Butte County
Biographies
JOSEPH J. SOUZA
JOSEPH J. SOUZA.—A successful,
self-made man, through his own perseverance, is exemplified in J. J. Souza,
the son of Antonio F. Souza, an early pioneer of the state. The
father came around the Horn, in 1850, to San Francisco, then a little hamlet.
He engaged in the hotel business there and later came to Red Bluff and engaged
in stock-raising, afterwards locating on a farm at Gas Point, in Shasta County.
He spent thirty-five years on a ranch and has now reached the age of
eighty-four. The mother, Mary (Nunes) Souza, is also
living. Of their ten children, nine are living, and Joseph J. Souza
is the fourth youngest. He was born at Red Bluff, October 4, 1881,
and was raised on the farm in Shasta County, where he attended the public
school.
At the early age of twelve he began to
work at mining for wages, in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties. He also
drove the stage out of Redding to Weaverville, French Gulch and other points,
and for several years he ran a laundry wagon in Redding. In 1907, he came to
Chico and worked in a bicycle-repair shop, and then went to Santa Rosa where he
was employed in a repair shop, doing vulcanizing, etc. In 1912, he returned to
Chico and started the Chico Vulcanizing Works, in which he has continued ever
since. Mr. Souza was a pioneer in this business in Chico, and his
enterprise has grown to large proportions and has the distinction of being the
largest of its kind in the county. Mr. Souza carries a stock of tires,
casings, tubes, and other sundries and accessories in his shop, at First and
Main.
Mr. Souza was married, in Redding, to Miss
Nina Lindquist, of Minnesota. Three children were born to them: Elaine, Yvonne,
and Clifford. He is a member of Chico Parlor, No. 21,
N. S. G. W., and a member of Chico Lodge,
I. O. O. F., and the Encampment. Both Mr. Souza and his
wife are Rebekahs. The party preference of
Mr. Souza is Republican.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
02 November 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1286-1287, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies