USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento 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, 1913 > Part 87
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DANIEL ROGERS CATE
Possessed of remarkable concentrative ability and unswerving ambition, Mr. Cate has met with unqualified success in his chosen profession and as a member of the prominent engineering com- pany of Phinney, Cate & Marshall, Forum Building, Sacramento, contributes largely toward the favorable outcome of the projects undertaken by that firm.
Mr. Cate was born November 17, 1880, in Quincy, Cal., where he received a public school education, early evidencing a decided inclina- tion for the vocation which he entered later. His father, Daniel Rog- ers Cate, Sr., a native of New Hampshire, emigrated to California in 1850 and for a time mined with fair success in Plumas and Sierra counties, later acquiring in Plumas county, several hundred acres upon which he engaged in general farming and raised vegetables. disposing of his garden products at a good profit in the mining camps. He married Miss Hannah Loring, a native of Maine, and to their union were born five children, all of whom reside in Califor-
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nia. Since the death of her husband in November, 1900, Mrs. Cate has continued to make her home in Quincy.
Mr. Cate studied civil engineering in the field actively engaged with a corps, and later secured a situation in the surveying depart- ment of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. In 1907 he be- came associated with Cassius Phinney, who at that time served as county surveyor of Sacramento county. Later with U. S. Mar shall he established their present offices, their work chiefly em- bracing plans and specifications for reclamation and irrigation proj ects, municipal improvements, water works, sewerage and street sys- tens, hydro-electric work, land surveying and sub-divisions.
December 23, 1903, Mr. Cate was united in marriage with Miss Cora A. Wasson, whose birth occurred in Forest Hill, Placer county, and whose father, C. H. Wasson, is a pioneer and well known min- ing man of Placer county. Mr. and Mrs. Cate have three children : Ronald Marshall, Claire Mary and Daniel, Jr., and in their plans and hopes for their little ones the parents find happiness far exceeding their highest dreams. In the line of his profession Mr. Cate is an associate member of the American Society of Civil En- gineers. Fraternally he is a member of Quincy Parlor No. 131, N. S. G. W., and in his enthusiastic and practical aid toward all civic movements, he facilitates as well as encourages the labor of his fellow citizens who recognize in him a man of exemplary and con- scientious principles.
WILLIAM CHAPLIN
It was at Leicester, England, that William Chaplin was born December 16, 1866, a son of the Rev. William Chaplin, a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church in England for sixty years, who passed to his reward in 1899. The mother, Emma Chaplin, was a native of Leicester, England. Of her twelve children ten are liv- ing. Fannie is the wife of Warren Jessup Potter of Leicester, England, a bridge builder and prominent in a political way. Will- iam came to the United States twenty-six years ago and located in Philadelphia, Pa., where he opened a butcher shop and built up a business which was one of the best of its kind in the city, he having thirty-two butchers in his employ and eight wagons deliv- ering meat to the wholesale trade. In considering the importance of this enterprise it should be borne in mind that it was not that of a great corporation but of an individual owner.
In 1904, owing to the condition of his health, Mr. Chaplin sold
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his business to a corporation of which he was president and man- ager two years. In 1906 he came to California and established a meat market on Highland avenue in Hollywood, next to the Holly- wood Hotel. He was very successful there and had a practical monopoly of the local meat trade during a period of five years, at the expiration of which he sold out and went to Jergens, Cal .. where he owned extensive mining interests. Eventually he took up his residence in Sacramento and soon concerned himself with amusement enterprises at Oak Park, where he successfully managed a well remembered venture for two years. In December, 1911, he acquired the lease of the new and modern Mikle Theatre, which he turned over to his son, Jack Chaplin, who is now the manager.
While he lived in Philadelphia Mr. Chaplin was active in poli- tics, and at a meeting of voters, which he called in his ward, he organized the city party which is still in existence. He served on the school board in Philadelphia three years and was instrumental in the advancement of street paving in some parts of the city.
The woman who became Mr. Chaplin's wife was Miss Emma Marvin of Leicester, England, and their children were born as fol- lows: Thomas in 1885; Katie in 1888; and Jack in 1890. Thomas is chief engineer at the Hollywood Hotel, having fitted himself to fill such a position by a course of study in the International Cor- respondence School in Scranton, Pa.
