San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. VEDA BELLE HULL KNOWLES
Prominent among the distinguished
women of northern California is Mrs. Veda Belle Hull Knowles, the gifted wife
of William H. Knowles, of Stockton, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this
work. With her husband, she is
intimately associated with the business progress and social life of Stockton,
and her social and patriotic activities have given her a wide acquaintance and
celebrity.
Mrs. Knowles was born at Smith
Center, Kansas, and came with her parents to Stockton when six years old. Her father, Octavius
H. Hull, was born at Grafton, West Virginia, and grew up in Virginia until his
seventeenth year, when he enlisted in Company H, of the 12th West
Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the War, receiving after
eighteen months of service an honorable discharge. In May, 1883, he came to California and
settled at Stockton and became a popular dealer in pianos and organs, and also
in school, hall and church furnishing supplies.
He was married at New Sharon, Iowa, to Miss Nancy M. Baldwin and died at
Oakland in 1914, age sixty-nine. Mrs.
Hull is living at 6027 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, which for many years has been
the family home. There were five
children in their family: Herschel is
blind, but is nevertheless very successful as the proprietor of an extensive
express and storage business at Berkeley; he is a graduate of the Deaf and Dumb
Institute in that city. The others are Merril, a carpenter and builder at Madera in Madera County;
Veda Belle of this review; Sophronia, the wife of
William H. O. Smith, paint contractor at Oakland; and Leland, who met a tragic
death on December 5, 1921, from injuries received when he was kicked by a horse
while at work on his extensive grain farm at Farmington. He served for four years in the United States
Navy, where his patriotism, courage, manliness, and good fellowship endeared
him to all.
Veda Belle Hull grew up in Stockton,
where she attended the Stockton high school with the class of 1904. She was athletic and a great lover of the
out-of-doors, and won laurels locally as an equestrienne. At the same time, she was an apt student of
the voice and piano, and excelled in elocution.
From childhood she took important parts in dramas, concerts and public
entertainments, and became known outside San Joaquin County. She has never relinquished interest in her
art, and is at present pursuing her studies in elocution under Miss Ella M.
Henderson of Stockton. Mr. and Mrs.
Knowles reside at their beautiful home at 401 West Poplar Street, Stockton,
which has long been a center of the most enjoyable social functions. She is a member of the Stockton Chapter of
the Eastern Star, of which she is associate matron; and a member of Loyalty
Court, Order of Amaranth, of Stockton, of which she is the
standard-bearer. She is also a member
and past president of Rawlins Woman’s Relief Corps. For two years she served as vice-president of
the Woman’s Relief Corps Home of California, and was on its board of directors
for three years, and she was department senior vice-president of the California
and Nevada Woman’s Relief Corps during 1917 and 1918. She organized and mothered the Mary B. Hancock Tent of the Daughters of Veterans of
the Civil War, National Alliance, and was unanimously elected the first
president. In national political
affairs, she works as a Republican, her counsel being sought by candidates and
party heads.
During the late World War, which
called for such heroic endeavors on the part of American women, Mrs. Knowles
was very active in the Red Cross work.
She held the exalted position of General of the Army and Director of the
Red Cross of San Joaquin Chapter, San Joaquin County, and is at the present
time one of its directors. Gifted with a
beautiful voice, she became a member of the M. E. Church choir, at Stockton, as
a high school girl, and later for many years was its soloist and leading
soprano. Her interest in social and
public affairs has never waned. She is
prominent as a member of the Historical Association of San Joaquin County, and
is an active worker and a prime favorite in the Philomathean
Club of Stockton, a Federated state club of California. For three years she was a member of the
Associated Charities. Her work in appearing
before the California Legislature and the State Board of Control in
collaboration with Mrs. Geraldine Frisbie, president,
Mrs. Farwell, secretary, and other active workers for the Woman’s Relief Corps
Home of California, has borne very good fruit.
The Corps may now buy its fine home property at Santa Clara, known
formerly as the Dr. Osborne Sanitarium, where relief and the best of care is
given to daughters and relatives of soldiers of the Civil and other wars. Mrs. Knowles has visited Washington, D. C.,
in furtherance of the Woman’s Relief Corps interests; she has crossed the
continent six times, and has attended national
conventions at Portland, Oregon, Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana, Boston,
and Los Angeles. In 1920 at Washington,
D. C., she had the honor of attending the President’s reception given to the
diplomatic corps and workers of the various countries allied in the World
War. Gracious, kind and generous, she is
truly a leader in political, fraternal and social circles.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
957. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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