San
Joaquin County
Biographies
FRED D. NAYLOR
Although for many years identified
with the flour milling industry and well known all over the United States
through his inventions in this line, Fred D. Naylor has made an outstanding
success in the automobile business as agent for the Ford car and Fordson
tractor for Stockton and vicinity. Mr.
Naylor was born at Woodstock, Canada, July 6, 1869, the son of James Naylor,
who married Nancy Maria Outwater, and moved with his
family to Columbus, Nebraska, in 1874, where he became a pioneer, owning a farm
near that city and at the same time plying his trade of blacksmith in the
town. He died there in 1904, after
having done his part to help build up his section. Mrs. Naylor died in 1921, leaving four
daughters and two sons, of whom Fred D. is the only one in the West. He attended the local schools in his district
and learned the trade of blacksmith with his father, but he did not follow it;
instead he engaged in the grocery business at the age of nineteen. Later he learned the trade of miller in the
Elevator-Roller Mills at Columbus, Nebraska, and having mastered the business
thoroughly he was advanced to the position of head miller, and was with this
concern for ten years. While there he
invented and patented a flour bleacher, called the Natural Refiner, and with
this he traveled all over the United States, installing the same in flour
mills.
In 1909 Mr. Naylor came to Stockton
and for a year and a half was with the Crown Mills, and in 1911 he entered the
employ of J. L. Whitmore as a salesman for the Chalmers car. About this time Mr. Whitmore took the agency
for the Ford car, and later he turned it over to Mr. Naylor without a cent of
expense, as he could not see any future for it.
Mr. Naylor had the good judgment to grasp the opportunity and thus
virtually had a gold mine presented to him.
In 1912, the first year he had the agency, Mr. Naylor sold sixty-nine
cars, and in 1920 his contract with the Ford Motor Company called for 600 Ford
cars and 150 Fordson tractors. In early
days he was limited to eight square miles of territory, which included
Stockton, but in 1920 the limit was removed from his territory. In 1922 he took the agency for the Lincoln car,
Mr. Ford having succeeded to the ownership of the manufactory. At 317 North El Dorado Street, Stockton, Mr.
Naylor erected one of the largest and finest buildings in the West for a garage
and sales room, the plant being 100 x 300 feet in size and modern in every
appointment, making an ideal business place for his expanding custom.
Mr. Naylor’s marriage united him
with Miss Nellie E. Brown, a native of Hastings, Nebraska, and they have two
daughters: Esther, who graduated from
the University of California in 1920, and is now the wife of Irwin Barbour,
married on December 22, 1921; they reside at Glenn Cove, New York; and Helen,
who attended Miss Head’s School in Berkeley and the Bishop’s School at La
Jolla, California. Mr. Naylor belongs to
Stockton Lodge, No. 218, B. P. O. E., and to the Knights of the Maccabees; he
is an enthusiastic member of the Stockton Golf and Country Club, and holds
membership in the Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants’ Association and the State
Automobile Association. After several
years of hard work in building up a successful business, in 1922 Mr. Naylor
decided to take a needed rest and accompanied by his wife and daughter, Helen,
left Stockton on June 15, took an extended Mediterranean cruise and visited
many interesting points in Europe, returning to Stockton on September 21, 1922.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1056-1059. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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