San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1423-1424
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 10/18/2009
WILFORD H. BURGESS
A man who has been instrumental in the upbuilding of the city of Stockton and environs is Wilford H. Burgess, superintendent of bridge construction for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company for the Stockton division. He was born in San Francisco, Cal., on July 10, 1870, the son of a California pioneer who came from Newark, Wayne County, N.Y., via the Isthmus of Panama in 1858, locating in San Francisco, where he remained until 1862, when he located in Sacramento and there conducted a livery stable, but was driven out by the floods of that year. In 1868 he returned East and was married to Almira C. Harmon, a native of Phelps, Ontario County, N.Y. Bringing his wife to California via Panama, he settled in San Francisco, but in 1880 moved to Napa County, where he had bought a small ranch in 1871.
Wilford H. Burgess received his education in the public schools of Napa and in 1895 became associated with the engineering department in constructing the Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad under George A. Atherton of Stockton. Two years later, in 1898, he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and helped in the construction of the Harrison Street bridge over the estuary in Oakland, under W.S. Palmer, division engineer, during which time he installed the fuel oil plants in the division, this being the year that the railroad changed their locomotives from coal to oil burners. On September 5, 1903, he became roadmaster at Tracy, and one year later, on June 10, 1904, was transferred to Stockton serving in the same capacity. On November 1, 1910, the Stockton division was established and Mr. Burgess was appointed supervisor of bridges and buildings, and many structures which bear evidence of his skill and ability are to be seen throughout the Stockton division. He has built approaches to numerous bridges in the division, including the approach to the San Joaquin bridge at Herndon; he also erected the concrete roundhouse at Tracy.
The marriage of Mr. Burgess in 1892 united him with Miss Clara V. Beguhl, a native of San Francisco, and they are the parents of five children: Howard H., a student in the dental department of the University of California; Edith M., the wife of Gordon C. Patterson of Stockton; Lloyd E., a student in the engineering department of the University of California; Ruth A.; and Dorothy V. Fraternally Mr. Burgess is a member of San Joaquin Lodge No. 19, F. & A.M.; Stockton Chapter No. 28, R.A.M.; Stockton Council No. 10, R. & S.M., and the Independent Order of Foresters. He is a member of the American Railway Bridges and Building Association.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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