Butte County
Biographies
LESLIE M. EDWARDS
LESLIE M. EDWARDS.--A young man of
education and refinement, as well as executive ability, Leslie M. Edwards was
born at Leavenworth, Kans., on March 24, 1886, and the next year was brought to
California by his parents; the scenes of his first recollections being the
beautiful Santa Clara Valley. He is the
son of Leslie S. and Isadora (Mann) Edwards, natives of Bridgeton,
N. J., and Ohio,
respectively. The father was a florist
in Leavenworth, Kans., until 1887, when he brought his family to Santa Clara
County, Cal., where he engaged in the nursery business at San Jose and later at
Los Gatos, where he branched out into farming and horticulture, which he
followed for many years, finally locating with his wife in Palo Alto, where he
is now engaged in the real estate business.
Of their four children, Leslie M. is the second oldest, and from his
second year was reared in Santa Clara
County. After graduating from the Los Gatos
high school, in 1905, he entered the University
of California, continuing his studies for a
period of two years, and then entered Stanford
University, where he was graduated
from the electrical engineering course, in 1910, with degree of B. S.
Entering the
employ of the General Electric Company at Schenectady,
N. Y., he became their testman. However, California
held too many attractions for him, so in 1911 he resigned his position and
returned to California. For a time he was with the Pacific Gas and
Electric Company as an electrician on their construction work at different
points around San Francisco Bay. Then he
engaged with the Northern Electric Railway Company as an electrician,
installing for them all the electrical equipment on the M Street bridge at Sacramento, and also on their
bridge across the Sacramento River at Meridian,
on the Colusa branch of the road. In
1913 he again entered the employ of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company as
operator at the Centerville power
plant, continuing there until March, 1916, when he was transferred to their De Sabla power plant as foreman, a position he is well
qualified to fill after his years of study and experience in the line of
electrical engineering.
Mr. Edwards was
married at Paradise, Butte County, Cal.,
June 23, 1912, when Miss Elsa M. Bille
became his bride. She was born in Nebraska
and is a graduate of Stanford University
with the degree of B. S. Her father, G.
C. Bille, is a prominent and influential
horticulturist at Paradise, being one of the most
progressive men of that horticultural district, now so rapidly coming to the
front. Mrs. Edwards is a woman of
culture and refinement and presides gracefully over her household. They have two interesting children, Leslie
M., Jr., and Helen Louise. Mr. and Mrs.
Edwards are active members of the Congregational Church at Paradise.
Transcribed
by Roseann Kerby.
Source: "History of Butte
County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1088-1089,
Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Roseann Kerby.
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