USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 46
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Lured by the wide and inviting field of the Golden West, and ambitious to see the newer part of America, the subject of this sketch came to Califor- nia in 1884, where he obtained a position as instructor in mathematics, be- coming a part of the faculty of Litton Springs College. Deciding to de- vote himself to the law, which he had been studying for many years, he em- barked in the practice in San Francisco, having been admitted to the bar in December, 1895.
During much of his time in San Francisco Mr. Pohli was devoted to professional labors that brought him in contact with leading citizens, repre- sentative men in all walks of life. He has a wide acquaintance, troops of friends, and, above all, a character that holds those who once know him. His manners are polished, his acquaintance with literature is extensive, and his energy such as will place him within a few years at the very front of the bar. Shunning the ways of pettifoggers, he is building broad and deep the foundations of his future usefulness. Mr. Pohli is a man of large physique
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and commanding personality. He likes the broad life and luring possibilities of the far west, and his ambition is indomitable. It is only a question of time until he becomes known throughout the state as a resourceful and bril- liant member of the bar.
JACQUES BERGER.
There has been perhaps no resident of California of French nativity who has had more important bearing up the early development of this state, its material progress and subsequent prosperity than did Jacques Berger, who was born in France in 1817, and died in California in 1891. His life was one of marked activity and enterprise, characterized by keen discernment and sound judgment concerning business possibilities and opportunities. He was descended from old French families in both the paternal and maternal lines, and was well past his teens when he first learned of the marvelous possibilities for a bright and active man in the new Eldorado of the new world on the Pacific coast in America. It was in 1849 that the first news of the discovery of gold in California reached his home in France. He believed that there he would find a good field of labor, and almost immedi- ately he took his departure for the Golden state. He arrived in New York after a tedious and tempestuous sea voyage and then made preparation for his continued journey across the plains. Day after day he traveled until the days lengthened into weeks and the weeks into months, but eventually he reached his destination and settled in San Francisco in 1850. The state at that time was characterized by a mighty rush for the gold fields-the young people with the ambitions of youth and eager for weath, and the old men recognizing the immediate necessity of getting what they could ere it would be too late. Mr. Berger, however, with the mature judgment of middle manhood, did not go to the gold fields, which were overrun with the gold miners struggling for the precious metal. Workmen were needed in other fields of labor in order to provide for the comfort and necessities of the miners, and Mr. Berger, seeing in this condition his opportunity for business success, remained in San Francisco and became a contractor and builder, ignoring the mines for the time being in order to build homes for others to live in. Following this conservative and wise method he soon accumulated a considerable capital, for money was free in those days and labor brought splendid financial return. He also invested in lands and the benefits of his judicious purchases are now enjoyed by the family years after he has passed away.
When the French colony became numerous enough in and near San Francisco to demand a financial institution, which would be strictly French in order to take care of the earnings of the people of that nationality. Jacques Berger was the leading spirit in organizing the first French savings bank in California and subsequently conducting it. The institution was called La Caisse d'Epargnes Francaise, and it remained in existence long after Mr. Berger's death, but has since been merged into other financial institutions.
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by President Harrison, and held that position for six years. Through many years he was one of the school trustees of the locality and did much for the advancement of educational interests in his community. No public trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree and his public- spirited citizenship has been manifest in active support of every measure promulgated in the community that has for its object the material, intellectual or moral upbuilding of this part of the state.
EMIL POHLI.
In every community of any size there are men who, coming from the ranks of students, enter the professions and bring the astuteness of other callings to the work they afterward select as their field of usefulness. He who comes to the practice of medicine, or law, or even to the ministry after a previous training in some other strenuous field often finds that his prior experience has sharpened his faculties.
A case in point is seen in the achievements of Mr. Emil Pohli, one of the best known of the comparatively recent members of the San Francisco bar. Before entering upon the practice of his profession he had seen much of life as an instructor of others in the exact science of mathematics. and as a skillful stenographer accustomed to studying the actions as well as the words of men in all ranks and conditions of life. It is not remarkable, there- fore, that Mr. Pohli's work in the law is marked by strict attention to de- tails, by a systematic handling of cases, and by a careful analysis of human motives, as well as of the law and the evidence.
