“John Wynkoop Gilkyson is a native son of the Golden west, his birth occurring at Chico, Butte county, California, February 5, 1875, and he is a son of John W. and Ruth (Hobart) Gilkyson, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Michigan. .....John Wynkoop Gilkyson, Jr., received his elementary education in the public schools of Butte county, later attending the Boys High School and the grammar school of San Francisco, graduating therein at the age of eighteen years. When only twelve years old he became a messenger boy for the Pacific Bell Telephone Company in this city, performing his duties during the day and attending school in the evenings, and two years later, when fourteen years of age, was promoted to the position of inspector of telephones. Since then he has taken up switch-board work and was placed in charge of the bell department of the company's factory in San Francisco, later, in 1899, having been made manager of the western branch office, and in 1900 the company incorporated under the name of the Pacific States Telephone Company. In 1901 Mr. Gilkyson was made local manager of the company's office at San Jose and in the latter part of the same year was appointed county manager of the San Jose district, including the counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz. His long continuance with this company stands as unmistakable evidence of his ability and the confidence resposed in him by its officers--a confidence that has never been betrayed in the slightest degree.
In San Francisco, on the 19th of June, 1895, Mr. Gilkyson was united in marriage to Hattie W. Tennis, a native of that city and a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Struve) Tennis, who were early settlers in California. The one son born of this union, Darwin F., is now aged seven years. In this fraternal relations Mr. Gilkyson is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his political support is given to the Republican party.”