Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 6 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 19

The enterprising and progressive blacksmith of Coalinga, Jack Gilbertson, as he is familiarly known, is of Scotch ancestry, his grandfather, Henry Gilbertson, having been born in the land of the heather and of Bobby Burns, from which country he emigrated to Canada, afterwards moving over the line into New York State. He was a blacksmith by trade and passed his last days in the Empire State. The father of J. H. Gilbertson was Thomas Gilbertson, a native of Canada, who followed the trade of blacksmith in New York State as well as in Pennsylvania. While he was engaged at his trade in the latter state, oil was discovered at the old Drake well, near Titusville, Pa. Later on he ran a shop at Bradford, Pa., and it was in this place that he died. John H. Gilbertson, the subject of this sketch, was born on May 10, 1877, near the famous old Drake oil-well, located near Titusville, Pa. His mother, in maidenhood, was Ellen O'Hara, a native of New York State, and she resides now at Long Beach, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gilbertson were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living, J. H. being the sixth child.

When eleven years of age, Jack Gilbertson moved with his parents to Bradford, Pa., and it was in the public school of this town that he received his early education. Following the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he learned the trade of a blacksmith, and in due time ran a shop in partnership with his father. He remained with him until he sold his interest and then he accepted a position with an oil-tool company, in West Virginia, where he was the blacksmith for the firm of Betman, Watson & Burnham, in Belmont, W. Va. After remaining here three years he returned to Bradford where he was in the employ of the Oil Well Supply Company, as a blacksmith, continuing with them for five years. Having a desire to see the western states, Mr. Gilbertson migrated as far west as Kiefer, Okla., where he was foreman of the Independent Iron Works, engaged in building oil-well machinery. His next move was eastward, as he located at Rochester, N. Y., where he secured employment with the Fredericks Structural Iron Works as foreman of their blacksmithing department. After remaining here a few months, Mr. Gilbertson moved to California, making his advent into the Golden State in 1906, locating at Coalinga, where he secured employment with the California Oilfields Limited, as a blacksmith, which position he filled for three years, when he left Coalinga for Tonopah, Nev. After serving nine months as master mechanic of the Tonopah Extension, he resigned and returned to Coalinga, where he accepted the position of head blacksmith for the Bunting Iron Works, which place he efficiently filled for five years, resigning in 1915 to engage in business for himself. Purchasing the blacksmith shop of Hansen & Borum, he opened a general blacksmithing business, also engaged in auto repairing and light oil-tool blacksmithing work. Mr. Gilbertson is an expert in his line of work, an enterprising business man who has the happy faculty of making friends, which accounts for his growing and prosperous business, located on Front Street, Coalinga. From a boy Mr. Gilbertson was reared in the oil region and has been through most of the prominent oil-fields and has had valuable experience in the making of oil-well tools. While with the Oil Well Supply Company in Bradford. Pa., he assisted in the making of the fishing tools that were exhibited at the Saint Louis Exposition.

Mr. Gilbertson was united in marriage with Miss Gladys M. Levey, a native of Iowa, and they have three children: Jack; Helen, and Norma. Fraternally, Mr. Gilbertson is a member of the Eagles.