San Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN KIRK BALDWIN.
A native son of California, whose father and mother were '49ers, is John Kirk Baldwin, a retired stockman and grain farmer residing on his fine ranch located on Baldwin's Lane four and half miles east of Stockton, where he has lived and labored for a quarter of a century. He was born at Knights Landing on the Sacramento River, July 3, 1859, his parents being John and Louisa (Kirk) Baldwin, both natives of Missouri, and pioneers of '49, represented on another page in this work. John Kirk was the second eldest of their eight children, five of whom grew to maturity. He was about one year old when his parents located in San Joaquin County. He received a good education in the Douglas district school of the county and as soon as his school days were over, he assumed his share of the ranch work, and the practical experience of those first years of training has since been invaluable to him. Besides assisting his parents, when he was sixteen years old, Mr. Baldwin started out and farmed for himself. He rented a section of railroad land near Bellota, in 1875, where he raised grain and later also engaged in stockraising. Meeting with success he leased 160 acres of land adjoining so he operated 800 acres, continuing here from 1875 until 1905, when he gave up his lease, though the railroad company begged him to remain. Meanwhile he had purchased 160 acres in Calaveras County, which he kept for twenty years and then sold it at a profit. He had also purchased ten acres of the old Cochrane place seven miles west of Stockton, which he owned for fourteen years and sold at a profit. In 1903 he had purchased twenty acres of raw land and in 1905 he quit grain raising on a large scale to locate on this ranch in order to improve it to alfalfa and engage in dairying. In 1922 Mr. Baldwin sold the stock to give all of his time to raising hay and poultry.
In San Jose on November 28, 1911, Mr. Baldwin was married to Miss Myrtie L. Berry, a native of Strafford, N. H., of English descent, a daughter of Hiram D. and Letitia (Smith) Berry, born in New Hampshire. Her father was an operator in a shoe manufacturing establishment. Mrs. Baldwin before her marriage was a school teacher and Grandfather Jacob Smith was an old time school master and teacher of penmanship. Mrs. Baldwin's mother passed on when she was but eleven months old. Her brother, Adelbert C. Berry, who lives on a ranch on the Durham Ferry Road near Lathrop, came to California, on his way to the Klondike, in 1898. His sister Myrtle joined him in Stockton on May 13, 1906, where she met Mr. Baldwin. She has been a member of the Concord, N. H.. Lodge of Rebekahs since 1897. Mr. Baldwin's business career has been marked with sterling success and in a county where he has so long made his home he has gained for himself an honorable name.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1292
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
JOHN H. FAGG.
A man who has demonstrated his executive ability in many positions is John H. Fagg, the district manager of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of Stockton, whose jurisdiction includes all of San Joaquin County and parts of adjoining counties, extending from Jackson to Tracy, Byron, Brentwood and the Delta section and as far north as Galt. He was born in St. Paul, Minn., December 31, 1883, and he was three years old when his parents arrived in California. He was educated in the public schools of Sacramento and Placer counties; later he took an engineering course in the Polytechnic school of San Francisco. His electrical career started in 1905 when he began working for the Central California Electric Company at Auburn, Cal. Starting at the bottom he worked his way up step by step to his present important position. After a short time he was transferred to Alta, Placer County, and became foreman; later was sent to Sacramento as division foreman and later construction foreman at Sacramento. In 1906 the company's name was changed to the California Gas & Electric Company; then in 1909 it was merged with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. In 1914 he came to Stockton and was put in charge of the operation and maintenance department; later he became assistant manager of the San Joaquin district, in charge of the electrical department. On December 1, 1920, upon the resignation of J. W. Hall, Mr. Fagg assumed charge of all the activities of the big corporation in the San Joaquin district. Always courteous and affable, Mr. Fagg makes friends wherever he is.
Mr. Fagg's marriage occurred in 1914 and united him with Miss Marie C. Harney, a native of Lodi, Cal., her parents being pioneers of the Golden State. They are the parents of two sons, James B. and John H. He is a charter member of the Lions Club of Stockton and of Morning Star Lodge No. 68, F. and A. M.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1295
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
JOHN FERGUSON.
A very interesting pioneer of San Joaquin County who was highly esteemed by his generation and whose memory will always be honored by all who know of his good works, is the late John Ferguson, who was a native of Belfast, Ireland. and came out to America in 1833 as a young man, settling in Pennsylvania. He was a tailor by trade and established a tailoring business at Mauch Chunk, Pa., from which place he set out in 1851 for California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, leaving his family back in Pennsylvania. He proceeded to the Southern mines and mined on Woods Creek, and became interested in placer mining at Chinese Camp and Jimtown for three years. Returning East to his family, he came back to Stockton in 1865 and then established a tailoring business, which he conducted until the time of his death in 1896, at eighty-two years of age, well known among the pioneers and gold miners of the early days of California. He had numerous friends and was highly respected. Mr. Ferguson's first marriage occurred in Belfast, Ireland, and he and his wife came to Pennsylvania with their children in 1833. He had learned his trade, that of a tailor, in Belfast, and was a very thorough workman. He was a leading tailor in Stockton, and many of the leading business and professional men were his customers. Mrs. Eliza Ferguson died in Pennsylvania and left three children: William Ferguson was born in Belfast, Ireland. and was married in Canada to Mary Martha Wainwright, born in England. He came to California in 1878, later removing to the state of Washington, where he died in 1918. Six of his children are still surviving. John died at Orangeville, Canada, where for many years he was engaged in the tailoring business. He also left a large family, Elizabeth became Mrs. William Carson of Buffalo, N. Y., and she is still living. She had three children. John Ferguson married his second wife in Stockton, but no children were born to their union.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1295
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.