San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE ALLEN LADD
San Joaquin County owes much to such
well-organized, well-conducted business concerns as the Ladd Dairy Farm in the
Montezuma district in the vicinity of Stockton, whose proprietor is George
Allen Ladd, a worthy representative of a pioneer family of California dating
back to 1853. He was born on the ranch
where he now resides March 25, 1875, a son of Walter Eugene and Juliette
Estella (Ayers) Ladd, and is the eldest of a family of four children, the
others being Walter E., Elmer A., and Juliette.
His grandfather, George Samuel Ladd, was a New Englander by birth and
reached California with his brother Ira W. Ladd, also represented in this
history, in 1853, and both were prominently associated with educational and
commercial enterprises of the county.
George Samuel Ladd married Miss Abigail Bourland,
a native of Arkansas. She survives her
husband, who passed away in 1902, and she resides in Stockton.
Walter Eugene Ladd, the father of
our subject, was born in 1859 and in 1885 he was married to Miss Juliette
Estella Ayers, a native of Lodi, San Joaquin County. Walter Eugene Ladd passed away in September,
1918, the mother still surviving.
After finishing the grammar school
in the Montezuma district, George Allen Ladd attended Heald’s
Business College in Stockton, where he took an electrical course; later he was
employed in an electrical supply establishment in Stockton where he remained
for four years; he then entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad as
machinist, continuing with them for a period of three years. He then accepted a position with the Southern
Sierra Power Company as operator, but three months later on receiving word of
his father’s death, he returned to Stockton and assumed control of the ranch interests
left by his father, continuing to operate the dairy established by his father a
number of years ago and steadily improving his herd of dairy cattle; he is much
interested in the new and progressive methods of handling his dairy and gives
his personal attention to all the details of the business.
The marriage of Mr. Ladd united him
with Miss Nellie M. Whitmore, a native of Ceres, the daughter of Col. Richard
Keith and Annie (Pagels) Whitmore, pioneer ranchers
of Stanislaus County. Mrs. Ladd may well
be proud of the civic and the military record of her father, Col. R. K.
Whitmore. He came from New Jersey to
California about 1875, and while still a young man undertook the farming of
grain at Stockton. After a while he
moved to Ceres, and quite naturally assumed leadership in the early days of
that town. He married Miss Annie Pagels, and she too has her share of the credit as a
founder of the promising town. More and
more he became active in public affairs, and for twenty-five years he served in
the California National Guards. He was
for a while major of infantry, and he was mustered out as colonel of the Sixth
California Regiment Infantry after seeing creditable Spanish War service. In Ceres, honored by all, he passed away in
1911. Mrs. Ladd’s brother, Richard Keith
Whitmore, is cashier of the American Bank of Modesto. Mr. and Mrs. Ladd have one daughter, Alice
W. Mr. Ladd is a Republican in matters
of national politics; but when it comes to boosting Montezuma district and San
Joaquin County, he is always willing to throw aside
narrow partisanship if
by doing so he may be able to advance any good cause.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
951. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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