Merced County Biographies

THOMAS A. WAYNE

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        The leading contractor and builder of Atwater, Merced County is Thomas 
A. Wayne, born in Effingham County, Ill., on January 21, 1873, the third in 
order of birth of four children and the only son of G. W. Wayne, a native of 
Kentucky and a wheelwright by trade. In 1875 he came to California, followed the 
next year by his family; and the family home was established in Lake County, 
where he worked in the Sulphur Bank Mine. They later moved to Lower Lake, where 
he opened a wagon shop, carried on the business many years and died at the age 
of sixty-five years. He had married Cynthia Ellen Jaycox, who died at the age of 
sixty-four years. Both parents are buried in Lake County.
        Thomas attended the Lower Lake public school and at the age of sixteen 
went to work in his father's shop, remaining for five years. At the age of 
twenty-one he engaged in carpenter work, learned the business thoroughly, and in 
1902 came to Merced and worked as a journeyman until 1911, when he removed to 
Atwater, then a village of about 100 inhabitants. Since that time he has done 
most of the building in that town and vicinity, his handiwork showing in many of 
the best residences, business blocks and school buildings; in 1925 he erected 
the Bloss Memorial Library costing $15,000. He is the owner of a ten-acre 
vineyard in Arizona Colony and his home property in Atwater; and he is the 
proprietor of the Atwater Billiard Hall and Cigar Store and is considered one of 
the substantial men of the town, as well as a public-spirited citizen of the 
county.
        Mr. Wayne was united in marriage with Miss Bertie L. Cunningham of Lower 
Lake, daughter of the late W. H. Cunningham, a pioneer blacksmith, who was also 
assessor of Lake County three terms. He was well and favorably known in Northern 
California. The children of this union are: Leonard A., Nora E., Ethel I., 
Mildred M., Leta and Thomas A., Jr. Mr. Wayne was elected a member of the first 
board of trustees of Atwater upon its incorporation in August, 1922. 
Fraternally, he is a member and a Past Grand of the Odd Fellows lodge at Lower 
Lake, and a member of Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E. He stands at all times 
for cooperation in all public development and is a champion of the rights of the 
people.
 
History of Merced County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 754-755