Contra Costa County Biography

ALFEUS ODELL

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
In all the Bay cities no man is more conspicuous for progress and fair dealing, 
nor no man has done more for the development of the educational, religious, and 
commercial interests of Richmond, than has the subject of this sketch. Mr. Odell 
is a native of Thorntown, Indiana, where his birth occurred on February 7, 1836. 
He was educated in the Thorntown Academy and Asbury University. After the 
completion of his education, he took up teaching with gratifying success, and 
followed this vocation most of his life. He came to San Pablo in 1898. In 1900 
he removed to what is now Richmond, which position he filled in a most 
satisfactory manner. He saw the possibilities of Richmond, and engaged in the 
real-estate business with his son. Mr. Odell was the first agitator in reference 
to incorporating the town, and wrote and circulated the first petition, and led 
the fight before the Supervisors. He also wrote the petition for annexation, and 
fixed the boundaries of the city, which continued until the last annexation was 
made, in 1913. He was very active, and one of the first to advocate the tunnel 
through the mountain for a municipal wharf. He gave a great deal of time and 
attention and called the first meeting to institute a Masonic lodge, and was one 
of the prime movers for the erection of the Methodist church, serving as its 
first Sunday-school superintendent. Fraternally, Mr. Odell is a Mason, and a 
charter member of the Eastern Star. He was united in marriage to Miss M. Julia 
Archer, of Spencer, Indiana, November 29, 1862. To this union have been born six 
children - Clarence A., an attorney of Richmond; Lola, wife of C. Mackay, of 
Richmond (deceased); J. Winifred Stidhman, of Richmond; Stella W. Logan, of 
Salinas, California; and two who died in infancy. Mr. Odell is a man of energy, 
resource, and capacity, and whether in business or social relations holds the 
good-will and confidence of all who are associated with him.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California", Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
p. 480.