USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 42
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George Henry my Martin
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was assigned to him. Being captured he was confined at Belle Isle prison, where he remained for some time and then managed to escape. His health, however, had been greatly impaired through the difficulties of prison life, and he was ordered home. Once more, however, he enlisted, this time becoming a member of the hospital corps, with which he served until the close of the war.
Dr. Martin was in his seventh year when he went to live with his uncle, Dr. C. B. Currier, a homeopathic physician of Middlebury, Vermont, and it is probably this early environment that awakened his interest in the science of medicine and ultimately led to his active connection with the practice of the profession. His literary education was acquired in the graded schools of Middlebury, and under his uncle's direction he began the study of medicine, subsequent to which time he entered the Boston University School of Medicine in 1877. He there pursued one course of lectures and early in the year 1878 accepted an appointment to the position of druggist in the National Soldiers' Home at Hampton, Virginia. While filling that position he was virtually acting assistant surgeon, and during the absence of the surgeon he had full charge of the medical department. There were at one time one thousand men in the home, and the clinical experience which he gained there proved of marked value to him in his later professional career. 'At the end of a year he went to the National Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he occupied a similar position until September, 1879, when he returned to Boston. In that year he again entered upon active preparation for medical practice as a student in the Boston University School of Medicine, in which he was grad- uated with the June class of 1881.
Dr. Martin came to San Francisco in the following autumn, here joining his uncle, Dr. Currier, with whom he had previously lived. He remained a member of the medical fraternity of this city for a year and then went to Honolulu in the Hawaiian islands, where he became the successor of Dr. O. S. Cummings, who left that city on account of ill health. For five years Dr. Martin remained in Honolulu and enjoyed a very extensive patronage which was accorded him by the best people of the islands.
Desirous of making further progress in his chosen field of labor, Dr. Martin next entered the Post Graduate School & Hospital of New York city, where he spent six months in study, giving especial attention to mental and nervous diseases. In the latter part of 1887 he again came to San Francisco, where he has since been in active practice, attaining a position of distinction by reason of superior ability that places him in the front rank among the rep- resentatives of the medical science on the Pacific coast. As a medical educator he is equally well known. In 1888 he accepted the chair of clinical medicine in the Hahnemann Hospital College at San Francisco, occupying that position for two years, and upon the retirement of Dr. Samuel Lilienthal from the chair of mental and nervous diseases Dr. Martin was appointed his successor and so continued until 1897. In 1889 he was appointed a member of the board of directors of the college and also of the state board of homeopathic medical examiners of the California State Homeopathic Medical Society. He has been a member of that society since 1881, was elected its secretary in 1890
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and was also chosen secretary of the board of directors of the Hahnemann Hospital College, holding the former position for three years and the latter until 1896. For several years he has been a member of the legislative com- mittee and is now chairman of the committee of the state society.
During the legislative session of 1893 Dr. Martin took an active part in the successful vote against the board of examiners' bill introduced by the Allopathic State Society, which would have practically eliminated homeopathy in the state. In 1901 he secured the passage of a bill in the state legislature providing " that no pupil under fifteen years of age should be required to do any home study." He organized the San Francisco County Homeopathic Medical Society in 1893 with a membership of sixty, in 1895 was chosen its vice president and in 1896 was elected president. In the same year he was elected the first vice president of the state society and in 1897 was chosen its president. During his connection with the college Dr. Martin conducted a large clinic on mental and nervous diseases, and for several years has been the neurologist to the Fabiola Hospital at Oakland, and has each year given a course of lectures upon these subjects before the nurses' training school. He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy and of the Organon and Materia Medica Club of the bay cities of California. He is a stanch ad- vocate of the system of Hahnemann and is always ready to support any meas- ure which tends to its advancement. He has published a " Manual of Nervous Diseases and Their Homeopathic Treatment," which was issued in 1896, and he has made frequent contributions to Homeopathic medical journals upon the subject of nervous diseases, and is the associate editor of the " Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy." He is a member of the Unitarian Club of San Francisco.
In 1891 Dr. Martin was married to Eleanor Frances Bowers, a lady of natural refinement and culture and of broad intellectual attainments. She is a graduate in medicine and has assisted her husband in large degree in the preparation of medical literature. His writings have made him widely known and he is an acknowledged authority on the Pacific coast concerning nervous diseases. He has ever kept abreast with modern thought and scientific inves- tigation, and, in fact, has been a recognized leader in his specialty and enjoys a very extensive practice.
DOCTOR BOWLING BAILEY.
Doctor Bowling Bailey, who owns and conducts an extensive cattle ranch of nine hundred acres and is also engaged in the manufacture of boxes in San Jose under the firm style of Haren Brothers Company, was born in that city on the 26th of May, 1875, his parents being Bonarges R. and Elizabeth E. (Sparks) Bailey. The father came to California in 1850, when the mining excitement was yet at its height and had not yet been developed into a steady industry. For a few years he was engaged in searching for the precious metal with varying success and later he engaged in farming and stock-raising in Santa Clara county, although prior to this time he devoted his attention to the raising of cattle and horses in Tulare county.
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After his removal to Santa Clara county, prosperity attended his efforts, and he became one of the foremost representatives of his line of business in that locality. He was married in this state to Miss Elizabeth E. Sparks, who in 1848 came to California with her parents, who left their Illinois home and took up their abode in Santa Clara county, where her father was engaged in general farming and cattle raising. To Mr. and Mrs. B. R. Bailey were born five sons and a daughter.
In the schools of his native county D. B. Bailey acquired his educa- tion, and throughout his entire life has been connected with the cattle indus- try of this portion of the state. He now operates a cattle ranch of nine hun- dred acres, situated about fifteen miles from San Jose, giving direct super- vision to the business and having upon the place several hundred head of cattle, so that he makes large annual shipments to the city markets. In 1898 he also became connected with the industrial interests of San Jose, engaging in the manufacture of boxes in connection with his brother under the name of Haren Brothers Company. They make fruit boxes and have already developed an important and paying business, furnishing employment to a large number of workmen. He is a wide-awake, progressive young business man, who has already achieved desirable success and has an excel- lent outlook for the future.
GEORGE E. DEGOLIA.
ยท In the legal, political and social circles of Oakland George E. DeGolia is recognized as a prominent factor. He is a native of California, was born at Hangtown, now Placerville, ElDorado county. May 3, 1857, son of Dar- wir and Lavinia (Baldwin) DeGolia. Darwin DeGolia, a native of Lake George, New York, and of French descent, came to California in 1849, via the isthmus route, and settled in ElDorado county, where for some years he followed the fortunes of a miner and later became prominent in public affairs. In 1857 he was one of the seven men who organized the Republi- can party in ElDorado county. He filled the office of county sheriff and later town marshal, and was editor of the Placerville Republican. He mar- ried, in Placerville, in 1856, Miss Lavinia Baldwin, a native of Ohio, of English descent, her ancestors having removed to Ohio from Connecticut, where they had resided for several generations. She crossed the plains to California and became a resident of Placerville the year previous to her marriage.
George E. DeGolia may be said to have made his start in life when, as a page in the assembly at the age of fourteen, he went to the state legisla- ture. The earnings he saved from his work there and elsewhere enabled him to move to Oakland, and there to secure a college education. He entered the University of California, at the age of sixteen, and was graduated in 1877, seventh in a class of twenty-six. In the college of civil engineering he was first in rank. The year following his graduation he became man- aging editor of the Oakland Daily Transcript, and was occupied in news- paper work about one year. When Hon. Henry Vrooman was elected dis-
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trict attorney of Alameda county, in March, 1878, young DeGolia accepted the position of clerk in his office, and at the same time took up the study of law, carefully devoting his energies to his legal studies and in 1879 was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state. Following his admis- sion to the bar he formed a partnership for the practice of law with his pre- ceptor, Mr. Vrooman, whose death, however, occurred soon after, and Mr. DeGolia came into possession of his fine law library and succeeded to his practice. During the years which have intervened since then Mr. DeGolia has established a reputation as a corporation lawyer; also in probate work has attained prominence, having been attorney for the public administrator a number of years, and being regarded as authority on points in probate practice. By reason of his sterling integrity and fidelity, he is one of the leaders of the bar in Alameda county.
