San
Joaquin County
Biographies
PHILEMON HERBERT STITT
There is ample opportunity in a city
with such great possibilities as has Stockton for the exercise of the energies
of those engaged in the real estate and insurance business, and among the most enterprising
and successful men in those lines is P. H. Stitt, who was born in Brockville,
Province of Ontario, Canada, on January 12, 1869, being the youngest son of
James H. Stitt and Louise Nettleton. Mr.
Stitt’s father was born in Spencerville, Ontario, Canada, his mother, Louise
Nettleton, being a daughter of Philemon Nettleton, a Pennsylvania Dutch
descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers, who landed in America in 1620. The subject of this sketch was named after
his grandfather, his full name being Philemon Herbert Stitt. Eight children were born to James H. Stitt
and Louise, his wife, P. H. Stitt and one sister being all that remain
alive. Mr. Stitt’s grandfather, Philemon
Nettleton, left New York in 1849, on a sailing vessel for California, but died
of ship fever, and was buried at sea, when abreast Cape Horn. Mr. Stitt’s father was killed in a railway
accident in 1870, his mother, left with eight children, the youngest being the
man about whom this article is being written.
Two of the children died later, but the brave little mother, whose
memory her sons reveres because of her many splendid qualities, struggled on
and reared her family as only a truly Christian mother could. She was highly educated, gentle in
disposition and of unusual charm. All who
knew her testified as to her being generally loved, it being a common
expression among her acquaintances, that she was never known to show anger
under any circumstances. She was a
Wesleyan Methodist, and God finally called her to Him in 1882, when P. H. Stitt
was about seventeen years of age.
At the age of eighteen years, P. H.
Stitt was employed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and served as
agent for this company for over eighteen years.
In 1901, he was transferred to Victoria, British Columbia, as
superintendent of the company; and in 1902, was sent to Stockton to represent
that company as district agent where he succeeded in developing a fine business
for the company. In 1907 he quit the
life insurance business and formed a partnership with Sidney N. Hodgkins, under
the firm name of Hodgkins & Stitt and embarked in the real estate and
general insurance business; this partnership was dissolved in 1914 and Mr.
Stitt opened up an office and has succeeded in building up a large business for
himself. He has popularized the idea of
owning one’s home by the slogan, “Build your own home.” In 1918, he took over the Tuxedo Park
properties, a subdivision consisting of 400 acres in the fashionable residence
section of the northwest part of Stockton; this district was recently annexed
to Stockton, which has added over a million and a quarter dollars to the
valuation of Stockton and $30,000 annually in taxes; before this property was
placed on the market, all improvements, such as sewers, sidewalks, gas and
electric service, were made. Mr. Stitt
has made a wonderful record in the building of this portion of Stockton; the
first year sixty homes were erected representing one-half million dollars; this
record has been kept up and forty acres only is left of this fine tract of
land; within the past two years, 150 homes have been built. Since 1903, he has been the sole
representative of the Aetna Life Insurance Company and has become known as
Stockton’s Aetnaizer, being one of Aetna’s leading
agents in California. His insurance
clientele has grown steadily and he is considered an authority on insurance
matters.
By his first wife, Mr. Stitt had
three children: James H. is a practicing attorney in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada. During the World War, he served
overseas eighteen months in the trenches, being commissioned as lieutenant
during this war; William H. is interested with his father in the real estate
and insurance business; Charles M., the other son by this marriage, is also in
his father’s office. His second marriage
united him with Miss Clarice Haas, a native of Stockton and a daughter of a
California pioneer. They are the parents
of three children: Philip attending Hitchcock
Military Academy at San Rafael, California; Natalie Clarice, and Burton, a baby
boy of two years of age.
Mr. Stitt was the first president of
the recently organized Lions Club of Stockton, and is a member of the Yosemite
and Country Clubs. He also holds a
position on the Board of Directors of Stockton Chamber of Commerce. Although
one of Stockton’s busiest men, he has given unstintingly of his time to
community activities. During the World
War, he served on all the campaign committees, including Red Cross, Salvation
Army, Y. M. C. A. for over ten years, serving as president of this board during
the year 1919. He is a member of all the
Masonic bodies in Stockton, as well as of the Oakland Consistory and Aahmes
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of Oakland. He
is known among his friends as the man who has a “voice with a smile that
wins.” He believes in spreading
happiness wherever he goes, and those who know him agree that he is succeeding
at the job. Honorable in his dealings,
industrious in disposition, his influence is ever used unsparingly in promoting
the welfare of Stockton, and his many friends esteem him for his public zeal
and his many excellent qualities.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
564-567. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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