The silk loom now in use throughout the world was invented in England by Mr. Chaplin's paternal grandfather. Mr. Chaplin owns a fine residence and several valuable lots in Oak Park, and is un- wearying in his promotion of the growth and prosperity of that part of the city. He is insistent in his demand for the square deal in politics, in business and in every relation of life. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masonic order, holding membership in the Blue Lodge and in the Royal Arch chapter.
ARCHIE WILLIAM CLIFTON
The career of this successful dealer in furniture and house-fur- nishings at Oak Park, Sacramento, Cal., is that of the self-made man and as such it will be found interesting. Archie William Clif- ton was a native Californian, born in Amador county, September 4, 1877, a son of Thomas Joseph and Alice Nevada (Simmons) Clifton, natives respectively of Ohio and Nevada. The mother, whose parents came from Pennsylvania, passed away in Amador county in No- vember, 1911. 49
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It was in the public school that Archie William Clifton acquired his education. After that for some years he was variously em- ployed in coast towns whose geography ranged from Grant's Pass, Ore., to Los Angeles, Cal. He had been reared on a farm and care- fully instructed by his father in agricultural affairs, but farming was not congenial and he gave it up, after which he became inter- ested in learning the furniture business with the John Breuner Com- pany of Sacramento. He spent three years in that house and for the next two years was in the employ of the Home Furniture Com- pany, after which he was given the management of the latter's branch store at Oak Park, assuming his duties January 1, 1910. Six months later he bought the establishment and is now engaged in the general house-furnishing business. His place of business is well located, his stock is kept up-to-date and his geniality and hon- est methods are doing much to increase his business popularity.
June 1, 1907, Mr. Clifton married Miss Jennie Solomonson, of Ione, Cal., the daughter of a rancher of that vicinity. They have two children, Henry and Morris Clifton. Mr. Clifton is independent in politics, and is an energetic, patriotic man of much public spirit.
BENJAMIN L. SISSON
Of that sturdy Empire State ancestry which has contributed so richly to the citizenship not only of the Pacific coast country but of the entire old and new west, Benjamin L. Sisson, cashier and secretary of the American Fish Company of Sacramento, was born in Oakdale, Stanislaus county, Cal., December 27, 1878, a son of Benjamin Haight and Ida (Simmons) Sisson, both of New York state nativity. In their native state they married, remaining there till 1850, when they made the long, tedious and perilous journey to California and settled at Oakdale, where the husband and father was for a score of years engaged in the transfer business.
In the public school at Oakdale Benjamin L. Sisson gained a primary education, to which he has added by observation and ex- tensive reading until he is one of the well informed men of the cir- cle in which he moves. After leaving the grammar school he be- came a clerk in a general merchandise store in the town of his birth. So ably and so faithfully did he devote himself to the in- terests of his employers that he was gradually advanced from posi- tion to position until he was made cashier. That responsible place he resigned in 1905 to come to Sacramento, where he entered the
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service of Mr. Morgan, president of the Owl Transfer Company and of the American Fish Company. With the company first mentioned he labored a year, then was transferred to the office of the Ameri- can Fish Company. There he was started in 1906 as assistant book- keeper, and his rise to be cashier and secretary of the concern has been rapid and those who know him best know that his promotion has been worthily won and well deserved.
By marriage, Mr. Sisson united his fortunes with those of Miss Ella May Bach of Knight's Ferry, Stanislaus county. Their mar- riage was celebrated May 8, 1900, and they have an interesting lit- tle daughter, Marjorie, born October 30, 1909. Mr. Sisson is an Odd Fellow, high in the councils of his order. Mrs. Sisson is iden- tified with the Order of the Eastern Star and with the Native Daughters. Her father, who was a prominent farmer and stockman, was both a Mason and an Odd Fellow.
CHARLES H. CROCKER
There are many young men who upon the threshold of life's ac- tivities pause with irresolute steps, uncertain as to future labors, undecided as to business or professional preferences, and unwitting as to their own capabilities. Such, however, was not the experi- ence of Mr. Crocker, who notwithstanding the handicap of limited educational opportunities and lack of means to continue his studies made an early resolution to fit himself for the profession of the law. From the time the determination was made he devoted every en- ergy to the acquisition of a law education. No effort was neg- lected that would promote the task of preparation. As a conse- quence of his singleness of purpose he achieved the anticipated results, entered upon his chosen life work and now has a high standing at the bar of Northern California, achieving a purpose- ful career through his own force of will and his trained mental faculties.
