San
Joaquin County
Biographies
EDWIN THOMAS HANNAFORD
An honored pioneer resident of
Stockton, Edwin Thomas Hannaford has made this part of California his home for
more than sixty years. He was born on
Cape Elizabeth, near Portland, Maine, May 1, 1840, his ancestors being of
English birth. In the fall of 1860 he
left his native state and sailed on the Star of the West to the Isthmus of
Panama and up the Pacific on the Cortez to San Francisco, landing in the latter
part of December, 1860. On January 3,
1861, he arrived at Stockton and for a year and a half he worked on the Foreman
ranch, where the town of Linden now stands, grinding grain in a primitive flour
mill owned by Rynerson & Wasley. Later he came to Stockton and engaged in the
tobacco business with George Houston.
They raised their own tobacco on Craig’s ranch and cured it, having five
acres in this crop. Natural leaf was
then selling for $1.00 a pound and smoking tobacco was seventy-five cents a
pound. Selling out and dissolving
partnership he went to Knight’s Ferry, working in the old flour mill of D. W.
Tulloch, and when he returned to Stockton in 1865 he entered the employ of the
City Flour Mill, located on Main Street and owned by Willard and Austin Sperry
and Mr. Burkett. For fifty years he was
one of their most trusted employees and at the time of his retirement in 1915
he was presented with a gold service pin by the Sperry Company in honor of his
long and faithful service. He filled all
positions in the mill except that of engineer and general superintendent. He was superintendent of the cereal mill and
later for twenty-six years had charge of the boys and girls employed in the
cereal mill. He did all the flour
packing in the early days and has seen many changes in the mill’s processes and
machinery during his long term of service.
At a recent banquet at the mill he was the guest of honor and made a
fine speech, his name heading the list of veteran employees.
In earlier years Mr. Hannaford was
prominent in musical affairs, having a fine basso-profundo
voice. He formed two male quartettes and
with the three Wheeler sisters made a concert tour throughout the Valley,
visiting San Jose and other places. For
three years he sang in the choir of the congregational Church and never missed
a Sunday during that time. Hale and hearty in his eighty-third year he is still very active
and can dance a jig as well as in his youth. He joined the Odd Fellows in 1863 at Linden;
afterwards he was a member of Yerba Buena Lodge in San Francisco. The world is his church and to do good is his religion.
He has been a Republican from the time of Lincoln.
Mr. Hannaford was first married in
Sacramento to Miss Madeline Bingham, born in Pennsylvania, who died in Oakland,
leaving six children, five of whom are living:
Mrs. Mary High, of Los Angeles; Mrs. Nellie Andrews, of Watsonville;
Edwin T. Jr., of Stockton; Mrs. Jennie Menasco, of
Watsonville; Mrs. Lorena Elliott, of Venice.
His second marriage united him with Miss Margaret Andrews, who was born
in Nebraska. Her parents, John H. and
Margaret (Curry) Andrews were both natives of England, and in 1865 they cross
the plains with mule teams. They settled
at first in Oregon and later came to Stockton, where Mr. Andrews opened up a
harness shop on South Center Street between Main and Market, and the brick
building which he erected is still standing.
By this union they have one son, James L., a carpenter in Venice.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
843-844. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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