San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN COX WHITE
Among the notable California
Forty-niners resident in San Joaquin County who have joined the silent majority
of that adventurous host and found homes in yet fairer golden lands than those
to which they struggled amid countless hardships in 1849 is the late John Cox
White. Mr. White was a real pioneer in San
Joaquin County, sojourning there from the first year of his advent in the
Golden State until his death. On May 19,
1891, the county and that section of the state was called upon to mourn the
taking off of a true and worthy man, one who had been true to his own ideals
and convictions and who by his large life work conferred benefit upon hundreds
of his fellow-citizens who of necessity shared in what he accomplished toward
the material progress and upbuilding of his community. He was born in Ohio, September 2, 1822, being
a son of John C. White, who came to Ohio from New Jersey. Reared in his native state until about 1846,
being then a young man of twenty-four years, he moved with his parents to
Illinois, locating near Knoxville. He
was living there when the gold fever struck the country, and in 1849 the
crossed the plains to this state, being five months on the way from
Illinois. In the same year he took up
his location in San Joaquin County, and for a short time engaged in freighting
from Stockton to the mines. He was then
in the cattle business with a partner, William Dunlap, under the name of White
& Dunlap, until the death of the latter in August, 1854, after which, on
his own account, he combined the industries of agriculture and cattle-raising until
his death. In the course of a few years
he became one of the extensive cattle ranchers of this section of the state,
operating a large tract of land, his home ranch, of 1,400 acres on the Davis
Road, about nine miles from Stockton, and also owned other large land
properties in San Joaquin County, among them being 1,400 acres farming land on
the Telegraph Road adjoining the Kellerman ranch; he
also owned 2,000 acres near where the town of Manteca now stands, now known as
the Pillsbury tract. The Pillsbury tract
he sold for eighteen dollars per acre and it is now worth $175 and more per
acre. He also owned a ranch of 510 acres
on the Linden Road which was subdivided in 1904 and sold for $125 per acre, now
worth $500 per acre. The old White
residence built of brick fifty years ago still stands at the corner of Commerce
and Poplar streets, Stockton. Mr. White
was a very successful business man, noted for his able management of affairs,
and had a reputation wherever known as a strictly reliable man. He was one of the organizers and for many
years a director in the San Joaquin Valley Bank at Stockton, and took great
interest in the welfare of this institution.
Though often solicited to hold local offices, he always refused, for he
devoted himself exclusively to the direction of his large business, and therein
discharged his most important obligations to himself and the world in
general. But he could always be found
lending his influence for the best welfare and progress of his county. In politics he was a Democrat. From the year 1867 until his death he was a
resident of the city of Stockton, directing his affairs from that place. Previous to that he had lived many years on
his estate on the Davis Road nine miles from Stockton. He was one of the original members of the San
Joaquin Society of California Pioneers.
Mr. White was married, October 2,
1853, to Miss America Elizabeth Smith, who survived him sixteen years, passing
away in 1907, an honored pioneer woman.
She was born in Platte County, Missouri, May 19, 1838, being a daughter
of John Payton Smith, born in Tennessee, and Elizabeth C. (Crittenden) Smith,
born in South Carolina. At the age of
three years Mrs. White was left an orphan, and she was thenceforth reared in
the family of her brother, James C. Smith, also a late resident of San Joaquin
County. In 1852 with this brother and
his family, she came across the plains direct to San Joaquin County, where in
the following year she was married to Mr. White. Of this marriage were born ten children, five
on the home ranch in the county and five in the Stockton home: J. Frank, deceased; Jennie W., Mrs. W. R.
Fisher, deceased; Charles B., deceased; Lewis B., deceased; Arthur C., residing
in Los Angeles; Lizette W., Mrs. J. D. Maxey,
residing in Stockton; Morgan M., deceased; Harry D., residing in Stockton; Anna
W., Mrs. Ozro O. Farnsworth, of Stockton; and Kate
W., Mrs. Frank A McPherson, residing at Sonora.
Harry D. White, clerk of the justice court of Stockton, was born in
Stockton August 7, 1877, and received his education in the Stockton public
schools. At eighteen years of age he
began to clerk in Samuel’s Cigar Store, remaining there for six years; in 1907
he formed a relationship with Benjamin Jacobs under the firm name of White
& Jacobs, dealers in cigars and tobacco.
In 1914 he sold his interest in the business to accept his present
position of clerk in the justice court.
He married Miss Della Gambetta, also born in Stockton, daughter of John
Gambetta, an early settler of Stockton, who was the founder of the Gambetta
addition to Stockton. Mr. White owns a
twenty-acre vineyard and an almond orchard, a part of his father’s old ranch,
four miles from Stockton on the Linden Road, which he planted to vineyard in
1905, and in 1914 every third vine was pulled up and planted to almonds, both
of which yield a nice income.
Fraternally he is a member of Delta Lodge No. 471, F. & A. M., and
the local lodge of the Sciot and Stockton Aerie No. 83, F. O. Eagles.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1151-1152. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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