San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN EDWARD JORY
Born in the same district in which
he now resides, John Edward Jory, since reaching manhood’s estate has been
prominent and public-spirited. He was
born on a ranch a half mile south of the Harmony Grove schoolhouse on February
24, 1875, a son of James and Elizabeth (Tretheway) Jory, the parents both
natives of Cornwall, England. The
father, James Jory, came to California when he was eighteen years old, going
direct to Contra Costa County where he worked in the coal mines until 1874,
when he came to the Harmony Grove district, San Joaquin County and obtained
work with Heath & Boody. The following year, 1875, he bought the home
place, which, at that time, was heavily covered with timber. From time to time he acquired more land until
he had 540 acres which he cleared and farmed to grain. The mother, Elizabeth Tretheway, was the daughter
of John Tretheway, who was born in Cornwall, England, and came to the United
States in 1868. He located near Harmony
Grove Church, raised grain and as he succeeded he became the owner of valuable
property in San Joaquin County. The
children born to James and Elizabeth Jory are:
James Alfred of Fruitvale; Nellie, married George Harris of Stockton;
John Edward; Walter; Susan is the wife of C. F. Faber of Harmony Grove; Bessie
is Mrs. Winfield Ryland of Stockton; Bertha is Mrs. William Biddick
also of Stockton; Lila is Mrs. Earl Bruml of Modesto;
and Edna married Albert Beckman of Stockton.
Mr. Jory, after many years of active work at ranching sold off part of
his ranch to his son in 1906 and removed to Stockton with his wife and is now
living retired.
John Edward Jory received the
greater part of his schooling at the Harmony Grove School, and after his school
days were over he began preparations for his future. In 1898 he went to Dawson, N. W. Territory,
where he spent four years working for wages and prospecting, then returned to
California with about $5,000 he had saved and located at Tracy where he entered
the employ of the Southern Pacific as foreman of the car shops, being located
at Tracy most of the following six years.
With the money he had made in Alaska he bought from an uncle the old
Tretheway ranch of 187 acres and set twenty-five acres to vines; later he was
able to purchase 176 acres of the old home place for which he paid
$14,080. With characteristic thrift and
industry, inherited from his forebears, he improved twenty acres of his land,
setting eight acres to vines, and sold this for $500 per acre. In 1919 he bought 160 acres east of his home
place and sold it at a good profit; he also bought seventy acres of the old
Farley ranch about two years ago. Mr.
Jory bought the 160-acre ranch for $10,000, and not long afterwards sold it for
$26,600, thus showing the rapid increase in land values in San Joaquin County. Mr. Jory has recently developed thirty acres
of his ranch, planting ten acres to vineyard and eight acres to alfalfa with
the intention of putting it on the market.
He has farmed as much as 800 acres and was equipped with the necessary
machinery for handling grain on an extensive scale, but during the World War,
he disposed of all of his machinery and now only farms in a small way, owning
and operating but 130 acres altogether, which he has improved with a modern
home.
At Lockeford on June 25, 1902, Mr.
Jory was united in marriage with Miss Mary Inglis, a
daughter of Alexander and Jeanette (Wilson) Inglis,
both natives of Scotland. Her father was
reared in Scotland, and during his young manhood followed occupation of
gardener. Mrs. Jory is the sixth child
in a family of ten children, four having been born before the family left
Scotland. The father brought his family
direct to San Joaquin County, at the present time resides about one mile west
of Lockeford. Mrs. Jory received her
preliminary education in the Lockeford school; later
taking a teacher’s course in the San Jose State Normal School; after graduating
she returned to San Joaquin County and taught in the Dry Creek school and the
Lockeford school until her marriage to Mr. Jory. They are the parents of four children: Verel Deane,
Dorothy, Ruth, and Robert.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
467. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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