San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CHARLES W. RUFF
An enterprising, successful man of
varied affairs of real practical importance to this portion of California is
Charles W. Ruff, formerly a stockholder in and manager of the mill of the Lodi
Mill & Manufacturing Company, and now engaged in building operations in the
Sturla Tract.
He was born at Muscatine, Iowa, on December 12, 1864, and there he
remained until he was fifteen years of age, when he removed to South Dakota,
where he was for five years on a ranch, at the same time that he finished his
schooling.
Returning to Iowa, he entered upon
planing-mill work at Sioux City, starting in at the bottom of the ladder, and
thereby gradually gaining a thorough knowledge of mill-work in all
branches. And from that time on, he
followed mill-work until of spring of 1921 he sold his interest in the Lodi
Mill & Manufacturing Company. In
Sioux City he entered the employ of the Anderson & Floyd Manufacturing Company,
and from there he went to Waterloo, Iowa, where he worked for nine years with Nauman & Company in their planing mill. He then went north to Seattle, and was with
Messrs. Morgan Bros., shipbuilders, for a year and a half; and coming to Lodi
in 1906, he entered the employ of Cary Bros., in the Lodi Planing Mills. Later a corporation was formed called the
Lodi Mill & Manufacturing Company, which bought out Cary Bros.; and Mr.
Ruff was a partner in the concern, with E. C. Cary, J. M. McMahon and E. F. Van
Vlear. After
all these years of changing application, Mr. Ruff became one of the best-posted
and most-experienced planing-mill men in this part of the country, and it was
easy for the Lodi Mill under his management to make a specialty of remodeling
storefronts. Although this seems an odd
specialty, the company was kept busy, and many of the most ornate facades in
Lodi are due to their taste and skill.
They erected, for example, the fronts of the Freidburgh
Kaiser store, and that of M. Newfield and Messrs. Beckman, Welsh &
Thompson.
Since
entering upon his new field, Mr. Ruff has been equally successful. He built the first residence in the Sturla Tract, and he seems destined to build many
more. He buys well-located lots, erects
houses of the most desirable character, and puts them on the market at prices
reasonable and within the reach of many; and in this important work of helping
to build up the community, he has accomplished much good. It is no wonder that his fellow citizens look
upon him as an exemplary citizen, and speak of him as good timber, before long,
for public office. An active Democrat
for years, he has long served prominently as a member of the Democratic County
Central Committee.
The marriage of Mr. Ruff united him
with Miss Mabel Paul, a native of Iowa, and their union has been blessed with
the birth of three children: Cecil, Paul
and Juanita. Mr. Ruff is a Mason, being
a member of Lodi Lodge No. 256, F. & A. M., and he also belongs to the
Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1440. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases