Originally a banker in Chester County PA where his Dingee roots hale from he moved to Oakland CA in 1877 and became successful in real estate operations. He owned a magnificant mansion in Oakland named Fernwood with a large library which burned to the ground while he was in NY with his wife Rose. His real success came in the development of a source of water on his fernwood property by tunneling horizontally into the hill and he organized the Piedmont Water Company in the late 1890's later consolidated with the Oakland Water Company and finally the East Bay Municipal Utility District. He was commemorated with the naming of the Dingee Reservoir in the Fernwood area, Montclair district in Oakland in 1959. After the 1906 earth quake and fire of San Francisco of which his wife and sick mother Elizabeth were residing in the Palace Hotel he quickly organized relif funds and set up headquarterd on Franklin and Post Streets offering help to the Governor as needed. He was also very involved in the sale of cement and attempted to build a rail road along the coast but this was failed due to the earth quake. He donated land for a park which is now a part of Sequoia High School. He was a deal maker and breaker and a political mover and shaker but his deals in his later life failed and as per his statements he was cheated by a buisness partner and he died almost unknown. He had no children.
Originally a banker in Chester County PA where his Dingee roots hale from he moved to Oakland CA in 1877 and became successful in real estate operations. He owned a magnificant mansion in Oakland named Fernwood with a large library which burned to the ground while he was in NY with his wife Rose. His real success came in the development of a source of water on his fernwood property by tunneling horizontally into the hill and he organized the Piedmont Water Company in the late 1890's later consolidated with the Oakland Water Company and finally the East Bay Municipal Utility District. He was commemorated with the naming of the Dingee Reservoir in the Fernwood area, Montclair district in Oakland in 1959. After the 1906 earth quake and fire of San Francisco of which his wife and sick mother Elizabeth were residing in the Palace Hotel he quickly organized relif funds and set up headquarterd on Franklin and Post Streets offering help to the Governor as needed. He was also very involved in the sale of cement and attempted to build a rail road along the coast but this was failed due to the earth quake. He donated land for a park which is now a part of Sequoia High School. He was a deal maker and breaker and a political mover and shaker but his deals in his later life failed and as per his statements he was cheated by a buisness partner and he died almost unknown. He had no children.
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