San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE A. DEAN
Among the prominent and popular
residents of Stockton, George A. Dean has lived in California for the past
twenty years and has become thoroughly imbued with the dominant spirit of
enterprise. For a number of years Mr.
Dean was connected with the street railways of the city and in 1911 became the
secretary of the Central Labor Council and five years later he was elected
secretary and business agent for the council.
A native of Michigan, he was born in Lapeer County on September 27,
1867, but received his education in St. Clair County. His father, Isaac Dean, and two uncles were
pioneers in the lumber forests of Michigan, then a wild and desolate region and
John Dean, an uncle, owned a sawmill and started the town of Deanville, Lapeer County.
When quite a young boy, George A. Dean was deprived of a mother’s care
and at the age of twelve was compelled to give up school and go to work on the
farm, remaining there until he was twenty-four years old, when he went to Bay
City and secured employment with the Bay Cities Commercial Street Railroad as
platform man, remaining in this position for four years. He then went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
became connected with the Milwaukee Railway & Light Company, holding the position
of conductor for six years.
In Chicago in 1897, Mr. Dean was
married to Miss Mary Gleasure, also a native of
Lapeer County and an old childhood friend.
Her father and uncles were pioneers in the lumber woods of Michigan and
were also prominent farmers of that section of the country. To this union have been born three children;
two sons born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and one daughter born in Stockton. Charles volunteered for service in the World
War and was attached to the Hospital Corps at Camp Kearney and was sent
overseas just before the armistice was signed.
He is a member of Karl Ross Post, American Legion. He is an electrician by trade and is
president of the Electricians’ Union.
George Dean is a graduate of the Stockton high school, class of
1923. In February, 1902, the family moved
to California, whither a brother, Charles Dean, had come fifteen years
previously and was working on the C. L. Hatch ranch near Modesto. Our subject began working on the same ranch
and later on the Evans ranch until June, 1902, when he located in Stockton and
entered the employ of the Stockton Electric Railway as platform man; in 1911 he
was elected secretary of the Central Labor Council, but retained his position
with the railway company until 1916, when he was elected secretary and business
agent for the council and this position required all his attention, so he
resigned his position with the railway company.
Well qualified therefore for the duties which now devolved upon him, his
administration of the affairs of his office has manifested the same enterprising
spirit which has controlled his individual business interests. He was one of the founders of the Street Car
Men’s Union and by his untiring energy in behalf of labor interests he has
become one of the best known and most prominent labor men in the state. He has served three terms as vice-president
of the State Federation of Labor and has been a delegate to the council for
nineteen years; he is district organizer for Stockton and vicinity for the
American Federation of Labor. In 1911 he
attended, for the first time as a delegate, the convention of the Amalgamated
Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America held at St.
Joseph, Missouri; and in 1913 delegate to the same in Salt Lake City; and in
1915 the same at Rochester, New York, where he was elected tenth international
vice-president; in 1917 he was re-elected tenth vice-president at Providence,
Rhode Island; in 1919 re-elected at the Chicago, Illinois, convention and in
1921 was elected sixth vice-president at Atlanta, Georgia. During the World War he was very active in
the Liberty bond campaigns among the labor unions. At the city election held on May 2, 1922, Mr.
Dean was one of the fifteen freeholders elected to form the new charter for the
city of Stockton and has taken an active part in forming the new charter. In June, 1922, Mr. Dean submitted his
candidacy to the people for the Republican nomination for the Assembly and at
the August primary, 1922; he was elected over the opposing candidate. Fraternally he is a member of the Moose.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
739. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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