San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM J. THOMAYER
A native son of California who for
more than thirty-eight years of an active life has participated in the changes,
through which this great state has passed, is William J. Thomayer,
superintendent of the office and shipping of the Pacific Fruit Exchange of the
Lodi section. His parents, Matthew and
Catherine Thomayer, were both natives of Germany, who came to America in the
early ‘50s and to California via Panama and located in San Joaquin County near
Lathrop, where William J. first saw the light of day on April 2, 1863. His father was a miner by occupation. Both parents passed away when William J. was
a child of three years and he was reared in the family of Dr. Stephenson,
formerly of Woodbridge.
William J. received his schooling in
Visalia, Tulare County, California, and his first experience in the packing and
shipping of fruit was in 1883 with the Woodhead Porter
Brothers and Company of Los Angeles, commission merchants and shippers; he then
entered the employ of the late E. T. Earl, who was one of the pioneers in that
line in California. For nine years he
was thus employed, operating in Riverside County in the winter and northern
California in the summer. He next took a
trip to Salt Lake City, where he engaged in the tea and coffee business for one
year, after which he returned to California, where he re-entered the fruit
packing industry, engaging with the Porter Brothers’ Company at Fillmore,
California. Upon coming to Lodi in 1899,
Mr. Thomayer was first associated with the Producers’ Fruit Company, then the
Valley Fruit Company and then with the Frank H. Buck Company. For the past few years he has had charge of
the office and shipping of the Pacific Fruit Exchange. When he became associated with the fruit
industry, thirty-eight years ago, there was only one packing house in Lodi, and
now there are many of them. By his long
association with this industry, Mr. Thomayer has become one of the
best-informed men on fruit packing and shipping in the valley and his
reputation for square dealing has proven a great asset to him and his
employers. He is also a vineyardist with
many years’ experience.
Mr. Thomayer’s
marriage united him with Miss Carrie Baylis Edgerly of Kansas and they have one daughter, Mrs. A. D.
Campbell. Mr. Thomayer is a member of
the Lodi Parlor of the N. S. G. W., No. 18, and of Lodi Lodge of Masons, and
has passed through all the chairs. For
four years he was inspector for Masonic District No. 26.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1160. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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