USA > California > Alameda County > Past and present of Alameda County, California, Volume II > Part 23
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HOWELL A. POWELL.
Howell A. Powell, conducting a law office in San Francisco, through which passes a great deal of the most important litigation heard in the courts of the state, is a descendant of a Welsh family of Breconshire, and his father was among the earliest settlers in Sutter county, California. There the subject of this review was reared, acquiring his early education in the public schools. He later entered the State Normal School at San Francisco and after his graduation in 1867 became principal of the Brooklyn grammar school of Alameda county. In 1868 he took a special course in law in the office of Judge Blatchley in San Francisco and in 1870 was admitted to the bar of California. In the same year he established an office in San Francisco, where he has since engaged in general practice. He has been employed in a number of noted civil cases for the state and has successfully completed the settlement of a
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number of large and complicated estates in probation. He served as attorney of the city of Oakland in the water front litigation with the Southern Pacific Railroad and by his able handling of this case won added prominence as a strong, forceful and able lawyer. In 1889 Mr. Powell was made a member of the board of freeholders, which framed the Oakland city charter, and he was the author of that provision which makes it compulsory upon the city council to grant franchises within certain territory contiguous to the water front to any railroad company that may seek to enter the city.
In 1876 Mr. Powell married Miss Mary E. King, and they have four children, Eva, Helen, Alvin and Stanley. Mr. Powell gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has been at all times active and prominent in public affairs. He is an ex-member of the Oakland board of education and in 1896 served as a McKinley elector, representing the third congressional district, having received for this office the highest vote of his party in thirteen counties. In all official, social and professional relations he has held steadily to high ideals, and he commands and holds the confidence and regard of all who are in any way associated with him.
JOHN C. SCOTT.
John C. Scott, a well known and successful attorney of Oakland, has here practiced his profession for more than a decade. His birth occurred in Schleswig, Germany, on the 2d of March, 1861, and it was as a youth of seventeen that he crossed the Atlantic to the United States. Making his way to the Hawkeye state, he attended the lowa State Teachers' College at Cedar Falls and subsequently studied law at Waterloo with Hon. Charles Mullen, attorney-gen- eral of the state of Iowa. While preparing for the legal profession he taught school in Iowa for a period of six years.
In 1889 Mr. Scott was admitted to the bar and began practice at Cedar Falls, lowa, where he remained an able and successful representative of his profession for thirteen years. He was there elected city attorney and held the office for two terms. In 1902 he came to Oakland, California, where he has remained to the present time, having built up an extensive and lucrative clientage as a prac- titioner of law. He is a strong advocate with the jury, and concise in his appeals before the court. Much of the success which has 1 attended him in his professional career is undoubtedly due to the
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fact that in no instance will he permit himself to go into court with a case unless he has absolute confidence in the justice of his client's cause. Basing his efforts on this principle, from which there are far too many lapses in professional ranks, it naturally follows that he seldom loses a case in whose support he is enlisted.
In 1892 Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Minnie E. Thompson, a native of Illinois, by whom he has one son, Leo L., born in Iowa. Fraternally he is identified with Sequoia Lodge of Masons and Oakland Lodge of the Knights of the Maccabees, acting as commander of the latter organization in 1904. He is likewise a member and trustee of Live Oak Lodge of the National Union at Oakland. Attractive social qualities make him popular and he has gained many friends during the period of his residence in that city.
MARSHALL J. RUTHERFORD.
Marshall J. Rutherford, a practicing attorney of Oakland, has won success at the bar and is numbered among the able representa- tives of the legal fraternity here. His birth occurred in Vallejo, Solano county, California, on the 14th of April, 1880, his parents being John and Mary Rutherford. The father came to California in 1861, settling in Vallejo, where he was employed as a locomotive engineer until 1885. In that year he came to Oakland and here resided until 1891, when he removed to Calistoga, Napa county, California. He was engaged as a locomotive engineer until 1902, but for the past eleven years has devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits.
