San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ARTHUR F. ROBERTS
A businessman of marked ability, who
has been with the Hobbs-Parsons Company of Stockton, wholesale distributors of
produce, for the past twenty-one years, is Arthur F. Roberts, the capable manager
of that organization. Born on a farm in
the Mohawk Valley near Rome, Oneida County, New York, on July 28, 1870, he
received his education in the district schools, the Rome Academy and the Albany
Business College in Albany, New York.
Remaining at home until he was twenty-three years of age, in 1893 he
came to Fresno County, California, and went to work in a raisin vineyard at
thirty dollars per month; at the end of one year he formed a partnership in the
retail fruit and produce business; later engaged in the wholesale fruit and
produce business and was the originator of the system of packing figs with
steam treatment. He was thus occupied
until 1900 when he entered the employ of the Hobbs-Parsons Company as a
buyer. He traveled over the large potato
growing states of the west, principally Oregon, Idaho and Minnesota, passing
two seasons in Minnesota where he established relations with the large potato
growers, and this business connection still continues.
The marriage of Mr. Roberts united
him with Clara Belle Hamilton, a native of Watsonville, Santa Cruz County,
California, and they are the parents of three children: Edward Hamilton, Thomas Arthur, and Harriet
Anne. He has taken an active interest in
the Y. M. C. A. and for several years was a member of the board of directors
and at present is a member of the finance board. In 1920 he was chairman of the boys’ work
committee. At one time he was a member
of the executive council of the Boy Scouts.
During the World War he was captain of all drives covering a territory
eight miles north of Stockton and near the close of the war served as a member
of the county exemption board. He is a
member of the Stockton Golf and Country Club; an ex-member of the board of
directors of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a past president of the Stockton
Rotary Club. In 1921 he was elected a
director in the Stockton Savings and Loan Bank.
In May, 1922, he was elected a member of the committee of freeholders, fifteen
in number, which drafted a new charter for the city of Stockton, providing for
the manager form of government. In his
religious affiliations he is president of the board of trustees of the First
Congregational Church, of which the family are members.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
662. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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