USA > California > Alameda County > Past and present of Alameda County, California, Volume II > Part 35
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In April, 1910, Mr. Fabens was united in marriage to Miss Lucy Haviland Bates, and both are well known in social circles of Ala- meda. Mr. Fabens belongs to the Unitarian Club of Alameda and the Transportation Club of San Francisco and fraternally is identi- fied with the Oakland lodge of Elks and Halcyon Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West. His many sterling qualities of mind and character are well known in Alameda, where he has so long resided, and they have gained him the respect and confidence of his business associates and of all who are in any way connected with him.
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P. FRANK BRADHOFF.
P. Frank Bradhoff, of Oakland, acts as secretary of the General Contractors Association, which was organized in October, 1913. He was born in Oakland on the 28th of March, 1873, a son of J. H. and Katharine Bradhoff. The father, who was first officer on a sailing vessel, first came to California prior to 1850 and in 1861 permanently established his home in Oakland, but devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits in Contra Costa county until the time of his retirement in 1906. His demise occurred in 1910, after a residence of about a half century in this part of the state, and in his passing the community lost one of its respected, esteemed and substantial citizens.
P. Frank Bradhoff attended the public schools in the acquirement of an education until a youth of fourteen and then worked on his father's ranch until seventeen years of age. He was subsequently em- ployed in the operating department of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Oakland until 1898 and afterward entered the service of the Cali- fornia Powder Company, remaining with that concern for three and a half years and acting in various capacities. Embarking in the real- estate and building business, he was thus engaged in Oakland and Berkeley until January, 1912, when he associated himself with the Contractors & Builders Exchange and in that year became secre- tary of the Oakland Builders Exchange, in which position he re- mained until April, 1914. He then took charge, as secretary, of the General Contractors Association, which was organized in October, 1913. Its object is to foster the building industry in Alameda county and vicinity and to secure equitable dealing between owners, archi-
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tects and contractors in the several branches of construction work, thus serving the ends of equity, justice and fair dealing. It is in no way affiliated with or opposed to union labor, but instead endeavors to promote the harmonious cooperation of all. The association is necessarily in its infancy but has already registered a large member- ship of representative men in their respective lines, has won the favor of material men, specialty contractors and architects as well as that of the general contractors, and is accorded the respect and hearty cooperation of the local banking interests. In the capacity of sec- retary Mr. Bradhoff has promoted the interests of the organization in no small degree, and his resultant labors have established his reputa- ·tion as a valued official of the association. He likewise organized the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce and is a prominent factor in business circles here.
Mr. Bradhoff is a worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scotish Rite. He also belongs to the Mystic Shrine and is a past patron of the East- ern Star, is an Elk and a past royal patron of Amaranth. His entire life has been spent in Alameda county and in all its relations he has been actuated by honorable, manly principles that have won him the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has been associated.
BERKELEY LUMBER COMPANY.
One of the representative business institutions in Alameda county is the Berkeley Lumber Company, which dates its origin from a time when West Berkeley was little more than a country village. Its growth has been coincident with the growth of the community, for since its foundation the business has been in the hands of pro- gressive, far-sighted and able men, under whose direction it has advanced to its present large proportions.
The concern was founded about the year 1868 by F. B. Heywood, a member of the Heywood family, which has for years maintained a place of importance in the business life of California. F. B. Hey- wood was a native of Calais, Maine, and in 1850 sent his three sons around the Horn to California on the bark Ida. After a perilous voyage, during which they were marooned for some time on an island, they arrived in this state and after mining for a time in Yuba county, acquired property in San Francisco. In the early '6os F. B. Heywood followed his sons to the Pacific coast and in partnership
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with Mr. Jacobs entered into the mercantile business in Berkeley under the name of Heywood & Jacobs. They built the first wharf on the east side of San Francisco bay and established the first ferry line to San Francisco. One of F. B. Heywood's sons, Charles Heywood, engaged in the sheep business in the Napa valley for many years, driving his sheep to market from Napa to Oakland. In 1868 father and sons united in the foundation of a lumber business in West Berkeley, and they laid the foundation for the building of all of the cities on the east side of the bay. They furnished the lumber for many of the most important structures of the early times, these includ- ing the first building of the University of California. The firm con- tinued for some time in a small way, but little by little extended its trade relations until it was finally sought after by many of the largest concerns on the coast. With the expansion of the business F. B. Hey- wood went to San Francisco, where he established a wholesale lum- ber business, leaving the West Berkeley concern in charge of another company under a lease.
After the death of F. B. Heywood his sons conducted the busi- ness in San Francisco under the name of Heywood Brothers for several years. Later Samuel Heywood, one of his brothers, took charge of the Berkeley establishment, having as a partner at that time Thomas Richardson, who continued as secretary of the company until he sold his interests to Mr. Heywood. A corporation was formed in 1900 under the laws of the state of California, the concern becoming known as the West Berkeley Lumber Company, and it was conducted by Charles D. Heywood, who was president of the con- cern, and Frank B. Heywood, the secretary and treasurer. In 1912 the company was reorganized and reincorporated under the name of the Berkeley Lumber Company and it has since enjoyed its usual prosperity. In 1907 the company disposed of the original property and established its present quarters at the foot of University avenue, the buildings extending to the bay in order that large vessels may come direct to the wharf for loading and unloading. January 1, 1914, the Heywoods sold the business after it had been in the control of the family for forty-six years, during which time it became one of the large enterprises of Berkeley and kept pace with the rapid growth of the community, increasing its capacity as its growing trade justified. Charles D. and Frank B. Heywood are prominent in public affairs, as was their father, the latter having served for a number of years as a member of the board of trustees and also as a member of the board of education. The Berkeley Lumber Company has been for many years one of the great single forces in the development of Berkeley
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and its inception and development were due to the energy, enterprise and business progressiveness which are characteristics of the Hey- wood family, and any mention of the company invariably brings to mind the family name with which it was so long associated.
JOSEPH W. KRAMM.
Joseph W. Kramm is identified with business interests in Oak- land as secretary of the Golden West Brewery Company, which he assisted in organizing in 1910. His birth occurred in Oakland on the 5th of September, 1880, his parents being Charles and Augusta Kramm. The father, who was born in Hanover, Germany, on the 15th of November, 1836, there atended the public schools until fourteen years of age and subsequently emigrated to the United States and resided in New York for a short time. In 1860 he came to Oakland, California, and here worked in a brewery for a few years. He then embarked in the brewing business on his own ac- count, conducting what was known as the Oakland Brewery at the corner of Ninth and Broadway until it was destroyed by fire in 1870. In that year he erected a brewery at the corner of Nineteenth street and Telegraph avenue and there carried on business until he sold out to the syndicate in 1888 and retired. His demise, which occurred on the 20th of December, 1890, was deeply deplored, for he had won many friends in both business and social circles during the thirty years of his residence in Oakland.
Joseph W. Kramm acquired his education by attendance at the public schools until 1894 and also spent a year as a student in Aydolett's Business College. Subsequently he was employed as brewer with the Anchor Brewing Company until 1902 and then pur- chased the plant, continuing its conduct until 1910. In that year, in association with several others, he organized the Golden West Brew- ery Company, of which he became secretary and the success of which he has since furthered in that capacity. The prosperity which has come to him, winning him recognition among the substantial and representative business men of his native city, is but the merited re- ward of ably directed effort and excellent executive ability.
Mr. Kramm was married in San Francisco in 1905 and has four children, one son and three daughters. Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Kramm has supported the men and measures of the republican party, while fraternally he is identified
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with the Native Sons, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Sons of Hermann. He likewise belongs to the Turn Verein and the Knights of the Royal Arch. Energetic, diligent and persevering, he is always found reliable in all his busi- ness connections and stands for the progressive element in citizenship and for trustworthiness in every relation.
HIRAM BAILEY.
The life record of Hiram Bailey is interwoven with the history of Livermore and the valley. He is, indeed, one of the true pioneers of the county, having been one of the first men to locate in the valley where he still resides. He has now passed the eighty-fourth mile- stone on life's journey, his birth having occurred in the state of New York, January 10, 1830.
He came alone to the west, making the trip by way of the Isthmus route and arriving in San Francisco on the 20th of March, 1852. He went to the San Ramon valley, where he spent the summers of 1852 and 1853. and later was for a time at Contra Costa. In August, 1855, he arrived in Livermore valley, at which time there were only two people in the immediate valley-Robert Livermore, the original set- tler, and a Scotchman by the name of Peter Wilson. Mr. Bailey took up carpenter work and his first job was the building of a house for Joseph Livermore. About 1865 he turned his attention to farm- ing, settling on a ranch five miles northwest of Livermore, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits for about eight years, cul- tivating a tract of two thousand acres. In 1873 he purchased another ranch of two thousand acres in Stanislaus county and operated the two ranches in conjunction for five years. His place was not used for grazing purposes, the greater part of it being under cultivation, and for several years he was farming approximately five thousand acres. He then retired and removed to Livermore, where he has since made his home, enjoying well earned and well merited rest from business cares during his later years. Throughout his active life he displayed sound judgment in the management of his business interests, was determined and unfaltering in carrying on his work, and through his persisteney of purpose won most gratifying success.
Mr. Bailey was married in Livermore to Miss Casimira Liver- more, a daughter of Robert Livermore, who settled in the valley about 1820 before the advent of any other white person. In 1914 Mr.
