Santa Clara County
Biographies
EDMUND N. RICHMOND
Among the native sons of San Jose whose business careers are a constant source of gratification to their friends, and who are reflecting credit alike upon the families which they represent and the interests they maintain, is Edmund N. Richmond, manager of the San Jose fruit packing and shipping business of the J. K. Armsby Company. The entire business life of this young man has been connected with the firm with which he is now associated. In 1897, after graduating from the high school of San Jose, he entered the Armsby employ, and to more thoroughly prepare himself for business life attended the Garden City Business College during the spring months of 1898 and 1899. In the same year in which Edmund N. Richmond became associated with the Armsby company his father became manager of the business, but this fact in no sense made him the victim of favoritism, for he was made to begin at the bottom round of the ladder and work his way up with the same perseverance and slow promotion as though a stranger had been at the helm and not his own father. He never resented this treatment, however, for he was made of the right business timber, and thought as much about learning the business as he did of closing time or the weekly pay envelope. In time his industry was rewarded by his promotion to foreman of the plant, and finally to that of buyer eventually succeeding his father as manager in June, 1903. The Armsby concern is one of the largest handlers of dry and canned fruits in California, and one of the best known packing enterprises in the entire Santa Clara valley. Its machinery is modern, its equipment practical and up to date, and its management and method the best thus far evolved in the fruit packing and shipping line. Mr. Richmond has added to his practical experience knowledge drawn from all available sources bearing upon fruit disposition, for he is an earnest and inquiring student of the work to which he is devoting his splendid young energies. He is also an enthusiastic orchardist, owning two orchards consisting of sixty acres, all in fruit.
Born in San Jose July 13, 1878, Mr. Richmond comes of a family already well established on the coast, for his father, George Richmond, had crossed the plains in 1864, and had been engage in the stock business in the northern part of the state. Later he operated a farm in the Sacramento valley, on what is now known as Sherman island, afterward locating in San Jose, where he became interested in the fruit business with the old San Jose Cannery. Since resigning from the management of the Armsby plant in 1903 he has retired from active business life and makes his home in San Jose, which to him represents an ideal home and industrial city. Changes have been plentiful since he arrived in the state, for though by no means an early comer as compared with many others, his own life has broadened into success and manifold interest, and whereas he crossed the plains an unmarried man without any special object in life, he now has a charming and sympathetic wife and three vigorous sons, and his own financial future is well guarded. Mrs. Richmond was formerly Rosalie, daughter of Andrew McPhail, the latter a prominent business man of San Francisco, and one of the pioneers of the state of California. Mr. Richmond’s oldest, George, is also with the J. K. Armsby Company. His youngest son, C. R., has not yet embarked upon a commercial life. The manager of the Armsby company is an energetic promoter of good government, of the best possible educational advantages, and the cleanest Republican politics. He is prominent in the Episcopal Church, and is identified with San Jose Lodge No. 10, F. & A. M. He is also a member of the National Union. Mr. Richmond is one of San Jose’s most promising as well as successful men, and is also one of its most popular and influential citizens. He has the advantage of knowing thoroughly an important and constantly growing business, and of investing the same with the dignity of sincerity and the inspiration of a clear-cut and worthy ambition. Mr. Richmond’s marriage, celebrated in San Jose, united him with M. DeEtte Broughton, who was educated in San Jose,
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1267-1268. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Joyce Rugeroni.