USA > California > Alameda County > Past and present of Alameda County, California, Volume II > Part 39
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Spanish lady of that country. Two children were born unto them, William P. and a sister, who became the wife of Judge L. W. Hast- ings, a California pioneer, who figures prominently in the early his- tory of this state. During the period of the family's residence in Venezuela the father of William P. Toler was engaged in commer- cial pursuits for many years. His mother died when he was only about three years of age. Subsequently the father returned to his native state and was afterward appointed United States consul to Porto Rico in the West Indies, where he remained for many years. At a later date he returned to Virginia and subsequently went to Washington, where he became connected with the diplomatic corps. It was under these circumstances and in the capital of the nation that William P. Toler was educated. As he advanced toward young manhood he became a clerk in the office of Attorney General John J. Crittenden, who was filling that position during the presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died shortly after his induction into that office, however, and was succeeded by John J. Tyler of Virginia.
William P. Toler, however, had no idea of becoming a lawyer, for he preferred at that time "a life on the ocean wave" and decided to accept an appointment as midshipman in the United States navy from Virginia, as that was his father's native state. Much to his dis- appointment, however, the Virginia quota allowed to the congres- sional district was full. At that crisis he sought advice from his father, who recommended him to call upon Henry Clay, Kentucky's greatest statesman, and see what he could do for him in the emer- gency. Clay replied: "Young man, your father is a Virginian and so am I by birth, but I am now a Kentuckian, and, as we have no salt water excepting for deer licks and no place for naval operations and nobody just now from Kentucky who wants to go to sea, I will make a Kentuckian of you by adoption and send you to sea." Thus Mr. Toler secured his appointment as midshipman in the navy from Ken- tucky in 1841, when but fourteen years of age. During that year, throughout the country, there were two hundred and fifty midship- men appointed to the United States navy when there was no naval academy, something that had never occurred before in the history of the country. William P. Toler was a fluent speaker and a writer of his native Spanish language, and at the request of Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby Jones was assigned and appointed aid-de-camp on his staff in 1841 and accompanied him to the Pacific station, which brings us direct to California history.
At Callao, Peru, Commodore Jones received information from the American Minister, Hon. Mr. Pickett, at Lima, and, believing
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from the secret orders received that he had full authority to act, he sailed direct to Monterey, California, upon learning that war had broken out between the United States and Mexico, with the purpose of taking possession of the country. He arrived at Monterey on the 18th of October, 1842, in the frigate United States, which was his flagship, accompanied by the sloop-of-war Cyane, Captain String- ham in command. He at once sent a demand to Captain Silva, the commandant, to surrender, which demand was complied with. Then the Mexican flag was hauled down and the American flag was raised on the next day, October, 19, 1842, in which act Midshipman Toler, as aid-de-camp, hauled the stars and stripes to position in connection with the quartermaster. With him was a Mr. Larraintree, secretary of Commodore Jones. They had been ordered to search the office of the collector of customs in the old customs house at Monterey, but at first succeeded in finding no records of any value, as they had been carried away. After looking around Toler espied in the corner a dirty bundle of papers, which he dusted, and to his surprise found they had never been opened. He concluded to open the package and discovered some of the very latest news regarding the condition of affairs between the two countries and learned that Commodore Jones had been altogether too hasty in his conclusions and actions. Mr. Toler than placed the papers in the commodore's hands and upon examination thereof Commodore Jones, much to his mortification, had to recognize the fact that he had been over hasty in the matter. Accordingly, he sent Mr. Toler ashore on the 21st and he hauled down the American flag and hoisted the Mexican flag, which was saluted with twenty-one guns. Commodore Jones immediately sent word overland to Governor General Micheltorena at Los Angeles and the whole matter was to be referred to their respective govern- ments. He set sail for San Pedro. and upon arrival there went to Los Angeles, where he held a personal interview with Governor Gen- eral Micheltorena, which concluded with festivities and a grand ball and entertainment, held in honor of the commodore and the other United States naval officers. Commodore Jones was recalled by the navy department on January 24, 1843, and Commodore A. J. Dallas appointed to succeed him. The retiring commodore took his departure for the United States, leaving Mr. Toler at the Pacific station. Mr. Toler retired from the navy in 1848. He remained in continuous connection with the Pacific coast and his name became prominent on various pages of California's history. He was assistant to the alcalde of San Francisco in 1850. He retired from active business in 1870.