While not among the earliest settlers of California the Crocker family has been identified with the west for thirty-five years or more. William C. Crocker, a native of Redruth, county of Cornwall, Eng- land, and a miner by occupation, had been employed in various eastern mines prior to his removal to the coast and while follow- ing his chosen occupation at Galena, III., his son, Charles H., was born in that city September 15, 1870. In 1876 William C. Crocker came to the Pacific coast with a view to permanent settlement. For a time prior to the above date he sojourned at Virginia City, Nev.,
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and was connected with the introduction of the Burleigh drilling machine on the Comstock lode. While he was working in the quick- silver mines in Santa Clara county, Cal., he sent for his family (consisting of wife, daughter and son), and on the 1st of October, 1877, they arrived in Sacramento, from which place they immedi- ately proceeded to Santa Clara county. During 1880 the family established a home on Sheep Ranch in Calaveras county, Cal., where they remained for four years, thence going to Jackson, Amador county, where the father engaged in mining pursuits until his death, February 11, 1904. His wife, in maidenhood Grace Roberts, also a native of Cornwall, and a school teacher by profes- sion, died in Sacramento September 10, 1912. Their family com- prised' seven children, of whom Charles H. is the eldest. In 1877, at the age of seven years, he came to California with his mother and received his education in the schools of this state.
When only seventeen years of age Charles H. Crocker became interested in the study of law and thereafter, although the neces- sity of earning a livelihood interrupted his studies, he did not lose sight of his ambitious purposes. For a time he taught school in Amador county. In 1892 he was appointed deputy county clerk of Amador county, which position he filled for sixteen months. Mean- while he carried on his studies during leisure hours. Originally a student with Eagan & Rust, the leading law firm of Amador county, he later studied under E. C. Farnsworth (then the district attorney of Amador county, now practicing in Visalia), and also had the advantage of study under J. J. Paulsell, of Stockton. In 1893 he was admitted to practice in the supreme court and in 1901 he was also admitted to the United States district court. Taking up a permanent residence in Sacramento during 1909, he has since won a high standing among the attorneys in the capital city. Prior to his removal to this place he had his office in Amador county, but his wide range of practice included several counties and meanwhile he also maintained an active part in politics as a leading local worker in the Republican party. May 2, 1903, he was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Curnow, of San Jose.
ANDREW ANDERSON
The early recollections of Mr. Anderson are associated pleas- antly with the prosperous city of Ribe, lying on the banks of the stream of the same name not far from the point where the tumultu- ous waves of the North Sea dash against the isolated coast of Den-
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mark. That same thrifty town of Ribe is his native place, and he was born March 7, 1859, son of Nelson and Annie M. Anderson, lifelong residents of the Danish kingdom. While the associations of his childhood were principally Scandinavian, there was some in- termingling with representatives of the Teutonic race, for quite near the Ribe was the province of Schleswig-Holstein, whose orig- inal Danish residents had been replaced to some extent by German farmers. There were excellent national schools at Ribe and in them he acquired a fair knowledge of the three R's, but at the age of fourteen he discontinued the study of text-books for the compli- cated processes incident to acquiring a knowledge of a trade. The calling to which he served an apprenticeship was that of cabinet- maker and in it he gained considerable skill under the capable over- sight of skilled masters of the craft.
Crossing the ocean to the United States during 1881 at the age of twenty-two years Mr. Anderson settled temporarily in Boston, Mass., where he secured employment as a cabinet-maker. In 1883 he came west as far as Milwaukee, Wis., and there spent six months as an employe in cabinet-making. From that city he proceeded to California and settled in Sacramento, where he entered the Southern Pacific Railroad shops as a cabinet-maker. Eleven busy years were spent in those shops and afterward he spent one year in the planing mill operated by Pierson, Amson & Burnett. Next he engaged as a cabinet-maker in the planting mill conducted by Christopher Sutter. At the expiration of two years he resigned that position and began to take building contracts, which business he conducted with fair success during the next ten years. Eventu- ally he discontinued the taking of contracts in order to engage again in the planing-mill business, and since then he has operated a mill that furnishes employment to twelve experienced men. Evi- dence of his right reputation as a cabinet-maker appears in the fact that leading citizens, in erecting fine residences, have looked to him for suggestions along that line and have bought material from his mill. In addition to providing material for many resi- dences, he furnished that used in the German Lutheran Church of this city.
