Santa Clara County
Biographies
HENRY J. FIKES
Conspicuous among the successful business men of San Jose, H. J. Fikes is widely known as a man of energy, enterprise and unusual executive ability, exercising all of these qualities in his connection with the Mt. Hamilton stables. A native of Watertown, N.Y., born February 2, 1846, he was the second in a family of five children, four of whom are now living, he being the only one on the Pacific coast. His parents were Jacob and Margaret (Gilman) Fikes, both natives of Herkimer county, N.Y., the paternal grandfather, Henry Fikes, also owing his nativity to that location, where he engaged as a farmer. Jacob Fikes also followed this occupation in his native state, and is now residing on the old home farm in Watertown at the age of ninety-four years. His wife passed away in 1894 at a ripe old age. Their oldest son, Edwin, who now resides upon the old home place, served in Company C, Tenth New York Artillery, during the Civil war.
H. J. Fikes was reared on the paternal farm, trained to the practical duties of an agricultural life, and also attended the district school. On attaining manhood he followed the occupation of his boyhood years, remaining in his native state as a farmer until 1873. In that year he came west and located in Santa Clara county, engaging in farming near Berryessa, and raising grain for five years. He was successful in his work and accumulated sufficient capital to justify him in a business venture, when he came to San Jose and purchased the Mt. Hamilton stables, with which he has since been identified. The barns are located at No. 127 East Santa Clara street, where he conducts a general livery business and a feed stable, as well as dealing extensively in hay, grain, wood and coal. He has very commodious quarters and carries on a very extensive business, both in the city and surrounding country.
In Watertown, N.Y., Mr. Fikes was united in marriage with Eva E. Dickerson, a native of that place. She is the daughter of Charles A. Dickerson, who was born near Hartford, Conn., and in young manhood removed to Newark, N.Y. where he first engaged as a farmer and later as a manufacturer. Soon afterward he located in Watertown, where he afterward made his home. He married Rhoda Helmer, a native of Herkimer county, N.Y., who died in San Jose, March 20, 1902, at the age of eighty-five years. Of the three children born to them two now survive, the son, Lyman L. Dickerson, being engaged in the clothing business in Lyons, N.Y. During the Civil war he served as a lieutenant in Company A, Tenth New York Regiment of Artillery. To Mr. and Mrs. Fikes has been born one daughter, Alice, now the wife of Oscar Worley of Los Angeles. Mr. Fikes was made a Mason in San Jose Lodge No. 10, and politically has always been a Republican. Mrs. Fikes is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Transcribed
11-17-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 880-883. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marilyn R.
Pankey.