In 1878 he became actively interested in politics. After Mr. Vroo- man's death in 1889, and up to 1894 he was considered the leader of the Republican party in Alameda county, and he also took an active part in state politics. He was secretary of the senate judiciary committee in the legislative session of 1880, from 1883 for six years was assistant district attorney of Alameda county, and in 1888 was a delegate to the national con- vention of the Republican party in Chicago.
He is fond of athletic sports and is popularly identified with many social and fraternal organizations. Since the organization of the Oakland Bar Association he has been its secretary. He is a charter member of the Athenian Club. In 1891 he was one of the organizers of the Elks in Oak- land, of which he was for several successive years honored with the office of exalted ruler. As a member of the Piedmont Parlor, N. S. G. W., and a delegate from it to the grand parlor since 1892, he has been enthusiastic and influential. His connection with the Masonic order includes member- ship in the Commandery, Knights Templar, Scottish Rite and Mystic Shrine. While in college, football, baseball, swimming and rowing found in him an enthusiast, and he gained no little notoriety for his activity in these sports. He is now an enthusiastic member of the Claremont Country Club, and plays upon its golf team.
Mr. DeGolia married, in 1883. Miss Caroline Barroilhet Rabe, a daughter of Dr. Rabe, whose name figures prominently in the early history of California. They have two children, Noelle and George Ellis, Jr.
GEORGE SCHMIDT.
George Schmidt, postmaster at Berkeley, has been prominent in the business and public affairs of this city for a number of years. He is a native son of the state, his father having been among the famous forty-niners. For some time after arriving at manhood he was engaged in farming opera- tions, but for the past fifteen years has been actively connected with the city of Berkeley, as a real estate dealer and as the incumbent of the post- mastership.
Mr. Schmidt was born at Dutch Flat, Placer county, California, No-
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vember 19, 1862, a son of John C. and Catherine S. (Everdine) Schmidt, both natives of California and of old German families. His father came out to California in 1849. having emigrated to the United States and located at Cincinnati, Ohio, several years earlier. He went to the mines at Dutch Flat in Placer county, but in 1863 bought a farm on the present site of Berkeley and was engaged in farming and stock-raising for many years. He died in 1903, but his wife is still living.
Mr. George Schmidt was reared at Berkeley, where he attended the public schools, and also was a student in Bernard's Business College in San Francisco. He joined his father in farming and stock-raising, which he continued until 1889, in which year he opened a real estate office in Berke- ley. He did an extensive business in this line until his appointment, in 1901, on February II, by President Mckinley, to the office of postmaster. He has given a most efficient and satisfactory administration of this posi- tion. The Berkeley postoffice is second class, employs twenty-seven clerks and carriers and has two stations and four sub-stations. Its business has experienced an almost phenomenal growth, and within the past three years has doubled in value.
While in the real estate business Mr. Schmidt took an active part in politics, and has always been recognized as one of the leading and influ- ential Republicans of Alameda county. In 1889 he was elected to the office of town assessor, serving two years. He served as town marshal during 1890, 1891 and 1892. He has fraternal affiliations with the Woodmen of the World, the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Order of Americus.
In 1895 Mr. Schmidt married Miss Nellie M. Collignon, a native of Vermont. They have one child, Gladys A.
GEORGE WILLIAM WINTER.
