San
Joaquin County
Biographies
EMERY E. TREMAIN
An experienced, wide-awake mechanic
whose workshop is much sought by the users of auto-trucks, truck-bodies, etc.,
desiring first-class service, is Emery E. Tremain, the wood-worker and
blacksmith of 640 East Market Street, Stockton.
He is the agent for the G. M. C. motor truck
and the Swinehart truck tire, nor could the
successful manufacturers of these products well find a more capable
representative. He was born near the
Allegheny River, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1872, and
reared at Wichita, Kansas. In 1891, with
a boy friend as a companion, he started west, expecting to settle in the state
of Washington; but they landed in Stockton with just five dollars as their
combined capital. Emery secured work on
John Williams’ ranch, and later he accepted employment with the Ed Clowes ranch; then he went to the Smith ranch, where he was
foreman for three years. All in all, he
put in eleven years on ranches, and in those early days used to work on a
thirty-two-horse grain harvester.
In 1901 he started to learn the
blacksmith’s trade with L. F. Salbach, but when he
had finished, at the end of three years, he opened a small shop for himself at
the corner of Stanislaus and East Market streets. He had saved $650, but it was necessary to assume
a debt of $1,465 for machinery and tools in order to equip even a modest
work-shop in the way he believed it ought to be done. In one year, however, he had earned enough to
enable him to clear off all indebtedness.
In 1907 he bought a lot on East Market Street, the site of his present
building, paying $2,500 for the same, but he was obliged to borrow $1,500 in
order to close the deal; but again luck, or better still, the rewards of
foresight and industry were with him, for in another year he had made money
enough to wipe out that new indebtedness and to take care of the purchase. In 1911 he erected a two-story building of
cement and brick on his lot, at a cost of $7,500, borrowing half of the money
in order to build; but now his property is free of debt.
In February, 1915, Mr. Tremain took on
the agency of the G. M. C. motor truck, and so successful has he proved himself
in presenting the claims of this superior outfit that he has readily made
important sales to the leading establishments in Stockton, among them being the
Sunset Lumber Company, the Stockton Transfer Company, the San Joaquin Oil
Burner Company, the Stockton, Littlefield and Horan Furniture companies, the
Stockton Soda Works, the Goodale Transfer Company,
the Hatch Lumber Company, etc.
Mr. Tremain, among other ventures,
pioneered an automobile stage company from Stockton to the Yosemite Valley, by
way of Big Oak Flats, securing a franchise and putting on a twelve-passenger
coach, and from the beginning the undertaking “boosted” Stockton, although it
was not until the second year that it paid expenses. Then, at a fair profit, Mr. Tremain sold the
line to Bob Young, having previously opened an office in San Francisco for the
stage route. Mr. Tremain, who has always
been one of the most enthusiastic and loyal boosters for Stockton, has himself
invested in a vineyard of ten acres in the Victor Tract near the city. In earlier days he was a member of the
Terminal City Wheelman’s Club, and took part in many road races across the
country, and quite naturally for one who has come to be so actively engaged in
motoring he has worked hard, wherever the opportunity presented itself, to
forward the cause of better roads. Mr.
Tremain has leased his ground floor, blacksmith and wood-working departments to
Messrs. Bidwell and McKinnon, who will conduct that branch, while he gives his
time to the truck and tire business.
In 1901 at Stockton, Mr. Tremain was
married to Miss Susan C. Pope, a native of Stockton, and a member of one of the
well-known pioneer families of this section, her mother having crossed the great plains to California many years ago. On son, Virgil E. Tremain, has blessed this
fortunate union. Mr. Tremain is a member
of the San Joaquin Auto Trades Association, and of the State and National Auto
Trades societies, and for more than twenty years he has been a popular member
of the Red Men.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
661. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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