Yolo County
Biographies
HAMPTON
E. ROBERTS
A well known representative of the automobile business in
Woodland, Yolo county, is Hampton E. Roberts, whose
present interests had their beginning in the establishment of the Electric Garage. Today he is at the head of one of the largest
and best equipped motor plants in the Sacramento Valley and his position as a
representative business man of the state has long since been established. Born in Dixon, Solano County, California,
January 28, 1879, he is a son of George and Mary E. (Menefee)
Roberts, the former a native of Arkansas and the latter of Missouri. The mother crossed the plains by ox team and
wagon in pioneer times, going through all the hardships and experiences of
traveling in that manner in the early days.
Hampton E. Roberts pursued his education in the public
schools of Woodland, having arrived here when but four years of age. When a lad of thirteen he began working as a
messenger for the Sunset Telegraph Company and won various promotions,
eventually filling the responsible position of manager. In 1916, recognizing the trend of the times
in regard to the use of motor cars, he formed a partnership with William Dahler and established the Electric Garage in a building
twenty by forty feet in dimensions. The
capital was small but they possessed an unlimited supply of energy, laudable
ambition and firm determination. Today
they have one of the largest and best equipped plants in the valley, having
built three additions, and they are now local distributors for the Studebaker
and Pierce Arrow cars, while in addition they have a large repair
department. They employ twenty people,
including fourteen mechanics.
Mr. Roberts was united in marriage to Miss May L. Starr,
a native of Oregon, and they now have three children, Dolores M., William A.
and Hampton E., Jr. Mr. Roberts belongs
to the Yolo Fliers Country Club, the Lions Club, the Masonic lodge, and is a
charter member of the local organization of the Elks. He finds his recreation largely in fishing,
in which he engages when leisure permits, but his business has always been his
first consideration, and his close application and unfaltering enterprise have
been the salient factors in his growing success.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 381-382. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County
Biographies