San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ROBERT W. HANNA
A native of Missouri, Robert W.
Hanna was born at Forsyth, Taney County, March 10,
1848. His father, Dr. John G. Hanna, was
born in Indiana, where he married Miss Salina J. Hopkins, a native of
Ohio. They removed to Missouri and later
to Madrid, Boone County, Iowa, where they were farmers. Mr. Hanna volunteered his services for the
Civil War and enlisted in Company A, 10th
Iowa Volunteer Infantry, being commissioned a first lieutenant. He was mustered out at the close of the war
and then studied medicine. Removing to
Sumner County, Kansas, he practiced medicine, later removing to Linn County,
same state, and followed his profession until his death. His widow afterwards came to Stockton and
spent her last days with her son, Robert W., who was the youngest of his three
children, two of whom are living. He
attended school in Iowa and also in Sumner County, Kansas.
Mr. Hanna was married at Wellington,
Kansas, to Miss Alice Evelyn Reardon, born in Bowling Green, Indiana, a daughter
of John and Margaret (Mitchell) Reardon, natives of Indiana and Ohio,
respectively; the mother having been born in the same town as General Grant. John Reardon died in 1852 and the widow, with
her two little girls removed to Boone, Iowa, accompanying her father to that
place, and there she engaged in the millinery business, reared and educated her
children. Later she removed to Napoleon,
Kansas, where he engaged in business until her death. Alice Evelyn, the younger of her two
daughters, received a good education in the public schools.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hanna
farmed in Sumner County, Kansas, until 1872, then came to Modesto, California,
and after farming there for four years returned to Sumner County, Kansas, and
there in 1876 they homesteaded 160 acres of land which they improved from the
raw prairie and engaged in raising wheat, for five years, then sold out and
made a trip to Colorado, and returning to Kansas engaged in farming in Lynn
County. They always had a desire to
return to California, and as their son had come hither in 1900, they came out
to Stockton in 1902. For five years he
was in the Munkeg Bakery and then ranched until he
entered the employ of the Stockton Electric Railway in 1909, as caretaker and
manager of Oak Park, and when the city purchased the park he and his wife were
requested to remain in charge. Since
then the city has added a zoo and Mr. and Mrs. Hanna are caring for the animals
and birds, studying their habits as well as the preparation of their food; a
part of the park has been developed as picnic playgrounds and some as tourist
campgrounds, and has become very popular.
Mr. and Mrs. Hanna have been blessed
with three children: William is with the
Holt Manufacturing Company; George in the employ of the Rural Cemetery;
Gertrude is Mrs. Meek of Oklahoma. Mr.
Hanna is a member of the Order of Railway Employees and Mrs. Hanna is chaplain
for the local W. R. C., and both are staunch Republicans.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1548. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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