San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ROLAND E. DOAN
The pioneer families of the Golden
State find a worthy representative in San Joaquin County in Roland E. Doan, a
successful business man of the city of Stockton, who has done much to promote
business activity and prosperity in this city and in community affairs has been
very influential. He was born in
Stockton, California, January 9, 1892, a son of Charles E. and Catherine
(Maurer) Doan, both natives of California.
Grandfather Lattimar E. Doan, born in
Michigan, came across the plains to California in an early day and engaged in
the lumber business in El Dorado and Nevada counties. Charles E. Doan located in Stockton in 1881
and was associated with his brother, L. E. Doan, in several enterprises. Ten years later Charles E. Doan removed to
Seattle, where he became a reporter in the U. S. land office and the Washington
courts; later he returned to Stockton and with a partner established the Gas
City Business College, which he operated until 1901, when the business was sold
and Mr. Doan became reporter for the Superior Court. There are two children, Roland E., the
subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Irma Parks.
Mr. Doan is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge of Stockton.
Roland E. Doan attended the
Washington and Fremont schools in Stockton and was graduated in 1910 from the
Stockton high school. While attending
high school he was secretary and treasurer of the student body and a member of
the football team; then he entered the University of California in the College
of Commerce department and during the year that he attended was a member of the
Sigma Nu fraternity. Upon his return to
Stockton he entered the automobile tire business with W. A. Walsh as partner,
the firm name being Doan & Walsh; later he purchased his partner’s interest
and organized the Doan Auto Supply Company.
At the beginning of the World War he sold his business and entered the
service of his country, enlisting in the California National Guard in 1917 as a
private, later being advanced to corporal; soon thereafter he was called into
the regular army and joined the Coast Artillery at Fort Winfield Scott. He was sent to the officers’ training camp at
Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he received a commission as second lieutenant of
artillery. He was then placed in charge
of the work for the coast defenses in the personnel department, there being
10,000 men under his supervision. While
he was engaged in this work he was transferred to the adjutant general’s
department and advanced to the rank of first lieutenant and still later to the
rank of captain. He was discharged at
the close of the war and is now a member of the officers’ reserve corps, U. S.
A., assigned as brigade adjutant 188th Artillery 19th
Corps, with headquarters at San Francisco.
After his discharge, Mr. Doan became assistant to the general manager of
the Lucey Manufacturing Corporation at Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where he remained eight months, then returned to Stockton and on
March 12, 1921, established the R. E. Doan Company, dealers in sporting goods,
located in large and commodious quarters in the Elks Building at the corner of
Weber Avenue and Sutter Street. This
company carries one of the largest and most complete stocks of sporting
equipment in the state and has built up a paying business which is steadily
increasing. Mr. Doan is president and
manager of the company, L. E. Doan is vice-president and C. F. Kuhl is secretary and treasurer.
The marriage of Mr. Doan occurred
January 18, 1919, which united him with Miss Norma M. Harrison, a native of San
Francisco, and they have one daughter, Barbara Jean. Before entering the war Mr. Doan was a
director in the Stockton Chamber of Commerce.
He is a member of the Yosemite Club, and Elks, and a member of the
executive committee of the Karl Ross Post of the American Legion and chairman
of the finance committee of some.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1513-1514. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases