San Joaquin County Biographies This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives GEORGE WILLIS For fifty-three years George Willis has been numbered among the citizens of Stockton, fifty years of this time having been spent as chief engineer for the Wagner Leather Company. He came West and settled in Stockton in 1869, when a young man and has progressed to his present prosperity mainly by reliance on his own efforts, and is therefore regarded among his neighbors and friends with that peculiar esteem always bestowed upon those who achieve their own welfare and success. He was born in Durham County, England, April 5, 1840, where at ten years of age he began driving a horse in the coal mines; later he was engineer in the same mine; he also worked on the hoists, taking the coal from the mines by cable. In 1867 he left England for America locating first in Ohio; the following year he removed to Omaha, Neb., where he fired on a locomotive during the building of the Union Pacific railroad for a short time, then to Salt Lake City where he became engineer in the Wyoming carbon coal mines. Coming to California, he arrived in Stockton in 1869 and worked as a carpenter with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, building water tanks and culverts between Stockton and Oakland. In the spring of 1870, he entered the employ of the Wagner Leather Company where he worked uninterruptedly for fifty years and is now living retired on a pension granted by this company for his efficient service during those years. When he began to work for the company, twenty men were employed and Mr. Willis worked as fireman and engineer; at one time he was sent to Humboldt County where he worked in the extract plant of the company. His years of service and valuable knowledge of the business made him an expert in his line and the appreciation of the company for which he worked so long and faithfully was shown in a substantial manner. Mr. Willis' first marriage united him with Miss Hannah Sutherland, a native of England, who passed away in Stockton. His second marriage united him with Miss Mary Blackburn, who was brought to Stockton by Mr. Willis when she was eight years old and received her education in that city. Three children were born to them: Evelyn, now Mrs. Harry Swift and they have one daughter, Betty; Hattie is the wife of John McAdams and they have two children, John W. and Frances, and they reside in Alameda; George B. is in the employ of the Stockton street railway, and was in the Navy, stationed on the South Dakota, conveying troops during the World War. In the early days of Stockton the slough came up to the Wagner Leather Company's plant by reason of the fact that Mr. Willis built a dam to bring the water to proper height, and schooners came through the drawbridge loaded with tan bark; as many as three at one time have been taken through by Mr. Willis. Mr. Willis is a man of genuine worth, and all with whom he has come in contact entertain for him high regard. History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923 p 496 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.