San Joaquin County
Biographies
HARRY T. BAILEY.
Descended, on both his father's and his mother's side, from an honored ancestry prominent in Revolutionary days, and the son of one of Stockton's earliest settlers, Harry T. Bailey was born at Stockton, December 10, 1875. His parents were Andrew J. and Sarah J. (Allen) Bailey, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Connecticut. Both the Bailey and Allen families were prominent in colonial days, and were well-known for the aid they rendered during the American Revolution, the father being a direct descendant of Joseph Bailey and the mother a descendant of Ethan Allen. Both parents came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1852, and later were married here. For many years they were residents of Stockton, and there Mrs. Bailey died in 1908. She was prominent in the circles of Daughters of the American Revolution, and through her, as well as through his father, Harry T. Bailey is eligible to membership in the Sons of the Revolution. Coming to Stockton as one of its pioneer settlers, Andrew J. Bailey followed farming on a large scale and also mined in the mother-lode country, passing away in 1909 at the age of ninety-one. This pioneer couple were the parents of four children: Mrs. Lottie M. Walter, of Oakland; Ed. J., of Oakland; Phoebe, deceased at eighteen years of age; and Harry T., of this sketch.
Harry T. Bailey was educated in the schools of Stockton, Los Angeles and Pleasanton, and took a business course in Heald's Business College at San Francisco. At the age of eighteen he started in to earn his own living, and was assistant postmaster at Pleasanton and also employed as a drug clerk there. For two years, in 1896 and 1897, he was bookkeeper for the Abramosky Grocery Company at Jackson, Amador County, and then came back to Pleasanton, where for two more years he did clerical work. From there he went to San Francisco, where he was chief accountant with the Empire Laundry Company, and then with the Metropolitan Laundry Company, for four years. During the reconstruction period of San Francisco, after the disastrous fire, he was with the H. Rosenkranz Hardware Company as a salesman, and later was transportation manager of the Crown Columbia Paper Company of the bay metropolis. In 1909, he was appointed auditor of the Bay Cities Telephone Company of San Francisco, now the Pacific Telegraph & Telephone Company, remaining with them until he received a similar appointment with J. H. Adams of Los Angeles.
Coming to Lodi in 1912, Mr. Bailey engaged in the dairy business and in raising cattle, sheep and hogs on the Henry Beckman ranch. In 1920 he discontinued these lines in order to develop the ranch into vineyard and orchard property, planting 120 acres to Tokay grapes, thirty acres to wine grapes, seven acres to cherries, and ten acres to almonds and plums. He had become associated with the Superior Manufacturing Company in 1919, as its secretary, and this responsible post he resigned on December 9, 1922, in order to give closer attention to his fruit ranch and his other interests, among which is that of special representative of the New York Life Insurance Company; he resigned particularly in order to accept his present important position as field manager for the Woodbridge Fruit Company, under Freeman B. Mills. He is also director in the Beckman, Welch & Thompson Company of Lodi.
Mr. Bailey's marriage, which occurred in 1911 at Lodi, united him with Miss Eva M. Beckman, daughter of the late Henry Beckman, one of San Joaquin County's honored pioneers; and they are the parents of a son, Howard Lewis Bailey. Prominent in government activities during the World War, Mr. Bailey was a member of the Liberty Loan committee for Lodi, which covered eight square miles of territory. He is a member of the Lodi Rotary Club; the Moquelumne Club; Lodi Parlor, N. S. G. W.; the Elks Lodge, No. 218, of Stockton; and Woodbridge Lodge, No. 131, F. & A. M.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1115
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
JAMES A. ANDERSON.
A brief review of the success of James A. Anderson, one of the early settlers and developers of the San Joaquin Valley, who passed to his reward in December of 1905, is interesting in that it shows what may be accomplished by fair dealing, close application and unremitting industry. He was a native of Missouri, born in Livingston County on January 4, 1849, a son of James and Margaret (Scott) Anderson, farmers of that county, where he remained until 1874, when he removed to California. He located in Sacramento and entered the employ of the Williamson Company, proprietors of the Capital Nursery, and during the nine years that he worked for them, he gained a thorough knowledge of the business. During the year of 1883, he removed to Clements, San Joaquin County, and conducted a nursery business until 1887, when he moved to Lodi. There he leased a portion of the Stoddard place, northeast of Lodi, on the river; here he set out an orchard of peaches, plums, cherries and apricots, and many of these trees are still standing and producing crops each season. His nursery was on a part of the George E. Lawrence ranch adjoining, and a sales yard was maintained in Lodi. Mr. Anderson was a pioneer in the nursery business in San Joaquin County, as well as the first manager of the first packing-house in Lodi. When the Earl Fruit Company opened their packing-house in Lodi, he became their manager; this was in 1898. They occupied a part of the old freight depot as a packing-house. Mr. Anderson's duties were numerous and responsible, for he not only managed the packing-house, but was also outside man, buying fruit, covering the territory on a bicycle. After four years of service with the Earl Fruit Company, he established his own business in Lodi, as an independent packer and shipper, first packing his own fruit, and later packing and shipping for other growers. Twenty years ago the fruit industry was in its infancy and few cars were filled and shipped from Lodi; frequently a half-loaded car was sent on to Sacramento to be filled for shipment east. He erected a packing-house on East Oak Street and represented Sgobel & Day of New York; this plant was destroyed by fire in 1921, and on the same site a modern $20,000 packing plant was erected, constructed of hollow tile and with a cement cellar, one of the most complete packing plants in the valley.
Mr. Anderson's marriage united him with Miss Mary L. Hummer, a native of Illinois; and they are the parents of five children—four daughters: Alta; Hattie S.; Ora B., now Mrs. Charles L. Villinger; and Mary L., the wife of W. A. Spooner; and one son, James G. Since Mr. Anderson's death in December of 1905, the business has been carried on by his daughter, Miss Alta Anderson, and his son, James G. Anderson, and has grown from a small beginning to great proportions.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1116
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.