Upon becoming a citizen of the United States and having studied the Republican form of government as exercised in our country, Mr. Anderson affiliated himself with the Republican party, and ever since he has been stanch in his advocacy of its principles. Reared in the Lutheran faith and confirmed in that denomination during early years, he still retains an earnest and faithful devo- tion to its doctrines. Fraternally he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also has been prominently connected with the organization Dania in Sacramento, being now
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a trustee of the lodge. At the time of his removal to California he was unmarried, his union to Fredericka Joraas having been solem- nized in this city April 13, 1886. They are the parents of four chil- dren. The eldest, Miss Alma, is a talented musician and teaches that art in Sacramento. The Misses Freda and Edith are at home, the former a graduate of Howe's Business College and the latter being now a high-school student. The only son, Alf. C., is attend- ing the public schools of this city.
HENRY C. KEYES
Among the men who have accomplished much in the develop- ment of Sacramento and environs, is Mr. Keyes, organizer, secre- tary and manager of the Sacramento Natural Gas Company, who, in all his labors, has evidenced an executive ability and far-reaching business judgment unexcelled by his associates.
Born in London, Ontario, Canada, May 12, 1852, Mr. Keyes re- ceived his education in the schools of his native section and at an early age displayed the perseverance and high ambition which have characterized his career. His father, Henry Keyes, a native of London and a well-known writer of ability, contributing articles chiefly on the Canadian Northwest to different magazines, owned and operated a fine farm near London for many years and actively conducted his duties until he reached an advanced age, his stir- ring poem on the Northwest having been published after he en- tered his eighty-third year. His wife, formerly Martha Taylor, was a woman of exceptional culture and shared every joy and sor- row of her husband and children with the spirit of abnegation char- acteristic of the true wife and mother.
In 1868 Henry Keyes left Canada for the States, joining a surveying party as rodman on the Alabama & Chattanooga, now the Alabama & Great Southern Railroad, with whom he worked for two years. Subsequently he secured a situation in the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, running out of Chicago, and he remained with them until 1876, when he came to Placer county, Cal., and spent three years in following mining, at the end of that time locating in Stockton, where he started in the real estate business. So well did he succeed in this venture that for twenty years he condneted a real estate and insurance busi- ness there and also organized the Citizens Natural Gas Company of Stockton, the affairs of which he managed for fifteen years. In
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1896 he started the organization of the Sacramento Natural Gas Co., and in 1899 he located his residence here. He developed natural gas in Sacramento City and nine wells have been put down by the company, which is incorporated with a capital stock of $500,000. It has fifty-five miles of gas mains and is conceded to be one of the most perfectly constructed and controlled systems of its char- acter in the state.
Mr. Keyes is affiliated with Charity Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., of Stockton. He is a member of Morning Star Lodge No. 68, F. & A. M., of Stockton Chapter No. 8, R. A. M., and the Sacramento Commandery No. 2, K. T. He is also a member of all the Scottish Rite bodies of Sacramento up to the thirty-second degree, and is a member of Islam Temple, N. M. S., of San Francisco. Socially he is a member of the Sutter Club, his comprehensive knowledge of all public matters of interest playing no inconsiderable part in his popularity among his associates.
MOSES NIXON KIMBALL
It has been well said that the human soul that has never been gauged is like the shining piece of iron ere it is subjected to the tempering process essential to its conversion into invulnerable steel, and certain it is that he who has passed through the crucible of experience without the loss of his finer qualities or of his faith in humanity, is worthy of the highest esteem of his fellowmen. In the varied career of Mr. Kimball, president of the well known firm of Kimball-Upson Co., who are conducting one of the largest sport- ing goods stores in the West, all the trials and disillusionments in- evitable to a man of his courageous spirit and principles of right and honor have been present, yet it is the testimony of all who know him well that his attitude toward mankind is most generous and his optimism regarding life one of his leading characteristics.
Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 23, 1862, Mr. Kimball was the fourth eldest child of a family of fourteen born to Caleb and Frances (Nixon) Kimball, natives of Pennsylvania, and among the early settlers of Iowa. Mr. Kimball is a thorough American, de- sended from the first Puritan settlers of Massachusetts.
