San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE H. TINKHAM
“I am what I am; what I might have
been I know not,” said Mr. Tinkham to the writer when asked for a sketch of his
life. “My ancestors on my father’s side
were Scotch-English, and on my mother’s side were Dutch. The Tinkham’s were
leading actors in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812. My mother and her parents were born in
Boston, Massachusetts, and there I was born, within sight of the Charleston
Bridge, in March, 1849.” Mr. Tinkham
says many a time he has played on Bunker Hill, and listened to the chimes of
the historic Tremont Street Church. His
father emigrated to California in May, 1849, and four
years later his wife, Mrs. Frances Baxter Tinkham, with her two children,
Francis Isadore and George H., joined him at
Stockton, having come via Panama.
George H. attended the Stockton
schools, A. H. Randall the teacher, until he was seventeen; there were no high
schools at that time, and he later attended the San Jose State Normal for one
term. He worked for his father in the
City Market on Main Street, where now stands the Wonder. After some years spent in the market he says,
“My brother Edgar took my place and I went roaming. During the intervening years, up to a certain
date I engaged in various occupations, among them ranching, sheepherding,
clerking in a grocery and a drug store, drove a street car, water sprinkling
wagon, was editor of the Weekly Record, and occasionally a news-item writer for
the Stockton Independent.” While working
in the butcher shop Mr. Tinkham says he became a member of the brass band,
thirteen in number, he playing third E-flat tenor. It was the only brass band in the county and
he declares he “had the time of his life playing at theatres, picnics,
political meetings, serenades, celebrations, etc.” While a member of the band and only eighteen
years old, he voted for U. S. Grant for president, the Republican Party let no
votes get by then. He sang baritone from
time to time in the Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist churches. In November, 1876, he joined Charity Lodge
No. 6, I. O. O. F., of which his father was a charter member; fortunately he
has never drawn a dollar in sick benefits; he joined Rainbow Lodge, No. 97,
Daughters of Rebekah, in November 1895; and in 1915 was made a member of
Stockton Lodge No. 391, Loyal Order of Moose.
He was a member of the Stockton Guard, Capt. L. E. Lyon, and honorably
discharged; was a member of the volunteer fire department, Eureka No. 2, until
the arrival of the steam engine.
In giving his book-canvassing
experience which led to his becoming a writer, Mr. Tinkham said, “In 1878 I was
canvassing for a book, the ‘Life of Bismarck,’ entering a saloon one day,
Barney Killion, a rollicking young Irishman who had
known me since boyhood, was standing at the bar, lightly tapping me on the
back, he exclaimed, ‘Say, Tinkham, why don’t you write the history of
Stockton?’ Like a streak of fire the
same question flashed in my brain and after fourteen years of roaming I had
found my occupation. I wrote the history
and enjoyed every hour of its compilation, but it was a labor of love without
any remuneration. In getting subscribers
enough to pay the printer I obtained a paying position; this was the
janitorship of the Weber School building.
I had read one morning in the news items in the paper of the sudden
death by heart disease of George Lemon, the janitor. Letting no grass grow under my feet I went to
John Yardley, the grocer on Weber Avenue, and one of the school trustees and
said, ‘I see that Mr. Lemon died last night and I would like the job.’ ‘Well, George, I guess you can have it.’ Going upstairs to Mr. Lemon’s bedroom, where
that departed Christian soul lay upon the bed, Mr. Lemon took the schoolhouse
keys from his pocket, and as usual, at nine o’clock that morning the school
bell rang out. During the leisure hours
of my school work and at various times later I compiled the book, ‘California
Men and Events.’
“In 1907, while cleaning books in
the public library, dressed in overalls and a checkered blouse, a prepossessing
young gentleman approached me and asked:
‘Are you George Tinkham?’ “That’s
what they call me,” I replied. ‘I have
been told that you would be a good person to write the history of San Joaquin
County for our company.’” Mr. Tinkham
answered with a good deal of hesitancy, and, making numerous excuses, tried to
decline. Nevertheless he took on the job
and completed a very satisfactory edition.
In his own words, “I wrote that history; it was easy, as I had written
historical sketches off and on for years for the Mail and Record. For the Record daily for the past six years I
have been writing, ‘Twenty Years Ago Today’ stuff. Since 1907, that same gentleman, H. A.
Preston, has returned at various times and requested me to compile several
histories for his company. During the
many years I have worked at these tasks I have enjoyed my work; it not only has
been a pleasure to me but to thousands who read my articles.
‘Then
scatter the flowers where’er you go,
That friends and strangers
all may know
The blessings of well-doing.’”
The following histories, all but the
first two, were compiled by the Historic Record Company by Mr. Tinkham: History of Stockton, 1880; The Half Century
of Odd Fellowship, 1906; History of San Joaquin County, 1908; History of Monterey
and San Benito County, 1910; History of Stanislaus County, 1921; History and
Progress of San Joaquin County, 1923.
Mr. Tinkham states, “I have seen
five deaths in the family group, but in the words of Jean Ingelow:
‘We
are all, all here,
Father,
mother, sister, brother,
Each
who hold the other dear,
We
are all, all here.’
We are not spiritists, my
Grandmother was a Spiritualist, but the remembrance of the loved one is deeply
graven on the tablet of memory. ‘We are
all, all here.’”
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
352-355. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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