Mr. Pohli was born on November 12, 1862, in the town of Zuerich, Switzerland. He was primarily educated in the excellent public schools of the world's greatest "little republic." After his public school curriculum had been finished Mr. Pohli spent considerable useful labor as a student at the Red Cross Seminary at Zuerich. Coming to the United States, and seized with the ambition to train his mind still further, he devoted himself with assiduity to a course at the Northwestern College, at Naperville, Illinois.
Lured by the wide and inviting field of the Golden West, and ambitious to see the newer part of America, the subject of this sketch came to Califor- nia in 1884. where he obtained a position as instructor in mathematics, be- coming a part of the faculty of Litton Springs College. Deciding to de- vote himself to the law, which he had been studying for many years, he em- barked in the practice in San Francisco, having been admitted to the bar in December, 1895.
During much of his time in San Francisco Mr. Pohli was devoted to professional labors that brought him in contact with leading citizens, repre- sentative men in all walks of life. He has a wide acquaintance, troops of friends, and, above all, a character that holds those who once know him. His manners are polished, his acquaintance with literature is extensive, and his energy such as will place him within a few years at the very front of the bar. Shunning the ways of pettifoggers, he is building broad and deep the foundations of his future usefulness. Mr. Pohli is a man of large physique
901
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and commanding personality. He likes the broad life and luring possibilities of the far west, and his ambition is indomitable. It is only a question of time until he becomes known throughout the state as a resourceful and bril- liant member of the bar.
JACQUES BERGER.
There has been perhaps no resident of California of French nativity who has had more important bearing up the early development of this state, its material progress and subsequent prosperity than did Jacques Berger, who was born in France in 1817, and died in California in 1891. His life was one of marked activity and enterprise, characterized by keen discernment and sound judgment concerning business possibilities and opportunities. He was descended from old French families in both the paternal and maternal lines, and was well past his teens when he first learned of the marvelous possibilities for a bright and active man in the new Eldorado of the new world on the Pacific coast in America. It was in 1849 that the first news of the discovery of gold in California reached his home in France. He believed that there he would find a good field of labor, and almost immedi- ately he took his departure for the Golden state. He arrived in New York after a tedious and tempestuous sea voyage and then made preparation for his continued journey across the plains. Day after day he traveled until the days lengthened into weeks and the weeks into months, but eventually he reached his destination and settled in San Francisco in 1850. The state at that time was characterized by a mighty rush for the gold fields-the young people with the ambitions of youth and eager for weath, and the old men recognizing the immediate necessity of getting what they could ere it would be too late. Mr. Berger, however, with the mature judgment of middle manhood, did not go to the gold fields, which were overrun with the gold miners struggling for the precious metal. Workmen were needed in other fields of labor in order to provide for the comfort and necessities of the miners, and Mr. Berger, seeing in this condition his opportunity for business success, remained in San Francisco and became a contractor and builder, ignoring the mines for the time being in order to build homes for others to live in. Following this conservative and wise method he soon accumulated a considerable capital. for money was free in those days and labor brought splendid financial return. Hc also invested in lands and the benefits of his judicious purchases are now enjoyed by the family years after he has passed away.
When the French colony became numerous enough in and near San Francisco to demand a financial institution, which would be strictly French in order to take care of the earnings of the people of that nationality, Jacques Berger was the leading spirit in organizing the first French savings bank in California and subsequently conducting it. The institution was called La Caisse d'Epargnes Francaise, and it remained in existence long after Mr. Berger's death, but has since been merged into other financial institutions.
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It was, however, a most important moneyed concern in the early days of California's development and continued as such for a long period.
