Los Angeles County
Biographies
GEORGE
F. TINSLER
As president of the Home Defense
League and as a leader in the gallant fight to prevent the opening and widening
of Tenth street in Los Angeles, the late George F. Tinsler
won for himself a place in the hearts of thousands of home owners, and his
death on February 26, 1933 was a loss deeply felt by all who knew him and of
his work.
Tr. Tinsler
was a native of Chippewa, Wayne county, Ohio, where
his birth occurred February 11, 1861, and he was a son of James and Sarah (Losson) Tinsler, who were born in
Ohio also. The father was a farmer by occupation and was a soldier in the Union
army during the Civil war.
George F. Tinsler
attended the country schools and then studied in a college at Ashland, Ohio,
and after leaving there engaged in the furniture business as manager of an
establishment in Wheeling, West Virginia, but later was transferred to Des
Moines, Iowa. He remained only a short time, however, then went to Washington.
He came to San Francisco and in 1898 was in Los Angeles for a brief interval.
He went to Prescott, Arizona, but in 1915 came back to Los Angeles, in which
city he opened a furniture store. He was well versed in this form of
merchandising and under his careful and honest management his undertaking
prospered from the very beginning. With his earnings he was enabled to buy
considerable real estate in southern California which he improved and sold and
in 1920 retired from the furniture business and devoted his entire time to his
realty holdings. He was president of the Home Defense League and led in the
movement to prevent the opening and widening of Tenth street in Los Angeles,
which would have divested many people of their life savings and made them homeless.
It is estimated that over three thousand people would have been made destitute had
the project gone through. Mr. Tinsler’s fight against
it inspired others to flock to his banner and he became an acknowledged leader.
On October 17, 1912, Mr. Tinsler was married to Mrs. Alice M. Masters, a native of
Ashland county, Ohio. She is a daughter of Charles and
Mary Elizabeth (Emmons) Ulrich, and her father fought on the Union side in the
Civil war. By a former marriage, Mr. Tinsler was the
father of four children, namely: Sylvia Pearl Tinsler,
an attorney in New York city; Mrs. Ethel Iowa Blum, of Sacramento, Calif.;
George F., Jr., who died in Pasadena from the effects of wounds received in
action during the World war; and Eva, who died in San Francisco, aged 22. Mrs. Tinsler, by her former marriage, was the mother of three
children, Vera, Howard, and Gladys.
In fraternal affairs, Mr. Tinsler was for years prominent in the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. He will be remembered by future generations by his record as a
public-spirited citizen, who did not hesitate to champion the cause of his
fellowmen, and who accomplished a task which will be of permanent benefit to
the descendants of the men and women whom he defended.
Transcribed By:
Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 125-126,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES