USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 68
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ERNEST H. WARD .- Pittsburg has no more earnest or practical advocate of progress than Ernest H. Ward, popular junior member of the firm of Ward & Weigel, owners and operators of the W. & W. Garage. This business was started in 1915, when the first unit of its attractive buildings and various service departments was built. Two years later the second unit was completed; then, in 1919, another addition was built; and the final unit was completed in 1923. This gives to Pittsburg one of the best garages and automobile agencies in this section of the State. The W. & W. Garage handles the Buick cars, and in addition conducts a gen- eral service station, supplying everything required by motor-car owners : tires, tubes, accessories of all kinds, as well as oils, gasoline and other necessities. The repair department is one of the most modern in the State. Mr. Ward, a. pioneer in the automobile industry, personally con- ducts the business of the W. & W. Garage, ably assisted by J. L. Adams, sales manager and one of the best-posted automobile authorities of this growing section of California.
Ernest H. Ward was born at Vallejo, April 24, 1876, a son of B. S. and Olive (Davidson) Ward, both natives of New York State. The. father was eleven years old when he came to California with his parents in 1853. In 1881 the family. removed to St. Helena, remaining there until 1890, when the residence was changed to San Francisco. The mother
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crossed the plains in a covered wagon in 1853, coming by way of the Emigrant Gap Road. B. S. Ward, the father of our subject, was a machinist by trade and was engaged as such at the Mare Island Navy Yard, where he assisted in laying the keel of the old Kearsarge battleship. He also owned and operated a blacksmith shop in San Francisco. He passed away in 1913, aged seventy-one years; the mother still makes her home in San Francisco.
Ernest H. Ward attended the Lincoln night school and also the San Francisco Business College. He then went to work for the W. P. Fuller Company and was with them until he enlisted as a volunteer in the Regu- lar Army at San Francisco on June 9, 1898, and joined Battery G, 3rd U. S. Artillery. He sailed from San Francisco on June 27, of the same year, landed at Manila on August 1, and took part in the Battle of Manila Bay on August 13, 1898. One year later he was honorably dis- charged at Manila and shipped for home on the Steamer Newport, ar- riving in San Francisco on October 10, 1899. He again entered the em- ploy of the W. P. Fuller Company, and remained with them until 1903.
.At San Francisco on June 11, 1903, Mr. Ward was married to Miss Mattie Weigel, a daughter of J. Weigel, and they came to Pittsburg to make their home. Mr. Ward then entered the employ of the Redwood Manufacturers Company and worked up to be chief electrician, his term of employment covering a period of twelve years, when he opened the W. & W. Garage. Mr. Ward served for eight years on the city council of Pittsburg, and for the past three years has been president of the Cham- ber of Commerce, a position he still holds. He was from the first a firm believer in the Antioch bridge, which will mean more and more auto travel into the Pittsburg territory and will prove to be a big factor in de- velopment along the right lines. Mr. Ward is a real booster for Pittsburg and the surrounding section.
DANIEL COX .- Guardians of the public peace have, as a matter of course, lives filled with more thrills than are to be found in almost any other calling. Yet the very nature of their duties tends to make them reticent concerning these adventures. Daniel Cox, the highly respected chief of police of Richmond, during the several years of his service as an officer, has had many hazardous experiences which would make interesting reading indeed, but he modestly refuses to let them become a matter of public record.
Mr. Cox was born in Bolivar, Mo., on October 10, 1883, the son of Braxton and Sarah Cox, both natives of South Carolina. His early edu- cation was received in his native State, and at a very early age he started out to make his own way in the world. He arrived in California as a youth, and his first employment was on a farm near Woodland, Yolo County. Later he became an employee of the street railway company of San Francisco. On February 15, 1915, he joined the police force, and for two years he was patrolman, for two more years sergeant, for
Edwin Merithow
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five years inspector, and on May 15, 1924, he was appointed chief of police of Richmond, an office which he has filled most satisfactorily. Dur- ing this period of service he has had many close calls, has engaged in sev- eral combats, and has been the recipient of some rewards as the result of his fidelity to duty.
Mr. Cox was united in marriage on January 27, 1904, to Miss Della Amme, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a daughter of a musician of that city. They are the parents of two children: Gladys, now a bookkeeper ; and Frances, a pupil in Richmond High School.
