USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 4
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Through the following winter his health, which had become originally undermined in the Civil war was still further impaired and he resolved to seek a more genial climate. He came to California in 1873 and in January, 1874, he arrived in San Diego but did not carry out his intention of engaging in the cattle business. Instead he opened an office for practice, adjoining that of an old classmate, Dr. R. J. Gregg, and from that time to the present has made continuous advancement in his chosen field. He was city physician in 1875-6, was county physician for several consecutive terms, was surgeon for the Cali- fornia Southern Railroad Company, surgeon of the Marine Hospital and did all the surgical work for the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. In 1879. in connection with Dr. T. C. Stockton, he built a large hospital at San Diego having accommodations for fifty patients, but owing to the light charges of charitable institutions, with which they found it impossible to compete, their institution was abandoned. In the spring of 1887, finding that his private
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business affairs were interfering with his professional duties, Dr. Remondino for a year retired from the more general active practice of his profession, restricting his service to a few families. He has again, however, entered the ranks of general practice and is an active representative of the medical fra- ternity here. Recognizing the great want of hotel accommodations in San Diego, he built the St. James Hotel, which was opened for business in Feb- ruary, 1886. Several additions have since been made, so that the aggregate cost of construction has been two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In addi- tion Dr. Remondino has made investments in real estate in both city and county and at the same time he has largely supported measures and move- ments for the public good. He was United States pension surgeon for nine years and is an active member of the San Diego County Medical Society. He has also been major and surgeon of the Third Regiment of the Uniformed Rank of Knights of Pythias of California and is a member of San Diego Lodge, F. & A. M., of California Consistory, S. P. R. S., and is a thirty-second degree Mason.
In 1877 Dr. Remondino was married to Miss Sophie Earle, of this city. and they became the parents of two sons and two daughters. The Doctor is regarded as a public-spirited and progressive citizen whose efforts have been an element in promoting public improvement and advancement. All the time he has maintained a deep interest in his profession, investigating those facts which science has brought to light and standing at all times for improvement. He has the largest and finest private medical library in California and is familiar with its contents. He has himself contributed in no small measure to medical literature, writing a number of books upon that subject, some of which have been widely received as authority upon the themes treated. The Doctor occupies the chair of History of Medicine and Medical Bibliography in the medical department of the University of California. He has, to better prepare himself for the duties of this chair, visited the great universities of southern Europe and familiarized himself with the teachings of those branches of medical science in these institutions. Incidentally he has purchased what library authorities he required to finish his history of medicine-a general history upon which he has been at work for over twenty-five years,-bring- ing with him on his return from Europe an addition to his library of over three thousand volumes. Eventful and varied have been the experiences of his life and throughout his entire career he has been actuated by principles and stimulated by an ambition which neither seek nor require disguise.
LYMAN JUDSON GAGE.
Financier, statesman, philanthropist and philosopher, the activities, com- mercial and mental, of few men have covered so wide a range as those of Ly- man Judson Gage. Necessity and ambition constituted the stimulus that placed him upon the upward path and made him one of America's foremost bankers and, studying well the lessons to be learned in the school of experience and carefully contemplating every phase of existence, he wrought out his philosophy
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of life. Today at the age of nearly seventy-seven years he is living retired in San Diego, still actively interested in the contemplation of questions that affect mankind and seek to further the ideal relations that recognize the truth of universal brotherhood. Chicago, the east and the west all owe much to the efforts of Lyman J. Gage. The village of De Ruyter, Madison county, New York, was his birthplace and his natal day was June 28, 1836. He came of a family of English descent although his ancestors were long residents of New York ere the birth of his parents, Eli A. Gage and Mary (Judson) Gage, who were also natives of the Empire state. The family home was maintained at De Ruyter until 1846, when a removal was made to Rome, New York, and there the son Lyman, who had previously attended the public schools of his native village, continued his education in the local academy. At the age of fourteen he was largely dependent upon his own resources and, becoming a clerk in the Rome postoffice, he was detailed by the postmaster as mail route