No question as to the validity of his claim to membership in the organization of the Sons of the Revolution could arise, since the direct ancestors of both his father and mother served in the war
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for Independence. On the paternal side, his great-grandfather, Jacob Kimball, while yet a mere boy, was among the first to en- list in a division formed in Salem, Mass., while among his moth- er's illustrious progenitors were both Col. Ethan Allen, distin- guished in history not only because of his wonderful service in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, but in numerous other engagements, as well, and John Nixon, president of the first Continental Con- gress which convened in May, 1775, at Philadelphia.
Mr. Kimball received his early education in the public schools of Iowa and served an apprenticeship under his father, who fol- lowed the vocation of contractor and builder. In 1883 he left his home in Council Bluffs to locate in Stockton, Cal., where he re- sumed his studies for four years in Clark's Commercial College and Normal Institute, graduating from both departments in 1887, after which he came to Sacramento, where he was offered a situa- tion in the Bainbridge Business College, serving efficiently two years prior to entering into a real estate partnership with Charles F. Gardner, who at that time was receiver of the United States Land Office at Sacramento. A year later, in 1891, Mr. Kimball engaged in business for himself at 705 J street, purchasing a bicycle stock, supplemented by a small line of sporting goods, and in 1893, having in the interim taken Mr. L. S. Upson into the company he trans- ferred the business to the building on the corner of Seventh and J streets, where the new bank of D. O. Mills now stands. During the succeeding ten years, they continued their trade upon this site, and in 1903, upon the incorporation of the firm as Kimball-Upson Co., moved to 609-611 K street, where they are still located.
Leaving the care of his interests in Sacramento in capable lands, Mr. Kimball spent most of the eleven years from 1897 to 1908 in Alaska, where he was engaged in mining and speculating, during this time spending seven or eight winters in the frigid north meeting the adventures, hardships, fortunes and misfortunes in- cident to the northland. Since 1908 he has resided in Sacramento, having resumed his old work in his business house. On Decem- ber 16, 1903, he was united in marriage with Miss Clara Miller, a native of Georgetown, Cal., whose parents, John H. and Ellen (Spencer) Miller, natives of California, were among the earliest set- lers of this state. Mr. Kimball is a member of the Arctic Brother- hood, the Pioneers of Alaska, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he maintains a wide interest in both civic and national developments, his special attention centering in his home section which he is most generous in supporting. His wife is widely known for her tact and culture and lends her assistance in many impor- tant movements, sharing also her husband's varied interests.
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HON. EUGENE ARAM
This prominent lawyer of Sacramento, if not the oldest, is one of the oldest native sons of California, of American born parents, having been born at Monterey, now within the borders of the state, more than two years before California was admitted to the Union. The day of his birth, January 26, 1848, was two days after the dis- covery of gold in Eldorado county, and he was one month old when the treaty of peace was concluded with Mexico. He was of the third generation removed from Yorkshire, England, where his grandfather, Matthias Aram, was born, destined to become the founder of the family in America, for. he came to New York and during the war of 1812 was drillmaster of United States troops. Capt. Joseph Aram, father of Eugene, was born in the state of New York and came with a party of emigrants across the plains in 1846, while the Mexican war was in progress. In the mountain foothills they were met by soldiers sent by Fremont to protect them from the rapacity of roving bands of Spaniards. Camping at Sutter's Fort, they were escorted by soldiers to Santa Clara, where Fremont com- missioned Joseph Aram a captain and gave him charge of the fort at Santa Clara Mission, where he remained until the end of the war, participating in the battle of Santa Clara and later building a fort at Monterey. Eventually he was elected a member of the first constitutional convention of California of 1849, and of the first state legislature. He was a pioneer nurseryman at San Jose and raised fruit there until his death, which occurred in June, 1898, when he was eighty-eight years old. His wife, Sarah M. (Wright) Aram, died in 1872. She was a pioneer in California and a descendant of early English settlers in this country. Her primitive American ancestor was one of three English brothers, one of whom was the ancestor of Governor Silas Wright of New York. She was born in Ver- mont, married in New York, and accompanied her husband in the historie overland journey which brought him to honor on the Pa- cific coast. She was the discoverer of gold on the south fork of the Yuba, October, 1846, but word came from Sutter's Fort to hurry through on account of the war, and they all rushed on to Fort Sut- ter. It was two years before Marshall made his discovery and great strike in 1848, and this same place on the sonth Ynba proved afterward to be very rich. Of their family of five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Aram two are living, Mrs. Sarah M. Cool, of Los Angeles, and Engene Aram.
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