San
Joaquin County
Biographies
BRUCE R. DU VALL
Classed among the successful
businessmen of Ripon is Bruce R. Du Vall, the owner
and proprietor of the Ripon Lumber Yard and mill, and in addition to furnishing
lumber, his mill turns out the finished material for completed buildings. He was born and reared in the vicinity of Minot,
North Dakota, and was fortunate in receiving a good education. His education began in the grammar schools of
Minot, then three years in the high school at that place, and one year in high
school in Chicago, then two years in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1908 he entered Cornell University, taking
a course in mechanical engineering, where he remained for three years. At this time he was offered a good position
with a manufacturing company at Roselake, Idaho,
where he was employed for the next three years.
In 1914 he came to California as assistant manager of the Ripon Lumber
Company, then owned by Mr. Steele, who resides in Modesto.
The first marriage of Mr. Du Vall occurred at Ripon which united him with Miss Rhoda Strome, also born at Minot, North Dakota. She was a graduate of Castle School for young
women at Tarrytown, New York, and in 1908 accompanied her parents to
California. She passed away at the
family home in Manteca in January, 1919.
Mr. Du Vall removed to Manteca in 1916 where
he purchased the Home Lumber Company.
The business grew from the time he acquired it and he erected a fine
home and was well satisfied with the business outlook. During the influenza epidemic, Mr. Du Vall was taken ill and his life despaired of, and at this
time his wife passed away with the dread disease. Recovering from his severe illness, Mr. Du Vall sold his business and home and returned to Ripon where
he became employed with the Ripon Lumber Yard and in 1921 purchased a
controlling interest in the company. In
June, 1920, Mr. Du Vall was married to Mrs. Helen Gotshall, widow of Karl A. Gotshall,
who passed away in 1919, survived by his widow and two sons, Robert and Paul Gotshall. Karl A. Gotshall was the proprietor of the lumber yards at Ripon
and was also engaged in the stock business.
Mr. Du Vall is a member of the Masons at
Manteca and the Mt. Horeb Lodge of I. O. O. F., and locally is a member of the
Ripon Merchants’ Association. Besides
his lumber and mill business at Ripon, Mr. Du Vall
owns a thirty-acre vineyard north of Manteca.
As a public-spirited citizen, he has interested himself in community
progress and welfare and is doing his full share in the work of industrial
development in his locality.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1464. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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