San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ELI H. RIDENOUR
In the long time that has passed,
covering more than forty years, since Eli H. Ridenour came to California he has
taken an active and helpful interest in the substantial improvement and
development of the central section of the state, more especially along
educational lines, and is numbered among the honored pioneers whose
intelligently directed efforts in early days enabled them to lay a foundation
for a commonwealth, upon which has been builded a superstructure of which they
have every reason to be proud. His
advantages in youth were limited, but he has worked his way upward through
perseverance and diligence, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles in his
path, and is now one of the substantial residents of San Joaquin County. He was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania,
January 1, 1853, a son of George and Martha (Miller) Ridenour. The father, George Ridenour, removed to
Clayton County, Iowa when Eli H. was a small child of a year and a half, and
was a frontiersman in the country, purchasing 240 acres of land from a Mr.
Potts, who was the original settler of Clayton County. There were eleven children in the
family: James, Thomas, Samuel,
Alexander, deceased, Emily, deceased, Mary Ellen, Anna Liza, Mark and Richard,
deceased, Emanuel and Eli H. The father
passed away at the age of fifty-five, the mother surviving him until she was
eighty-five years old.
Eli H. Ridenour began his mental
training in the public school in the vicinity of his home and after finishing
the grammar grades secured a school near his home where he taught for three
terms, living at home with his parents during that time. In 1872, he entered the Western College, now
Coe College, at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, working his way through this college and
graduating in 1880. Immediately after graduation,
he received a telegram from the San Joaquin Valley College at Woodbridge
offering him a position as instructor of mathematics, which he accepted,
remaining in that position for one year, when he returned to Iowa and in 1881
was married to Miss Delilah Harris at Postville, her native town. She was a daughter of Elisha Harris, an
extensive farmer in the vicinity of Postville, and there Mrs. Ridenour began
her education, finishing at Western College.
Returning to California with his wife, Mr. Ridenour continued as the
professor of mathematics at the San Joaquin College at Woodbridge until 1894,
when he settled in Stockton and became the principal of the Weber School for
one year. Then he became an instructor
in the Stockton high school, where he taught for twenty-four consecutive years,
resigning his position in 1919 to give his attention to his vineyard west of
Woodbridge.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
991-992. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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