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
On the 19th of October, 1853, Mr. Toler was married to Maria Antonia Peralta, daughter of Ygnacio Peralta, the wedding being celebrated in the family home of her father near San Leandro. They became parents of one son, J. Hoyt Toler. Mr. Toler was made a life member of the California Pioneers and always took an active part in that society. Among the picturesque figures whose life rec- ords adorn the history of California William Pinkney Toler was notable, not only from the fact that he raised the first American flag at Monterey but because of his activity and prominence in other con- nections. Fifty years after he unfurled the stars and stripes to the breezes of Monterey, on the 7th of July, 1846, he again participated in a similar occasion-the semi-centennial celebration in 1896.
ALONZO BRADFORD.
Alonzo Bradford, filling the position of postmaster at Hayward, was born in Madison county, Ohio, December 9, 1841. The public schools of southeastern lowa afforded him his educational privileges following the removal of the family to that section. When nineteen years of age he enlisted for service in Company F, Second Iowa Vol- unteer Infantry. He was later transferred to the First Regiment, Missouri Light Artillery, and remained with the Army of the Cum- berland for four years. Following the close of the war he returned to lowa and there engaged in farming for one year. He next went to Missouri and purchased a farm, which he operated for three years. On disposing of his property he came to the coast and in 1873 estab- lished his home at Hayward, where he embarked in carpentering. Later, as he became known, he began contracting on his own account and continued in that business for several years. Following the elec- tion of President Benjamin Harrison he was appointed postmaster of Hayward and filled the position acceptably for four years and seven months. Upon his retirement from the office he once more engaged in contracting and building for a time and in April, 1903, he was again appointed to the office of postmaster, in which position he has remained continuously since, covering a period of nearly twelve years, so that his entire incumbency in the position covers sixteen years. His record speaks for itself. Abraham Lincoln has said : "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time," and when a man has been as long in public office as Mr. Bradford it
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is indication that the great majority have faith in his ability and effi- ciency and indorse his actions and his policy.
In politics Mr. Bradford has always been a stanch republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the party, and in addition to serving as postmaster, he was a member of the board of town trustees and for two terms was its president. He has also served as school trustee and is interested in everything that pertains to the welfare and progress of his community.
In Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1865, Mr. Bradford was united in marriage to Miss Mary Glascock, of West Virginia, and they have one son, Harry A., who is the first lieutenant of the Hayward Na- tional Guards and assistant postmaster at Hayward. Mrs. Bradford is an active member of the Methodist church. Mr. Bradford has membership in Eucalyptus Lodge, A. F. & A. M., which he joined as a charter member on its organization in 1876. He is now treasurer of that lodge and is the only charter member still living. He likewise belongs to Lookout Mountain Post, G. A. R., and thus maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades, with whom he loves to recount the incidents and experiences of the war, when, as "boys in blue" they followed the old flag upon the battlefields of the south. The same spirit of patriotism has ever characterized him in all of the relations of life and Hayward numbers him among its most val- ued citizens.
FRANK A. LEACH.
Frank A. Leach, who is manager and vice president of the Peo- ple's Water Company of Oakland, was for many years connected with newspaper work and also held a number of important official positions. By means of his papers he contributed much toward the growth and development of his state, and in many other ways he has been an important factor in the advancement of Alameda county.
