San Joaquin County Biographies


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



 
JOSEPH TRIMBLE REES.
 
        Among the enterprising boosters and builders up of Stockton must be 
mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Joseph T. Rees, who own valuable property and greatly 
enjoy the climate and advantages of the great San Joaquin Valley in whose future 
they have great faith. Mr. Rees is a native of the Buckeye State, born near 
Zanesville, March 23, 1847, a son of Jacob and Nancy (Goshen) Rees, farmers in 
Ohio until 1856, when they removed to Illinois, locating near Bloomington, where 
the father died and the mother spent her remaining days in Stanford, Ill.
        Of their nine children, Joseph T. is the oldest child. He had a brother 
Amos who served in the 29th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War from 
1861 and afterwards was in the 33rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry until he was 
killed at Petersburg, Va., in 1864. Joseph T. was reared on the Illinois farm, 
receiving his education in the district schools. When seventeen years old in the 
spring of 1864 he volunteered in Company H, 145th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
being mustered in at Camp Butler, Ill., and was sent into Missouri, where he 
served until he was mustered out in the fall of 1864.
        On February 6, 1870, Mr. Rees was married at Bloomington, Ill., being 
united with Mrs. Christania Loretta (Price) Mahaffey, who was born in Huron 
County, Ohio, and came to Illinois with her parents when she was a child of five 
years of age. They settled on a farm twelve miles west of Bloomington where she 
grew to womanhood, attending local school held in a pioneer log school house 
with puncheon floors and slab benches. Her father, Horatio B. C. Price, was a 
New Yorker, who had married Ruanny Goodrich, a native of the same state, of 
Welsh and German descent. Mrs. Rees also traces her lineage back to Benjamin 
Franklin. The Price family moved to Pennsylvania and later to Ohio. In 1850 the 
family located in McLean County, Ill., where they were pioneer families, and 
there this worthy couple resided until their death. Five of their seven children 
grew up, of whom Mrs. Rees is the youngest and the only one now living. After 
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Rees engaged in farming in Butler County, Iowa, for 
three years when they returned to McLean County, Ill., where they followed 
agriculture. In 1876 they removed to Kansas, settling on a homestead near 
McPherson. In Kansas he was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Alliance 
Insurance Company, serving as director and treasurer for five years; the company 
was very successful and is still doing good business. He was also a member of 
the Farmers' Elevator Company and the Farmers' Co-operative Store in McPherson, 
being a stockholder and director for twenty years.
        As early as 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Rees made a trip to California spending 
two years at Stockton and at Burson, returning to Kansas, they farmed at 
McPherson until 1900, when they moved to Oklahoma where they were engaged in 
farming and stockraising in the Kiowa country until March, 1910, they returned 
to California and took up their residence in Stockton. They purchased property 
and improved it and now own an apartment house on South Pilgrim Street as well 
as a residence in the rear. They also own a nice residence on Washington Street 
and four residences at the corner of Hazelton and Sierra Nevada streets, housing 
in all thirteen families. Their investment is proving a profitable one and they 
have been true upbuilders of the city. They have also bought and sold several 
other properties and own lots in and near Tuxedo Park. Mr. and Mrs. Rees have 
been blessed with five children, three of whom grew to manhood, and are living. 
Joseph Hubbard Rees is a very successful farmer at Roosevelt, Okla.; Ezra Grant 
is a contractor at Enid, Okla., and is also a preacher in the Christian Church; 
he had a son Herald, who served overseas in the World War; and Nancy Edith, Mrs. 
Schmalzried, resides in Stockton. By her former marriage Mrs. Rees had three 
children that are living: Newton Mahaffey, a contractor in Stockton; Wm. H. 
Mahaffey, a contractor in the Wyoming oil fields; and Adella, Mrs. McCombs, of 
Galena, Kansas. She had a son, Robert McCombs, who served overseas and died in 
France, Mr. Rees is a worthy member and past commander of Rawlins Post No. 23, 
G. A. R., and has served as an aide on the department commander's staff. Mrs. 
Rees is a member of Col. Roosevelt Circle, Ladies of the G. A. R., and for over 
twenty years has been an active member of the W. C. T. U. and is a devoted 
member of the First Christian Church, Stockton. In Kansas Mr. Rees served as a 
member of the school board as he also did while residing in Oklahoma. He is a 
very strong temperance man and is a Prohibitionist in his political views, while 
Mrs. Rees is a very strong Republican. She is very patriotic and has one corner 
of a room in her house set aside for the preservation of historical and 
patriotic souvenirs. They are both well read and well informed and believe in 
the adage of live and let live.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p     584
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.