San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM J. TODA
An enterprising business man, as
well as a native son of Farmington, is William J. Toda, who is the proprietor
of the Farmington Meat Market, sanitary and modern in every particular. In 1920, at a cost of $5,000, Mr. Toda
installed an up-to-date refrigerating system with a capacity of three tons per
day. He was born at Farmington, March 4,
1882 the eldest son of Julius and Nellie (Schrock) Toda, natives of Germany and
Texas, respectively. William J. Toda
began his education in the Shady Grove district school for two years; then
while living with his maternal grandparents he attended the Paloma district
school near Fosteria, Calaveras County, until his
seventeenth year. He then became
interested in mining in Calaveras County and spent the following twelve years
prospecting and placer mining, with considerable success; meantime his father
had been carrying on the stock business and meat market at Farmington. In 1910 William J. and his brother, L. A.
Toda, entered into a partnership to carry on a retail meat business which was
conducted for two years, when the business was closed out on account of the
illness of the latter. William J. Toda
then returned to the mines, where he spent six months, then returned to Farmington
and in 1914 he opened the meat market on his own account, and in 1920 improved
his business with modern equipment run by electricity. Mr. Toda owns the property where his
slaughterhouse is located on the Sonora Road and many improvements are underway
for the betterment of this branch of the business. Mr. Toda formerly ran a meat route covering a
territory of fifty miles, but this has been discontinued.
Mr. Toda’s marriage occurred in Farmington,
which united him with Miss Zana Gwin,
a native of Kansas, a daughter of John and Jennie Gwin, now residing in
Berkeley, California. Mr. and Mrs. Toda
are the parents of one son, Gwin Toda, a pupil at the Shady Grove district
school. The family resides in Farmington
in their comfortable residence and Mr. Toda is a member of the local Farm
Bureau.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1501. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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