San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES WILMER DICK
Prominent among the nursery dealers
in San Joaquin County is James Wilmer Dick, of Lodi, who was born at Lone Tree,
Johnson County, Iowa, on August 13, 1873, the son of Peter and Margaret
(Constant) Dick, substantial farmer-folk from Ohio. A thorough patriot, Peter Dick enlisted in
the Union Army in 1861 as a member of the 27th Volunteer Ohio
Infantry, and had the honor of serving his country under the generalship of U.
S. Grant. Nine children were born to
this worthy couple, and our subject was the fourth in order of birth. Orville M., lives at Watsonville; Leona R.,
has become Mrs. Frank Dickinson, and resides in Oregon; Clare E. is Mrs.
Charles E. Jackson, and is one of the society matrons of San Diego; James
Wilmer is the subject of our instructive review; Clarence L., is in San Diego;
Z. B. Dick died in 1918; J. H. Dick died in 1922; M. C. Dick lives at Acampo;
and L. M. Dick lives at Lodi.
M. C. Dick was born at Jackson,
Amador County. After leaving school he
took up mechanical pursuits and for fourteen years was one of the dependable
employees of the Holt Manufacturing Company.
During the World War he was sent back to Peoria by his company where he
instructed the soldiers sent there to learn the operation and repair of the
caterpillar tractor, and also helping to demonstrate its value to the
government officials. He is married and
has a daughter, Maxine. He is a member
of the Los Angeles Elks.
L. M. Dick, also a native Californian
and a competent mechanic, is now a painting contractor in Lodi. He married Miss Hilda May, born at Angels
Camp, a daughter of August May, who for the past thirty-six years has been the
head carpenter for the Utica Mining Company in Calaveras County. She is a graduate from the Bret Harte High
School at Angels Camp and also attended the Western Normal at Stockton. They have two children, Richard and
Madeline. Mr. Dick belongs to the
Alameda Elks.
When James Wilmer Dick was about
five years old, his parents removed to Emporia, Kansas, and there his father
worked for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad for three years. In 1882, however, he migrated to California,
bringing his family. They settled at
Jackson, in Amador County, and there Mr. Dick engaged in agricultural pursuits
on a small grain ranch. James Wilmer
went to the grammar school at Jackson, and when seventeen years of age started
out for himself.
He became a wheat farmer, and worked on various ranches. About the same time, the family moved to the
vicinity of Lodi, and there his father died in 1901. The mother survived him until 1920.
For three years James Wilmer Dick
raised watermelons at Acampo. Then he
tried wheat farming in the Acampo locality and was so occupied for four years. After that he took up orcharding, also in the
Acampo section, which he continued for a number of seasons. Next he followed railroading, and was for a
number of years with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, at Eureka, in Humboldt
County. In 1915 he became salesman and
district distributor for Messrs. Wilder and Ferguson, nurserymen of Acampo, and
he was with them until the dissolution of the firm at the death of Mr.
Wilder. Since 1921 Mr. Dick has been an
individual dealer and nursery agent, supplying the northern portion of San
Joaquin County with nursery stock.
Wherever he has operated, he has established an enviable reputation for
reliability and affability.
At Sacramento, on March 19, 1915,
Mr. Dick was married to Miss Naomi Hansen, the daughter of Jens and Martha
Hansen, an accomplished lady born at Angels Camp, Calaveras County. Her father was well-known at that place for
many years as an engineer at the mines.
He came to California from Copenhagen, Denmark, in early days. She attended the district school at Angels
Camp, and will always have the pleasure of looking back upon happy days at the
Bret Harte High School there. In 1922
she took a course in business at the College of Commerce in Stockton, and was
graduated with honors. A great cloud came
over her life in the accidental death of her father at the mines. Her mother is still living in Modesto,
honored by her seven children: Samuel;
Hubert, who served six years in the Army in Mexico and in France; Naomi, Mrs.
Dick; Hazel; Winifred; Alice; and Alberta.
Hazel, Alice and Alberta are trained nurses. Mr. Dick is a Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of
Pythias. A grown son, Norman A. Dick, is
an electrician, residing in Humboldt County.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1128-1131. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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