In his private life Mr. Cox is fond of fishing and athletic sports, and also of motoring and camping. His vacations are generally spent on camping trips. He is a Knight Templar Mason and belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
EDWIN W. MERRITHEW, M. D .- Dr. Merrithew has been suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of medicine at Martinez since July, 1907, and is widely known as one of the ablest and most highly esteemed physi- cians of the county. A native son, he was born at Gold Run. Placer County, on November 23, 1880, a son of Moses W. and Annie Elizabeth (Hewitt) Merrithew, the former a native of Belfast, Maine, born on July 4, 1837, and the latter a native Californian, born in San Francisco in 1854. Moses W. Merrithew came out to California as a young man of fourteen, drawn here by the gold excitement, and for many years was engaged in gold mining in Placer County, in which he was fairly success- ful. His death occurred on July 30, 1917, at the age of eighty years. The mother is still living, at Gold Run, loved and honored by all who have the pleasure of knowing her.
Edwin W. Merrithew received his early education in Placer County, and then, having decided to become a physician, took a special prepara- tory course at the Stockton Normal, after which he entered Cooper Med- ical College at San Francisco, from which institution he was graduated in 1905. For the following two years he served as interne at Lane Hospital, San Francisco, and then for a brief period practiced his profession at Geyserville, in Sonoma County. In July, 1907, he located in Martinez, where he has since practiced with such success that he is considered one of the leading, if not the leading physician and surgeon, and enjoys the full confidence of the people throughout Contra Costa County. In No- vember, 1911, he was appointed county physician, which office he held for many years with credit, and he has served as health officer for the city of Martinez since January 1, 1914. He is also local surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railway.
The marriage of Dr. Merrithew, which occurred at Martinez in 1910, united him with Miss Emma M. Kriner, also a native of the State, born at Dunsmuir. Two children have blessed their union, Wallace K. and Lois M. Both Dr. and Mrs. Merrithew are prominent in social circles in 20
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Martinez, and are active participants in the work of the fraternal organi- zations, the doctor belonging to the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Woodmen of the World, of which last-named order he is Camp physician. He is a member of the Native Sons, and is a Mason, belong- ing to the Scottish Rite Consistory and Aahmes Temple of Oakland, while his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. He is also a member of Vallejo Lodge No. 559, B. P. O. E. Dr. Merrithew belongs to the Contra Costa County Medical Society, the California State Medical As- - sociation, and the American Medical Association. In politics he is a con- sistent Republican, and both he and Mrs. Merrithew are active in all matters tending to promote the general welfare of the community and the growth and expansion of their home city.
JOHN A. ZOCHER .- One of the former proprietors of the Nord California Herold, the widely circulated and influential German-American newspaper of Sacramento, John A. Zocher is now giving his attention to agriculture and horticulture, on his ranch near Martinez, on the Pleasant Hill road. Born in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, on February 20, 1870, he came with a number of companions to America in 1886, landing at Castle Garden, New York, about October 1, 1886, and from there came right on through to San Francisco, where he landed on October 10, of that year. He is a son of Theodore Zocher, who was a theater manager in the city of Dresden, and who died when John A. was .only ten years old. Reared in Saxony, the lad attended its schools, and then learned the printer's trade. His mother, Clara Schmidt before her marriage, is still living in Niederloessnitz, Saxony, and is now eighty-two years old. Of their four children, John A. was the third son and child. When he reached sixteen and one-half years of age, he sailed for America with a number of friends and after arriving at San Francisco took a job at three dollars per week on a German-American newspaper published in that city. He later went to Sacramento, and there, in association with Charles Schmidt, was en- gaged from 1908 until 1921 in journalistic work as co-proprietor of the Nord California Herold. In 1904, Mr. Zocher purchased a ranch of ninety-five acres in Contra Costa County, and his wife and sons moved there and operated the place while he continued at his newspaper work in Sacramento.
The marriage of Mr. Zocher, occurring in 1891 at San Francisco, unit- ed him with Miss Helen Zeidler, a native of his home town in Saxony, who had come to California previous to his arrival and had made a return trip back to Saxony and then another to California, when their marriage occurred. Four children have blessed their union : Walter F., Kurt, William and Carl. Kurt and William live on the home ranch, which has five acres in pears, ten planted to grapes and the balance to plums, peaches, prunes, apricots and almonds. These two sons are in business for themselves. owning and operating a threshing machine and two tractors, which they use on the home ranch and also for doing outside work on neighbor-
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ing ranches. Walter F. is employed by the Shell Oil Company, in Mar- tinez. He has one son, Walter Elton. Carl is working with his older brothers. All four sons are a credit to their parents and to the county in which they were reared, and all take an active interest in its develop- ment and prosperity, as do their parents. The family are known as self- reliant and industrious citizens of unquestioned integrity.
