California Traction Company, and for six months for the St. Clair Dry Goods Company, owned by Mr. Shields. When he had been there only three weeks, Mr. Shields made a trip East and put him in full charge of the store. The old employees did not like a new man over them, so he was obliged to discharge a number of the help to restore the necessary spirit of loyalty and cooperation. When Mr. Adams arrived in Stockton his cash capital was $110, but his prosperity today tells a far different and more enviable story.
Some fifteen years ago, he started in the real estate, loan and insurance business, in which he has been phenomenally successful. He is the owner of seven apartment houses in Stockton, three of which he has himself erected, and others of which he has remodeled. He also owns a ranch of 160 acres about nine miles southeast of Stockton, where he raises alfalfa and grain, and maintains a strictly sanitary dairy. He has been very successful in buying and selling real estate in Stockton, was one of the organizers of the Stockton Apartment House Owners' Association, and now acts as vice-president of that excellent organization.
When Mr. Adams married, he took for his wife Miss Myrtle G. Darter, also a native of Virginia, and with her co-operation he has become prominent in many fields, being, for example, one of the influential owners of the Stockton Home Investment Company. He was made a Mason in San Joaquin Lodge No. 9, F. and A. M. He is a member of Truth Lodge No. 55, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand, and also a member of Parker Encampment, and Rainbow Lodge of the Rebekahs, at Stockton, and of the Stockton Kiwanis Club. His wife is a member of the O. E. S. and the Rebekahs. Mr. Adams while living in Virginia had the courage of his convictions and was an avowed Republican, voting and preaching the doctrines of Lincoln and taking part in all activities of the party. Since coming to Stockton, he continues an ardent Republican but does not find it necessary to take the same active stand in politics. He is an advocate of good roads and public improvements and ready at all times to give of his time and means toward any movement that has for its aim the improvement and building up of the city of Stockton, San Joaquin County, and the State of California.
All in all, the life-story of Mr. Adams and his distinguished forbears presents much that may be inspiring to the American youth, and much that should steady and console those who fear, at times, for the future of social organizations long characteristic of our Republican country.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1343
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
CHARLES M. LONG.
The family name of Long is well-known throughout San Joaquin County, where Charles M. Long has passed his entire life, and where his parents lived for many years. He was born on the old Charles C. Long ranch at Waterloo on November 28, 1860. His father, Charles C. Long, was born October 20, 1835, in Schuylkill County, Pa., his parents being Michael and Barbara Long, both natives of Germany. They came to America in 1828 and settled in Pennsylvania, where Michael Long went to work in the coal mines, and afterward took up a coal claim from the government, but was unable to develop it because of a lack of funds. The mine afterwards became very valuable. He passed away in 1875. Charles C. Long was reared on a farm until eighteen years of age, when he learned the wagon-maker's trade. In 1855 he started for California via the Isthmus, and after forty days landed in San Francisco. He went to Sacramento, and then to Stockton, where he worked at his trade about five months. He then went to the mines in Siskiyou County, remaining eighteen months, and then to Trinity County, where he mined for about two years. In 1859 he returned to Stockton and started a wagon shop, which he ran for one year. Selling out his shop, he then located 160 acres on the Calaveras River, about ten miles from Stockton. After four years he sold the place and located on 220 acres on the Waterloo road. It was then covered with timber and underbrush, but in time became one of the best-improved farms in the county. In the fall of 1859, Mr. Long married Miss Rachel Meyers, a native of New Orleans. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are now living: Charles M.; Barbara, now Mrs. Charles Lydecker; Lucy, wife of James Main; and Frank, Henry, Joseph and Rosa. The father passed away at the age of fifty-six, and the mother died during February, 1921, at the age of eighty.
Charles M. Long attended the Greenwood district school and the Stockton Business College, and grew up on his father's farm, remaining at home until he was twenty-nine years old. He then took up the machinist's trade, working for Houser & Haines of Stockton for thirteen years, after which he was for two years with the Sampson Iron Works, an the construction department. When his father died, he located in Lodi and built a house on a three-acre vineyard about one-half mile east of the city, and here his mother resided with him until her death. In 1901, Mr. Long started his business of well-boring, and since then has sunk wells all over the county. Of late years most of the wells bored have been twelve-inch holes, rarely over 200 feet deep.
At Stockton, on March 3, 1889, Mr. Long was married to Miss Letitia Williamson, a native of Stockton, and daughter of Philander and Anna (Ingwood) Williamson. Philander Williamson came from Detroit, Mich., across the plains to California in 1852, his wife following the next year via Panama; and they settled in Stockton. They had a family of four children: Charles, Dean, George, and Letitia, the wife of our subject. The mother passed away at the age of thirty years, and the father at eighty-two years. Mrs. Long attended the old Vineyard school in Stockton. Mr. and Mrs. Long are the parents of three children: Rosa Bell, now Mrs. Bert Wakefield, a student of music in New York City; Ethel, now Mrs. Michelson, of Lodi; and Lowell Leland, at home. Mr. Long is a Democrat in national politics. Fraternally, he is a member of the Foresters of America.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1344
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.