San
Joaquin County
Biographies
THOMAS J. STEPHENS
Among the early settlers of San
Joaquin County and the proprietor of the Stockton Nursery, Thomas J. Stephens
has long been an authority on soil conditions and horticulture. Coming to this state with his parents when
only six years old, he has thus, for more than a half century, been a witness
of the great changes which have occurred here.
He is a native of Marion County, Indiana, born on September 27,
1854. His father, Christopher S.
Stephens, was a native of Kentucky and served in the Mexican War, and after the
war located in Marion County on a soldier’s bonus claim of eighty acres, which
is now part of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. On his property he erected and operated a sawmill, one among the first in that section. In the fall of 1860, Christopher S. Stephens
left Indiana for Missouri and the following spring of 1861 started across the
plains to California with an ox-team and arrived in Lockeford in the early
fall. He farmed rented land until 1863
when he purchased 200 acres from Moses Long, a part of the Captain Weber grant
at Waterloo, where he lived and farmed to grain for many years. He passed away in 1918 at the ripe old age of
ninety-one. In those early days of the county,
Christopher S. Stephens was prominent in Democratic politics, served as justice
of the peace of O’Neill Township, for many years was a school trustee, and in
1884 served one term as a member of the assembly. He was a member of the Stockton Grange and of
the Mexican War Veterans of Stockton. He
married Miss Melissa Walker, a native of Indiana, and they were the parents of
five children, one daughter was born while crossing the plains and the youngest
child was the only one born in California.
Mrs. May Penny, the oldest daughter, is now deceased; Thomas J. is the
subject of this sketch; Mrs. Ambrose resides in Lockeford; Mrs. J. E. Hall
lives in Stockton, and Fred resides in Waterloo. Mrs. Stephens died in 1874. Mr. Stephens married a second time and had
three children.
Thomas J. Stephens was educated in
the district schools of the county and later attended the Stockton high
school. As a boy he helped his father on
the home place and when he was twenty-one years old he rented two ranches in
the vicinity of Waterloo and began raising grain on his own hook. In 1879 he rented grain land on Roberts
Island which he farmed for seven years; in the meantime, in 1881, he had
purchased 100 acres adjoining the old home ranch, this he farmed until 1890
when he removed to Stockton and three years later disposed of his Waterloo
ranch. He was one of the first men to
plant an orchard in that district, planting five acres to nearly 100 varieties
of fruit trees, for the purpose of ascertaining the fruit best adapted to the
soil of that locality. For fifteen years
he engaged in shipping green fruit to eastern markets and shipped the first
carload of grapes from Lodi, and the first carload of fruit from Oakdale,
shipping through the Earl Fruit Company and averaging seventy-five carloads
each season. When he settled in Stockton
in 1890 he bought the Stockton Nursery, which was then located on the spot now
occupied by the Hotel Stockton; then was moved to 24 South Hunter Street, the
present site of the Masonic Temple, and in the fall of 1921 moved to his present
quarters on East Lindsay Street. This
nursery is one of the oldest in California and was established in 1854 by W. B.
West. Mr. Stephens specializes in fruit
stock which he buys in California, Iowa, Missouri, Oregon, Washington,
Kentucky, and other eastern places; he also carries ornamental trees and
shrubs. He is an authority on soil
adapted to fruit growing and his advice is frequently sought along those lines. He furnished the cuttings and laid out for planting
the Baldwin & Howell Colony now being developed at Peters; also the Asa
Clark ranch near French Camp. He
furnished 7,000 pear trees for planting in the Delta district and cherry trees
in large numbers recently planted in the eastern part of the county.
The marriage of Mr. Stephens united
him with Miss Jessie Moreing, a native of Wisconsin, and they are the parents
of five children: Nellie, Mrs. W. E.
Dawson, of Stockton; Theodore J. married Evelyn Gerschbacher
and has three children; Roy R. married Miss Lucile Budd and has one child;
Myrtle, Mrs. Asa M. Clark, of Stockton, has one son; and Leah. Theodore J. and Roy R. are the founders of
Stephen Bros., Boat Builders of Stockton.
As lads they were always making toy boats which they sailed on the river;
they left school when they were sixteen years old and earned enough money to
buy a lot of boat lumber in San Francisco, and their first boat was started in
their father’s back yard; this was fifty long and ten feet wide, and after
being finished it was launched and found to be seaworthy. This boat was sold and they took a contract
to build a speed boat run by gasoline for a Stockton man, the first of its kind
built in Stockton, the Gee Whiz. The
boat was a success and as the business grew they established a plant on the
river front and have built all sizes of boats from a small row boat to large
river barges and tug boats; they have built for the Coleburg
Motor Boat Company and the Island Transportation Company, both of Stockton,
operating on the river. Since the
establishment of their business they have constructed more than 150 launches
and speed boats and their shipyard and plant is modern and well equipped. Fraternally Mr. Stephens is a member of the
Woodmen of the World of Stockton, and he is a member of the Pacific Coast
Nursery Association and the California Nursery Association.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
411-412. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget
Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget
Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy Databases