Mr. Zocher is a member of Sacramento Stamm No. 124, U. O. R. M., and of Sacramento Lodge No. 24. O. D. H. S., and has passed all the chairs of both orders.
JAMES FITZGERALD .- As city clerk and assessor, and formerly justice of the peace of Township No. 6, Contra Costa County, James Fitzgerald is well known in this part of the State as an honored pioneer, prominent citizen and upbuilder of this district. Born December 17, 1855, at Belvedere, N. J., he is the son of John and Mary Fitzgerald, and came to San Francisco with his parents in 1859. They lived in the West- ern Addition there when you could count all the residences on the fingers of two hands. He received his education in the bay city, and in 1876 he was in business at the corner of Devisadero and Sutter Streets, engaged in the grocery and butcher trade, and continued the same until 1900, twenty-four years in all. From 1900 to 1902, he was employed as deputy sheriff and deputy in the recorder's office, under Thomas J. Glynn, county recorder of San Francisco.
In 1902 Mr. Fitzgerald came to Pittsburg, and was employed by the F. E. Booth Company. That same year he was elected justice of the peace ; and he was reelected five successive terms, making a total of twenty years in that office. He was also elected clerk and assessor for Pittsburg, in April, 1910, and has been reelected to that office continuously since that date, his present term to extend up to the year 1928. From 1913 to 1923, he was appointed and served Pittsburg as city recorder. His is an almost unequalled record of public service and one of which Pitts- burg is proud. For it takes a big man to grow with the times, and that is the caliber of men who have made Pittsburg their home and have brought her to her present standard of growth and prosperity.
For the past twenty years, Mr. Fitzgerald has been in the real estate and insurance business in Pittsburg, dealing in real estate, loans and in- vestments, and also executing legal documents. He has built several business blocks in Pittsburg, among them the Postoffice block, which was the first brick block erected on Railroad Street. He acts as agent for the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, and brings to every detail of his work the same careful and conscientious application which has made him so successful as a public official.
Mr. Fitzgerald was married in San Francisco, in July, 1895, and is the father of two sons: Edward D. and James J. He is a Republican in politics, and in fraternal life is a member of the B. P. O. Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, being a Past President of the latter order.
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LOUIS DE GREGORIO .- The leading painting and decorating con- tractor of Richmond, and dealer in the lines of goods a man of this calling uses in his business, is Louis De Gregorio, who is located at 321 Thir- teenth Street, in that city. He owns 100 feet fronting on Thirteenth Street, and as his business increases he expects to expand accordingly, to facilitate his contracting operations and his retail trade. He was born in Italy on December 27, 1886, a son of Frank and Angelina (Virzi) De Gregorio. The father was a fish merchant in San Francisco, having settled there in 1888. There were eight children in the family, and two brothers and three sisters of our subject reside in Richmond.
Louis De Gregorio attended school in San Francisco and served an apprenticeship to learn the trade of the painter and decorator. After he had mastered the details of the business he worked as a journeyman for a time. In 1906, after having been burned out by the fire of that year, he came to Richmond to begin all over again. Since 1910 he has been car- rying on an ever increasing business as a contracting painter and decorator ; and he also handles paints, oils, varnishes, wall paper, brushes, etc., hav- ing established his store in 1923 at 321 Thirteenth Street. He keeps busy all the time, and specializes in residential work. Mr. Gregorio is a member of the Builders' Exchange, owns his own home and business prop- erty, and helped promote the new commercial hotel for Richmond, as well as taking a live interest in all civic matters.
On December 15, 1913, Louis De Gregorio was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Sorrentino, of San Francisco, daughter of Michael and Grace (Coccellato) Sorrentino, natives of Italy who came to Cali- fornia and are now living at Richmond. One child, Mary Angelina, has come to bless this happy union. For recreation, Mr. and Mrs. De Gregorio take week-end motoring trips. He became an American citizen in 1915, and by his vote and voice tries to put the best people in office.