George William Winter, a prominent contractor and builder of Red- wood City, San Mateo county, has been identified with this line of industrial enterprise in California since the days of boyhood, and in it has gained not only his individual success but also the vantage ground where he can be of greatest service to the community and in public affairs. Mr. Winter has spent nearly all his life in California, and, although English born, is in all respects a true westerner, hearty and energetic, and fully alive to the best interests of his city and county.
Mr. Winter was born in Portsmouth, England, May 21, 1865, a son of Nimrod Winter, who was also a carpenter and contractor. His father was identified with the construction of many public buildings both in England . and in the United States. He came to America and located in Chicago in 1871, being actively engaged there doing contracting work during the busy years after the great fire. He moved out to California in 1874, locating in San Francisco, and in 1882 came to Redwood City, where he died in 1887. He was married in England in 1854 to Miss Elizabeth Treasure, and she is still living at the old home in Redwood City.
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Mr. G. W. Winter received his education in the public schools of San Francisco and those of Virginia City, Nevada, where his father lived for a time. He applied himself to the learning of the carpenter and joiner's trade while still a boy, and worked with his father until the latter's death. He then continued the business of contracting and building alone, and many handsome residence and public structures stand as memorials to his life work. Among others, he built the county hospital in Redwood City.
He has been prominent in city affairs, and in 1896 was elected a member of the city council, continuing a member by several re-elections, and in 1899 was chosen chairman of the council, which position carries with it the execu- tive duties of the office of mayor in most American cities. In politics he is a Republican. He affiliates with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of Foresters, the Woodmen of the World, the Im- proved Order of Red Men, the Fraternal Brotherhood, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and in several of these takes a leading and influential part.
Mr. Winter married, in 1885, Miss Emma J. Allen, a daughter of J. M. Allen, who was a blacksmith and wheelwright by trade, and was one of the pioneers to locate in Redwood City in the year 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Winter have five children: Elizabeth P .. George H., Hazel T., Marguerite and Allen N.
JOHN CONNOR.
Among San Francisco's business men none has been more closely identi- fied with the growth and best interests of the city than John Connor, who for more than one-third of a century has made his home here-a period within which San Francisco as attained her present proud position, vying with the metropolitan centers of the older east for leadership in the world of com- merce, science, art and learning. For many years he has been known for his sterling qualities, his fearless loyalty to his honest convictions, his sturdy opposition to misrule in municipal affairs, his championship of the labor inter- ests and his clear-headedness, discretion and tact as manager and leader. He has given some of the best efforts of his life to the purification and elevation of the municipal government, and his own official career is one over which there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil.
Mr. Connor was born in Ireland on the 23d of July, 1849, and when three years of age was brought by his parents to America, the family home being established at Mystic, Connecticut. There he acquired his education in the public schools, but his advantages in that direction were somewhat limited, owing. to the necessity of his earning his own living, and when a youth of twelve years he began work in a boiler shop, heating rivets, and was thus employed until sixteen years of age, when he apprenticed himself to learn the blacksmith's trade. After completing his term of apprentice- ship he removed to California in 1868, settling in San Francisco. Mr. Con- nor was employed as a journeyman blacksmith for three years by the Kimball Manufacturing Company and Pacific Rolling Mills. At the end of that time he decided that he would not make the advance that he wished by following mechanical pursuits. so, abandoning his trade. he accepted a position in a
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commission house. After four years' experience, during which time his apti- tude, close application and diligence brought to him an intimate and accurate knowledge of the business, he established a commission house of his own, which he conducted .for twenty-seven years, his labors being attended with marked success during the greater part of that time. He became one of the prominent representatives of the business in San Francisco. During the finan- cial panic which swept over the country in the early 'gos his business languished to a considerable extent, and not wishing to carry on an unprofitable trade he retired. In April. 1898, he associated himself with the Hartford Insurance Company as a staff solicitor, and in this line of activity has been extremely successful, owing perhaps in considerable measure to the fact that he had won a host of warm friends in the previous years of his business career.
