Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM H. GRIBBLE
WILLIAM H. GRIBBLE.—The sure reward of steady perseverance is demonstrated in the successful business career of William H. Gribble, manager of Western Gas and Electric Appliance Company in Chico. Mr. Gribble was born in Henrietta, Texas, November 3, 1883. His father was H. W. Gribble, born in New Orleans, La., where he was associated with his father in the cotton brokerage business. Later he was with the Morgan Line Railway, and then went to Texas, and at Henrietta had charge of the lumber yard for the firm of O. T. Lyon and Gribble. He engaged in the agricultural implement business in Henrietta on his own account but again returned to New Orleans, and entered the steamboat business on the Mississippi and Red Rivers. Mr. Gribble lives in Ponchatoula, Tangipahoa County, La. The mother was Lillian (Nichols) Gribble, a native of Texas, who died in Henrietta, when William was only four months old. The grandfather came from England and was one of the early settlers of New Orleans. William H. Gribble was the youngest of three children and was brought up in New Orleans. After completing his public school education he went to work for a wholesale drug company, where he remained for six months and then became an apprentice with an electric company. Following his preparatory work, he was employed in various firms in New Orleans, and became superintendent of the Marks Electric Construction Company. In April, 1911, he resigned this position and went to San Francisco. After his arrival he secured employment with the Kimball Electric Company of Oakland, and was sent to Fresno as manager of their store there. He remained there two years and became interested in the company, returning to Oakland as the secretary and superintendent of the firm.
Mr. Gribble then decided to go into business for himself, and resigned his place in December, 1915. He then located in Chico, where he has since built up a successful and growing business, handling electrical and gas appliances, auto tires, supplies, and accessories, and also taking contracts in electrical work. Mr. Gribble installed the electrolier system in Chico, begun in March, 1917, and completed in September of that year.
William H. Gribble was married in San Francisco to Miss Felecie Toynoir, who was born in Marseilles, France. Mr. Gribble was made a Mason in Las Palmas Lodge, F. & A. M. of Fresno; he is now a member of Yerba Buena Lodge of Oakland. He belongs to Athens Camp, W. O. W., of Oakland, and to Chico Lodge No. 423, B. P. O. Elks. Mr. Gribble is a member of the Chico Business Men’s Association, and a member of the California Association of Electrical Contractors and Dealers, an organization that has done much to improve the standard of electrical appliances and to advance the general interests of the electrical trade. Mr. Gribble is a man of principle and of much native ability, and is making a marked success in his line. In politics he is an Independent.
Transcribed
by Sharon Walford Yost.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1171-1172, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Sharon
Walford Yost.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies