San
Joaquin County
Biographies
LEON E. McCLUNG
An
early settler of Lodi is represented by Leon E. McClung, who for the past
thirty-one years has been an important factor in the remarkable development of
the Lodi section. His parents were
farmers near Niles, the county seat of Berrien County, Michigan, and he was
born on his father’s farm on December 31, 1864.
His paternal grandparents were pioneers of Michigan, settling there when
it was a vast wilderness, where they reared their family.
Leon E. received his schooling in
the district schools in his native county and twenty-six years of his life were
spent on the farm, years of toil, but nonetheless valuable in after life. During the year of 1890 he left home for the
Pacific Coast and located in Spokane, Washington, where he remained for one
year, coming to Lodi in 1891. He formed
a partnership with his brother-in-law, Ed F. Van Vlear,
in the building business and they were the pioneers in that line, the
partnership continuing for four years, during which time many residences were
erected throughout the county and city.
Besides his building operations Mr. McClung bought acreage property,
which he cut up into small tracts, erecting houses on same and selling
them. He purchased four acres in the
Barnhart tract and erected four houses, each house surrounded by an acre of
land; thus his work has meant the upbuilding of the community adjacent to Lodi,
and its permanence and stability. He has
specialized in contracts with ranchers to take bare land, erect residences and
out buildings, complete in every respect, and has made a great success in this
line, employing as high as twenty men in his building operations. His experience and connection with viticulture
have been quite extensive in buying, developing and selling the improved
vineyards. He was among the very first
growers to irrigate vineyards, contrary to the advice of many other growers,
but by actual demonstration he found that the irrigated vineyard produced more
and better grapes than the unirrigated one.
At one time he owned a twenty-acre vineyard in the Dougherty tract, one
of the best producers in the county; this he later sold at a good profit.
Mr. McClung has been married twice;
his first wife being Miss Lizzie Van Vlear, a native
of Michigan, who passed away in 1916.
Two children were born of this union:
Myrtle is Mrs. Henry Daley, and they reside at Burlingame and have two
children; Earl is married and has two children, residing in Sacramento; he is
associated with an automobile company.
The second marriage of Mr. McClung united him with Mrs. Elizabeth
(Riggs) Howe, a native of Missouri. She
owns a fifteen-acre vineyard in the Lodi section. Mr. McClung has demonstrated his ability to
advance steadily toward the goal of prosperity and at the same time to give his
aid to matters destined for the progress and development of his locality.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1399-1400. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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