Mr. Connor has always been a very ardent and conscientious worker in the ranks of Democracy. He is a firm believer in municipal ownership of public institutions and he has unfalteringly and unselfishly lived for American institutions. He is strongly opposed to misrule in municipal affairs or to the management of affairs by a political ring. He believes that men should not seek public office, but that the office should seek the man because of his special qualifications and capability for the office involved. He stands as a champion for all measures for the public good, has been an active worker for clean and pure government in San Francisco, and took an influential and helpful part at the time of the charter election in 1898. In 1899, at the first election held under the new charter, he was chosen supervisor and discharged his duties with such promptness and fidelity that he was re-elected in 1901 and again in 1903. For four years he was chairman of the water committee and during that time three reductions in price were made in favor of the city and the people. At the present time he is chairman of the streets committee and also a member of the committees of public utility, charter amendment and public buildings. Throughout his public career his entire aim has been to purify and beautify San Francisco, the city of his adoption and the home which he loves. His sympathies are always with the workingman. He has made his way from their ranks and throughout his entire career has shown friendship for those who labor with their hands and earn their living by the sweat of their brows.
In 1873 Mr. Connor was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Connor, a native of Ireland, who was brought to the United States in her girlhood days and was reared and educated in Norwich, Connecticut. She was a model wife and mother, and her death, which occurred February 13, 1895, proved a great loss to her family and many friends. There were four children of this marriage: Eleanor, John, Dollie and Joseph, all of whom have attained to adult age.
In consequence of his prominence in political and business life, Mr. Connor has a wide acquaintance and has gained a host of warm friends, whose high and sincere regard he ever possesses. He has given much study to political and economic questions, and while inclined to be safely conservative he yet holds many advanced ideas on questions of governmental policy. The soldier in the field of battle has displayed no greater loyalty than has Mr. Connor in his support of American institutions and his condemnation of polit-
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ical intrigue as practiced by both parties. There is no doubt that had he entered into the methods of many politicians he could have obtained almost any office he might desire, but with him principle is above party, purity in municipal affairs above personal interest.
GEORGE SIMON MCKENZIE.
George Simon Mckenzie needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, for he has a very wide acquaintance throughout central California and his official record has made him known to almost the entire citizenship of this part of the state. Unfaltering in the performance of his duty, no other public officer has been more faithful and loyal to the trust reposed in him or done more effective service in office than has Mr. Mckenzie.
A native of Nova Scotia, he was born in Picton county on the 17th of June, 1856. His father, Murdock Mckenzie, was a native of Nova Scotia, where he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Gunn, a native of that country. He died in 1886, but his widow is still living and makes her home in Nova Scotia.
George Simon Mckenzie acquired a practical education and on the 24th of April, 1879, he arrived in Napa. He has since continued to make his home in this county, and his first business venture was in connection with carriage building in Monticello, Napa county, where he remained until 1888. He had bought out the branch of the business owned by Thompson, Beard & Sons in 1885 and in the conduct of his enterprise diplayed excel- lent business ability and capable management. However, his fitness for office led to his selection for public honors, and in 1886 he was appointed justice of the peace of Knox township, and also postmaster of Monticello in 1888. He was elected sheriff of Napa county and entered upon the duties of the office the following year. He was re-elected for three consecutive terms of two years each. He then went to the state legislature, where he was the father of the bill that provided that county officers should continue in their respective positions for four years instead of a term of two years. As sheriff he served for ten consecutive years or until January, 1899, and at the last election in which he was a candidate he defeated the present sher- iff. D. A. Dunlap. Mr. Mckenzie was beyond a doubt the most widely known and the most popular sheriff of the west. When he was sent to the legislature in 1897 it was as the representative of the sheriffs of the state of California for special instruction in reference to the county government bill. This measure amended by him extending the tenure of office as noted above is still in force. It also regulated the fees of sheriffs and their depu- ties and established fixed rules and regulations to be observed in the pursuit of criminals.
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