HIRAM BAILEY
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Bailey was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away in the month of April, leaving three of the eight children who were born of their marriage. These are: Josephine, now the wife of Dennis F. Bernal of Livermore; Rebecca, the wife of J. A. Seg- bers of Dawson, Yukon Territory; and Mamie I., the wife of W. H. Hupers, a merchant of Livermore.
In his political views Mr. Bailey has been a republican since the organization of the party and has been active in its support. When the law was passed making the office of towsnhip assessor an elective one he was chosen to that position and served for two years, while later he acted as deputy for a few years. He also served as supervisor of Murray township for ten years and for fourteen years was a trustee of the Livermore grammar school and for five years a trustee of the high school. He served during the twenty-seventh session in the state legislature, to which he was elected in 1886, with Judge Ellsworth, the speaker during that session being W. H. Jor- dan. Every public duty entrusted to him has been faithfully dis- charged and his record is most commendable. He is a member of Mosaic Lodge, No. 218, A. F. & A. M., and his life has been in har- mony with the teachings of the craft. He has lived to witness notable changes during the period of his residence in the Livermore valley. covering almost six decades, and he can relate many interesting inci- dents of the early days when he was a pioneer in this district, which is now thickly populated and highly cultivated.
FRED WALTER FOSS.
One of the most able, progressive and enterprising young men in public life in Alameda county is Fred Walter Foss, of Berkeley, now creditably serving as chairman of the finance committee of the board of supervisors. He was born in Lynn county, Missouri, on the ist of August, 1871, and as a boy went to San Francisco, acquir- ing his education in the public schools of that city. He afterward entered the Commercial high school and, having obtained a thor- oughly practical education, accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Central Lumber & Mill Company, with whom he remained from 1887 to 1889. In the latter year he became yard clerk, book- keeper and salesman for the C. L. Dingley Company and from 1889 to 1893 did capable and loyal work in those capacities. He was then offered a position by the Pacific Lumber Company and accepted it, Vol. 11 :3
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remaining in this connection until 1895 and winning during that time the confidence of his superiors and the respect and esteem of all with whom he came in contact. Having mastered the details of the lum- ber business thoroughly, he determined to engage in business for him- self and accordingly came to Berkeley, founding the F. W. Foss Com- pany, of which he has since been president. This position has called forth his executive ability, his organizing power and his keen grasp of business detail, and in his management of the affairs under his charge he has clearly demonstrated his possession of these qualities which have made his concern one of the well and favorably known business institutions in the community.
It is not alone along business lines, however, that Mr. Foss has done splendid work for Berkeley, for he has been identified with public affairs in the city for many years, his progressive ideas and the enterprising spirit which dominates all of his activities having proven helpful factors in community upbuilding. Mr. Foss is now a member of the county board of supervisors and as chairman of the finance committee has accomplished a great deal of important and constructive work. He has systematized and reorganized the affairs of the department, putting them upon a strictly business basis, and he has used his influence unfailingly on the side of fairness and justice, giving everyone an equal opportunity for legitimate competition in the awarding of public contracts and the expending of public funds generally. He has been especially farsighted and discriminating in his use of all moneys for improvements of a permanent sort and is recognized as a man whose undoubtful business ability has formed the basis of valuable work in the public service. Mr. Foss is especially interested in securing for Alameda county a first-class public hospital and has progressive ideas concerning its building and equipment which his own words best describe. He says: "I believe that a community with the wealth of Alameda county should have an up-to-date and first class public hospital. The institution should be sanitary in every particular, with advanced scientific medical ap- pliances and conveniences and a credit to the county. I believe that this important measure should be submitted to the people for ap- proval and provided for in a bond issue, the burden of which should be distributed among those who will have need of an institution of this kind in future years."
In San Francisco, in 1893, Mr. Foss was united in marriage to Miss Anna M. Renwick, who passed away on New Year's day. 1910, leaving four children, Anita L., Lulu R., William R. and Elmer R. In politics Mr. Foss is a stanch republican and was the first presi-
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dent of the Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican League of Berkeley. He is a member of the Berkeley Elks; Lodge No. 1002, I. O. O. F .; and the Woodmen of the World, and he is past vice chairman of the Hoo Hoos of California. He is undoubtedly one of the most able and prominent men of Berkeley and in business and in politics has made tangible and substantial contributions to municipal growth and de- velopment.
HON. GEORGE C. PARDEE.
An encomium upon the life and services of Hon. George C. Pardee is not needed in a volume presenting the representative citizens of Oakland, and indeed of the state of California, both of the past and present, for wherever the name is known it is honored as that of one of the forceful men of the younger generation who has made the accomplishment of his efforts the bulwark of our western statehood. The double honor of being the son of a pioneer and a native son of California belongs to Dr. Pardee, for his father, the first Dr. Pardee of California fame, gave the strength of his man- hood's prime toward the upbuilding and development of the state. For the complete details concerning his life and the ancestry of the Pardee family refer to his personal biography.
