The Valley of Heart's Delight
ROY W. BRIDGMAN
PRINCIPAL OF SAN MARTIN GRAMMAR SCHOOL
HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY 550
SURNAMES: CARR, WHITE, SCHMIDT, ERKSON
Prominent among the educators of Santa Clara County whose scholarship,
training and fidelity to duty, and routine, exacting work have
contributed so much to make San Jose and the environing country one of
the most attractive home regions in all the Golden State, may well be
mentioned Roy W, Bridgman, the popular principal of the San Martin
Grammar School, living in San Jose.
He was born at Rich Hill, Bates County, Mo., on July 14, 1874, the son
of Henry C. Bridgman, a descendant of a well-known Connecticut family
which originally hailed from England, and for six generations at least
domiciled in the United States. He married Miss Anna M. Carr, also of
English descent, and in 1879 moved to Calaveras Valley, Cal., where
they lived for about a year. He was a farmer, dealing largely in
cattle; and as his methods were progressive and up-to-date, he
succeeded as well as primitive conditions of that time and place would
permit. Four children were granted this worthy couple, and two are
living today--our subject, the third eldest, and Judson, the firstborn,
of Shelter Cove, Cal. Grace died at the age of nineteen, and so did her
sister, Kate.
In 1880, Henry C. Bridgman came to Santa Clara County to farm, and Roy
attended first the grammar and then the high school of San Jose. After
graduating from the high school he studied for a year in the
pharmaceutical department of the University of California. Having
passed the state board examinations and becoming a registered
pharmacist, he followed the profession in different cities in
California and Nevada. Being desirous of engaging in educational work,
Mr. Bridgman entered the San Jose Normal, where he was graduated with
the class of 1910. He then spent three years as a teacher in the San
Jose Night School, while attending Stanford University. In 1913, he
took his Bachelor of Arts degree at Stanford, and the following year
received his M. A. degree.
The story of Roy Bridgman is the record of a typically energetic
American lad of the unusually ambitious and progressive type. At the
age of nine, while attending the grammar school, he delivered the San
Jose Mercury, and when he was fourteen and fifteen, while attending
school, he also worked in Mr. Farthing's glove factory. While a student
at the State University, he clerked for Levi Elbert, the San Francisco
druggist, and on his return to San Jose, he had charge of the estate of
Samuel Alley for a short time. He then joined Walter Johnson, the San
Jose druggist, and soon afterward, he had charge of a chain of
drugstores at Tonopah, Manhattan and Goldfield, Nevada, for a year.
Coming back to San Jose again, he had a clerkship with Webb, the
druggist, and later was with the Moorehead-Fleming Drug Store.
Since entering into his work as an educator he has been principal,
first of the Franklin schools, then taking the principalship of the San
Martin school.
At San Mateo, on August 14, 1906, Mr. Bridgman was married to Miss
Ethel White, a native of Alameda, Cal., and the daughter of E. J. and
Carrie (Schmidt) White.
Mrs. Bridgman moved to San Jose when she was a girl, and she attended
both the grammar and high school, and she is also a graduate of the San
Jose State Normal; and having engaged in teaching in 1914, she was a
teacher in the Gardner School. Her home in Alameda, where she was born,
was on the site of the present Elks' Hall. Mrs. Bridgman's parents were
early settlers of California, and her mother was a cousin of William Erkson,
San Jose's former city clerk. For a number of years, Mr. Bridgman has
made his home at 343 South Second Street, San Jose, where he owns an
apartment house. He is a Mason, and belongs to Golden Rule Lodge No.
479, F. & A.M., San Jose; and also belongs to San Jose Lodge No.
522, B.P.O.E. He is a member of the National Educational Association,
National Georgraphical Society, Santa Clara County Schoolmasters' Club.
and Phi Delta Kappa, as well as the San Jose branch of America
Registered Pharmacists.
Transcribed by Marie Clayton, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 550
SANTA CLARA COUNTY HISTORIC BIOGRAPHIES
SANTA CLARA COUNTY=The Valley of Heart's Delight
1/10/05