San
Joaquin County
Biographies
LOUIS N. DOUVILLE
Among the old-timers of San Joaquin
County who has resided in California for over half a century is Louis N.
Douville, for many years a successful cement contractor, but now retired from
business activity. A man of forceful
character, he has held premier rank among the men of his class in San Joaquin
County, and his mantle of reliability and thoroughness has been transferred to
his son, Louis N. Douville, Jr. He was
born at Quebec, Canada, March 15, 1852, and was reared in that city until he
was eighteen years old, when he concluded that nothing
could be gained by remaining in Canada.
When he arrived in Stockton in 1870 he could not speak a word of
English, coming from Canada on an immigrant train which occupied fourteen and a
half days to make the trip. His first
employment was on a threshing machine for Charles Doyle, where he worked for
three months; he then bought a hay press of his own, which he operated
throughout the county for the next ten years, when he was employed by Dr. Asa
Clark at his private asylum on South Center Street, remaining there for three
years. He then entered the employ of the
Gray Brothers, cement contractors of San Francisco, becoming foreman for
them. He had twenty-seven men under him
in his work, building streets in San Francisco, Alameda and Oakland; also doing
cement work in new subdivisions in these cities; he did the cement work on the
salt water reservoir at Geary Street and Central Avenue, San Francisco; also the
reservoir in San Rafael. Then he built
miles of street sidewalks in Stockton and when he entered business for himself,
he helped to do the cement work on the first paved streets in Stockton.
Mr. Douville’s
marriage united him with Miss Delia Hannan, a native
of Stockton, and a daughter of a California pioneer. They are the parents of two children: Louis N., Jr., and Ethel, Mrs. Roy E. Gibbon. Louis N. Douville, Jr., was born in Stockton
May 23, 1890, and received his education in his native city; he then went to
San Francisco and was in the employ of the T. D. theater for two years
when he returned to Stockton and became a conductor on the street cars; then he
became associated with his father in the contracting business. Among his more important contracts are the
following: the foundation of the
Studebaker block on Weber Avenue; St. Agnes Academy and St. Joseph’s Hospital. During the four years since his father
retired from active business life, he has had the contract for the cement work
of the new subdivisions, the Yosemite Terrace, Tuxedo Park, Salfield’s
addition at Oak Park; in Rio Vista he laid the foundation for the Standard Oil
tank, cement work in a number of dairy barns, foundations for bungalows in
Manteca and on the Hugh Tye block on South San
Joaquin Street, Stockton; cement work on the annex of the Union Planing Mill on
South Sutter Street; on the Stockton Mineral Baths’ and laid the cement floors
in the Lafayette school building. He is
a first-class workman in every particular, thorough and reliable; his prices
are very moderate and all his work is guaranteed. He is a member of the Eagles of
Stockton. He married Miss Barbara
Christy, a native of California, and they are the parents of three
children: Clark, Geraldine, and
Jack. Mr. Douville, Sr., is a member of
the Iroquois Tribe of Red Men of Stockton and he has always led a useful
upright life.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
424. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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