George C. Pardee was born in San Francisco, July 25, 1857, and received his primary education in the old City College, and later attended McClure's Academy and the College School of Oakland, whither his parents removed in 1867. Subsequently he took a three years course in the Oakland high school, after which he became a student in the University of California, first entering the fifth class, which was then and for some time afterward, maintained as a useful adjunct to the new institution of learning. His regular university course was taken during the years 1875 to 1879. The class which has given the state a governor, a justice of the supreme court, a pro- fessor of the university and other more or less distinguished citizens, was more numerous than any that had entered up to that time, and it was some years before any other of equal numbers followed it. Its members felt very proud when they graduated sixty-eight out of one hundred and fifty-nine who entered. It was a class which car- ried everything before it from the outset, for the seniors, juniors and sophomores were so much weaker in numbers that it was hardly worth while for them to attempt to withstand '79. In those days
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baseball was the principal athletic sport of the university, and in this young Pardee excelled, retaining to the present day a fondness for the game. Charter day and class day were then celebrated with as much spirit as they are today, and in all of these diversions from the regular line of work he was ever found ready to take a part. Profes- sional study in Europe was one of the objects which he had long had in mind, and after two years of preliminary work in Cooper College he went to Germany and entered the University of Leipzig, from which he was graduated after three years. And not alone was this beneficial from a professional standpoint, but it served to give him a broader view of the world, a more complete understanding of human nature, and in diverse ways fitted him for the important positions he was afterward called upon to fill.
Returning to his home in Oakland in 1885, Dr. Pardee began the practice of his profession in San Francisco and Oakland, married and established a home. It was not over two years, however, before he found himself interested in politics, manifesting the ability which was his both by inheritance and training in his association with municipal affairs. In a short time he became a member of the Oak- land city board of health and made a strenuous campaign for the purification of the water supply. A popular demand was thus created that he should be a councilman, and in this capacity he in nowise lost the high regard in which he had come to be held. The highest office in the gift of the municipality was next his, and he entered upon the duties of mayor under discouraging labor condi- tions, which, however, he managed to surmount with credit to him- self and satisfaction to those who had entrusted him with the city's affairs, and upon retiring to private life carried with him the increased regard of the public. In 1898 he was a candidate for the republican nomination for governor of California, but was de- feated in the convention. On November 4, 1902, he was elected on the republican ticket to the office of governor of California. As Governor, Dr. Pardee had a progressive administration. In fact, it was so progressive that the special interests who dominated politics at that time succeeded in defeating him for renomination. His na- tional reputation as a conservationist is attested by his having been selected to make the opening speech at the National Conservation Congress at St. Paul in 1910.
Other official and semi-official positions occupied by him have been regent of the State University; member of the National Con- servation Commission, under appointment by President Roosevelt; twice president of the National Irrigation Congress; delegate, sev-
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eral times, to the National Conservation Congress; chairman of the Conservation Commission of the State of California; delegate to sev- eral national republican conventions; presidential elector; etc.
He is an Honorary Thirty-Third Degree Mason, a Knight Tem- plar, a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of the Knights of Pythias, of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, of the State Medical Society, etc.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF OAKLAND.
It has often been said that the banks of a community are a fair index of its commercial, industrial and financial prosperity. Especially is this true of the First National Bank of Oakland which dates its origin from a time when the city was a mere country vil- lage and which has since that time been one of the important fac- tors in the financial development of the community. The institu- tion was founded on a policy of progressiveness, tempered by a safe conservatism, and this has been adhered to steadily through the years, the results being seen in the excellent condition of the bank, which is today one of the leading financial enterprises in the country.
The First National Bank of Oakland began its existence in 1874 and was the outgrowth of the Alameda County Savings & Loan So- ciety. In 1875 the bank was reorganized under the national system as the First National Gold Bank of Oakland. This was one of the few gold banks created, there being only nine in the entire United States -eight in California and one in Boston. A peculiarity of the gold banks was that they were permitted to take out circulation redeem- able in gold coin by the deposit of United States bonds bearing inter- est payable in gold. All of the other national banks in the United States at that time were making no attempt to redeem their currency in gold, and consequently all currency was depreciating and could be exchanged for gold only at a great discount. After the govern- ment resumed specie payments, thereby restoring greenbacks to a parity with gold, there was no longer any reason for the special character of the gold banks, and they became like other national banks. Consequently in 1880, the word "gold" was dropped from the title of the First National Gold Bank of Oakland and thereafter it was known simply as the First National Bank of Oakland. Affili- ated with it is the First Trust and Savings Bank which, although a
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