Sacramento County
Biographies
GRANT FRANKLIN GILLENWATER
GRANT FRANKLIN GILLENWATER.--That many of the notable industrial establishments in Sacramento
prosper in part because of the expert supervision given them, is
suggested by the prosperity of the Sacramento Welding & Machine Works, at 1406
J Street, whose proprietor is Grant Franklin Gillenwater, a gentleman now well-known in the capital
city. He was born in historic old
Placerville, Eldorado County, on February 9, 1865,
the son of Thomas and Mary (Craig) Gillenwater, of an
old Southern family descended from Scotch and English forebears, the former a
pioneer who came over the great plains in the famous Argonaut year of 1849, and
on arriving here went to work in the mines.
He was a carpenter by trade, and as such he was in constant demand in
the early settler days. He died,
however, when his son Grant was a child; and his good wife, whom he had married
in Tennessee, is also with him in the Silent
Land.
Grant
Frankln Gillenwater went
back East with his mother to Indiana,
and there attended the public schools. The
death of his parents when he was a small boy necessitated his early entry into
the hard school of experience, and on starting out to make his own way he first
worked for three years in a furniture factory.
Then he farmed in the East until he was sixteen years of age, when, in
1881, he returned to California,
his native state. Arriving in California,
he worked on a farm for a while at College City,
Colusa County;
and then for eight years he was with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company,
running out of Sacramento, and
became a conductor. After that he went
north to Oregon, and for eighteen
months was with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, in the train
service. He next bought a transfer
business in Sacramento, and
conducted that for twelve years. During
this time he was also engaged in ranching.
His farm was located on J and Fifty-third Streets, and he eventually
sold it at a good profit. His success
was such that he was able, in 1912, to establish his present business of
welding and machine work, in which he is assisted by his son, Niles Franklin,
who is an expert machinist. They employ
eight men, and it is apparently only a question of time when they will be
compelled to enlarge their staff. The
business is conducted under the firm name of the Sacramento Welding &
Machine Works.
In
Anderson, on March 9, 1886, Mr. Gillenwater married
Miss Nellie Palmer, a popular belle of Pilot Hill, Eldorado
County, but born at Coloma, Cal. One
son, Niles Franklin, already mentioned, is associated with his father in
business. Mr. Gillenwater
is a Master Mason, and he also belongs to the Odd Fellows, in which order he is
a past grand. He is public spirited, and
has served acceptably as a school trustee.
Transcribed by
Priscilla Delventhal.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History
of Sacramento County, California With Biographical
Sketches, Page 626. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 P. J. Delventhal.