San
Joaquin County
Biographies
FRANK OLIVER HOUSKEN
San Joaquin County and the town of
Tracy and environs are largely indebted to Frank Oliver Housken, who has aided
in laying the foundations on which have been built the present progress and prosperity
of this section. He was born in Union
township, San Joaquin County, on February 17, 1868, a son of George Housken, a
pioneer of the county, who settled ten miles northwest of Woodbridge about
sixty years ago and who conducted a general merchandise store in that
locality. In 1873 the family moved
farther down the Mokelumne River to the home ranch northwest of New Hope and
there four sons and four daughters were reared and educated, excepting for the
schooling received in higher institutions.
His father is now past eighty-three years of age and resides with his
daughter, Mrs. Fountain, in Oakland, but still retains his ranches and
interests in San Joaquin County.
Frank Oliver began his education in
the New Hope school at the age of six years and finished his high school course
in the San Francisco high school; he then entered the University of Michigan
and was graduated from the law department in 1890, received his L. L. B. degree
and during the same year was admitted to the bar. Returning to California, he was admitted to
practice in 1890 by the California Supreme Court, and later in the Federal
Court. He had been commissioned a notary
public all that time by each governor of the state, commencing with Governor H.
H. Markham.
Mr. Housken limits
his practice to civil work, having no inclination toward criminal practice, and
is inclined to specialize is real property law, with its numerous fields,
including probate law. He conducted the
proceedings for the incorporation of the city of Tracy and has been its legal
adviser in handling the bond issue.
The marriage of Mr. Housken occurred
in 1901 and united him with Miss Anna S. Lammers, a daughter of Dietrich and
Dorothea (Hemson) Lammers. Her father came to California in 1859 from
South Carolina and was married to Miss Hemson in 1871
at Ellis, California. Dietrich Lammers
settled in San Joaquin County in 1866 and followed ranching all his life. The Lammers district school was named to Dietrich
Lammers and his brother, Martin Lammers.
Dietrich Lammers passed away at his home near Tracy in 1890, his wife surviving
him until 1917. Mrs. Housken was reared
and schooled on the west side and she had her sister, Mrs. George J. Luhrsen, are the sole survivors of the family. She is prominent in the Rebekahs, being past
noble grand and takes a keen interest in public affairs and the welfare of her
locality. Politically, Mr. Housken is a
Republican, but has ever held principle above party. His interest in the west side section of San
Joaquin County led him in 1921 to found the West Side Pioneer Society; he is an
authority on its history. He has in his
possession a copy of the first newspaper published in Tracy and all subsequent
editions, which he has carefully preserved.
Mr. Housken is a member of the
following fraternal orders: Masons,
I.O.O. F., N. S. G. W., Foresters of America and the Rebekahs. He has been through all the chairs and in
1904-5 was district deputy grand patriarch of the local district. He is a director in the Pioneer Bank of Tracy. Mr. Housken believes heartily in irrigation,
and in 1908 was secretary of the organization to promote same.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
887. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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