He was born in Auburn, New York, in August, 1846, a son of Edwin W. and Mary A. Leach. The family has been represented in America since 1639, the first to emigrate to this country being Lawr- ence Leach, a descendant of John Leach, a prominent surgeon of England. He took up his abode in Massachusetts. Edwin W. Leach, the father of our subject, was born in Vermont in 1824 and was edu- cated in the state of his nativity, there remaining until he reached his majority, when he and his parents removed to Cayuga county, New
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York, where he became connected with the wagon-making business with his father. In December, 1849, he started for California and reached San Francisco in the following September, being a passenger on an old steamer which consumed nine months in making the voy- age around the Horn. In San Francisco he followed the occupation of a carpenter for a year. At the end of that time he went to Sacra- mento, where he was engaged as a soda-water manufacturer until the big conflagration in 1852. He then again turned his attention to wagon-making and in 1857 removed to Napa, where he manufactured wagons and agricultural implements, residing there until 1870, in which year he retired and moved to Vallejo, which city remained his home until 1886. In that year he came to Oakland and here he passed away in 1901. His marriage took place in 1845, the maiden name of his wife being Mary A. Roffee. To them was born one son, Frank A. The mother died in Oakland in 1890. In the spring of 1852 she had come to this state with her son, the father having decided to estab- lish the family home here.
Frank A. Leach attended private school in Sacramento and en- tered the public school on the first day that it was opened, continuing therein until he was eleven years of age. At that time the family removed to Napa, where our subject continued his studies, being a pupil in the public schools and in the academy until seventeen years of age. He then held a position in a printing office for two years, and there gathered the experience which enabled him to start the Napa Daily Reporter, which journal he successfully conducted until the spring of 1867. Upon selling out he removed to Vallejo, where he started the Vallejo Chronicle, and conducted the same until 1886, disposing of his interest in that year and coming to Oakland. In this city, associated with A. B. Nye and W. F. Burbank, he founded the Oakland Enquirer and published and edited the paper until 1899. His long experience made him an ideal newspaper man, and he gave careful attention not only to the editorial policy of the paper, its news columns and its advertising pages, but always saw to it that it was of the highest type of typographical workmanship. In his long news- paper career Mr. Leach promoted many movements which were of benefit to the communities and districts in which he published his papers, and by means of his editorials educated the people to the highest sense of political responsibility and citizenship.
In 1897 he was appointed by President Mckinley superintendent of the mint in San Francisco and held that position for ten years, or until 1907, when he was appointed director of all the United States mints, with head office at Washington, D. C., holding that position
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until August, 1909, when he resigned in order to become president and manager of the People's Water Company of Oakland. He served as such until October 1, 1911, and then retired, but in July, 1912, upon the death of Judge Sweeney, who was superintendent of the San Francisco mint, the government officials requested him to accept the position because of his familiarity with the work, which he did with the understanding that he would remain in charge only until the next settlement of the affairs of the mint. This he did and resigned Au- gust 15, 1913. In 1906, while Mr. Leach was in charge of the mint in San Francisco, the great fire disarranged finances and a plan of help was necessary. As the mint remained the only intact institution able to cope with the situation, the people naturally looked to it for aid and the bank officials through a committee came to consult Mr. Leach. He recommended that the banks through their credit with eastern institutions, secure telegraphic transfer of funds by the United States treasury orders on the mint and use such funds in establishing a teni- porary Central Bank representing all the banks of the city, the local banks to supply tellers and bookkeepers to carry on the business, quarters with vaults being furnished in the mint building. Within a week the plan was carried into execution, the banks of the city were the depositors and they supplied their customers with funds through checks drawn on their deposits. The Central Bank was a matter of great importance in reviving the business and financial interests of the stricken city. The plan filled every expectation and continued in operation until the various banking institutions could open their vaults in the ruins, secure new quarters and resume business. As soon as the magnitude of the disaster was realized by the government authorities at Washington the secretary of the treasury wired Mr. Leach for a report on the situation, with a suggestion as to what the treasury department could best do to relieve conditions. He recom- mended free telegraphic transfer of funds from the east, payable in orders on the United States mint in San Francisco. The suggestion was immediately adopted. At the request of President Roosevelt, Mr. Leach acted as treasurer of relief funds until the general relief committee was organized. Independent of the banking arrangement described, Mr. Leach received and disbursed through this transfer system, over forty million dollars in six weeks' time and not one dollar was lost or unaccounted for. Personally he superintended the pay- ment of all this vast amount. He was in Oakland at the time of the earthquake, but by a special boat furnished by the railroad company he got to the mint quickly and was able to direct affairs. Fifty of the employes responded to fight the fire which soon surrounded and
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threatened destruction of the building and through their able work and the good supply of water the building was saved. On his retire- ment from the mint the banks of San Francisco presented Mr. Leach with a costly watch, which they had suitably engraved, and also a set of resolutions and a fine library of about one thousand volumes.
