San Joaquin County

Biographies

CHARLES W. THOMAS.

        Well known in San Joaquin County, not only for his successful participation in building operations, but also as a prominent Mason, is Charles W. Thomas, who is now the manager of the Sciots Club of Stockton. His birthplace is Clifton Hill, Mo., where he was born August 4, 1868, a son of Wayne and Martha (McDavitt) Thomas, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri. Wayne Thomas was a grower of large quantities of tobacco in the South until 1874, when he arrived in California, settling at once in San Joaquin County, where he rented land which he farmed to grain. The ranch was known as the Brick ranch and is located near Bellota; later he purchased twenty-five acres near Linden, where, with his son, Charles W., our subject, he planted an orchard of peaches, apricots and prunes and at the same time followed his trade of carpenter in the district. Wayne Thomas joined the Masonic order while residing in the East and upon taking up his residence in San Joaquin County he was demitted to the Linden Lodge. He was married three times. There were no children by the first wife and one daughter by the second wife, Mrs. Malinda Rose; there were five children by the third wife: Mrs. Lazetti Matlock; Mrs. Lulu Ilgenfritz; William B.; John J.; and Charles W. Wayne Thomas was a Mason for fifty years and he passed away in 1912; his wife is also deceased. Charles W. was educated in the Linden school and learned the carpenter's trade with his father and followed his trade in Linden and Stockton; he built the Linden Hotel and was proprietor for ten years. Three years ago he located in Stockton and was employed on the construction of the Masonic Temple.

        The marriage of Mr. Thomas united him with Miss Clara Bernasconi, a native of Calaveras County, Cal., and three children have been born to them: Martha J.; Viola Lulu; and Charles Clifton. Mr. Thomas has been a Mason for thirty years; he is past master of the Valley Lodge No. 135, of Linden; a 30th degree Mason Scottish Rite, and in January, 1922, he was appointed manager of the Sciots Club in Stockton. Mr. Thomas is energetic, progressive and practical, and is therefore meeting with well deserved success.

History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923

p     1191    

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.

ANDERSON ALLEN.

        A successful and enterprising rancher of San Joaquin County, residing about nineteen miles southeast of Stockton on the French Camp Road, is Anderson Allen, who owns his home ranch and is associated with his son in farming another. He has been a resident of California for the past forty-seven years and for the past fifteen years has been actively engaged in farming pursuits in San Joaquin County. He was born in Adams County, twenty miles south of Quincy, Ill., August 24, 1848. His father, Hiram Allen, was of Scotch parentage, born in Tennessee, where his ancestors were prominent in the early history of that state. He married Miss Kisiah Perrick, of Scotch descent, who was born in Kentucky. After marriage the young couple settled in Illinois, and in 1857 they removed to central Kansas, where he homesteaded 160 acres and resided there many years; then the family removed to Council Grove, Kans., and the father passed away in 1886 at this place, the mother surviving him until 1913. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters. Anderson Allen received his education in the schools of Kansas, and in 1875 came to California and located at Visalia. For the following three years he worked at various places in the state, farming and then in the lumber camps of the Santa Cruz Mountains. In 1878 he located near Tracy, San Joaquin County, where he engaged in grain farming for three years with Mr. Geddes. In 1881 he removed to Byron, Cal., where he purchased 160 acres, and he farmed to grain and raised stock on this land for twenty-five years.

        On April 28, 1886, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Anna von Glahn, a native Californian born in San Joaquin County, a daughter of Christopher and Catherine (Boschen) von Glahn, both natives of Germany. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Allen: Alma V., Mrs. James Carter, resides at Manteca; William P. is deceased; and Arthur B. resides at home. Mr. Allen was especially interested in educational development and served as school trustee of the Excelsior district and was instrumental in organizing the Brentwood Union high school in 1905. In 1907 Mr. Allen sold his land at Byron and removed to San Joaquin County. Locating near Escalon, he purchased land and developed it, later selling it at a fair profit; thus he bought, developed and sold three different ranches. Ably assisted by their son, Mr. and Mrs. Allen are now busily engaged in improving land which Mrs. Allen inherited from her father's estate, and in making of it a model home ranch. Mr. Allen has made a close study of irrigation and is a stanch advocate of it, having demonstrated by years of experience the increased productivity of irrigated lands.     Mrs. Allen attended the Western Normal School at Stockton from 1881 to 1883 and taught in the public schools of the county for four years before her marriage. She takes a prominent part in the social affairs of the community.

History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923

p       1191  

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.

JAMES H. AUSTIN.

        Counted among the substantial citizens of the Summer Home district of San Joaquin County, James H. Austin was born at Irondale, Mo., April 7, 1860, a son of Rufus H. Austin, a native of Ohio. An uncle, Horace Austin, as a mere lad, served in the Seminole War in 1835; then in the war with Mexico he was captain in the U. S. Regulars, and in the Civil War served as captain in the 108th Illinois Volunteer Regiment from 1861 to 1865.

        In 1878 James H. Austin was graduated from the Waterman, Ill. high school; two years later he entered the college at Dubuque, Iowa, in the department of civil engineering, having earned his tuition as clerk in the employ of the C. B. & Q. R. R. He spent three years there, then became identified with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the operating department at San Francisco in 1882, where he worked for five years; then he was transferred to Santa Barbara, where he became station agent for the same company, this being the opening of the road; here he remained until 1894. He then became assistant to William Hood, chief engineer for the Southern Pacific, and for the following ten years was very active in this work. After the coast line from Santa Margarita to Santa Barbara was completed in 1901, Mr. Austin was sent to Ogden, Utah, where he was put in full charge of the east end of the thirty-mile trestle across Salt Lake out of Ogden, which was completed in May, 1902. From Ogden, Utah, he went to Sparks, Nev., and while here he decided to leave the service of the railroad. In 1900 he had purchased twenty acres of the Peter Clapp homestead in San Joaquin County at twenty-five dollars per acre, and desiring to locate on it and improve it, he gave up engineering work; later he purchased ten more acres, which he set to an orchard of almonds, peaches and apricots and a fine vineyard, all in full bearing now and highly productive.

        Mr. Austin was married in December, 1904, to Miss Mabel Temple, a native of Scotland, who had resided in California since 1896, and they have one son,

Neil T. Mrs. Austin is secretary of the Farm Bureau of the Summer Home local and is prominent in Eastern Star circles. Mr. Austin is a prominent Mason, being past master of the Santa Barbara and Manteca lodges, and the initial master of the Manteca lodge; he is past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, a member of the Commandery, both of Santa Barbara, and for the past twenty years has been a member of the Islam Temple of San Francisco. In politics he is a stanch Republican.

History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923

p  1192      

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.