MARION BRISCO BREWEN .- A descendant of early California pioneers, Marion Brisco Brewen was born in Kansas City, Mo., on De- cember 9, 1850, and crossed the plains with his parents while a babe in his mother's arms, arriving at Mud Springs, Cal., in the fall of 1853. Eli and Caroline (Davis) Brewen, his parents, were both natives of Mis- souri, the father having been born near Jefferson City, and the mother at Independence, and both came from families that were early settlers and large landowners in that State. Eli Brewen was a blacksmith by trade, and after his arrival in California he followed that work at Mud Springs, Live Oak City, Mariposa, and San Ramon, in which latter place he died in 1873, aged forty-nine years, leaving a widow and eight children, of whom Marion Brisco was the oldest.
Marion Brisco Brewen had learned the blacksmith's trade, and on his father's death he became head of the family and continued to run the blacksmith shop at San Ramon until 1880, when he sold out and worked as a blacksmith at Squaw Canyon, Ariz., running a shop in connection with
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the building of the railroad. He later worked on the Railroad or Cook Ranch at Danville as blacksmith for three years, and also near Stockton for one year. An accident which occurred while he was shoeing a horse on the Railroad Ranch injured him so badly that he was incapacitated for work for six years, and during this time he spent thirteen months in Lake County and then went to Humbolt County for five years.
Coming to San Ramon, he worked there for a year, and then, in 1924, came to Martinez. For the first three years he rented a shop, and then ran a blacksmith shop in Franklin Canyon, where he owns a home place of one and one-half acres. This he purchased in 1898, and then moved his shop down there. Now, at seventy-five years of age, he is sturdy and active, and finds himself in comfortable circumstances as a result of a lifetime of hard work. Well-known in the county, he has many friends throughout this section who know him as a man of real worth. In these later years he rents out his blacksmith shop, and confines his activities to running the service station adjoining, where he also carries a line of automobile accessories.
The marriage of Mr. Brewen occurred in Humboldt County in 1888, and united him with Miss Melvina Sullenger, a sister of County Auditor Sullenger. Two children were born to them : Marion M., employed by the International Harvester Company in Fresno; and Nellie Irene, a telephone operator residing in San Francisco. Mrs. Brewen passed away in 1912, aged forty-seven years.
SAMUEL HOFFMAN .- One of the best-known business men in Martinez is Samuel Hoffman, proprietor of Hoffman's Cigar Store, on Ferry Street near the corner of Main Street, that city. He has been located in the Hook Building, which narrowly escaped destruction by fire on July 18, 1925, for the past quarter of a century. A man of un- usual ability, full of energy and optimism, he has forged his way to the front as a cigar manufacturer, cigar dealer, financier and politician, since coming to this country as a lad of sixteen, and is today one of the most popular figures in the life of his home city.
Born in Hungary, on December 12, 1872, Mr. Hoffman came to New York in 1887, and there worked for eight months in a jewelry manu. factory. Coming to San Francisco, his objective point, in 1888, Mr. Hoffman took employment with a brother, Sandal Hoffman, who was already established as a cigar maker manufacturing the "O. K." cigar. This was San Francisco's first union cigar factory, and there our subject learned the cigar maker's trade thoroughly.
Samuel Hoffman was married in San Francisco, in 1896, to Miss Celia Lichtenstein, and soon thereafter came to Martinez and started in as a cigar manufacturer, making the celebrated "Blue Bird" ten-cent cigar, one of his leading brands, which reached a sale of 15,000 per week. While his cigar factory was running at its greatest capacity he employed eight cigar makers steadily. He now gives most of his time
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to his large and growing trade at his place of business, Hoffman's Cigar Store, where all the best brands of smoking materials and supplies are kept, as well as soft drinks, ice cream and confectionery. Hoffman's Cigar Store is a well-known gathering place in Martinez. Mr. Hoffman is recog- nized as a broad-minded and far-seeing man in public affairs, and is in a position to hear all sides of a question, and his counsel and advice are often sought. While not seeking political preferment for himself, he is interested in seeing the right men fill the right places in city management. He is a naturalized American citizen, and a Republican in political affili- ation. As a stockholder in the First National Bank of Martinez, he is active in financial circles in his home town and county.
