California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


CHARLES F. FLEMMING. When Mr. Flemming came to Hanford in 1880 for the pur- 
pose of opening a blacksmith and wagon repairing shop he was master of the situation, as no 
one with like intentions had preceded him hither. With an anvil and a few tools which he brought 
from Stockton he opened an unpretentious little shop, the nucleus of what is to-day not only the 
leading establishment of the kind in Hanford, but which is not exceeded in size or quality of 
work turned out by any like establishment in Kings county. As the demands of the business 
made it necessary Mr. Flemming enlarged the original structure from time to time, and his 
present quarters measure 65 x 125 feet. He not only does repairing of all kinds, but also manu- 
factures vehicles of all descriptions, and furnishes employment to from five to ten men. 

Mr. Flemming is a native of California, born in Sonoma, Sonoma county, October 10, 1859, a 
son of William Flemming, who was born in Ireland in 1817. In 1825, when eight years old, he 
was brought to the United States, and was reared in New York City. When a young man 
he went to Rochester, N. Y., and learned the carriage maker's trade, which he followed until 
January, 1850, when he opened a shop at Sonoma. About 186 1 he went to San Francisco 
and established a carriage and wagon factory, but after running this for several years he laid 
the business aside to work for the quicksilver mining company, becoming head boss of their 
shops as a millwright. About 1872 he removed to San Jose and began in business for himself 
once more, owning and conducting a shop up to the time of his death in 1900, when eighty-three 
years of age. His wife, Celia Doherty, was also a native of the Emerald Isle, and died when 
sixty years old. 

There were two children in the parental family, the eldest of whom, Thomas, is now in San 
Jose, where he is successfully conducting two fruit ranches, carrying on an extensive business. 
The early boyhood years of Charles F. Flemming were spent in San Jose, where he attended 
the public schools until reaching his fifteenth year. At that age he went into his father's shop 
and learned the blacksmith's trade, applying himself diligently for the following six years in 
mastering the details of the business. In 1877 he went to Stockton and found employment in 
the Henderson carriage factory and later in William P. Miller's factory. Upon leaving the 
latter's employ three years later Mr. Flemming came to Hanford, and in the intervening years 
has built up a trade of no small proportions, which comes from all parts of the county. 

The marriage of Mr. Flemming occurred in 1889 and united him with Mary E. Corum, 
whose birth occurred in Portland, Ore. Politically Mr. Flemming is a Democrat, voting for the 
candidates of that party upon all occasions, but he has steadily refused to accept any office at 
the hands of his party. His fraternal relations bind him to the Foresters, Woodmen of the 
World and Ancient Order of United Workmen, in all of which he is a valued member.