San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ROBERT JOHN CHARLES
One of the popular residents of the
city of Stockton is Robert John Charles, the general secretary of the Y. M. C.
A., whose influence on the lives of young boys and men has displayed many
elements worthy of emulation. Mr.
Charles was born in Flushing Harbor, Falmouth, England, on December 19, 1887 a
descendant of a family of English sea captains.
At the age of seven years, he was sent to London to be educated and
became a student at the Red Coat School.
While there he sang in the cathedral choir and in this way earned enough
to pay his tuition. His particular
delight was the study of geography, especially of the United States, and in
this he stood at the head of his class.
After completing his education he came to the United States in 1906,
locating at Quincy, Massachusetts, where he became assistant in the boys’ work
of the Y. M. C. A.; at the end of three years he was called to Montpelier,
Vermont, to take full charge of the boys’ work of the same organization, where
he remained a year and a half until he was called to Tampa, Florida. He remained in Tampa until the United States
entered the World War, when he was appointed transportation secretary for the
Y. M. C. A., and was the second person to leave Florida for war work with the
Y. M. C. A. He was stationed at Newport
News, Virginia, in charge of the placement of secretaries on all troop trains
and transports. In November, 1919 Mr.
Charles was presented with a diamond ring in token of excellent and efficient
service. When the First Division came home
from overseas he was sent to New York City and Washington, D. C., in charge of
the Y. M. C. A. workers in connection with the demobilization. Going back in his history, in 1913 he was a
delegate to the first Y. M. C. A. convention of Workers with Boys, held in
Culver, Indiana, and the following year went to Oxford, England, as a delegate
to the International Convention of Workers with Boys of the Y. M. C. A., taking
a prominent part. While in England he
visited his old home and while there the war broke out. Mr. Charles immediately volunteered his
services in the British army, but was rejected on account of physical
disability and also because he had become an American citizen. His wife volunteered for Red Cross service at
the same time, but when Mr. Charles was rejected she could not remain, and a
month later they returned to Tampa, Florida.
Mr. Charles took up the work in Stockton in 1920, and the city is to be
congratulated on securing a man of his national reputation for effective and
far-reaching work. In the report made by
Mr. Charles for the years 1921 and 1922 the following is a short resume of some
of the work accomplished: seven free
lectures were given to the public with an attendance of over 2,500 persons; two
branch libraries held in the building, one for boys and one for men; 108 visits
were made to the sick; twenty men joined local churches and over 300 New
Testaments were given to men and boys; 350 men were enrolled in gymnasium
classes; 250 men took physical examinations; employment found for forty-two
deserving boys; 130 Bible classes were held for boys with a total attendance of
over 1,500; forty-five boys made Christian decisions; five boys were sent to
Sacramento on a Christian calling conference, four of these have gone to college,
one to be a minister, one to be a medical missionary, another a Christian
lawyer, one a Christian civil engineer and the other is preparing himself to be
a Y. M. C. A. secretary. Ninety-seven
boys attended the summer camp; Stockton’s first annual Mother’s and Son’s
campaign with 250 mothers and sons at a dinner, reaching over 5,000 homes in
Stockton; Father and Son’s campaign with over 300 at a dinner; 332 gym classes
held for boys with a total attendance of over 15,000, the grand total
attendance in the boys’ division being 59,118.
On July 3, 1913 Mr. Charles was
united in marriage with Miss Anna Josephine Gunn, a native of Cobden, Illinois,
and a direct descendant of Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. She is a graduate
registered nurse from Women’s Christian Association Hospital, Jamestown, New
York. They are the parents of two
children, Robert J. Jr., and Albert James.
Although having a small child at the time of the flu epidemic while
residing at Tampa, Mrs. Charles rendered active service during the influenza
period, nursing and caring for the patients until she herself was stricken and
had to give up.
Mr. Charles is a thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, being a member of Egypt Temple at Tampa,
and with his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. Mr. Charles also is a member of the Stockton
Rotary Club and of the local Chamber of Commerce. Mr. and Mrs. Charles are active members of
the First Baptist Church of Stockton. He
is a member of the board of deacons and both take an active part in the work of
the church.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1359. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases