Santa Clara County
Biographies
STINER G. STINERSON
S. G. STINERSON. The Troy Laundry of San Jose is owned
and managed by S. G. Stinerson and
C. L. Southgate, men who have a thorough knowledge of their business,
and a disposition to serve the public in the fairest and most satisfactory
manner. Mr. Stinerson, the senior member of the
firm, came to San Jose in 1892, soon after purchasing the White Labor Laundry,
which he improved and operated for a year. He then consolidated his business
with that of Mr. Southgate, one of the old and reliable laundrymen of the
town, operating thereafter under the name of the Troy Laundry, at
724-6 Orchard street. The laundry building is
60X100 feet, ground dimensions, and has two floors, the latest and most
practical machinery having been installed, and the best help procurable being
employed. The reputation of the concern leaves nothing to he
desired if the large and growing trade is any indication of popular approval,
and work is brought and returned to residents living as far as one hundred and
fifty miles, or half the way to Los Angeles. The company have
eight wagons delivering goods in San Jose alone, a fact which indicates the
large capacity of the laundry as well as its liberal and continuous patronage.
Mr. Stinerson was born in
Clayton county, Iowa, September 7, 1860, and passed
his early youth on a farm near McGregor. His father, Gudmund,
and his grandfather, Stinerson, were both born in Telemarken, a mountainous and picturesque region in the amt
of Bratsberg, southern Norway, and in 1844 sailed to
America and settled temporarily in Stephenson county,
Ill., where the family lived on a farm. Later the removal to Clayton county,
Iowa, took place in covered wagons, and the new arrivals found a country but
sparsely settled, and wild in appearance. The grandfather attained to an
advanced age, his religious belief being that of the Lutheran Church, to which
he was devoted since early boyhood. Gudmund Stinerson eventually left the family shelter, purchased a
farm near McGregor, Iowa, and there installed his newly wedded wife, who was Ingeborg, daughter of Nils Nilson,
a native of Norway, and an Iowa pioneer of 1850. Mr. Stinerson
still owns and occupies the Iowa farm, although his wife is long since
deceased, and the greater number of his six children have
dispersed to homes of their own.
S. G., being the eldest of the family, was the first
to assume outside responsibility, leaving home at the age of twenty-three, and
locating in Minneapolis, Minn. Here he was employed as a machinist from 1883
until 1892, coming to San Jose in the latter year, as heretofore stated, where
he has realized his expectation of gaining a name and competence for those
dependent upon his care. Mr. Stinerson is among
the property owners of San Jose, having purchased the land at
No. 954 Orchard street, upon which he has
erected his commodious and well-furnished home. He married
Martha Gunderson, in Iowa, also a native of Norway, and the family is
enlarged by the presence of two interesting children, Theodore Bernhard
and Ida. Mr. Stinerson is active in general
laundry affairs in the county, and is a member of the Santa Clara County
Laundrymen’s Association, an organization for the protection of men engaged in
laundry work, and for the maintenance of a high standard of operations. He is
also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Merchants’ Association.
Mr. Stinerson represents the more liberal and
progressive element which comes from the north country
of beautiful scenery and Norse traditions, and in his adopted state has
displayed a peculiar and ready adaptiveness to its
customs and business methods. He is an upright, agreeable, and generous man,
contributing to worthy causes, and making his influence felt in Republican politics, and general city government.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 20 April 2016.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
1090-1093. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Marie Hassard.