Warren J. Hoag

Birth: He was born around 1863 in Canada.  

Family Information: He married Ivy Hoag in 1907.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: Chicago being one of his "old stamping grounds," he had attended the meeting later known as the Haymarket Affair in 1886, leaving just twenty minutes before the bomb exploded. He always defended Fielding, Parsons and the other labor martyrs who were railroaded to death for teaching "anarchy," stating "Those men were no more guilty of that explosion, or had fore knowledge of it than you or I."

About that time the American Can Company sent him first to Seattle where he had charge of the miscellaneous department; and later to Portland, Oregon. It was probably around this time that he'd been a member of the Puget Sound Co-operative Colony.

In 1912 he and Ivy had joined the Glenwood colony in Oaxaca, Mexico, but only two years later that colony was looted by bandits and they barely escaped with their lives. The Hoag's then made their way to Galveston, Texas where they operated a clothing business until they came to Newllano in 1923.  

Home in Colony: He lived at the Hoag Ranch (old poultry ranch) which was approx. 2 miles southwest of the colony. It spread over a terraced hill rising briskly from the roadside. Surmounting the hill and overlooking the roadway stood two solidly built bungalows, one a six-room structure, the other a four-room. Both were backed by a grove of lovely second-growth pine, and over them hung three great black-oaks with mistletoe among the boughs.

To the west and northwest were two large poultry houses, sheltering more than 500 fowls. To the northeast and down the hill was found the barn, housing two cows, some young stock and the unit's only horse. In the same direction, at the foot of the hill there was a fine spring, yielding an exhaustless supply of pure, fresh water.

The rest of the unit was given over entirely to the growing of truck crops and berries.  

Job in Colony:

Foreman of the sheet metal shop department.

In 1929 Newman and Ole were "assembling a new "sander". This was a machine on which all kinds of wood surfaces [could] be sandpapered and finished, obviating the slow and laborious hand work. A belt of sandpaper [did] the trick, as it revolved over "idlers", two at the lower and two at the upper corners of the framework. No idler, Comrade Hoag made [those] idlers. In fact, the whole machine [had] an interesting pedigree, being a concrete demonstration of co-operative creation. The plan [was] by Hank Stevens. Comrade Eldred brought the framework into being. Jimmy Maxwell concocted the metal parts by frisking an old Ford. Hoag tuned in on the idlers, as aforesaid. Somebody made the sanding belt. And lo! Ole and Newman assembled the creations of all those co-operators into a machine capable of doing the work of a score of men. [They] simply needed the machine and forthwith got busy and made it."

In March 1930 the colony was building a special delivery truck for Taylor to use when he went out to sell the colony's candy products -- the body was built at the planing mill, the metal work done by Mr. Hoag in the tin shop and the upholstering done by Mr. Bingham.

In July 1931 the veneer plant was going in full force with Johnny Dougherty, Long, Ole Synoground, Carl Bradshaw, George Jensen, Slaughter, Ray Bradshaw, Fred Hamel, Hoag and Roede on the job; as well as Bennie Brown, Jimmie Brown, Helen Joe Dougherty, Lucille Oberlitner, Rhea Mae Baldwin, George Maki and Jimmie Dix.  

Other Info: In 1928 he was one of the founding members of the local Conscientious Objectors Union; Theodore Atworth served as the first Secretary-Treasurer with O.E. Enfield serving as the President. The organization was planned to be international, composed of people who refused to go to war as a matter of conscience. Charter members included: Theodore Atworth, Mary H. Atworth, Emily H. Dougherty, I.A. Dougherty, Carl H. Gleeser, S. Weislander, Charlie C. Black, John Hight, Lowell H. Coate, W.A. Shutt, F.O. Jernberg, Reka Jernberg, Anna Tabb, Peter Kemp, F. Rosenburg, B. Wade Hewitt, Hamilton H. McClurg, W.J. Hoag, Theodore F. Landrum, C.N. Butts, Mary Snyder, George Snyder, Anna Garrett, Emma Shutt, M.A. Brattland, Richard P. Condon, Jr., Emily Swenson, W.J. Newman, George T. Pickett, Raymond DeFausell, S.E. Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Molenar, Earl L. Bosch, Guy F. Rogers, Ora E. Newman, James J. Miller, Bert Busick, Mabel D. Busick, Ole Synoground, C.C. Mickey, Fred A. Jensen, Katie Mickey, F. Rahn and Isaac H. Keyes.

In December 1932, a rabbit council of war was held on the porch of the office building and all the rabbit experts were present. The Chinchilla rabbits had recently been moved to the Hoag Ranch. W.R. Gaylord (who'd had all of 200 Chins in a private rabbitry in Oregon), Warren Hoag, Baldy, and Bert Moore (who'd had his own rabbitry and had cared for the more than 7,000 rabbits at the Llano del Rio colony in California) engaged in solemn council. There'd been a day when rabbit breeding was a marketable commodity; and rabbit meat brought 30 cents a pound, dressed. But them days [we]re gone forever. The cows and mules had first call on the peanut hay, corn and other good fodder and the alfalfa experiment in Llano had not worked out so well. To buy feed for rabbits was voted not a paying business. And so, the axe was voted to be the best method of solving the problem of feeding rabbits.  

Post-Colony History:  

Death: He died in 1931.  

Sources: "Vernon Parish Democrat": February 7, 1929; "Llano Colonist": December 22, 1928, March 23, 1929, August 10, 1929, March 29, 1930, July 4, 1931, December 24, 1932, December 31, 1932; US Census: 1930