San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CHARLES R. RUTLEDGE
A man of enterprise and rare
business qualifications, Charles R. Rutledge is a leading citizen of
Woodbridge, California, and is in close touch with the horticultural interests
of San Joaquin County, occupying the position of field representative of the Woodbridge
district for the Earl Fruit Company. A
native son of California, he was born at Woodbridge on the Robert Boyce ranch
on August 10, 1870, a son of Edward G. and Mary C. (Farmer) Rutledge, the
former a native of Virginia and the latter of Missouri. His father crossed the plains to California
in 1852 and settled at Acampo, San Joaquin County. He formed a partnership with the late Senator
Langford and entered into a contract with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company
to cut wood, and thousands of cords of wood were cut and delivered to the
railroad company. When the contract was
completed, in partnership with a brother and their father he opened a general
store in Woodbridge under the firm name of John Rutledge & Sons; later, in
partnership with Mr. McLeran he bought out the store
of John Rutledge & Sons and continued the business for some years as
Rutledge & McLeran. Then he located at Sonora and became watchman
in the gold mines, and while thus occupied met death by accident. The mother crossed the plains with her
parents in an early day; and her father, Washington Farmer, became a prominent
agriculturist of Woodbridge. They were
the parents of five children, all of whom are living: John W., of Tuolumne; Charles R., of this
sketch; Benjamin F., of Monterey, California; Edward, with the Standard Oil
Company, at Richmond, California; and Clarence, a rancher living in Woodbridge.
Charles R. Rutledge received his
education in the public schools of Woodbridge, and then spent three years on a
ranch in Tulare County. Following this
he spent eight years in the mines of Jerome and Bisbee, Arizona. On his return to his native county he entered
into a partnership with his cousin, George Rutledge, and for some years
conducted a general store in Woodbridge, during which time he received his
appointment as postmaster of Woodbridge.
He resigned the postmastership when he sold
his interest in the store in 1914, having served for twelve years. For the past sixteen years he has been the
representative of Guggenheim & Company of San Francisco, in this district, buying
dried fruits from the orchardists throughout the valley on a brokerage
basis. As field representative of the
Earl Fruit Company he goes from orchard to orchard supervising the farm work
necessary for the production of the crops of fruit, etc. His duties give him ample opportunity to keep
well posted on the fruit industry of the county.
The marriage of Mr. Rutledge
occurred on July 8, 1894, and united him with Miss Bertha Lee Sargent, a native
of Plymouth, California. Mr. Rutledge
relates an interesting event that occurred on the day of his marriage. The big railroad strike was then on and the
San Francisco “Examiner” sent a bundle of papers by boat to Stockton; from
Stockton they were carried to Sacramento on a bicycle, and he purchased a paper
for twenty-five cents as the paper man passed through Woodbridge. Mrs. Rutledge’s stepfather, the late Mr. Amos
McClelland, was a well-known character in California in the early days; he was
a pioneer railroad man and helped to build the railroad to Valley Springs, and
was conductor on the line for many years.
Fraternally, Mr. Rutledge is a member of the Woodbridge Lodge of Masons,
No. 131, and also of the Woodbridge Eastern Star, and of the Stockton Elks, No.
218.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1047. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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