San
Joaquin County
Biographies
EDWIN S. VAN PELT
A pioneer citizen of Stockton with
many interesting memories of its earlier years, Edwin S. Van Pelt for thirty
years conducted the thriving business of the River Express Company of Stockton,
and his activities were closely linked with the days of Stockton’s development
from a small town to a prosperous, modern city.
A native son, proud of his birth in the Golden state, Mr. Van Pelt was
born at Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, on July 2, 1858, his parents being
John W. and Sarah Jane (Kilton) Van Pelt, both of
good old eastern stock, the father a native of Long Island, New York, and the
mother of Grafton, New Hampshire. The
former who was of Holland Dutch descent, descended from the early Knickerbocker
families of New York, came to California in the early days of the mining
excitement, and passed away when Edwin S. was a small child; the mother was
married again to E. B. Cogswell, and they removed to
a ranch at Bellota, San Joaquin County, where Mr. Cogswell
died; after which the mother resided with her only child, Edwin S., until her
death.
Mr. Van Pelt spent his boyhood days
on this ranch, attending the neighborhood school, completing his education with
a course at the Stockton Business College, and going back to the home ranch for
a time. In 1886 he bought out the
business of the River Express Company in Stockton, at that time only a small
affair, one wagon being used to deliver freight in Stockton. Austin H. Kilton
was his partner in those early days, but he later sold his interest to Mr. Van
Pelt, who incorporated the business as the River Express Company, Inc. Mr. Van Pelt soon began the expansion of this
pioneer business, handling freight on the steamers running from San Francisco
to Stockton, up the Sacramento River to Sacramento, also to Napa and
Vallejo. For some time he conducted an
express line across the Bay to Berkeley and Alameda, taking freight at a very
low rate, and in the early days did nearly all the express business between San
Francisco and Stockton, and was the means of making the Wells Fargo Express
Company reduce their rates, but even then the River Express Company held the
business. This company was the pioneer
in shipping furniture from Stockton to San Francisco without unloading, their
wagons filled with household goods being driven onto the boat at Stockton and
hauled to their destination in San Francisco.
In Stockton five wagons were used in hauling and draying in connection
with the express business, besides the equipment kept in the other cities. For this purpose they had offices in San
Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Napa, Vallejo, Sacramento, Benicia and
Antioch. They first began shipping
parcels but the business grew rapidly and became so popular they enlarged it so
they handled everything and made deliveries in all the cities. The people appreciated Mr. Van Pelt’s service
so his company had most of the express business at the points named. In this connection the Wells Fargo Company’s
contention was that the River Express Company could not pay losses but Mr. Van
Pelt’s company always paid the claims and when the steamer J. D. Peters was
sunk in a collision in San Francisco Bay, November 2, 1898, although the
California Navigation Company, owner of the steamer, was exempt by law, Mr. Van
Pelt decided he wanted to pay the loss from the standpoint of equity and
fairness and paid all the claims of his company, forty-five in number,
amounting to about $2,600. For thirty
years Mr. Van Pelt conducted the affairs of this company, building up a large,
lucrative and successful business, and in April, 1916, he disposed of it,
having accumulated a competency in the years of his activity in its
affairs. For many years he worked as a
stockholder in the Union Safe Deposit Bank and the Morris Plan Bank.
On the organization of the Security
Building and Loan Association October 25, 1912, Mr. Van Pelt accepted the
presidency, being well qualified for the position, and under his guidance it
had a very rapid growth, conducted as it was along broad and liberal
lines. However, wishing to retire from
business, he resigned the presidency January 4, 1922.
Mr. Van Pelt is recognized as one of
the best posted men in building loan matters in the state. He served as a director on the board of one
of the other local building loan associations of Stockton for eighteen years
and represented them several times as a delegate to the convention of the
California Building Loan League, a state organization. At the leagues’ annual meeting held in Los
Angeles in May, 1910, Mr. Van Pelt was elected president of the state
organization. At that meeting he was
honored by the league when Stockton was selected as the 1911 meeting place. While president of the state organization he
succeeded in reorganizing it and was instrumental in creating more interest in
league affairs by the associations throughout the state. In 1916 he was selected as the state league’s
representative to the annual convention of the United States League Building
Loan Association held in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and attended the
convention. Mr. Van Pelt has always
taken an active interest in building loan association matters and always
attends the annual meetings of the state organization. By reason of the fact that he is a past
president, he has a voice on the floor in all annual meetings of the state
league.
In 1911 Mr. Van Pelt built the Van
apartments on North American Street, a modern two-story apartment house,
up-to-date in every particular and always filled. He also purchased the residence next to his
apartment house and remodeled it into four modern apartments and these fine
properties are bringing him a splendid income.
He has also recently purchased a twenty-acre orchard near Oakdale which
is in charge of his son, Percy E. Van Pelt.
Mr. Van Pelt’s first marriage
occurred in Stockton uniting him with Miss Minnie May Davenport, born at
Linden, whose parents were pioneers of that section. She passed away leaving two children: Percy E., who served nineteen months in the
U. S. Navy during the World War, is now in charge of the Oakdale orchard, and
Arthur C., of Colfax. His second
marriage at San Jose united him with Mrs. Eunice (Stilson)
Taylor, who was born at Corvallis, Oregon, a daughter of Frelinghuysen Stilson, born in Delaware County, New York, an early
settler of Corvallis. A college man, he
was a prominent educator in Oregon and was superintendent of schools of Benton
County and one of the founders of the Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis,
where he spent his last days. Mrs. Van
Pelt’s mother was Jessie Marian Thompson, a native of Yamhill County, Oregon, a
daughter of Arthur Henry Thompson, a native of New York, who crossed the plains
in 1847 over the old Oregon Trail. He
settled at Astoria when there were only three families in that place and served
as justice of the peace. He soon made
his way to California, lured by the gold mines and was killed on Sutter Creek
by the Indians. Mrs. Stilson
also died in Oregon. Mrs. Van Pelt, the
eldest of their five children, received her education in the public schools and
at St. Helen’s Hall, Portland. In
Yakima, Washington, she was married to James G. Taylor, who was a prominent
railroad man and became master mechanic of the Western Pacific Railroad at
Stockton, a position he held until his death.
Two children resulted from this union:
Mrs. Grace Roles and Roy James.
Mr. Van Pelt is very prominent in
fraternal life and is past grand of Stockton Lodge No. 11, I. O. O. F., and for
ten years served as treasurer of Charter Oak Lodge, K. of P., and is also past
chancellor. He has seen many changes in
this locality and well recalls in the early days of Stockton when he drove his
team along Main Street in the winter time and mud would be splashed all over
the sidewalks, a decidedly different picture than Stockton of today, with its
miles of well-kept streets and beautiful homes.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
626-629. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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