Four children make up the family of Mr. and Mrs Hoffman: Harry, who married Miss Leona Graham of Martinez, and is in business in Walnut Creek, where he resides; Mauritz, who married Miss Gladys Humberg of Martinez, in which city he conducts a radio shop; Joe, with his father in the cigar store; and Henry, at home.
JAMES COMAZZI .- One of the original ten men to organize the Martinez-Benicia Ferry, which has been of such inestimable value in the development of Martinez and Contra Costa County, James Comazzi has been a resident here for the past twenty-two years and has seen in actual fact the many changes his foresight visioned for this part of California ; and during these two decades he has been an active factor in the devel- opment and expansion of the Bay region. A native of Piemonte, Italy, he was born on June 17, 1886, the son of Alexander and Angela (Colom- bo) Comazzi, of that country. The father was a farmer, and died in Italy; the mother was sent for by her son James and is now living with him at Martinez. Alexander and Angela Comazzi were the parents of six children, four girls and two boys, all now living. Two of the daugh- ters are in Italy and two in Martinez, where the brother, Joseph, also resides after having served over seas in the World War.
James Comazzi is the fifth child in the family, and was reared on the home farm in Italy, attending the public schools there. When the lad was only eight years old his father died, and he had to shift for him- self. He remained at home and assisted his mother until eleven years old, and then went to Basel, Switzerland, where he became assistant to a brick mason. When thirteen years old he went to Metz, Alsace-Lorraine and worked in the iron mines for one year, after which he returned to Italy and made preparations to come to the United States. His desire was to come to the Pacific Coast, and on March 25, 1902, he arrived in San Francisco, where he found employment in the stone quarries for three years. Coming then to Martinez, in 1905, he worked for the Mountain Copper Company for three years. In the meantime he was watching for an opportunity to work for himself, and he soon after be- came local agent for the Weiland Brewery Company, his territory in- cluding nearly all of Contra Costa County. He also took on the local
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agency for the Rainier Brewing Company of Tacoma, Wash., working hard and for long hours, and prospered accordingly. His work, carrying him all over the county, gave Mr. Comazzi ample opportunity to realize the real fertility and value of this wonderful region between the foot- hills and the bay; also that transportation facilities connecting it with both the principal bay cities and the northern inland territory would be the real starting point of development in this district. Consequently, when the Martinez-Benicia Ferry was organized he was one of the most earnest workers for its success. This ferry has been conceded to be one of the largest factors, if not the largest, in Contra Costa's steady growth in the past years. Mr. Comazzi was also one of the organizers of the National Bank of Martinez, and is a director in that institution. It is one of the flourishing financial houses in the county, and dedicated its new building on October 25, 1924.
The marriage of Mr. Comazzi, which occurred on December 3, 1910. at San Francisco, united him with Miss Lucy Canelli, also a native of Piemonte, Italy, and the daughter of George and Maria (Canale) Canelli, farmers of that country and the parents of eight children, three of whom live in California. The mother is now deceased, but the father still lives, in Italy. Mrs. Comazzi was reared and educated in Italy, and came to San Francisco in 1907. In 1920, Mr. and Mrs. Comazzi made an extended trip to their native home and the Continent, on the way viewing some of the battle fields in France, and remaining six months abroad. Fraternally, Mr. Comazzi belongs to Martinez Aerie No. 725, F. O. E., and is a charter member of the Moose and president of the Dante So- ciety of that city. He became a naturalized citizen in Judge Latimer's court in Martinez in 1913. Since his first arrival here he has been more than satisfied with his selection of California and Contra Costa County as a place for his home ; he is always loyal to its best interests, and being a man of progressive ideas, he has been a real worker for the welfare of the county and the commonwealth.
PATRICK JOSEPH NUGENT .- The substantial and well-to-do citizens of Richmond have no better representative than Patrick Joseph Nugent, who occupies an assured position among the keen, progressive and businesslike industrial men of this community, ably holding the im- portant position of superintendent of sheet metal work for the Santa Fe Railroad Company. His birth occurred in the County of West Meath, Ireland, October 21, 1875, and he is one of a family of fifteen children born to Patrick and Annie (McNamara) Nugent, natives also of Ireland, where they were farmer folk. Four sons of this family. came to America of whom one settled in Ohio and three in California; then there are also three sisters in California : one in Bakersfield, one in Newman, and one in Rodeo.
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