San Joaquin County
Biographies
RALEY EARLY WILHOIT.
RALEY EARLY WILHOIT, senior
member of the firm of R. E. Wilhoit & Sons, searchers of records,
conveyancers and real estate agents of Stockton, was born in Jefferson County,
Kentucky, March 1, 1831, a son of Julius and Lucy (Ewell) Wilhoit. Both
parents, born and married in Virginia, moved first to Kentucky and afterward to
Edgar County, Illinois, being among the early settlers of that county and after
some years the owners of 800 acres. They had eight children, of whom one died
in infancy; seven grew to maturity and three are living in 1890. The father
reached middle life and the mother lived to be seventy-five. Of the seven
children, Orville, born in 1819, died in 1886; John Rufus, born in 1824, is
living on his farm in Edgar County, Illinois, in 1890; Nancy, born in 1826 by
marriage Mrs. Stoneburner, of the same county, is also living in 1890; Julius
J., born in 1835, enlisted in the Union army in 1861, was taken prisoner at the
battle of Chickamauga, and died in prison about 1864, leaving two children, one
of whom is Oscar Lessnre, M. D., of Detroit, Michigan, and the other is the
wife of George Shedd, a merchant of Danville, Illinois. Lovell Wilhoit, a
farmer and stock dealer of Edgar County, Illinois, died there at about the age
of fifty, leaving a son and daughter. Grandparents Wilhoit lived to an advanced
age. The grandfather was a native of Virginia and of German descent. R. E.
Wilhoit, the subject of this sketch, was brought up on his father’s farm and
educated in the district school, afterward serving two years as a drug clerk in
Paris, Illinois, where he also attended a local academy for a short time. He
set out for California in 1850, one of a party of about 100 men, who left Paris
late in March, St. Joseph, Missouri, early in May, and arrived in Placerville
on the 8th of August. Here Mr. Wilhoit made his first experiment in
mining, but only for a week or two, when he proceeded to Mokelumne Hill, where
he mined that winter. In the spring of 1851 he went to Amador County, near
Jackson, and thence to Willow Springs, near Folsom, in Sacramento County. On the
8th of May, 1852, he came to Stockton, which has been his home ever
since, though he did farm work that first summer, three miles out of town on
the Calaveras. In the winter of 1852 he went into the business of freighting
between this city and the mines near Sonora. During the high water of that
season he was obliged, on two trips, to convey his goods by boat to French
Camp, and there transfer them to his wagon. He was engaged in that line some
nine years, during the last six of which, with a partner, under the style of
Bostwick & Wilhoit, the business assumed larger proportions.
Mr. Wilhoit was elected Recorder of San
Joaquin County in 1861, entering on the discharge of his duties on the first
Monday in October of that year, and retaining that office by two re-elections
until the first Monday in March, 1868. On the expiration of his third term he
went into his present business, in which he has been engaged twenty-two years.
Meanwhile he served as a member of the city council from 1870 to 1873, being
its chairman for two years, and as a supervisor of the county from 1872 to
1878, being chairman of that body three years. He was elected a member of the
Board of Education of this city, under the new charter in 1889, and is
president of the board. He has been an Odd Fellow since 1859, a Freemason since
1865, and a member of the Pioneer Society since 1879. He has been president of
the Pioneers for one term and their treasurer since 1887.
Mr. Wilhoit was married in Stockton,
October 7, 1861, to Miss Delia Dwelly, born in Machias, Maine, in 1844, a
daughter of Luther and Susan (Hanscom) Dwelly. The father, reared and married
in Maine, and born there or elsewhere in New England, died comparatively young.
The mother, born in 1816 (by second marriage Mrs. Peter Munson), is living in
Elko, Nevada, in 1890. Mrs. Wilhoit died January 14, 1872, leaving three sons
and one daughter, all living in 1890. Mr. Wilhoit was again married in
Stockton, December 11, 1873, to Miss Jeannette French Tilton, born in St.
John’s, New Brunswick, in 1849. Her father, born in the United States about
1802 and for many years a shipping merchant of St. John’s, New Brunswick, is
still living in 1890; her mother, by birth a Miss Scammell, of England, died in
November, 1888, aged seventy-eight years. By this second marriage Mr. Wilhoit
has two daughters, having lost one boy, R. E., Jr., born in 1883, and deceased
in 1889. His six living children, all born in this city, are in the order of
their birth, as follows: George Ewell Wilhoit, born March 17, 1863, was
educated in the public schools, including the high school, and afterward took a
course in the Stockton Business College, from which he graduated in 1879. His
health having been somewhat impaired, he went to the Sandwich Islands, and his
health becoming improved he went into the banking house of Bishop & Co., of
Honolulu, where he served as receiving teller for one and one-half years.
Returning to Stockton in 1883, he entered the counting-room of his father, and
was admitted as a partner in the firm of R. E. Wilhoit & Sons, May 1, 1886.
He is a member of Stockton Parlor, No. 7, N. S. G. W. and of Charity Lodge, No.
6, I. O. O. F.
Eugene Lovell Wilhoit, born December 6,
1865, graduated at the Stockton High School in 1883, and spent a year in the
University of the Pacific at San Jose, when he became a clerk in his father’s
office, and was admitted a partner in the firm of R. E. Wilhoit & Sons, May
1, 1886. He is a member of Stockton Parlor, No. 7, N. S. G. W.
Arthur and Alice Wilhoit are twins, born
September 28, 1868. Miss Alice is a graduate of Mills’ Seminary, near Oakland,
and Arthur, educated in the public schools and the business college of this
city, has been a clerk for his father and brothers since 1888. Mary Lucy, born
March 28, 1875, and Elsie Graham Wilhoit, born April 7, 1877, are being
educated in the Stockton schools. The Wilhoit family attend divine worship in
the Episcopal Church.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 273-274. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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