Marshall J. Rutherford attended the graded and high schools of Vallejo and Calistoga until 1899, when he came to Oakland and learned the machinist's trade, working at that occupation for four and a half years. During that period he continued his studies in the evening high school. Subsequently he went to Palo Alto, Santa Clara county, California, and there spent one year as a student in the Manzanita Hall Preparatory School for Boys, while later he attended The Lyceum, a preparatory school in San Francisco, for eight months. He next entered the University of the Pacific at San Jose and won the degree of B. A. in December, 1909. Having decided upon a professional career, he then matriculated in the law department of the University of California and in 1912 received the degree of D. J. The University of the Pacific likewise conferred
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upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He was admitted to the bar in Oakland and has already built up an extensive and lucrative clientage. His is a natural discrimination as to legal ethics, and he is so thoroughly well read in the minutiæ of the law that he is able to base his arguments upon thorough knowledge of and familiarity with precedents, and to present a case upon its merits, never failing to recognize the main point at issue and never neg- lecting to give a thorough preparation.
While obtaining his education Mr. Rutherford spent his vacation periods in travel, working his way to various places. His first trip was taken on the steamer Queen, plying between San Francisco and Vancouver, British Columbia, on which he spent five months as oiler. The next year he worked as oiler for three months on the steamer Korea, which sailed from San Francisco to China, Japan and Honolulu, and during the following year spent three months as deck engineer on the steamer Transport Buford, which sailed to Honolulu and Manila. During the next year he worked as oiler, water tender and machinist on the steamer Acapulco, which sailed to Mexico and Panama, and in the year following spent three months as machinist and junior engineer on the steamer Mongolia, which sailed to Honolulu, Japan and the island of Formosa.
Mr. Rutherford gives his political allegiance to the republican party, while his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. Fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World. Oak- land is fortunate in having as a member of its legal profession a young man with the ability possessed by Mr. Rutherford. His pro- fessional knowledge is exhaustive and in his presence he is tactful, his ability winning him a greater degree of success than usually falls to the lot of an attorney of his age and experience.
JEREMIAH JOSEPH HANIFIN.
For many years Jeremiah Joseph Hanifin has been connected with business interests of Alameda county, having come to the coast over sixty years ago. He now owns a liquor store at No. 471 Fourteenth street, Oakland, and enjoys a profitable trade. He was born in County Kerry, Ireland, May 15, 1834, and is a son of James and Alice Hanifin. In 1838 the parents emigrated to the United States and settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where the father for several years was engaged in the mineral water business. His son Jeremiah
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attended the parochial schools in Boston until thirteen years of age, when his parents removed to New York, where he continued in the parochial schools until fifteen years of age.
Laying aside his text-books, he learned the boat builder's trade, continuing along that line for about two years, and then came to California by way of Cape Horn, being a cabin boy on the Michael Angelo, which arrived in San Francisco, August 5, 1852. His first position at the Golden Gate was as clerk in a hotel owned by C. L. Longley, with whom he remained for ten months. At the end of that time, however, he returned to New York city by way of the Isthmus of Panama, walking across the isthmus from Panama to Gargona in order to save the twenty dollars which was charged for the mule ride from one coast to the other. He arrived several hours before those who rode, thereby establishing a fair claim as a cham- pion pedestrian. After arriving in New York city, his father being dead, he assisted his mother in her business affairs, which largely consisted of looking after her investments, collecting rents, and other interests, etc. In 1858 Mr. Hanifin returned to San Francisco by way of Panama, establishing in that city the. Great Western Hotel, which he conducted until 1865, when he sold out and turned his attention to the shipping and brokerage business, so continuing for three years. Upon disposing of these interests he moved to Oakland, where he established the Cosmopolitan Hotel at Seventh street and Broadway, but after four years disposed of the hotel in order to give his whole attention to his retail liquor stores, which were located at Seventh street and Broadway, Seventh street and Washington street and 471 Fourteenth street and Broadway. In 1905 he sold the Washington and Broadway stores and now gives his undivided attention to his establishment on Fourteenth street. He is a man of honorable business principles and well liked by his many friends. He is courteous, affable and kindly to those who are in less fortunate circumstances and is ever ready to support enterprises as long as their value can be proven to him, being always among the foremost to do something which may prove of advantage to his city.
In New York city, on May 16, 1856, Mr. Hanifin married Miss Eliza J. Farley, and to them were born the following children : Mrs. V. S. McClatchy, of Sacramento; Lyda, a Sister in the Con- vent of the Holy Family, who has taken the name of Sister Mary Agatha; J. J., Jr., under-sheriff of Alameda county; Herbert L., who is a member of the office force of the Pacific Gas Company of San Francisco; Mrs. Alice Casey, widow of Dr. P. F. Casey, of Oakland; Irene, deceased; Edward Everett, who holds a position
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in the recorder's office in San Francisco; Ada, a graduate of high school, and Frank C., in school.
Politically Mr. Hanifin is a republican and has ever been inter- ested in the progress of his party. He has participated in many ways in public affairs in Alameda county and from 1873 to 1876 served as fire commissioner of Oakland. From 1881 to 1890 he was supervisor and chairman of the board of supervisors, being elected from the fourth district, and in that connection did much valuable work, promoting many public measures which were of vast benefit to the general public. Although he is eighty years of age he is hale and hearty, walking eight or ten miles a day, and has the strength as well as the appearance of a much younger man. In all the rela- tions of life Mr. Hanifin has proven himself a useful, conscientious citizen of sound ideas and sound principles and one who considers an untarnished name of greater value than the mere acquirement of wealth.
WILLIAM AMBROSE BISSELL.
William Ambrose Bissell, assistant traffic manager for the Santa Fe system at San Francisco, in which connection he manifests notable executive power, was born in Lyons, Wayne county, New York, in 1848, a son of the Rt. Rev. W. H. A. and Martha Colton (Moulton) Bissell. The former was an Episcopal bishop of Vermont from 1868 until his death in 1893. Reared in the atmosphere of a scholarly home, his early training left a strong influence on the life of Wil- liam A. Bissell who, directing his energies in the broad field of business rather than along professional lines, has gained a place of responsibility and prominence in connection with railway man- agement. He was educated in the Geneva (New York) Academy and throughout his entire career has been interested in railway activity. At the age of sixteen years he entered the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad at Detroit, Michigan, where he re- mained for about four years or until March, 1868, when he left the Mississippi valley and came to California by way of the Isthmus route. At that time the Central Pacific Railway Company was operating ninety miles of railway in this state, and he became asso- ciated with that corporation in a clerical position at Sacramento. He was later advanced to the position of freight auditor and con- tinued with that corporation until 1883, when he became coast agent
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for the Texas Pacific Railway with offices in San Francisco. In December, 1884, he accepted the office of coast agent for the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, which later became a part of the Atchison Rail- road system. In 1894 he was promoted to the position of assistant freight traffic manager of the Santa Fe system, which called him to Chicago, and he remained there until 1899, when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe as reorganized purchased the Santa Fe & San Joaquin Valley Railway, when he returned to the Pacific coast as assistant traffic manager of the Santa Fe system. Here he has since remained, continuously occupying the position which calls for rare executive ability, keen discrimination and thorough understanding of every phase of traffic control. He also has large private financial interests, having made judicious investment in corporations and busi- ness enterprises which have constituted important elements in the promotion of public progress and prosperity as well as in the attain- ment of individual success. He is president of the Livermore Water & Power Company which supplies light and power to the Livermore valley; is vice president of the Richmond Light & Power Company ; vice president of the McNamara Mining Company and a director of the Holland Sandstone Company, Lake Tahoe Railway & Trans- portation Company, Northwestern Pacific Railway Company, Oak- land & East Side Railroad Company, Richmond Land Company, Union Savings Bank of Oakland and Santa Fe Terminal Company of California. In May, 1913, when the affairs of the United Prop- erties Company of California became involved, he was appointed one of the trustees of that corporation and as such trustee was elected a director of the San Francisco-Oakland Terminals Railways. On May 20, 1913, he was elected president of that company and still continues in that capacity.
On the 7th day of January, 1870, Mr. Bissell was married to Miss Cora A. Messick and their children are William H. and Daniel R. Mr. Bissell makes his home in Alameda and has a beautiful summer residence on a delightful location at Lake Tahoe, beside owning ranch property near Livermore, California. He is very prominent in club circles of San Francisco, being one of the founders and members of the Transportation Club and a member of the Pacific Union. He also belongs to the Athenian and Claremont Clubs of Oakland and the California Club of Los Angeles. He is likewise a member of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and is in hearty sympathy with its many projects and movements for the upbuilding of the city. In fact he is a very public-spirited man, active in matters pertaining to the growth, development and gen-
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eral welfare of San Francisco and of the state at large. He recog- nizes the wonderful possibilities of California and is doing everything in his power to promote their utilization, thus aiding in the material growth of the state, while at all times he is actively and helpfully concerned as well in those things which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride.
HENRY N. MORRIS.
Henry N. Morris, of Oakland, California, is vice president of the Central National Bank and Central Savings Bank and widely known in financial circles of Alameda county as a conservative banker who is ever careful of the interests of his depositors and who is yet progressive, giving valuable aid to commercial and industrial development. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, April 24, 1860, and is a son of E. D. and Frances Elizabeth Morris.
Henry N. Morris attended the public and high schools of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, graduating from the latter at the age of seventeen, when he entered the Western Reserve College at Cleveland, from which he was graduated in 1882. He then entered the Cincinnati Law School, receiving his degree in 1885, and subsequently prac- ticed law in Cincinnati for two years. At the end of that time he became connected with the machinery manufacturing business, con- tinuing thus until 1896, when he sold out and went to Munising, Michigan, as the representative of eastern capitalists who owned large timber tracts there and also as financial agent of the Munising Railroad Company. He remained in that city for several years and then accepted the position of president of the Shreveport Gas, Elec- tric Light & Power Company at Shreveport, Louisiana, also becom- ing president of the Texarkana Gas & Street Railway Company at Texarkana, Texas. At the end of eight years he retired, however, and went to San Antonio, Texas, being appointed receiver of the Woods National Bank and discharging the affairs of that institution until May, 1909, when he came to Oakland, being appointed receiver of the Union National Bank. A little later he was appointed by the governmental national bank examiner for the San Francisco dis- trict. He administered these offices until August, 1913, since which time he has been vice president of the Central National Bank and Central Savings Bank of Oakland. His extensive experience well fits him for the important position which he now holds at the head of
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one of the strongest financial institutions of the state. Mr. Morris is an influential. man of rare executive ability who thoroughly under- stands banking routine and financial conditions. He has a great capacity for detail and considers no matter too unimportant to be worthy of his attention, realizing that many seemingly trivial affairs might make a combination which is of the greatest moment. He has all the qualities of which a banker might be proud and is a man of unerring accuracy in judgment and of caution in business transac- tions. He possesses that intuition as to character and that knowledge of humanity so essential in the successful transaction of business, and he seldom if ever commits errors as to what and whom to trust.
In March, 1886, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Morris married Miss Ella MI. Blymyer and they have three children: William B., who is now connected with oil interests in Geneva, Indiana; Ellis Eliza- beth, who is attending Miss Ransome's private school in Oakland, and Fearing H., who is attending the Thatcher School at Nordhoff, California.
Politically Mr. Morris is a republican, and his religious faith is that of the Congregational church. He is a member of the Athe- nian and Home Clubs, and he stands high in the business and finan- cial life of Oakland and Alameda county, enjoying in full measure the confidence which is his due because of his honorable principles and his ability.
JACOB M. SIPE.
Jacob M. Sipe began his independent career at the early age of seven and his record since that time furnishes many splendid exam- ples of the value of energy, perseverance and resolution in the attain- ment of success. His prosperity has increased steadily through the years and he is today one of the prominent and leading business men of Oakland, where he deals in real estate on an extensive scale. He was born in Noblesville, Indiana, in July, 1870, and is a son of Peter Wells and Hannah (River) Sipe, natives of Pennsylvania, both of whom have passed away. Two children were born to them : Mary, who is married and lives in Kansas, and Jacob M., of this review.
