San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MILTON JASPER MOWRY
Among the honored pioneers of the
‘70s of San Joaquin County is Milton Jasper Mowry, who has made his home in the
county since 1873. He is, therefore,
familiar with many of the events which shaped the early history of the state,
has witnessed much of its transformation and growth, and in all these years has
been loyal to its best interests. He was
born near Cincinnati, Ohio, November 18, 1853, a son of Lazarus, born in 1831,
and Electa (Morgan) Mowry, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of
Virginia. There were nine sons in the
family, three of whom are living: Milton
Jasper, our subject, Grant and John. In
1854 the family moved to Iowa. In 1861
they moved to Illinois and in 1866 to Missouri.
On March 6, 1873 the family left Shelby County, Missouri, for California
on an emigrant train, which took eleven days from Omaha, Nebraska. The fare was $61.50 and was a hard, tiresome
trip, there being no sleeping cars in those days. At the time of their arrival in Mokelumne
Station, now Lodi, there were very few residents in the place and the country surrounding
was covered with live oak brush. The
business portion of Lodi was composed of Brown’s livery stable, three saloons,
the Spencer Hotel, Hill’s jewelry store, John Bell’s barber shop, and Smith’s
butcher shop. After a year, the father
purchased fifty acres known as the Dr. Pitcher place, just north of town, for
which he paid $1,050, with a cow and a span of mustangs thrown in to complete
the sale. In 1876 the father set out a
vineyard, one of the first in that section, and there he lived until the time
of his death in 1915, at the age of eighty-four. The father was a Civil War veteran, having
served in an Illinois regiment. He and his
wife were devout members of the Methodist Church.
Milton Jasper Mowry had few of the
advantages afforded young men at the present day, but his early privileges were
supplemented by the knowledge and training gained from practical experience in
a busy life. His first job was grubbing
out willows on the Ed. Bryant ranch; then to Staten Island where he planted
barley on the Falkner-Styles ranch; then he went to Butte County where he
worked for Albert Woods for a time. He
and his brother George conducted a butcher shop at Lockeford for six years,
then one in Lodi for three years. In the
early ‘80s he located in Tulare where he ran a butcher shop for thirteen years,
then he removed to Stockton and engaged in the livery business for twenty-two
years, his first stable being at El Dorado and Sonora streets, the second, Pat
Field’s stable, the third was on Hunter Street, the fourth, the old Sonora
stable, and the fifth the Golden Gate on Hunter Street. He then bought a forty-acre ranch six miles
southeast of Stockton, which he farmed for two years together with 200 acres
adjoining. Returning to Stockton in
1912, he traded his ranch for Lincoln Street property which he still owns. He also owns the Blake stable and later
bought the old Wolf stable at California and Main streets. Three years ago he entered the butcher
business in Stockton and now conducts the meat market at the corner of Weber
Avenue and Aurora Street.
Mr. Mowry has been married twice,
the first time on July 18, 1877, to Miss Nellie Pygall,
and they were the parents of five children:
the only one living is Walter, who has been associated with his father
in business many years; he lives in Stockton, is married and has two sons. Mrs. M. J. Mowry passed away in 1909. They adopted three baby girls, unrelated, reared
and educated them to womanhood. Corinne
is Mrs. George Newcomb and they have two children: Vera is a bookkeeper with the H. C. Shaw
Company; and Evelyn is a student in the Stockton high school. Mr. Mowry’s second
marriage united him with Miss Helena Robinson on Mary 15, 1910. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows
Lodge No. 11.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
519. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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