San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM A. MURPHY
After ten years of efficient service
as city inspector in the electrical department of the city of Stockton, wherein
he became widely known throughout the city, William A. Murphy resigned his post
to engage in business for himself, organizing the Bright Spot Electric Company
on January 1, 1918, opening up headquarters at 235 East Market Street,
Stockton, and winning success from the start.
A native Californian, Mr. Murphy was born in Calaveras County July 9,
1876, the son of Patrick and Margaret (Fitzgerald) Murphy; both were natives of
Boston, Massachusetts, and there they were married, crossing the plains in an
ox-team train in 1849 with their two children.
The father was one of the pioneer miners and farmers of San Andreas,
Calaveras County, where he resided until 1896, when he retired and removed to
Stockton, where he died in April, 1900, aged seventy-three. Mrs. Murphy passed away in September, 1914,
aged eighty-four.
Ten children were born to this
worthy pioneer couple: Mrs. William
Webb, deceased, the mother of eleven children; James, a rancher in San Joaquin
County, is married and has one child; Thomas passed away leaving a widow and
two children, and one of them, R. W. Murphy, is the Pacific Coast manager for
the Westinghouse Lamp Company, with headquarters in San Francisco; Mrs. Nellie
Williams lives at Oakdale, California; Mrs. Margaret Thompson of Angels Camp,
Calaveras County, has six children; Mrs. Mary Von Dulm
is deceased; Mrs. Robert O’Brien of Oakland has two daughters; Frank J. of
Stockton; Eliza, deceased; and the youngest, William A. Murphy, of this
sketch. He was educated in the public
schools of Calaveras County and came to Stockton when a young man and learned
the blacksmith trade with the Holt Manufacturing Company, finishing with the
Hammond Car Works of San Francisco.
Not seeing any future in this trade,
Mr. Murphy returned to Stockton and opened a cigar store on Main Street, which
he conducted for two years, when he sold out to William Hickman. He then decided to learn the electrical
business, and this he has now followed for twenty-three years. He started with the American River Electrical
Company, which was installing a transmission line from Placerville to Stockton,
working for only a dollar a day at first, and was with this company for four
years. He then engaged in the electrical
business for himself for a year, selling out to Harry Spencer, and remaining
with Mr. Spencer for a year and a half as foreman. He then became foreman and manager for the
Powell Electrical Company on construction work, and installed the electrical
system in many of the older buildings, among them the Clark & Henery
Building, the old St. Joseph’s Home and the Clark Sanitarium, also installing
much work in Turlock.
In 1907 Mr. Murphy was appointed
city electrician of Stockton under Mayor R. R. Reibenstein, the first man to
hold this office, which he filled faithfully and efficiently for ten years. During this time many of Stockton’s large,
modern buildings were erected: Hotel
Stockton, Hotel Clark, Hotel Lincoln, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Commercial
Bank, City Bank, and he passed on the electrical installation in all of them. Resigning from this post, he opened his
business, the Bright Spot Electric Company in 1918, and today he has one of the
most representative establishments in this line in the county, enjoying a
patronage extending into the rich Delta, as well as in the towns and
communities around Stockton in other directions. Houses are wired, industrial and commercial
lighting plants are installed complete and motor and pumping plants are
installed for irrigation and general ranch use, irrigation machinery being a
specialty of Mr. Murphy. He was the
successful bidder for the installation work and lighting equipment for the
Antioch $60,000 city hall, and this work was so satisfactory that it called
forth much praise.
At Reno, Nevada, in December, 1898,
Mr. Murphy was married to Miss Ida B. Fischer, a native of Switzerland, and
they make their home at 735 North California Street. One of Stockton’s enterprising businessmen,
Mr. Murphy is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Progressive Business
Club, the Stockton Advertising Club, the California Electrical Contractors and
Dealers Association, and the Jovians, a national
order of the electrical industry, and fraternally is a member of the Native
Sons of the Golden West, Woodmen of the World, Red Men, and a charter member of
the local Eagles.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1439. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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