San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM E. O’CONNOR
Thirty years ago William E. O’Connor
became a permanent citizen and businessman of Stockton. He is the proprietor of a wholesale cracker
and candy business, an enterprise he directs with most gratifying results. He is the exclusive agent in northern San
Joaquin Valley and southern Sacramento Valley for the products of the American
Biscuit Company and the Pacific Coast Candy Company. He was born in the Wild Horse Valley, Solano
County, California, November 19, 1868, a son of James and Mary (Bray)
O’Connor. James O’Connor was an early
pioneer of California. He mined at
Indian Creek, Calaveras County, and as early as 1852 was in Stockton and shot
ducks where the courthouse now stands.
Later he settled in Wild Horse Valley, where he followed farming and
stockraising. In 1883 he sold out and
located near Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo County, and there followed farming
until his death. Wild Horse Valley was
famous in the early history of Solano County, and received its name from a band
of wild horses that roamed the valley, led by a beautiful stallion so fleet of
foot that he eluded capture for a long time.
In a very early day a cavalcade of 100 horsemen formed in Wild Horse
Valley, at the spot where Mr. O’Connor was born, for the purpose of lassoing
this beautiful wild stallion. They
formed a cordon across Wild Horse Valley and came down the ridge in a circle,
thus closing in and driving the band of wild horses before them, down through
Green Valley Falls to a point on the bay opposite what is now Mare Island. While they were attempting to lasso the
stallion, a mare about fourteen years old raced wildly up and down, and finally
plunged into the bay and swam across to the island, and she was for several
years the only living thing known to be on the island; it was named “Mare
Island” and is so chronicled in the original deed passing title to the first
American owner.
William E. O’Connor attended the
Harmony school and afterward the central public school in Napa until the family
removed to San Luis Obispo County. He
assisted his father in the ranch work on the home place near Pismo Beach, and
later was employed in driving an eight-mule team between San Luis Obispo and
Shandon over what was known as the Rocky Canyon Road, over Cresto
Mountain and across the San Juan River to the southeastern part of the county,
hauling grain, lumber, etc. In the
harvest season he worked with threshing outfits and engaged in farming. In 1890, wishing to enlarge his knowledge, he
attended Heald’s Business College in San Francisco, where he was graduated in
1891. In January, 1892, he located in
Stockton, where he worked for C. V. Thompson, a produce shipper, for two years;
then he clerked in a general store and was agent for the Shasta mineral water
in Stockton. In 1895 he became
associated with E. E. Rowe as agent for the Shasta water and the American
Biscuit Company. Two years later he bought his partner’s interest, and has
continued the business alone. He is now
representing the American Biscuit Company and the Pacific Coast Candy Company,
his territory extending from Galt on the north to Merced on the south.
The marriage of Mr. O’Connor united
him with Mrs. Ellis Viola (Lyman) Brown, a native of Columbus, Ohio. In 1898 Mr. O’Connor was elected city
assessor of Stockton on the Democratic ticket, serving two years. He has been a very active member of Stockton
Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W., is past president and has frequently been a delegate
to the Grand Parlor. Mr. O’Connor was
grand marshal of the Native Sons’ parade at Stockton on Admission Day of 1912,
said to be the most interesting and memorable parade the Native Sons ever held
in California. He is past exalted ruler
of Stockton Lodge No. 218, Elks, and was delegate from the local lodge to the
grand lodge convention held in Boston in 1917, and is a member of the Woodmen
of the World, and of the Stockton Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and the
United Commercial Travelers. Mr.
O’Connor has always been greatly interested in athletics, particularly
horsemanship, in which he excels, and naturally has been frequently selected as
marshal of parades and big days in Stockton.
Politically he is a Democrat, and has been a member of the county
committee, as well as a delegate to county and state conventions. His life has been an active, useful and
honorable one, and has been crowned by successful accomplishments.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1035. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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