San Joaquin
County
Biographies
LODWICK
UPDIKE SHIPPEE
There are but few men in this State who have
been more prominently associated in the development of the great San Joaquin
valley than L. U. Shippee, ex-Mayor of Stockton. He
was a pioneer, and commenced his career as a clerk in a large grocery house, in
the city of Stockton. His industry, economy and business sagacity brought him
popularity, wealth and position in society, and at an early day he was
prominent in various enterprises having for their object the development of the
State, and especially the city of Stockton. As a merchant, farmer and banker he
has been eminently successful. In 1867 he associated himself with others in
forming the Stockton Savings and Loan Society, which was one of the first, and
is now the largest savings bank outside of San Francisco, and of which he has
been a Director since the formation, and President for the last 12 years.
Mr. Shippee
has never accepted any office except as Councilman and Mayor for the city of
Stockton, but has been president of every corporation or association in which
he has been interested. For 15 years he has been president of the San Joaquin
Valley Agricultural Association, and also a Director of the State Agricultural
Society, being the oldest officer in the board. He was President of the State
Agricultural Society for 1887, and re-elected for 1888. At an early date he
took a deep interest and was one of the leading men in building gravel roads
out of Stockton. He was the chief organizer of the Stockton Combined Harvester and
Agricultural Works, with a capital of $300,000, whose sales, in agricultural
machinery and combined harvesters, were over $286,000 in 1886. He is a positive
man, of a genial nature, of few words, quick perception, and grasps
opportunities for advancement that men of slower thought would lose.
His sympathy for those who are
making an effort to better their condition in life has been intensified by his
own struggles, and to help one of this class he gives lavishly without
publicity, and charity seekers are always anxious to get him to head the list.
Time has dealt gently with him, although his life from boyhood has been one of
continual activity and mental strain. He is tall and erect, nearly six feet in
height and has an elasticity in his step that betokens
years of active labor.
When the historian makes up the
scroll of the battle of life in the eventful times that transformed the barren
plains of this great inland valley into homes and productive farms, the record
will be incomplete without a full description of the trials, struggles and
triumphs of the pioneers, and prominent among the kings will be the name of L.
U. Shippee, ex-Mayor of the city of Stockton.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Illustrated Fraternal Directory Including
Educational Institutions on the Pacific Coast”, Page 90, Publ. Bancroft
Co., San Francisco. Cal. 1889.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases