San
Joaquin County
Biographies
FRED L. CONKLIN
Among the pioneer families of 1852
in the Golden State is that which finds worthy representatives in San Joaquin
County in Fred L., James E. and Chester W. Conklin. Fred L. Conklin was born at Battle Creek,
Michigan, a son of James E. and Rhoda (Loder) Conklin. Grandfather James E. Conklin came across the
plains to California in 1852 and engaged in mining until 1855, when he returned
to Michigan and spent the remainder of his days. Fred L. Conklin was the eldest of seven
children, the others being Loder, Tilly, Clara, George, Eunice, and
Arthur. James E. Conklin lived to be
sixty-seven years old, and Rhoda Conklin died at the age of seventy-seven. In 1876 Fred L. Conklin came to California, stopping
at Stockton to visit an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. T. K. Hook, and settled
first at Santa Barbara, where he spent one winter; next he went to Sacramento
and for six subsequent years worked at various kinds of jobs. In 1882 he moved to Stockton, where, one year
later, he became an employee of the Sperry Milling Company, first as a laborer;
later he became one of the millers, and in 1912 was advanced to head miller,
remaining in that position until 1921, when he retired. In 1883 he married Miss Nettie Eldred, a
native of Michigan, a daughter of Chester W. and Evelyn (Dean) Eldred. Her father was a Michigan farmer and the
father of a large family. Mr. and Mrs.
Conklin are the parents of two sons, James E. and Chester W. In 1905 the father purchased a ten-acre Tokay
vineyard west of Acampo, and some time afterwards purchased twenty acres two
and a half miles west of Acampo, on the Mokelumne River, which is devoted to an
orchard of prunes and peaches. The
father is a member of Truth Lodge, No. 55, I. O. O. F., and of Parker
Encampment, also a member of the Rainbow Rebekahs, while Mrs. Conklin is past
noble grand and past district deputy of the Rainbow Rebekahs of Stockton. She died in 1917.
James E. Conklin received his
education in the grammar and high schools of Stockton and attended the summer
school session at the University of California for several years. For the past seven years he has been the
physical director in the Lodi high school, a position he is most capably
filling to the entire satisfaction of everyone.
Whatever has tended to benefit his community has also received his
endorsement and co-operation, and he has been a witness of much of the growth
and development of his native county.
His marriage united him with Miss Hattie Coburn, also a native of
Stockton, a daughter of Frank and Jessie (Button) Coburn. Mrs. Conklin was educated in the Stockton
schools and they are the parents of one son, James E., Jr.
Chester W. Conklin was born November
5, 1889, graduated from the Stockton high school, and is now in the undertaking
business in Stockton. He married Lizzie
Owens, daughter of John and Sarah Owens, and they have one daughter, Janis.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1070. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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