San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ALEXANDER BROS.
(John, Thomas & Christ)
Among the prosperous and
enterprising representatives of the agricultural interests of San Joaquin
County, the three Alexander brothers, John, Thomas and Christ, have given ample
evidence of the progressive spirit and up-to-date methods which make for success
along every line of worthy endeavor.
John and Thomas, twins, were born June 10, 1884, and Christ was born
April 16, 1890, at Cephalonia, Greece.
They are sons of Zesus and Diamond (Vandoros) Alexander.
The parents were farmer folk in their native land, and their nine
children were reared on the farm, where they all received practical experience
in agriculture. The nine children
are: Angelus, Stephen, Thomas and John
(twins), Andrew, Christ, Anna, Angelina and Alexandria, all residing in Greece
with the exception of the three brothers referred to in this sketch. All three brothers received a good education
in the grammar and high schools of their native country. When John Alexander was about sixteen years
old he left home and went to Palestine, where he attended school for a year;
then he went to Port Said, Egypt, and for seven months worked in a clothing
store. Giving up his position, he
traveled throughout Egypt for a short while, and then returned to his home in
Greece for a visit, after which he went to Athens and worked for two
years. He then went to the English
colony of the Sudan, Africa, where he worked in a grocery store for a year and
a half. Returning to Athens, he met his
brother Christ and together they came via Marseilles and La Havre, France, to
New York City, where they were met by their brother Thomas. Thomas Alexander left home when he was
nineteen years old and went to Constantinople, where he worked in his uncle’s
large dry goods store for about six months, then removed to Cardiff, Wales,
where he worked for a few months. He
then made his way to Rio de Janeiro and from there to Buenos Aires, where he
served in the Argentine navy for two years.
Leaving here, he came to New York City, and joined his brothers
there. The three brothers worked in New
York City for about a year, and then removed to Denver, Colorado, where they
found employment in various hotels for two years. Thereafter the three of them went to Chicago
and there learned the barber trade, which they followed for two years; then
they returned to Denver and followed their trade for a year and a half, and in
1910 came to San Francisco and established their own shop, which they conducted
for one year. Then they moved to Redwood
City and opened a shop, which they ran for five years. In 1916 the three brothers came to San
Joaquin County and leased the A. W. Franklin ranch, seven miles west of Lodi,
and engaged in farming for a year.
On September 19, 1917, Christ
Alexander entered the United States Army and was sent to Camp Lewis and placed
in Company L, 363rd Infantry, training for six months; and then was
sent to Camp Green, North Carolina, where he received two months intensive
training. From Camp Green he went to
Camp Mills, New York, and was here transferred to Company C, 59th
Infantry of the 4th Division.
From Camp Mills, New York, his company sailed for
France via Liverpool, England, and upon their arrival were immediately sent
to the front and were in the Chateau-Thierry and Aisne-Marne offensives. In the Vesle
offensive he received severe shrapnel wound in one of his legs. He was sent to a hospital where he remained
for eleven months, and then was returned to the United States and on July, 8,
1919, was discharged from the Letterman Hospital, San Francisco, and then
returned to his home in San Joaquin County.
He then entered a vocational training school, where he studied
dentistry, but at the end of six months was obliged to give it up on account of
the strain on his wounded leg; he then tried to work at his trade in Lodi, but
was obliged to give that up also. In
1919 his brothers John and Thomas had bought a twenty-acre vineyard one-half
mile north of Victor, and in 1921 they purchased a forty-acre vineyard five
miles northwest of Woodbridge; here Christ Alexander went to work, and has
partially recovered the use of his wounded leg.
The Alexander brothers have set twenty acres of the forty-acre ranch to
young vineyard, and have further improved it with a six-inch pump and a
fifteen-horsepower motor for irrigation purposes. They came to America empty-handed; but taking
advantage of the splendid opportunities offered in the New World for
advancement, they have worked their way steadily upward to prosperity.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1440-1443. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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