San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1091
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 2/10/2010
CHARLES DANIEL HOLBROOK
A successful rancher, located three-quarters of a mile from Dougherty station and two and one-half miles from Lodi, is Charles Daniel Holbrook. He was born in Orleans County, Vt., on June 29, 1874, a son of Oscar J. and Ida (Collins) Holbrook, both parents being of Revolutionary stock. Oscar Holbrook was a farmer of Orleans County, and there Charles Daniel first attended school; later he attended the Bryant-Stratton Business College at Chicago. There were but two children in the family, Charles Daniel and Effie, who passed away in 1892. The father lived to be seventy-four years old, but the mother passed away when only thirty-seven years old.
Leaving home when he was ninteen years of age, Charles Daniel Holbrook took up newspaper work, working first on Chicago papers, and then going into business for himself. For twelve years he edited “The Sheep Breeder's Criterion,” a publication devoted almost entirely to live stock and wool; afterwards this publication was absorbed by “The American Sheep Breeder and Wool Grower.”
In 1896, Mr. Holbrook's father came to California and bought a twenty-acre ranch, which he has since set to vineyard and orchard, ten acres in vineyard, five acres in cherries, four acres in peaches, and one acre in almonds. On this place Charles Daniel Holbrook now resides. About 1912 Mr. Holbrook installed a pumping plant on his ranch, consisting of a four-inch pump with a ten-horse-power motor. In 1911 he removed to Los Angeles and engaged in an office-equipping business, in connection with the Barker Brothers Furniture Company. For ten years he was engaged in this line of work, returning to his ranch near Lodi on January 1, 1922. He also owns a two-and-a-half-acre place at Gardena, Cal.
On October 25, 1902, at Chicago, occurred the first marriage of Mr. Holbrook, which united him with Miss Mary Stanley, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Willard N. and Cornelia (Tompkins) Stanley. She was a graduate of Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, whither her parents had removed from near Tonawanda, Niagara County, in northern New York. Of this union there are two children, Cornelia and Marcia. Mr. Holbrook's second marriage occurred at Long Beach, Cal., and united him with Miss Nora McGahen, formerly a grand opera star, who for seven years was with the Henry W. Savage Grand Opera Company, traveling all over the United States. Mr. Alfred Bennett McGahen, who grew up at the family home at Lansing, Mich., and formerly was also a member of the Henry W. Savage English Grand Opera Company, is Mrs. Holbrook's only surviving brother. He is for the present making his home with Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook, and has charge of the church choir in the M.E. Church at Lodi. He has an exceptional voice, and is noted as one of America's foremost tenors, having toured in Grand Opera all over the North American Continent and received flattering press notices in all the leading cities. Mrs. Holbrook is affiliated with the Eastern Star Lodge of Gardena, while Mr. Holbrook is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Gardena. Politically, Mr. Holbrook is a Republican.
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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