San Joaquin County Biographies


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



ELI H. RIDENOUR.
 
        In the long time that has passed, covering more than forty years, since 
Eli H. Ridenour came to California he has taken an active and helpful interest 
in the substantial improvement and development of the central section of the 
state, more especially along educational lines, and is numbered among the 
honored pioneers whose intelligently directed efforts in early days enabled them 
to lay a foundation for a commonwealth, upon which has been builded a 
superstructure of which they have every reason to be proud. His advantages in 
youth were limited, but he has worked his way upward through perseverance and 
diligence, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles in his path, and is now one 
of the substantial residents of San Joaquin County. He was born near Johnstown, 
Pa., January 1, 1853, a son of George and Martha (Miller) Ridenour. The father, 
George Ridenour, removed to Clayton County, Iowa, when Eli H. was a small child 
of a year and a half, and was a frontiersman in that country, purchasing 240 
acres of land from a Mr. Potts, who was the original settler of Clayton County. 
There were eleven children in the family: James, Thomas, Samuel, Alexander, 
deceased, Emily, deceased, Mary Ellen, Anna Liza, Mark and Richard, deceased, 
Emanuel and Eli H. The father passed away at the age of fifty-five, the mother 
surviving him until she was eighty-five years old.
        Eli H. Ridenour began his mental training in the public school in the 
vicinity of his home and after finishing the grammar grades secured a school 
near his home where he taught for three terms, living at home with his parents 
during that time. In 1872, he entered the Western College, now Coe College, at 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, working his way through this college and graduating in 1880. 
Immediately after graduation, he received a telegram from the San Joaquin Valley 
College at Woodbridge offering him a position as instructor of mathematics, 
which he accepted, remaining in that position for one year, when he returned to 
Iowa and in 1881 was married to Miss Delilah Harris at Postville, her native 
town. She was a daughter of Elisha Harris, an extensive farmer in the vicinity 
of Postville, and there Mrs. Ridenour began her education, finishing at Western 
College. Returning to California with his wife, Mr. Ridenour continued as the 
professor of mathematics at the San Joaquin College at Woodbridge until 1894, 
when he settled in Stockton and became the principal of the Weber school for one 
year. Then he became an instructor in the Stockton high school, where he taught 
for twenty-four consecutive years, resigning his position in 1919 to give his 
attention to his vineyard west of Woodbridge.
        Mr. and Mrs. Ridenour are the parents of seven children: Mildred Athena 
died in infancy; Rheda, Mrs. Buell of San Jose, has two children, Warren Henry 
and Robert Allen; Hazel resides at home; Alice is Mrs. Woodhull of Stockton; 
Edith Mignon is Mrs. Del Monte, and with her husband resides on her father's 
ranch; Dr. Harris Ridenour is an instructor in the Affiliated College of 
Dentistry of the University of California at San Francisco; Dr. Irving Ridenour 
is a practicing dentist at Lodi. In 1902 Mr. Ridenour purchased twenty-eight 
acres of undeveloped land west of Woodbridge, which he has developed until it is 
now a full bearing Tokay vineyard; this ranch is under the Stockton-Mokelumne 
ditch. For many years the family have resided at 1900 North El Dorado Street, 
Stockton and the active management of the ranch is entrusted to Mr. and Mrs. Del 
Monte. Mr. Ridenour gives his political allegiance to the Republican party and 
fraternally is identified with the Masons Lodge No. 19 of Stockton. His daughter 
Edith is a member of the O. E. S. In citizenship he is loyal and progressive and 
favors everything that tends to improve the county, elevate society and advance 
the educational interests of his state. He and his family are identified with 
the Central Methodist Church of Stockton, and his influence has ever been given 
in behalf of public progress and improvement.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p  991        
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.