San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1485
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 11/23/2009
MONROE D. EATON
The progressive spirit and thorough understanding which Monroe D. Eaton displays in connection with the real estate business has brought him most gratifying results and at the same time has been a salient factor in the advancement of the county. His parents, Edward R. and Eliza (Wright) Eaton, both natives of New York State, were early settlers of California, where they engaged in farming pursuits on a ranch east of Stockton and on which Monroe D. was born April 30, 1862. His father sailed around the Horn to California in 1860 and in time became a very successful farmer and a large landowner. There are three living children in the family: Mrs. Ella M. Small of Stockton; Fred F. of Palo Alto; and Monroe D., our subject. His father passed away in October, 1887.
The education of Monroe D. Eaton was obtained in the grammar and high school of Stockton and finished with a course in the Stockton Business College. He then entered the employ of the M.P. Henderson Company and followed his trade of woodworker, making wagons and other vehicles and farming implements, for seven years. In the spring of 1886 he established a real estate business with Tom Walsh as a partner, occupying a small office on East Main street, which continued for three years. Mr. Eaton then went into partnership with Eugene M. Grunsky, their partnership covering a period of a few years, when Mr. Eaton sold his interest to Otto Grunsky, a brother of his former partner. In 1893 a partnership was formed with William G. Buckley and Sidney S. Newell, and when Mr. Newell retired from the business three years later, Eaton & Buckley have continued the business to the present time. They have made a specialty of buying ranch property, subdividing and selling, having subdivided more ranches than any other firm in Stockton, among the most outstanding being the Elliott tract of 160 acres near Lodi; the Grover tract of 400 acres on the San Joaquin River; the Barnhart tract in Lodi of 410 acres; these tracts were subdivided into lots and small acreages and is now built up, which has been the means of increasing the population and prosperity of the section. The Wilhoit and Douglass tract of 3,500 acres on Roberts Island was subdivided into twenty acres or more and sold; also the Kellerman tract of 240 acres, the Adam Parker establishment of 355 acres in and adjoining Tracy, and many other large tracts of importance, their main idea being to attract new settlers to the county, which is the most gratifying development of any community. Mr. Eaton enjoys the reputation of being the best-posted man on land valuations in the county. As a director of the Stockton Savings & Loan Bank, he is a member of the finance committee and appraiser of bank loans.
The marriage of Mr. Eaton united him with Miss Ida B. Petty, a native Californian, whose father was an early settler and farmer of San Joaquin County. They are the parents of three children: Zelma is the wife of W.F. Dietrich, a mining engineer with Stanford University; Captain Ralph M., a professor in Harvard University. He is a graduate of the University of California and of Harvard, and was a student there when the United States entered the war; he received a commission of second lieutenant, Infantry of the Rainbow Division; saw active service all through the war on the West Front and was advanced to first lieutenant at Verdun when the armistice was signed. At the close of the war he was acting captain of the Supply Company. Monroe D., Jr., enters Stanford in the fall. Mr. Eaton is a member of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau and has always been active in promoting the welfare of the growers of his locality. In his fraternal relations, he is a member of Stockton Parlor No. 7, of the N.S.G.W., of the Stockton Elks, No. 218, and a charter member of the Truth Lodge of Odd Fellows.
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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