Not long after his arrival in California Mr. Berger was united in mar- riage to Miss Colombe Mettifieu, a young lady of France of good family. There were two children born of this union, Gabriel and Elizabeth. The son is an architect of prominence in San Francisco. He was born in this city in 1868, was educated in the local public schools and in the college at Santa Clara, California. He finished his literary education at the age of seventeen years and then took up the study of architectural drafting. He was certified according to the California law as a graduate in architecture in 1903 and is today a most capable and leading representative of his profession in his native city. He was married on the 17th of March, 1900, to Miss Etta Schultz, a native of San Francisco and a daughter of Dr. Schultz, a well known and eminent physician of this city. Elizabeth Berger. the daughter of Jacques and Colombe Berger, is the wife of a member of the well known French family named Tanieres. He is connected in San Francisco with a new French bank, which is virtually the outgrowth of the numerous finan- cial institutions that followed the founding of La Caisse d'Epargnes Francaise by Jacques Berger.
JAMES W. HENDERSON.
James W. Henderson, retired banker and the builder of the first rail- road in Humboldt county, has been so closely identified with the improve- ment and progress of this section of the state that his life history and activ- ity form an important chapter in the annals of his community. He has now reached the seventy-sixth milestone on life's journey and well merits the rest which has been vouchsafed to him, because there have been in his record strong elements of industry, perseverance and integrity.
Mr. Henderson was born in 1828 in the state of New York and is a son of Edward and Martha (Jopson) Henderson, the former of Scotch de- scent and the latter of English lineage. The father was a farmer by occu- pation and the son was reared upon the old homestead, assisting in the labors of the fields through the summer months and in the winter seasons he at- tended the public schools until he had prepared for the acquirement of more advanced learning, at which time he entered St. Lawrence Academy at Pots- dam, New York, therein pursuing a three years' course.
In the spring of 1849, when twenty-one years of age, Mr. Henderson started for California, but being too late to complete the trip in that year he spent the summer in Minnesota, and in November, 1849, went down the Mis- sissippi river to New Orleans, where he took passage on a vessel, and by way of the isthmus of Panama proceeded to the Pacific coast. He arrived in San Francisco in February, 1850, and the following three years were devoted to placer mining in Eldorado county. He was fairly successful in his work there and subsequently returned to his old home in New York. After visit- ing his people he made preparations for again coming to California, this time proceeding westward to Illinois and to Iowa. In these states he purchased a number of heavy draft horses, and with them made his way across the
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plains in the summer of 1853. He was fortunate in getting his stock through in safety and after arriving in this state he disposed of his horses at a good profit. The trip proved such a financial success that he returned to the east, and again, after visiting for a short time with his people in the Empire state, he outfitted with cattle and horses, returning to the far west in the summer of 1854. After keeping his stock for a year he disposed of his horses and cattle in 1855. In that year he returned to the east by the way of the isth- mus, and in the winter of 1855-6 he secured an outfit in Missouri, having a band of work horses and team mules. His third trip to California was made in the summer of 1856, and again he came across the long hot stretches of sand and through the mountain passes that separate the Pacific coast from the Mississippi valley. At this time trips were made at greater speed than formerly, and Mr. Henderson was only ninety days from St. Joseph, Mis- souri, to Sacramento. After disposing of his stock and making consider- able money in this way he went to Petaluma, Sonoma county, where he oper- ated a stage line and also had a mail contract to carry the mail from that place to Ukiah. There he remained for about five years, on the expiration of which period he sold his stage business and came to Humboldt county.
Mr. Henderson located in Eureka and in 1865 moved his family to this place, where he has since continuously resided. In 1864-5 he was engaged in prospecting for oil in this county, and in following these pursuits he pur- chased about fifteen thousand acres of land, most of which had formerly be- longed to the government and which has since become very valuable. In 1866-7 he sold his oil lands for farming and grazing properties, and in 1868 he was appointed register of the United States land office, which position he filled for one term of four years. On the expiration of that period he turned his attention to real estate operations, buying and selling property for two years, and in the fall of 1873 he became one of the incorporators of the Humboldt County Bank, of which he was a director. At that time he was elected its president and remained at the head of the institution for twenty- four years, or until December, 1903, when he resigned and retired from act- ive business. In 1873 he built the first railroad in the county, known as the South Bay Railroad, which he sold after operating it for four years. In 1879 he was one of the incorporators of the Eel River & Eureka Railroad, and acted as its superintendent until it was near completion when he dis- posed of his interests, in 1881. From this time forward he gave his atten- tion exclusively to banking interests, and was for many years managing di- rector of the Home Savings Bank.
In 1860 occurred the marriage of Mr. Henderson and Miss Amelia J. Youle, of New York city, a daughter of Adam Youle, who was also a na- tive of New York, and belonged to an old American family of the east. They have three living children: Ida, who is the widow of Ernest Sevier; Alice J .; and George Y., who is assistant cashier in the Humboldt County Bank. Mr. Henderson is a loyal adherent of Masonic principles, having long been a member of the lodge. His political views are in accord with the Republi- can ideas, and in the work of the party he has been deeply interested, serv- ing as a delegate to many county and state conventions. His work in the
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west has resulted from a ready recognition of the needs and possibilities of this section of the country, and he has so directed his energies as to win personal success and at the same time promote the prosperity and develop- ment of his portion of the state. He is to-day one of the most honored and esteemed citizens of Eureka, and from pioneer times down to the present has been identified with California's growth and progress so that he is numbered among the worthy settlers who have been the builders of this great com- monwealth.
CAPTAIN, JOHN HACKETT.
Captain John Hackett, of San Francisco, who has for nearly a quarter of a century been identified with harbor work and the dredging and reclama- tion of tide lands in California, is a native of Canada, born in Oxford county, in 1848.
He is one of a family of twelve, six sons and six daughters, of Walter and Henora (Flaherty) Hackett, natives of Ireland, who emigrated to Can- ada and settled in Oxford county in 1835. Of the captain's early life it may be said that he was reared on his father's farm and educated in the pub- lic schools of his native county and in the broad school of experience- chiefly in the latter. He left school and home at the age of thirteen and worked at hewing ship timber. At the age of fifteen we find him in the logging camps of Michigan, driving an ox team, and thus was he occupied two years. His next venture was in farming and stock-raising in Michigan. Afterward he secured a contract to furnish telegraph poles for a line in Can- ada, between Ingersoll and Pt. Burnell. When this work was completed in June, 1866, he came to California to join his brother, Captain Edward Hackett of the steamer Washoe. Beginning as a fireman, John was rapidly promoted until at the end of eighteen months he found himself captain on the steamer Alameda, on the ferry system. He continued with the ferry com- pany as captain up to 1880, when he became interested in dredging and re- claiming tide lands and doing harbor work, as one of a company organized for the purpose of carrying on this work. Shortly afterward the company was incorporated and he was elected president, a position he has since held.
In 1878 Captain Hackett married Miss Mattie Yollard, a native of Cali- fornia and a daughter of Thomas Yollard, who came to California in 1852 and was for many years engaged in farming in this state.
Politically the captain is a democrat. He served two years as pilot com- missioner, under Governor Budd's administration, and four years was a member of the city council of Oakland.
LITTLETON T. CRUME.
Littleton T. Crume, mine owner at Redding, Shasta county, has been identified with this and other parts of California for the past twenty-five vears, and his steadily increasing success in business and general enterprises is a mark of his strong qualifications for management and his integrity as a man and citizen. His life for nearly forty years has been one of continuous
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activity in some or other honorable pursuit, and he fully deserves to approach in peace and contentment the sixtieth milestone of his useful career.
Mr. Crume was born in Lincoln, Missouri, September 24, 1846. His father, John W. Crume, was a native of Kentucky and of an old Virginia family, and his mother, Leah Jane (Dryden) Crume, was a native of Mary- land.
