Los Angeles County
Biographies
BYRON J. BADHAM
Byron J. Badham is a prominent representative of business interests in Los Angeles as president, treasurer and general manager of the Hoffman Hardware Company, one of the leading wholesales and jobbing hardware firms of Southern California, with which he has been continuously connected during the last three decades, working his way steadily upward to his present position of executive control. He was born in Shenandoah, Iowa, January 12, 1878, his parents being James R. and Eliza C. (Fisher) Badham, the former a native of England and the latter a native of Iowa, in which state they were married. James R. Badham was trained for a professional career and became one of the first teachers in the public schools of Shenandoah, Iowa. It was in 1882 that he brought his family to Los Angeles, California, where he passed away December 18, 1888, being survived for nearly four decades by his wife, whose death occurred January 6, 1928, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-one years. The three living children of the family are as follows: Byron J. of this review; Willard E., who is a member of the Los Angeles grocery firm of Badham & Williams and is also state assemblyman; and Mrs. Mary C. Frohock, of Los Angeles.
Byron J. Badham was a little lad of four years when he came with his parents to Los Angeles, where he has resided continuously throughout the intervening period of more than a half century. He acquired his early education in the public schools of this city and subsequently entered the State Normal School, from which he graduated in 1896. For about nine years thereafter he engaged in teaching, being principal of the Hewett Street School when he abandoned educational work for a commercial career. It was in 1904 that he entered the service of the Hoffman Hardware Company, of which the late Edward A. Hoffman was at that time the active head, and with the passing years he thoroughly familiarized himself with every department of the business, so that he was well qualified to take charge thereof at Mr. Hoffman’s death. In his official capacities as president, treasurer and general manager he has contributed materially to the steady growth and development of the enterprise, and he is widely recognized as a man of sound judgment and keen sagacity of business affairs. He is a director of the California Bank of Los Angeles.
On the 22nd of July, 1902, in Los Angeles, Mr. Badham was united in marriage to Miss Jessie M. Hoffman, a native of Iowa, who was reared in Los Angeles, California. She completed a business college course, also attend the Hamlin School for Girls in San Francisco and is one of the cultured members of Los Angeles’ social circle. She is a daughter of the late Edward A. Hoffman, one of the founders of the Hoffman Hardware Company. Mr. and Mrs. Badham are the parents of three children, all of whom were born in Los Angeles namely: B. Jack, who was graduated from Leland Stanford University with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1924 and is vice president of the Hoffman Hardware Company. He married Bess Kissinger and they have two children, B. Jack Badham III, and Robert E. Dick, who received the Bachelor of Arts degree at his graduation from Pomona College in 1928 and who is also associated with his father in business, being the corporation department and secretary of the Hoffman Hardware Company. He married Virginia Dabney and they have two daughters, Beverly J. and Marylyn J.; and Kleva A., who is a graduate from the University of Southern California (1935) with the degree of Arts.
Mr. Badham is a republican in politics and at all times has manifested a helpful interest in matters pertaining to civic advancement. He is president and director of the Ellis Club, a past president of Los Angeles Rotary Club, and first vice president of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association. His social nature finds expression in his membership in the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Los Angeles Country Club, and he attends the services of the Christian Church. Golf and hunting are his favorite forms of recreation.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on November 7, 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 416-418,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele
Y. Larsen.
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BIOGRAPHIES