On February 1, 1914, he became vice president and manager of the Peoples Water Company, which position he now holds. His large experience fits him well for this executive position and he is doing very valuable work in the interest of the city.
In . December, 1870, in Vallejo, California, Mr. Leach married Miss Mary L. Powell, and to them were born four children: Frank A., Jr., manager of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company of Oakland ; Abe P., an attorney of Oakland; Edwin R., who is in charge of the metallurgical plant at Palo Alto, California; and Harry, who prac- tices law in Oakland.
Mr. Leach of this review has always been prominent in political circles and is a republican. For two terms, from December, 1879. until March 1, 1881, he served as representative of Solano county in the state legislature, doing valuable work in the interest of his con- stituents, and from 1882 until 1884 was postmaster of Vallejo. Fra- ternally he is a Mason, being a member of the Lodge of Perfection. He likewise belongs to the Berkeley Club, a literary organization and one of the oldest in California. There is much that is commend- able in the career of Frank A. Leach, which shows us that prosper- ity, honors and distinction may be won simultaneously and may be achieved without jeopardizing the highest principles.
THE WILLIAM HOVEY FRIEND FAMILY.
A sketch of his family, the first by that name in Oakland, where it had its beginning in 1869, invites brief mention of its original mem- bers, including the father, William Hovey Friend, the mother, Emma Rogers Babson Friend, the sister and aunt, Miss Marie Rogers Bab- son, and the two sons, William Nathaniel and Roger Berry Friend.
William Hovey Friend was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, February 6, 1840, where he acquired an education, trade, and the usual longing of boys of that locality for the sea. One voyage to the East Indies was, however, sufficient for him. In 1863 he set out for California, locating in San Francisco, where he associated
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himself with the wood and willow ware firm of Armes & Dallam until 1880, when, as one of the leaders in the congressional campaigns of Horace F. Page, he entered the custom house service. It was at this time that he reorganized the business department of the Oak- land Tribune. Later he engaged in the wholesale fish business, representing the Gloucester firm of John E. Pew & Sons. In 1884 he went into the wholesale tobacco business, forming the firm of Horn, Friend & Erskine. In 1886 he became cashier of the Sun Insur- ance Company of San Francisco and afterward its secretary under the presidency of Colonel C. L. Taylor, in which connection he con- tinued till the company retired from business in 1895. After manag- ing the S. G. Hilborn campaign for congress in the succeeding year he became postmaster of Oakland, serving till 1900. Always a strong supporter of the Pardee wing of the Republican party, upon the lat- ter's election as governor he went to Napa as business manager of the State Hospital. Upon retirement from this position he visited his native city for several years, when he returned to Oakland to re- main until his death, which occurred February 9, 1914. Mr. Friend served for a term on the Oakland board of education. He was an exempt fireman, having in early days belonged to Howard Engine Company No. 3 of San Francisco. In 1880 he joined Oakland Lodge, No. 188, F. & A. M., of which he became a life member. He affiliated with Howard Presbyterian Church in San Francisco in 1866 and upon settlement in Oakland he and all his family became active members of the First Presbyterian Church of this city. He took a leading part in the building of the edifice that for many years stood at Fourteenth and Franklin streets, was president of its society for over a decade and occupied the offices of trustee and deacon.
