Alameda County Biographies

Edward E. Thornton

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

        Edward E. Thornton is superintendent of the Key division of the San 
Francisco & Oakland Terminal Railway Company and is a railroad man of 
experience, who has won this position entirely on his own merits. He was born in 
Leesville, Indiana, March 12, 1874, and is a son of Henry P. and Louise 
Thornton.
        Edward E. Thornton attended the public schools in Oakland until 1889, in 
which year he became a pupil in Crawford's Private School, there remaining for 
one year. At the end of that time he accepted a position as fireman in the 
employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad, continuing so until 1894, when he was 
made motorman of the Oakland, Alameda & Piedmont Electric Railway, which later 
became the Oakland Traction Company. In 1899 Mr. Thornton was promoted to the 
position of inspector, and in 1900 he was made superintendent of the Hayward 
division, resigning in 1902 in order to accept the position of superintendent of 
the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad. He continued as such until 1904, when he 
resigned and became superintendent of the Key division of the San Francisco & 
Oakland Terminal Railway Company, which office he now holds. He is a thoroughly 
able man, who knows all details of railroading from the ground up. His executive 
force was soon recognized and his managerial ability was largely the cause of 
his rapid advancement. He is a man who readily grasps any situation and has a 
large capacity for detail, never overlooking small matters in the execution of 
an object. He is determined and energetic, always completing anything he 
undertakes. In the estimation of his superior officers he stands high and is 
popular with his associates and with the many men who work under him, all of 
whom recognize his justness and his honorable character.
        Politically Mr. Thornton is a republican, interested but not active in 
the welfare of his party. He cooperates, however, very readily in any enterprise 
undertaken for the welfare of his city and Alameda county, and he is ever 
willing to bear his share in order to further the public weal. He is interested 
in the intellectual and moral upbuilding of humanity.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 137