Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
NameThomas Gordon ECKART 
Death10 Dec 1995, San Fernando, Los Angeles, California908 Age: 86
Burial13 Dec 1995, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California908
OccupationHorticulturist908
EducationPlant Science, 1931, UC Berkeley and UC Davis908
FlagsMayflower Descendant
FatherCharles Franklin ECKART (1875-1934)
MotherEdith Morgan CROCKETT (1877-1953)
Individual Notes
• At 1921 Thanksgiving dinner, 3014 Clay Street, San Francisco.33
• They have picked the right man to run the Kauai county fair this year. He is T. G. Eckart. Back in Washington he would be called a real dirt farmer; a long, rangy fellow in khaki and high boots, he looks like a man who grows things with his own hands and not merely a theoretical agriculturist, but if you talk to him - he doesn’t talk much - you would realize that his practical experience is backed up with scientific certainty; he belongs to that breed of men that has kept our Hawaiian sugar industry clicking so successfully over its long life.
T. G. Eckart brings to the job of director of the 12th annual Kauai county fair his own valuable experience as a successful agriculturist, and this experience is but the continuation of the work of another man - his father, the late Charles F. Eckart.457
• At the age of 6 I started school at Olaa. My best friend was Minoru Matsumoto, the son of one of our yard men (now head carpenter at Olaa Sugar Co.) – I learned to swim at Warm Springs (destroyed several years ago by a lava flow) and at Kalapana (black sand beach). I started the 4th grade at Hilo Union School and made the trip each day from Olaa to Hilo and return by train. In 1919 your grandmother and grandfather made an extended trip and put us in Hitchcock Military Academy in San Rafael for a year. We all returned to the Islands in 1920 and bought a home at 2669 Nuuanu Ave. where we lived until 1925. During this period I went to Punahou and had many wonderful friends as classmates including Anna Karen Cooke and Alice Montague Cooke – daughters of Richard Cooke – then president of Brewer & Co. – Harrison Cooke, son of Clarence Cooke – Paul Cooke, son of George Paul Cooke – Helen Gray Baldwin, daughter of Sam Baldwin (Alexander & Baldwin) – Walter Dillingham, son of Harold Dillingham – Wallace Waterhouse, son of John Waterhouse. Anna Karen Cooke married Ralph Johnson, an old friend from Hilo days, who became president of Hawaiian Electric (Ralph died about 4 years ago). I don’t know what has happened to most of these people which really is a shame as we were all so very close – any of them would be delighted to meet you and know you – of this I am sure.
Anyway – to go on – in 1924 Bob and I were sent to the Menlo School for Boys. I graduated in 1927 and entered UC at Davis – spending two years at Davis and two years at Berkeley. At Davis I was very active – Vice pres. Of the Student Body, Student Council, sports editor of the yearbook, black letter society, Sword & Sandals (honor society), Alpha Zeta (national agricultural honor society), and worked from 4 AM – 8 AM each morning (asparagus). Graduated 1931 with B. S. degree in Plant Sciences.
Was hired by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Experiment Station while still at U. C. Davis. During my senior year at U. C. studied the action of the enzyme bromeline [unclear] in pineapples. The effects of processing as well as the effects of freezing; was the first to freeze fresh pineapple juice. This was done in cooperation with the Calif. Packing Corp.
I started with the Experiment Station as an assistant agriculturist in training at $125.00 per mo. (later cut to $117.50 during the depression heights). Spent several months in Maui – much time on the many plantations of Oahu working out of the Waipua substation. Was sent to Lihue [unclear] in 1933 as assistant agriculturist and Island Representative of the HSPA. In 1934 I took a position with Lihue Plantation Co. as agriculturist. Was made Head Overseer in Lihue in 1938. Left Lihue just prior to “Pearl Harbor” to take you and Marjorie to the U. S. to stay with May [unclear]. Decided against going back to Kauai and resigned.460
• Interesting side note. As a child I [Paula Gay Eckart Masters] remember these boxes traveling with us where ever we lived. They were never gone through by my dad. Yet he treasured them because they were given to him by his mother who he loved dearly.909, p 1
• They have picked the right man to run the Kauai county fair this year. He is T. G. Eckart. Back in Washington he would be called a real dirt farmer; a long, rangy fellow in khaki and high boots, he looks like a man who grows things with his own hands and not merely a theoretical agriculturist, but if you talk to him - he doesn’t talk much - you would realize that his practical experience is backed up with scientific certainty; he belongs to that breed of men that has kept our Hawaiian sugar industry clicking so successfully over its long life.
