Sacramento County
Biographies
FRANK G. WATERBURY
FRANK
G. WATERBURY.--For thirty years Frank G. Waterbury has resided within the
borders of Sacramento County,
and throughout the entire period his activities have been of a constructive
character, contributing to public progress and improvement as well as to
individual success. He is conducting a
prosperous business as a building contractor and is also the owner of a
valuable fruit farm near Fair Oaks. He is one of California’s
native sons and was born near Clarksburg, Yolo
County, December 25, 1869, of the marriage of
James Waterbury and Mary Glanville, the former of whom was born in New
York in 1825. The
father crossed the plains to California in 1849 with the
rush of gold-seekers and engaged in placer mining in Shasta
County, later purchasing land in Yolo
County, where he followed the
occupation of farming. At the outbreak
of the Civil War he returned to the East and enlisted in the 92nd
Illinois Infantry, with which he served for three years and nine months. After receiving his discharge from the army
he was married at Polo, Ill., in 1865, and started with
his bride for the Golden State,
going by way of Panama. Mr. and Mrs. Waterbury were numbered among
the honored pioneers of Yolo County. The former passed away at the age of
sixty-eight, while the latter’s death occurred when she was in her sixty-fourth
year.
Frank
G. Waterbury is the second in order of birth in a family of seven children,
five of whom survive. He was reared in Yolo
County and there attended the
public schools, afterward completing a course in Howe’s Academy. On starting out in the business world he
entered the employ of the Shasta Lumber Company in the capacity of stationary
engineer, and soon afterward was placed in charge of all their engines at Camp
Shasta, being thus occupied for six
years. In 1893 Mr. Waterbury removed to Sacramento,
and he has since been a resident of this county. In the same year he took charge of the dredge
work on Reclamation No. 150, to which he gave his attention for two and a half
years, and the efficient manner in which he performed that task won for him
favorable attention. The Netherlands
Land Company sought his services as dredge inspector for their eight dredges,
and for seven months he remained with that firm, which later became known as
the Holland Land Company. In 1917 Mr.
Waterbury purchased ten acres of the Henry Grundman ranch near Fair
Oaks, which he has converted into a model fruit farm, specializing
in the raising of oranges, olives and almonds.
His work in connection with irrigation projects was of a most important
character, and he has aided materially in making this one of the most fertile
and productive sections in the state. He
has also become well-known as a building contractor, and many examples of his
handiwork are to be seen in the Folsom and Fair Oaks districts. He recently completed the Roberts
School on the Greenback
Road, and his business is a large and growing one.
In May,
1893, Mr. Waterbury was married to Miss Amanda Ruth, whose birth occurred near Linden,
San Joaquin County. Her parents, Andrew and Sophia (Ryder) Ruth,
were both natives of Indiana, and the father was one of
the most progressive farmers of San Joaquin
County. Mr. and Mrs. Waterbury have an adopted son,
Cecil Waterbury, whom they are carefully and tenderly rearing. Mr. Waterbury is well informed on questions
of public moment, and has made his life count as a forceful factor in advancing
the interests of his state along many lines.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 522.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles,
CA. 1923.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.