San Joaquin County

Biographies


 

 

 

CHARLES W. THOMAS

 

 

            Well known in San Joaquin County, not only for his successful participation in building operations, but also as a prominent Mason, is Charles W. Thomas, who is now the manager of the Sciots Club of Stockton.  His birthplace is Clifton Hill, Missouri, where he was born August 4, 1868, a son of Wayne and Martha (McDavitt) Thomas, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri.  Wayne Thomas was a grower of large quantities of tobacco in the south until 1874, when he arrived in California, settling at once in San Joaquin County, where he rented land which he farmed to grain.  The ranch was known as the Brick ranch and is located near Bellota; later he purchased twenty-five acres near Linden, where with his son, Charles W., our subject, he planted an orchard of peaches, apricots and prunes and at the same time followed his trade of carpenter in the district.  Wayne Thomas joined the Masonic order while residing in the east and upon taking up his residence in San Joaquin County he was demitted to the Linden Lodge.  He was married three times.  There were no children by the first wife and one daughter by the second wife, Mrs. Malinda Rose; there were five children by the third wife:  Mrs. Lazetti Matlock; Mrs. Lulu Ilgenfritz; William B.; John J.; and Charles W.  Wayne Thomas was a Mason for fifty years and he passed away in 1912; his wife is also deceased.  Charles W. was educated in the Linden school and learned the carpenter’s trade with his father and followed his trade in Linden and Stockton; he built the Linden Hotel and was proprietor for ten years.  Three years ago he located in Stockton and was employed on the construction of the Masonic Temple.

            The marriage of Mr. Thomas united him with Miss Clara Bernasconi, a native of Calaveras County, California, and three children have been born to them:  Martha J.; Viola Lulu; and Charles Clifton.  Mr. Thomas has been a Mason for thirty years; he is past master of the Valley Lodge No. 135, of Linden; a 30th degree Mason Scottish Rite, and in January, 1922, he was appointed manager of the Sciots Club in Stockton.  Mr. Thomas is energetic, progressive and practical, and is therefore meeting with well deserved success.

 

 

Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.

Source: Tinkham, George H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page 1191.  Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic Record Co., 1923.


© 2011  Gerald Iaquinta.

 

 

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