Humboldt County Biography
James John Cronin
It is wide-awake men like James J. Cronin, men of optimism, ability and pluck, as well as high ideals and the courage of their convictions, that are bringing Humboldt county to the front in the sisterhood of the California counties, making it second to none in the state.
Mr. Cronin is a native of Nebraska, born at Bancroft, Cuming County, July 7, 1883. His father was Timothy Cronin, for many years a passenger conductor on the Grand Trunk Railway, while his mother was Margaret Cronin, a native of Canada. Later the father moved to Nebraska, where he took up land near Bancroft. The old Cronin homestead at Bancroft is still in the possession of the family, and is one of the local landmarks. The father died when James John was but two years of age and the mother continued to conduct the place, and there he grew to manhood, attending school and working on the farm. There were four children in the family, this one son and three daughters. They are: Mamie, who was Mrs. Kelly, of Bancroft, Neb., and who died in 1908; Nellie, now Mrs. James Gatzemeyer, of Bancroft, Neb.; and Alice, now Mrs. James Atkinson, of Scotia, Humboldt county, Cal. The mother is still living, and resides in Canada.
Graduating from the public schools, Mr. Cronin entered Business College in Lincoln, Neb., and completing his course he entered the employ of his brother-in-law, M. Kelly, in the general merchandise business at Bancroft, continuing in this position until 1900. He then came to California, locating at Eureka, where he engaged with the H. H. Buhne Hardware Company for five years, this being one of the finest hardware stores on the coast. Following this he went to Metropolitan, Humboldt County, and conducted the Metropolitan Lumber Company store for a year, and from there went to Scotia and took charge of the mill supplies and hardware stock for the Pacific Lumber Company, as store-keeper and purchasing agent. He remained with this company for a period of five years, and then returned to Eureka, and became traveling salesman for the Leutzinger & Lane Company, handling grocery specialties, fruit, etc., traveling out of Eureka for a year, and covering all of Humboldt County. He then traveled for a year for the Eureka Foundry, and in December, 1913, he came to Fort Seward and became associated with the Helmke Mercantile Company, as manager, a position he was by experience well qualified to fill. In 1914 he was appointed postmaster at Fort Seward. He took an active part in the commercial life of Fort Seward during the opening of the through line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad to San Francisco. Resigning his position with the Helmke Mercantile Company as well as his commission as postmaster, in April, 1915, he accepted his present position as manager of the mercantile department of the Eel River Valley Lumber Company at Newburg, and removed to the latter place to take charge of the stores of this company. He is a man of experience in this line and is capable and wide awake to the needs of the business and the demands of the trade. His chief object is to meet the demand with an adequate supply and it is seldom indeed that he fails to do so. He is popular in the county, and is especially well known, having spent several years as a traveling salesman throughout the county, and elsewhere in northern California. He is very enthusiastic over the prospects of this section of the state and is certain that its business and commercial supremacy is an assured fact.
However, he never fails to aid any movement toward this desired end, and is untiring in his efforts to enhance the present prosperity of the county.
While in the employ of the Buhne Company Mr. Cronin was married, in Eureka, on July 24, 1903, to Miss Tillie Barry, of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Cronin have become the parents of four children, three daughters and one son: Catherine, Dorothy, James John, Jr., and Elizabeth. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cronin have a host of friends throughout the county, who esteem them for their personal worth and their kind and charitable dispositions.
History of Humboldt County California
History by Leigh H. Irvine: Historic Record Company
Los Angeles, Ca. 1915
Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham
28 April 2006
Pages 1095 - 1144
Humboldt County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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