San
Joaquin County
Biographies
BERT LEWIS, SR.
“A man who contributed to the
success of a wide variety of public activities and as one of the organizers and
for several years the president of the Stockton Merchants Association, Bert Lewis
not only aided in protecting and promoting the business interests of every
merchant and manufacturer in Stockton, but he helped to build a greater
Stockton.” This was made public by one
of the prominent men of Stockton at the time of the death of our subject and
typifies the man in every detail. Bert
Lewis was for many years among the leading merchants of Stockton and the name
of his establishment is a familiar one to nearly the whole population of San
Joaquin County, thousands being familiar with the signs “Outfitter from Lad to
Dad” posted all over the principal thoroughfares leading into Stockton. A native son of the Golden State, Bert Lewis
was born at Cold Springs, near the historic town of Columbia, in Tuolumne
County, on February 21, 1865, a son of Daniel J. and Mattie A. (Sawyer) Lewis,
natives of Providence, Rhode Island and Maine, respectively. The elder Lewis came out to California in the
late fifties, via the Isthmus of Panama, and located in Tuolumne County, where
he followed mining and teaming; later he conducted a general store, in
partnership with a brother. In 1870 he
removed to Stockton and entered the employ of Gerlach
& Hodgkins, butchers; and in time he conducted a
shop of his own, known as the California Market, at the corner of California
and Church streets. He was welcomed
everywhere as “Honest Dan” and his word was as good as his bond. He died in Stockton in 1902. The mother is still living in Oakland.
The oldest child in the family, Bert
Lewis attended the public schools of Stockton, then began his mercantile career
as a clerk in the dry goods store of Block and Company; next he was with
Hickman Dry Goods Company, and then with the George Chalmers Company, also
dealers in dry goods. Mr. Lewis then
went to Los Angeles to broaden his experience and there learned the custom
tailoring business with Poheim, the tailor. After five years in the southland he returned
to Stockton to manage a branch tailor shop for Poheim,
who conducted a chain of fourteen stores throughout the state. After a time Mr. Lewis bought the business
and conducted it with a partner, under the name of Lewis & Hefferman. Selling
out his interest later on, Mr. Lewis, with W. E. Johnson as a partner,
purchased the clothing company of Walker & Keagle
on East Main Street, in the store formerly occupied by Block & Company,
where he had previously clerked, and where he found the same store fixtures he
had used as a boy. He and his partner
conducted the business as a men’s clothing and
furnishing store for sixteen years, and later he bought out his partner and
carried on the business alone under the firm name of Bert Lewis Clothing
Company. In 1919 he moved to the present
location of the store, where the floor space is more than doubled and where he
built up one of the most reliable and successful clothing businesses in this
part of the San Joaquin Valley. His
trade here increased steadily in pace with the growth of the city and his
prosperity was so marked that he was enabled to purchase the two-story brick
block in which the business is located.
Mr. Lewis was twice married, his
first wife being Miss Alice Bauer, by whom he had two sons: Bert Lewis, Jr., who was associated with his
father in business and succeeded to it upon his death. He is the father of a son, Bert Lewis
III. The second son, Sydney, died aged
four years. His second wife was Miss Waneta Riley, and she survives him. Mr. Lewis was a member of Stockton Lodge No.
218, B. P. O. Elks, and for several years was lecturing knight; he was also a
member of Stockton Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W.; and a member and past president
of the Yosemite Club. In earlier years
Mr. Lewis conducted the New Year’s celebration, which was
held in Stockton on New Year’s Eve.
Genial and of a social nature, Bert Lewis had a host of friends; by
nature a fun-maker, he was always in demand as an interlocutor in amateur
minstrel shows and at the time of Stockton’s first big street fair, he
officiated as King Pin of the carnival.
He passed away Thursday, February 15, 1923, surrounded by his family and
a number of intimate friends.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1516-1517. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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