San
Joaquin County
Biographies
TODA BROTHERS
(JEFF DAVIS & LEWIS TODA)
Prominent among the businessmen of
Farmington are the Toda brothers, proprietors of Toda Bros. Store. The safe policy which they inaugurated in
their business career has secured for them a patronage which makes the volume
of business transacted of considerable magnitude. L. A. Toda, the senior partner of the firm,
was born at Farmington June 13, 1883, while his brother, J. D. Toda, was born
on April 26, 1890, at the same place.
Both boys were educated at the Shady Grove School, L. A. Toda completing
his education in 1899 and J. D. Toda in 1906.
The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Julius Toda, are still living at Fosteria, Calaveras County.
The father was an active businessman, farmer, stockman and butcher in
Farmington from 1875 to 1907, when he removed to Calaveras County. He was born in Denmark and came to San
Francisco in 1859, being first-mate on a sailing vessel around the Horn. He was married at Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras
County, to Miss Nellie Schrock, born in Texas, who came with her parents across
the Isthmus in 1853. Her father, Lewis
Schrock, was born in Pennsylvania, and her mother was Susan Holman, born in
Texas, and there married to Lewis Schrock, one of California’s earliest gold
miners. He made his first trip to
California in 1847 and served two terms in the California Legislature in its
early days. Mrs. Julius Toda as a child
was in the early fifties the only white child between Mokelumne Hill and
Stockton.
In 1902 L. A. Toda entered the
retail butcher shop of his father, Julius Toda, pioneer butcher of Farmington,
and was associated with him until 1911.
In 1907, J. D. Toda began clerking in the store of R. M. Buckman, where
he remained until 1911, when the two brothers decided to go into business for
themselves. They purchased the Buckman
store in 1911, which is now known as the Toda Bros.’ Store,
and they have been so successful that they are supplying farmers ten miles in
each direction from Farmington. They
carry a full line of staple and fancy groceries, dry goods, hardware,
automobile supplies, and both young men are popular in business circles, the
duties and responsibilities of the management being equally divided, J. D. Toda
having complete charge of the inside management while his brother, L. A. Toda,
attends to the outside work and represents the firm in an official capacity in
other ways.
The marriage of L. A. Toda on March
31, 1913, united him with Miss Lois A. Tarr of Lodi,
daughter of John and Claudia (Kelley) Tarr, pioneer
farmers and both now deceased. One child
has been born of this union, Robert.
Mrs. Toda is a member of the Rebekah Lodge at Farmington.
On June 9, 1912, J. D. Toda was
married to Miss Pauline Summers, daughter of George R. and Elizabeth (Holden) Summers, pioneers of California, now ranchers near Valley
Home, in San Joaquin County. Two
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Toda:
Jack S. and Betty Ellen. Mrs. J.
D. Toda is also active in the Farmington Lodge of Rebekahs. The firm of Toda Bros.’ are members of the
Retail Grocers’ Association of California, and fraternally both are members of
Valley Lodge, No. 135, F. & A. M., of Linden, and of Farmington Lodge, No.
296, I. O. O. F., J. D. Toda having served as noble grand, and also as deputy registration
clerk of his district since 1912. In
matters of citizenship both brothers are progressive and take a helpful part in
promoting the prosperity of the county and especially the Farmington district
which has been their home all their lives and where they are numbered among the
representative citizens.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1499-1500. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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