San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1377-1378
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 11/18/2009
THOMAS F. DONOVAN
A leader in the successful development of the resources of San Joaquin County is Thomas F. Donovan, a native son who was born on his father's farm, on Upper Sacramento Road, three miles east of Stockton, on February 21, 1878, the son of Thomas Donovan, deceased, who had married Miss Ellen Fitzgerald, like himself a native of Ireland, and who resided on the old home place until his death, October 1, 1922, aged eighty-five. Mr. Donovan came out to California in the early sixties by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and for about eight years worked on the Wilkins ranch. Then he bought the farm of 120 acres, east of Stockton, which he continued to cultivate until his death, about fifteen years ago. Several children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Donovan; and those now living are, besides our subject, Catherine, who is the wife of Thomas Heffernan, William John, Mame, Nellie, Mrs. A.A. Fitzgerald, Margaret, Mrs. Charles Walsh, and Hannah, Mrs. James Heffernan.
Thomas F. Donovan attended started farming with his brother, operating some 500 acres in the Terminal Tract northwest of Stockton. In the meantime, he sold a half-interest in the Blake Transfer Company to Frank Watrous, and at the end of the year he disposed of the other half to his partner and retired altogether from the transfer enterprise. With his brother he then rented 600 acres of land and farmed the same for a year, and then they farmed about 2,200 acres to grain, on different ranches between Stockton and Farmington. For the past few years Mr. Donovan has been engaged in caterpillar contracting, leveling, plowing and planting of crops. One season he plowed 2,500 acres on the Chowchilla ranch, and the next year he harvested 4,000 acres there. At present he is devoting himself to the development of smaller ranches of 1,000 acres, or thereabouts, in the vicinity of Stockton.
While in the transfer business, he bought the lot on which now stands the Hotel Taft, which he later sold, and he erected a large barn on Madison street for the business. He is one of the veteran local members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and an ex-trustee in the same. In Stockton, January, 1910, he married Miss Ala Martin, born at Fresno. Her father, W.T. Martin, was the first white child born on the Calaveras river, near Waterloo, his parents being early pioneers and farmers. Mr. Martin, after removing to Fresno, was superintendent of the Fresno Irrigating Canal, and is now an orchardist near Selma. Her mother, who was Theo S. Wildermuth, was born in Calaveras County and Mrs. Donovan is the eldest living child of their four children.
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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