Nevada Genealogy Trails Eureka County Walter J. Tonkin Biography

HON. WALTER J. TONKIN, a leading merchant and business man of Eureka, first came to Nevada in 1875, and has been engaged in various lines of commercial and industrial activity ever since. Merchandising has been the occupation in which he has made his principal success, but he has also mined and been interested in stock-raising. Besides his respected position in business circles, he stands as high in Masonic honors as any other man in the state, and is foremost in the beneficent work of this ancient order.

Mr. Tonkin was born in Cornwall, England, January 29, 1854, and was educated in that country. He was twenty-one years old when he came to the United States, in 1875, and his first destination was Virginia City, Nevada, which was at that time in the height of its prosperous development. He had learned merchandising in his native country, but on his arrival here he got a place in the mines at four dollars a day. He was already somewhat familiar with mining operations, for he had come from the mining center of England, and he was on sure ground when he came to the mining regions of the west. From Virginia City he went to Bodie, California, and was appointed night foreman of the Noonday mine, having full charge of it during the night. Mr. Tonkin came to Eureka on September 18, 1880, and opened a stock of liquors, which business he carried on successfully for ten years. He then sold out and opened a dry goods and clothing store on March 4, 1801. He has a large trade in this line of merchandising and has been applying all his energy to building up the business, with gratifying results. In 1887 he began stock-raising in Eureka county with his brother, John G. Tonkin, as partner. They had a ranch of six hundred and forty acres, on which they kept as high as six hundred cattle, but he has since sold these interests in order to devote himself unreservedly to his principal work.

Mr. Tonkin has the honor of having been made a Master Mason in One and All Lodge, No. 330, F. & A. M.. at Bodmin, England, and he received the Royal Arch degrees in Bodmin Chapter, and was made a Sir Knight Templar in Eureka Commandery No. 2. He has also received all the Scottish Rite degrees including the thirty-second. He affiliates with all the lodges in Eureka, is a member of the Reno Consistory, and his standing as a Mason in Nevada is equal to the best. Mr. Tonkin has been a consistent adherent of the Republican principles since coming to this country, but gave his vote and influence to the cause of silver.

On December 16, 1889, he married Miss Rebecca Crombie. Her father, John C. Crombie, was born at New Boston, New Hampshire. January 10, 1834, and married Miss Elizabeth Lee. He came to Nevada in 1864, and has been one of the most enterprising of the state's mining men. He is still owner of valuable gold and copper mining property, and has done much for the development and prosperity of his state. His pioneer wife also survives. Mr. and Mrs. Tonkin have two children, both born in Eureka, Walter Crombie and Celia Ailene. They have one of the nice homes of Eureka, cheerful and bright in all its comforts and surroundings, and he also owns his store building. They are Episcopalians in religious faith, and are popular members of the society of the county seat of Eureka county.

Source:
A History of the State of Nevada: Its Resources and People
By Thomas Wren, Lewis Publishing Company
Published by The Lewis publishing company, 1904