San
Joaquin County
Biographies
SALMA SEAVER STROBRIDGE
In any community there is no project
of greater importance to the prosperity of its citizens than the establishment
and continuance of a well-managed bank.
Such institutions require for the management men of modern education,
practical training and wide experience.
These qualifications form a part of the endowment of Salma Seaver
Strobridge, whose efficiency as cashier of the Lockeford branch of the Union
Safe Deposit Bank of Stockton has been of distinct aid to the citizens of
Lockeford. He was born at Goodland,
Newton County, Indiana, on May 26, 1882, a son of Alanson S. and Marietta
(Morgan) Strobridge. The father, Alanson
S. Strobridge, was a native of Vermont, and was the nephew of the late J. H.
Strobridge, the great railroad builder, who drove the last utility spike on the
Central Pacific at Corinne, near Ogden, Utah, in 1869, permanently linking the
east and west. A. S. Strobridge came to
California via the Isthmus in 1868; later he returned to Indiana and became the
foreman of a large stock farm, where he remained eleven years. He then returned to California and settled at
Fillmore, where he engaged in farming, more particularly fruit raising. There he remained until his removal to
Bakersfield in 1899. At Bakersfield he
engaged in the cattle business until 1904, when he removed to Wasco, Kern
County, where he lived until a short time before he died. He then went to Berkeley, and there died in
1907. The mother passed away at Fillmore
at the age of forty-five years. Two sons
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Strobridge, our subject and N. R. Strobridge, who
resides in Oakland.
Salma S. Strobridge began his
education in the Fillmore grammar school and completed it with a course in the
Stockton Business College, graduating in 1902.
After leaving school his first position was with Bruml
Bros., as delivery and warehouse boy at Lockeford, at which he worked for three
years; he later became head clerk and cashier and remained with them until
1913, when he organized the Lockeford Mercantile Company and served as
secretary-treasurer of this company until it was dissolved in 1917. Mr. Strobridge then took a pleasure trip
throughout the east, visiting many of the largest cities. Returning to Lockeford he became foreman for
the J. W. Montgomery’s warehouse and in February of 1919 succeeded J. J.
Priestly as cashier of the Lockeford branch of the Union Safe Deposit Bank of
Stockton.
This bank was burglarized in 1914,
but the job was a failure owing to the fact that the explosion failed to blow
the door of the vault open sufficiently to allow a man to enter. However, one of the burglars succeeded in
reaching in with his arm far enough to secure two $20 rolls of silver
dollars. On another shelf ten inches
below was a bag containing $1,500 in gold which he was unable to secure. No one was ever captured for this job. On the night of January 19, 1921, this bank
was again burglarized. This time it was
a huge success, the vault being blown entirely open. The burglars gained access and not only
availed themselves of about $2,000 in cash, but also jimmied twenty-one safe
deposit boxes, securing from them about $8,000 in Liberty bonds. No one was ever captured for this job. The last robbery suffered by this bank was a
daylight holdup by a lone unmasked bandit on December 29th of the
same year. The bandit entered the bank
shortly before 11 o’clock and, leveling a six-shooter at Mr. Strobridge,
ordered him into the vault and locked him in; then after helping himself to the
cash on the counter departed. He was
observed by other men on the street who secured his
automobile number and notified the sheriff.
The bandit was located at Paradise Cut, between Stockton and Tracy, and
in a battle which ensued was killed by Deputy Sheriff Jess Wheatly,
who was also badly wounded. Mr. Strobridge
had anticipated being held up, and had provided himself with a flashlight and a
means of removing the screws from the combination. These he kept inside the vault, and as a
result of this forethought he extricated himself from this uncomfortable
position in a few minutes and emerged from the vault unhurt.
On November 20, 1907, Mr. Strobridge
was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Hurd Stacks, born near Lockeford, the
daughter of Thomas J. and Mary J. (Hickey) Stacks, the former now
deceased. There is one son in the
Strobridge family, Gerald S. Strobridge.
Mr. Strobridge is a Republican and in November, 1922, was elected a
member of the County Central Committee for his district
of San Joaquin County. He has been a
member and clerk of the Lockeford school since 1918
and takes an active interest in educational matters. Fraternally he is a member and past
chancellor of Vesper Lodge No. 94, K. o P. of Lockeford; and belongs to the D.
O. K. K. at Stockton, and Court Mokelumne No. 136, F. of A., at Lodi.
Mr. Strobridge is public spirited
and enters heartily into all movements for the betterment of conditions in
general in the county.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1168-1171. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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