San
Joaquin County
Biographies
EDRIS B. MYERS, Jr.
Perseverance and industry have ever
been the characteristics of Edris B. Myers, Jr., and
these qualities, combined with his native ability, have been responsible for
his rise to the important post of chief engineer of the three mills of the
Sperry Flour Mills at Stockton. Mr.
Myers is a native of Illinois and was born at Peoria on January 7, 1875, the
son of Edris B. and Margaret (Fyfe) Myers, the former
a native of Indiana and the latter of Pontiac, Illinois.
In March, 1886, the family removed
to Stockton, California, and here Edris B. attended
the Lafayette school until he was fifteen, when he started out to earn his own
living. He followed various occupations
as a boy, first as a messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and
then with Charles W. Dohrmann, the insurance man. In 1893 he took up the machinist’s trade with
Straight & Cadle, the proprietors of the Globe
Iron Works, and was with them until 1895, when he entered the employ of the
Sperry Flour Mills Company, working as a fireman for two years. From 1897 to 1898 he was with the Stockton Gas
& Electric Company, and then went back to the Sperry’s for two years. Receiving an appointment as assistant
engineer at the State Asylum at Stockton under H. G. Balkwill,
Mr. Myers was there from 1900 to 1905, and being ambitious to progress more
rapidly, during this time he took a course in engineering with the
International Correspondence Schools.
Returning to the Sperry Company as assistant engineer, he was made chief
engineer of the Union Mill in 1905, of the Capital Mill in 1912, and the Crown
Mill in 1915, all owned by this company, these promotions giving concrete
evidence of the appreciation of his capability and faithful service, and he now
has fifteen men working under him.
Mr. Myers’ marriage, which took
place in 1912, united him with Miss Frances Gillis; a native daughter of
Stockton, whose father, James Gillis, was one of the city’s
honored pioneer residents. Mr. Myers has
been a member of the Odd Fellows since 1906, being affiliated with Charity
Lodge No. 6 of Stockton.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1436. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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