The father of our subject died when his son was still an infant and the mother afterward married again, leaving him dependent upon his own resources at the early age of seven. He secured a posi-
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tion on a farm at three dollars per month and afterward worked at odd jobs for different people and in various places until he was twenty years of age. In 1890 he came to California and settled in Siskiyou county, where for a time he worked in a mine, after which he began developing a mine of his own. He met with a fair measure of success in this venture and engaged in mining in Siskiyou county and in southern Oregon until 1906, when he came to Alameda county, settling in Elmhurst, where he has since resided. He gives his attention to the real-estate business, buying and selling property for himself and others. He has valuable city and farm holdings in Texas and also important interests in Elmhurst.
On the 21st of May, 1898, Mr. Sipe was united in marriage to Miss Elwilda Howe, a daughter of John and Catherine (Mills) Howe, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Virginia. To them were born five children : Henderson, a resident of Kansas; Elwilda, wife of our subject; Elmer, of Kansas; Mary, deceased, and Roselle, of Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Sipe have become the parents of a son, Roy Emerson, aged thirteen years.
Mr. Sipe is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and gives his political allegiance to the democratic party. His attention is, however, concentrated upon his business affairs, in which he is meeting with gratifying and well deserved success.
CHARLES L. STURM. 1
Charles L. Sturm, who since he was fifteen years of age has been engaged in the plumbing business, has now the distinction of being the oldest merchant on Twelfth street in point of continuous business activity, thirty years of profitable and well-directed labor here having brought him prominence, success and a substantial fortune. He is one of the oldest residents of Oakland and is a native of California, his birth having occurred in Stockton, San Joaquin county, July 24, 1859. The name has long been known and honored in this state, for the father of the subject of this review, John D. Sturm, was a California forty-niner and a pioneer in the cigar manu- facturing business in Oakland, where he took up his residence fifty years ago.
Charles L. Sturm has been a resident of Oakland for half a century and has been in the plumbing business on Twelfth street for over thirty years, each year bringing him increased prosperity
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as a reward for his well directed and energetic labor. He has now one of the finest plumbing establishments in the city and controls an important and representative trade along this line, for he under- stands his business thoroughly in principle and detail, having been connected with it since he was fifteen years of age. He furnished and did the plumbing for the Hotel Dana, at the corner of Geary and Hyde streets, San Francisco; remodeled the plumbing in the Kohl building, in the same city, and installed the plumbing fixtures in the Key Route Inn and the Eva building, on Thirteenth street, in Oakland. He did the plumbing in the Shattuck building and in many other structures in Berkeley, and his reputation for lasting, reliable and thorough work is increasing with the passing years.
Mr. Sturm married Miss Mary A. Duffy, a native of San Fran- cisco, and they have two daughters: Gertrude, and Genevieve, the wife of A. G. Freear. Mr. Sturm gives his political allegiance to the republican party and fraternally holds membership in the Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Foresters and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is president of the Amador Consoli- dated Mines Company and treasurer of the Seventh Street & South Side Improvement Club of Oakland.
He is interested in everything that pertains to the advancement and permanent welfare of the community, the more so because he has seen practically the entire development of the city and has borne an active and honorable part in the work of upbuilding. He has a wonderful memory and relates many interesting facts concerning early days in Oakland, having still a clear recollection of the time when the Delger block was the site of Muller's Gardens and when Blote Gardens stood on the lot now occupied by the Oakland post- office. In those days the boys stole apples from Merritt's orchard, at Twelfth and Jackson streets, and the first horse-car barn was situated on the Broadway wharf, the cars running to Fourteenth street and Broadway and the fare being ten cents a passenger. On the east side of Broadway, at Eighth and Ninth streets, were located the old circus grounds, owned and operated by August Seequest, while the present site of the Hall of Records was occupied by the Democratic Party Park and the courthouse site was the Republican Party Park. For fifty cents passengers were taken on the boats, the S. M. Whipple and the Chinda Wam, running between Oakland and San Francisco, the vessels many times striking on the sand bars and being delayed for hours. Mr. Sturm remembers when the Ames Hotel was located at First and Broadway and the Washing- ton Hotel at Second and Broadway; when Edson Adams' law office
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