San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES W. BLAIR
The proprietor of the only exclusive
battery plant in Lodi, James W. Blair has built up a most successful
business. He was born at Salt Springs,
Missouri, on March 22, 1892, and was reared there on the home farm until the
age of ten years, the family coming to Lodi to make their home in 1902. Here he attended the public schools, and
later the Acampo school, and then learned the plumbing trade with Henderson
Brothers and A. P. Krumb of Lodi, following this line
of work for five years, and then was with Fenton Wright in his bicycle
shop. A battery charging plant was
included in this business, and this Mr. Blair bought, going into business for
himself at 23 West Pine Street.
During the World War Mr. Blair
entered the U. S. service, leaving the business in charge of his wife. He trained at Camp Fremont and sailed for
Siberia in the fall of 1918, attached to the 31st U. S. Infantry,
where he saw a year of service.
Returning to Lodi, he occupied the new battery plant built for him by H.
T. Mason at 109 North School Street, one of the most modern establishments of
its kind in the state, the brick building 50 x 90 feet being especially
equipped for an up-to-date battery charging plant. He is the agent for the popular Willard
battery, and gives service in all makes of batteries, and being an expert in
this line his business has grown very rapidly.
When he started in business in his small shop on West Pine Street, he
was charging six batteries at a time; this number has increased to a capacity
of 125, with an average of twenty new jobs coming in daily.
On November 24, 1917, Mr. Blair was
married to Miss Laura Mason, the daughter of H. T. Mason, a prominent
vineyardist and fruit shipper of Lodi, and one daughter has been born to them,
Dorothy May. Mrs. Blair, who is a
graduate of the Lodi High School, is prominent in the Woman’s Auxiliary of the
American Legion and the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Unusually capable in business, she took
charge of her husband’s business during his absence in the U. S. service, and
not only kept it going but increased its volume. Standing high among Lodi’s progressive young
business men, Mr. Blair is a member of the Lodi Business Men’s Club, the
Knights of Pythias, and the American Legion.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1570. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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