California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

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

WILLIAM A. HOBSON. It is one of the grievous facts of life, one that is recognized by men and 
borne out by figures, that some of the most cogent influences, some of the men who have the 
strongest bearing upon individuals and affairs, are taken from our midst when their work has 
attained its greatest usefulness. There is something incalculably sad connected with the death 
of a man who has labored persistently with a certain ambition in view, who has directed the full 
measure of his energies toward the reaching of a goal, and who, just as his ambitions are 
realized, has had to succumb to the attack of the enemy who awaits behind, after he has met 
and defeated the enemies in front. In the death of William A. Hobson, the loss sustained by 
Ventura County was more than an ordinary one. As to years he was still in the prime of life, and 
in his career he had not only fought his way up to a high position, but had done much to help his 
native community of Ventura to grow and develop along commercial and industrial lines. In his 
passing it was not defeat that he left behind, for his triumph over difficulties and the influence 
of his successful life leave their lesson, one worthy of the study of the younger and coming 
generations.
William A. Hobson was born at Ventura, Ventura County, California, July io, 1865, and was a son 
of William D. and Isabelle Jane (Winemiller) Hobson. After securing his preliminary education 
in the public schools, he entered Heald's Business College, San Francisco, which he attended 
until reaching the age of sixteen years. At that time he returned to Ventura and entered the 
Morrison Grocery as a clerk, there receiving his practical experience in business affairs. When 
he was eighteen years of age he was taken into his father's meat packing business and, with the 
elder man and another son, A. L. Hobson, followed that line and also engaged in stock raising. 
Mr. Hobson and his brother remained in partnership in the cattle business, investing their 
capital in land in Ventura County until they owned thousands of acres. While at the height of his 
success, Mr. Hobson was stricken with death July 20, 1913, having been injured in an 
automobile accident. Mr. Hobson was the ideal business man, sane in his investments, but 
courageous in grasping opportunities ; unbending in his decisions, but always just ; forgiving 
another's delinquencies, but unassailable in his personal dealings. Among his business 
associates he was held in the greatest esteem, and in 1912 they elected him president of the 
Ventura Chamber of Commerce. As a native son, he took a great interest in the affairs of his 
community, and while he was an active participant in the ranks of the republican party for a 
number of years, left public office to those who had a greater desire for it, although he would 
doubtless have made an ideal executive.
Mr. Hobson was married in Oakland, California, August 2, 1889, 10 Miss Effie Sargent, who 
survives him, as does also their one daughter, Edith, who is now Mrs. W. H. Hoffman, Jr., of 
Ventura.