Tulare County Biographies

George E. Waddell

Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn

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

 
     Numbered among the well-known and respected citizens of Exeter who have 
distinguished themselves in the advancement of that place is George E. Waddell, 
who has been identified with civil affairs of Exeter from its early history, 
having filled the office of its mayor as its first incumbent, and so fulfilling 
the duties, of that office as to win the confidence of all his fellow citizens, 
and he has since been sought to fill many other public positions to which the 
people have called him. In industrial circles he has also figured prominently, 
having been merchant there and he is now giving most of his attention to his 
real estate interests which are large and varied. 
 
    Mr. Waddell is a native son of California, having been born in Lancha Plana, 
Amador county, September 9, 1862, the son of Isaac and Mercy B. Waddell, the 
former a native of Baltimore, Md., who crossed the plains to California in 1852 
and began his career in the mines of Amador county. The mother came of a pioneer 
family who made the overland journey with ox-teams. The family made their home 
at Lancha Plana until 1872, when they moved to Ione, where the father died in 
1893, and the widowed mother after a while removed to San Francisco, where after 
a residence of several years she re-established their home at Ione, and three 
years later, in 1903 occurred her death. 
 
     Reared to industrial habits and inheriting a taste for mercantile pursuits, 
at the age of nineteen George E. Waddell went to work for John Marchant, who was 
in the meat business at Ione and for twelve years he remained steadily in his 
employ. He then leased the premises from the latter and conducted the business 
for about ten years, when he sold out and came to Visalia, buying a half 
interest in the Pioneer market business, which after conducting for about ten 
months, he sold. It was at this time that he came to Exeter and bought out the 
Exeter and Lindsay markets, which at the time were very rudimentary business 
places. With his son, George H., Mr. Waddell set to work with a will to build up 
these establishments into modern markets, remodeling and rebuilding them and 
introducing new and up-to-date equipments and installing refrigerating system 
which made them among the best markets in the county. Since then the Exeter 
market has been sold, but they retain the Lindsay place of business which the 
son George H., is managing with marked ability, while Mr. Waddell gives his 
attention to the purchase of stock. They first had built a structure at Lindsay 
25x75 feet in dimension for their business, but this soon became to small and 
they built a new two-story brick block, 40x130 feet, in 1910 with new 
refrigerating and cold storage equipment, and its appointments are all modern 
and first-class. The marble counters and excellent tool equipment give the place 
an air of cleanliness and wholesomeness which bespeaks the good taste of the 
owner, and their product and in the handling of their goods bear the most 
gratifying reputation in the community, it has been credited by the press at one 
time as being one of the finest places of its kind in the state. 
 
     In connection with this business Mr. Waddell gives attention to real 
estate, in which he has been most successful. He has planted and owns a very 
fine thirty-acre orange grove within eight rods of the city limits, and also 
owns tracts in different parts of Tulare county aggregating three hundred and 
fifty acres in all, and beside this he owns a well-improved farm of four hundred 
and eighty acres about seven miles east of Stockton. With all these interests, 
Mr. Waddell finds time to be most active in the affairs of his city and is a 
constant worker for its best interests, being president of the city board as 
well as treasurer of the same. In August, 1911, the city voted bonds in the 
amount of $42,000 for the purpose of providing an adequate water system, which 
was fully completed in the summer of 1912, consisting of two twelve-inch bored 
wells, one hundred feet deep, with mains six, eight and ten inches respectively, 
while the laterals are four and two inches in size. At the present time six 
blocks of street in the business part of Exeter are being paved, and these large 
movements towards improving the town have had the active interest and 
co-operation of Mr. Waddell in his official capacity on the city board. In 
fraternal relations he affiliates with the Exeter lodge, F. & A. M. and the 
Exeter division of the Knights of Pythias. 
 
     In 1885 George E. Waddell married Susan Vogan, a native of California and a 
daughter of John Vogan, who died while he was filing the office of sheriff of 
Amador county, where he had come as a pioneer. The widow of Mr. Vogan now makes 
her home in Ione. Mr. And Mrs. Waddell are the parents of two children, Edwin 
H., born November 23, 1886, who after finishing his education at the Affiliated 
College at San Francisco, took up the study of dentistry and is well established 
in his profession at Visalia; and George Harold, born March 28, 1888, who was 
educated in the schools of Visalia, and is now his father�s partner in the meat 
business. Both sons were born at Ione, Amador county, and reflect credit on 
their training and the honored name they bear. 
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 242, 243