T. G. Eckart brings to the job of director of the 12th annual Kauai county fair his own valuable experience as a successful agriculturist, and this experience is but the continuation of the work of another man - his father, the late Charles F. Eckart.457
• At the age of 6 I started school at Olaa. My best friend was Minoru Matsumoto, the son of one of our yard men (now head carpenter at Olaa Sugar Co.) – I learned to swim at Warm Springs (destroyed several years ago by a lava flow) and at Kalapana (black sand beach). I started the 4th grade at Hilo Union School and made the trip each day from Olaa to Hilo and return by train. In 1919 your grandmother and grandfather made an extended trip and put us in Hitchcock Military Academy in San Rafael for a year. We all returned to the Islands in 1920 and bought a home at 2669 Nuuanu Ave. where we lived until 1925. During this period I went to Punahou and had many wonderful friends as classmates including Anna Karen Cooke and Alice Montague Cooke – daughters of Richard Cooke – then president of Brewer & Co. – Harrison Cooke, son of Clarence Cooke – Paul Cooke, son of George Paul Cooke – Helen Gray Baldwin, daughter of Sam Baldwin (Alexander & Baldwin) – Walter Dillingham, son of Harold Dillingham – Wallace Waterhouse, son of John Waterhouse. Anna Karen Cooke married Ralph Johnson, an old friend from Hilo days, who became president of Hawaiian Electric (Ralph died about 4 years ago). I don’t know what has happened to most of these people which really is a shame as we were all so very close – any of them would be delighted to meet you and know you – of this I am sure.
Anyway – to go on – in 1924 Bob and I were sent to the Menlo School for Boys. I graduated in 1927 and entered UC at Davis – spending two years at Davis and two years at Berkeley. At Davis I was very active – Vice pres. Of the Student Body, Student Council, sports editor of the yearbook, black letter society, Sword & Sandals (honor society), Alpha Zeta (national agricultural honor society), and worked from 4 AM – 8 AM each morning (asparagus). Graduated 1931 with B. S. degree in Plant Sciences.
Was hired by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Experiment Station while still at U. C. Davis. During my senior year at U. C. studied the action of the enzyme bromeline [unclear] in pineapples. The effects of processing as well as the effects of freezing; was the first to freeze fresh pineapple juice. This was done in cooperation with the Calif. Packing Corp.
I started with the Experiment Station as an assistant agriculturist in training at $125.00 per mo. (later cut to $117.50 during the depression heights). Spent several months in Maui – much time on the many plantations of Oahu working out of the Waipua substation. Was sent to Lihue [unclear] in 1933 as assistant agriculturist and Island Representative of the HSPA. In 1934 I took a position with Lihue Plantation Co. as agriculturist. Was made Head Overseer in Lihue in 1938. Left Lihue just prior to “Pearl Harbor” to take you and Marjorie to the U. S. to stay with May [unclear]. Decided against going back to Kauai and resigned.460
• Interesting side note. As a child I [Paula Gay Eckart Masters] remember these boxes traveling with us where ever we lived. They were never gone through by my dad. Yet he treasured them because they were given to him by his mother who he loved dearly.909, p 1
Census
• 1910 Census: Honolulu, Hawaii. Age 11/12ths, b HI. Parents b CA.461
• 1920 Census: Olaa, Puna District, Hawaii, TH. Age 10, b HI. Parents b CA.452
• 1930 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California. Age 20, b HI. Single. Parents b CA.462
• 1940 Census: Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. Age 30, b HI. Division overseer; Sugar plantation.910
• 1920 Census: Olaa, Puna District, Hawaii, TH. Age 10, b HI. Parents b CA.452
• 1930 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California. Age 20, b HI. Single. Parents b CA.462
• 1940 Census: Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. Age 30, b HI. Division overseer; Sugar plantation.910
Spouses
Birth21 Aug 1909, Albion, Cassia, Idaho908,911, p 211; date only
Death28 Apr 1987, Woodland, Yolo, California908 Age: 77
FatherGeorge Andrew AXLINE (1871-1917)
MotherMabel Estella REA (1877-1969)
Census
• 1910 Census: Albion, Cassia, Idaho. Age 7/12ths, b ID.912
• 1940 Census: Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. Age 30, b ID.910
• 1940 Census: Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. Age 30, b ID.910
ChildrenMarjorie Ann (1933-1960)
(Private)
Birth20 Feb 1921, Keansburg, Monmouth, New Jersey914,909, date & state only
Baptism1934914 Age: 12
Death15 Dec 1999, Los Angeles?, Los Angeles, California909 Age: 78
Residenceprevious residence zip code: 91342; Sylmar, California909, p 2
FatherLaurence McNAMARA (~1898-)
MotherAbigail Louise FOULKS (~1900-)
Individual Notes
• 3 siblings.915
Census
• 1940 Census: Keansburg, Monmouth, New Jersey. Age 19, b NJ.915
Marriage9 Nov 1954, Keansburg, Monmouth, New Jersey916
Children(Private)
(Private)
(Private)