Emma Rogers Babson Friend was born in Gloucester, Massachu- setts, and educated in the public schools and finished at Oread Insti- tute. She married William Hovey Friend June 15, 1869, immedi- ately starting for California with him in one of the first through Overland trains. She was one of the few original organizers of the Ebell Society in 1876, and though ever afterward an invalid con- tinued actively in its affairs until her death, March 12, 1905. She also helped to organize the Oakland Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was a member of the General Society of the Mayflower Descendants. She was a great collector of china and an authority on the same. In the first campaign for woman's suffrage in 1896 she took an active interest, and when the Spanish war broke out she was instrumental in organizing the Oakland Red Cross Society, the preliminary meeting, at which plans were adopted,
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occurring at her home. The scope of her religious activities was only limited by her health.
Miss Maria Rogers Babson, sister and aunt, was born in Glouces- ter, Massachusetts, and educated with her sister in the school of her native city and at Oread Institute. She came to Oakland in 1870, becoming a fixed part of the Friend family through the prolonged. invalidism of her sister. She was a charter member of the Ebell Society and Club, its General Curator, and indefatigable promoter for many years. In the Oakland Red Cross Society and the founding of the Convalescent Home during the Spanish war she took a promi- nent and originating part. . She was treasurer of the fund for the furnishing of the children's room in the Carnegie Library when that institution was erected. In the organization and perpetuation of the Oakland Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution she was deeply concerned. Identified with the First Presbyterian church like the rest of the family from the beginning she took a large inter- est in its activities and also in the larger missionary work of the church, being an honorary member of the American Board and an active member of the Occidental Board of Foreign Missions. Her death occurred at the home of her nephew in San Francisco, May I. 1914.
Roger Berry Friend, the second son, was born in Oakland, December 8, 1873. He was educated in the grammar and high school of the city and early went into the Sun Insurance Company with his father. His rise in that business was rapid and popular. Upon the dissolution of the old Sun company he served for a time with the Continental of New York, then with the Aachen and Munich, and afterward for a series of successful years with Voss. Conrad & Company in the Thuringia of Germany. Here he showed his talents as a special agent and adjuster, being rated cheerfully by his fellow adjusters as one of their best known, best liked and most efficient members on the coast. The final retirement of his com- pany from business in America opened the way for his further ad- vancement to the management of the Providence and Washington. But the strain of the success achieved under grave responsibility, coupled with other business activities that he had engaged in, pro- duced a nervous collapse in which he was suddenly stricken by death February 23, 1914. In the social life of younger Oakland he took a prominent part. He was a member of Oakland lodge, commandery and Shrine in Masonry, of the Athenian and Reliance Clubs, and a favorite leader of the Deux Temps and other cotillion clubs. His church membership was with his family.
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William Nat. Friend, the surviving member of this family, was born in Oakland, April 5, 1870, graduating from the Oakland high school in 1889 and from the University of California in 1896, where he was president of the Associated Students and a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He worked his way through college as a newspaper correspondent; then studied law and was admitted to practice; took a leading part in young men's politics in city, county and state for a while. Then he studied for the Presbyterian ministry at the seminaries at San Anselmo and Princeton and was a pastor at Golden, Colorado, for eight years and at Howard church in San Francisco for four years more. In the latter part of 1913 he pur- chased an interest in the Albert Brown Company, becoming its secre- tary and a managing director, and returned with his family to his native city. In 1902 he married Miss Anna Coyle, daughter of the Rev. Robert F. Coyle, D. D., for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Oakland, a graduate of Mills College and teacher therein and at East Denver high school, Colorado. Their family includes three children, Robert Coyle, Roger Berry and Eliz- abeth Gorham Friend. Mr. Friend is a Mason in both rites, an Elk and a Woodman.
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