San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOSEPH TRIMBLE REES
Among the enterprising boosters and
builders up of Stockton must be mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Joseph T. Rees, who own
valuable property and greatly enjoy the climate and advantages of the great San
Joaquin Valley in whose future they have great faith. Mr. Rees is a native of the Buckeye State,
born near Zanesville, March 23, 1847, a son of Jacob and Nancy (Goshen) Rees,
farmers in Ohio until 1856, when they removed to Illinois, locating near Bloomington,
where the father died and the mother spent her remaining days in Stanford,
Illinois.
Of their nine children, Joseph T. is
the oldest child. He had a brother Amos
who served in the 29th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War
from 1861 and afterwards was in the 33rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry
until he was killed at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864. Joseph T. was reared on the Illinois farm,
receiving his education in the district schools. When seventeen yers
old, in the spring of 1864 he volunteered in Company H, 145th
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being mustered in at Camp Butler, Illionis, and was sent to Missouri, where he served until
he was mustered out in the fall of 1864.
On Febraury
6, 1870, Mr. Rees was married at Bloomington, Illinois, being united with Mrs. Christania Loretta (Price) Mahaffey, who was born in Huron
County, Ohio, and came to Illinois with her parents when she was a child of
five years of age. They settled on a
farm twelve miles west of Bloomington where she grew to womanhood, attending
local school held in a pioneer log schoolhouse with puncheon floors and slab
benches. Her father, Horatio B. C.
Price, was a New Yorekr, who had married Ruanny Goodrich, a native of the same state, of Welsh and
German descent. Mrs. Rees also traces
her lineage back to Benjamin Franklin.
The Price family moved to Pennsylvania and later to Ohio. In 1850 the family located in McLean County,
Illinois, wehre they were pioneer families, and there
this worthy couple resided until their death.
Five of their seven children grew up, of whom Mrs. Rees is the youngest
and only one now living. After their
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Rees engaged in farming in Butler County, Iowa, for three
years when they returned to McLean County, Illionis,
where they followed agricul;ture. In 1876 they removed to Kansas, settling on a
homestead near McPherson. In Kansas he
was one of the organizers of the Farmers’ Alliance Insurance company, serving
as director and treasurer for five years; the company was very successful and
is still doing good business. He was
also a member of the Farmer’s Elevator Company and the Farmers’ Co-operative
Store in McPherson, becoming a stockholder and director for twenty years.
As early as 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Rees
made a trip to California spending two years at Stockton and at Burson, returningto Kansas, they
farmed at McPherson until 1900, when they moved to Oklahoma where they were
engaged in farming and stockraising in the Kiowa country until March, 1910,
they returned to California and took up their residence in Stockton. They purchased property and improved it and
now own an apartment house on South Pilgrim Street as well as a residence in
the rear. They also own a nice residence
on Washington Street and four residences at the corner of Hazelton and Sierra
Nevada streets, housing in all thirteen families. Their investment is proving a profitable one
and they have been true upbuil;ders
of the city. They have also bought and
sold several properties and own lots in and near Tuxdeo
Park. Mr. and Mrs. Rees have been
blessed with five children, three of whom grew to manhood, and are living. Joseph Hubbard Rees is a very successful
farmer at Roosevelt, Oklahoma; Ezra Grant is a contractor at Enid, Oklahoma,
and is also a preacer in the Christian Church; he had
a son Herald, who served overseas in the World War; and Nancy Edith, Mrs. Schmalzried, resides in Stockton. By her former marriage Mrs. Rees had three
children that are living: Newton
Mahaffey, a contractor in Stockton;William
H. Mahaffey, a contractor in the Wyhoming oil fields;
and Adella, Mrs. McCombs, of Galena, Kansas.
She had a son, Robert cCombs, who served
overseas and died in France. Mr. Rees is
a worthy member and past commander of Rawlins Post No. 23, G. A. R., and has
served as an aide on the department commander’s staff. Mrs. Rees is a member of Col. Roosevelt
Circle, Ladies of the G. A. R., and for over twenty years has been an active
member of the W. C. T. U. and is a devoted member of the First Christian Church,
Stockotn. In
Kansas Mr. Rees served as a member of the school board as he also did while
residing in Oklahoma. He is a very
strong temperance man and is a Prohibitionist in his political views, while
Mrs. Rees is a very strong Republican.
She is very patriotic and has one corner of a room in her house asset
aside for the preservation of historical and patriotic souvenirs. They are both well read and well informned and believe in the adage of live and let live.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
584. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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