Mr. Crume attended the public schools at his birthplace, and then the high schools of St. Louis and Sullivan, Indiana. After his graduation in 1866 he entered the employ of the St. Louis and Keokuk Packet Company as collector of freight bills and in other capacities. In 1868 he returned to his old home and worked on his father's farm until January, 1871, when he bought a general merchandise and commission business. He sold this in 1874 and purchased a similar enterprise at Jonesburg in the same state, con- ducting it until late in 1876, when he transferred his interests to the buying and shipping of live stock. In the spring of 1879 he came out to Redding, Cali- fornia, where most of his western career has been spent. He was employed until 1884 in a general merchandise store, and in that year was elected con- stable and was also appointed deputy sheriff of Shasta county, under Sheriff William E. Hopping. In 1891 he became connected with the police force of Oakland, and during the years 1893-94 conducted a farm in the San Joaquin valley. In 1895 he had a grain and shipping business at Ukiah. In 1902 he once more took up his residence in Redding, where he had owned considerable property since first coming there, and since that time he has been operating the mines which he owns in Shasta county.
Mr. Crume affiliates with the Masonic order in Redding. In October, 1869, he married Miss Sarah F. Taylor, of Lincoln, Missouri, a daughter of Jacob Taylor, a Missouri farmer and a native of Kentucky. Her mother. Martina (Berkhead) Taylor, was also a native of Kentucky,'and was a de- scendant of Lady McBride, of the English nobility.
CLARENCE H. LETCHER.
Clarence H. Letcher, who is conducting an automobile repository in San Jose, the largest establishment of its kind on the Pacific coast, was born in Fayette, Ohio. His father, George E. Letcher, was a second cousin of James A. Garfield. He is now a business man of San Francisco and makes his home in San Jose. His wife bore the maiden name of Minnie Hodson and is a representative of an old English family that was established in Ohio in pioneer times.
Clarence H. Letcher was a pupil in the public schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in his early boyhood days and later he entered Richards & Grum- mans' Business College of that city, in which he was graduated with the class of 1893. Removing to California he located in San Jose, where he accepted a position with the Saratoga Meat Company as cashier and book- keeper. He filled that position, however, for only a short time and then entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the loco- motive department, where he remained for four years, during which time
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he was promoted from foreman to the position of switch engineer and in 1896 he was made roundhouse foreman, retaining that position until 1897, when he resigned. He then entered the employ of Caille's Brothers, dealers in cash registers and mechanical novelties. He was employed by them as an expert mechanic, holding that position until 1901, when he was appointed exclusive agent for Santa Clara county for a leading automobile factory and opened a place of business at No. 136 South Market street. His patronage increased so rapidly that he found it necessary to secure larger quarters and in the spring of 1903 he erected a commodious building at Nos. 288-290- 292 South Market street, which he uses as an exclusive automobile repository. This is the largest and most thoroughly equipped house of its kind on the coast and embraces machine shops and storage. He carries long distance gasoline and storage tanks and air compressors for recharging the automobile tires, also deals in cement wash racks and in fact has the largest stock of auto sundries to be found in the Pacific states, including parts, tires, head- lights and other equipments. He has automobiles for hire, having the only rent station in San Jose and his machines are used by the St. James and Vendome Hotels. He keeps five machines for rental purposes and he carries sample stock machines from twelve different factories. His business has increased to such an extent that he now employs ten men.
In 1896 occurred the marriage of Mr. Letcher and Miss Maude E. Thrower, a daughter of James Thrower, a prominent rancher of Santa Clara county, and they have one son, George T., who is now five years of age. Mr. Letcher gives his political allegiance to the Republican party and belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the Eagles. Socially he and his wife occupy a very prominent position and their own home is noted for its pleasing hospitality. Mr. Letcher derives great enjoyment from the use of the automobile' and is to-day owner of a machine which he has run for over thirteen thousand miles without having been delayed by any accident or fail- ure on part of the machine to perform its functions. The same machine has been run for twenty-five thousand miles. He is a young, enterprising business man of laudable ambition, active and energetic, and has already attained creditable success during his connection with business affairs on the coast.
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