agent on the Rome & Watertown Railroad when a youth of fifteen. He entered upon active connection with financial interests when in 1854 he became office boy and junior clerk in the Oneida Central Bank at Rome at a salary of one hundred dollars per annum. His duties included janitor service as well as clerical work and when, after a year and a half, he was declined an increase in salary, he resolved to try his fortune in the growing west, attracted by the interesting tales which reached him concerning the enterprising and progressive spirit which dominated the Mississippi valley and especially the city that was growing up by the lake. He arrived in Chicago on the 3d of October, 1855, and, scorning no honest employment, entered the services of Nathan Cobb, owner of a lumber yard, his nominal position being that of bookkeeper yet when he was not busy with his accounts he often aided in loading lumber. He occupied that position until the business changed hands in 1858. This was the period of financial depression following the widespread panic of 1857 when trade was largely at a standstill. He could not obtain employment as a bookkeeper but rather than remain idle he accepted a position as night watchman. Six weeks, how- ever, brought him a coveted opportunity to reenter financial circles for at that date-August, 1858,-he was offered the position of bookkeeper by the Mer- chants Savings, Loan & Trust Company at a salary of five hundred dollars per annum. From that period forward his advancement was rapid. On the Ist of January, 1859, he was made paying teller at a salary of twelve hundred dollars per year; in September, 1860, became assistant cashier at a salary of two thousand dollars; and a year later was made cashier. In August, 1868, he resigned that position to become cashier of the First National Bank and in the ensuing years he contributed largely to its upbuilding through his business ability, his enterprise, his close application and his initiative spirit. Official preferment followed, Mr. Gage being chosen vice president and general manager on the reorganization of the bank at the expiration of its charter in 1882, and on the 24th of January he succeeded to the presidency of the First National-a bank which in the, volume of its business exceeds that of any other financial institution of America. He had thus gained the heights of financial prominence. It was a climb from start to finish, the way often beset with difficulties, obstacles and hardships. He early recognized the eternal
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truth that industry wins and that industry guided by intelligence advances the individual beyond the ranks of the many to a place among the more successful few. He therefore wisely used time, talents and opportunities, actuated ever by the laudable ambition of attaining honorable success. He showed himself to be a man not only possessed of intelligence, good judgment, sagacity, energy and industry but in addition to these a comprehensive knowledge of the prin- ciples of finance, a thorough understanding of political economy as it affects the great operations of production and distribution, skill in determining the dominant influences that control human action and a quick and accurate perception of character. He also added to these the philosophic qualities of the statesman and the tact and adaptability of the man of affairs. He therefore readily solved the most intricate and involved financial problems and more than this he was active in marking out the financial policy of the country. It is not to be wondered at that when President Mckinley made up his cabinet he placed into the hands of Lyman J. Gage the portfolio of the treasury. He filled that office from 1897 until after the assassination of President McKinley, when he tendered his resignation which was accepted in February, 1902. He managed the financial affairs of the nation with the same capability, farsightedness and initiative that he had displayed in the control of the First National Bank of Chicago and upon his retirement from the cabinet he accepted the presidency of the United States Trust Company of New York in April, 1902, and remained in that connection until 1906, when he resigned and removed to San Diego.
In the meantime Mr. Gage had left his impress upon other events of national importance. The prominence to which he attained as president of the First National Bank of Chicago led to his selection in 1882 as president of the Ameri- can Bankers Association composed of the leading bankers and financiers of the country who twice reelected him to that office. At the annual session of the association held in Chicago in October, 1893, he was recognized as in a sense its host and his extemporaneous address on that occasion will be remembered as one of the most interesting and instructive features of that notable meeting. As the years passed by he became a factor in the management of many of the most important commercial and financial enterprises of the city in which he lived, and yet this was not all. He was a student of the great underlying prin- ciples which affect the business relations of the country. He possessed broad sympathies and an intelligent conception of the great social and economic problems of our civic life and during his residence in Chicago he interested himself actively in such and was largely instrumental in bringing about a series of economic conferences where the conflicts of capital and labor were the special subjects of consideration. Leading men of the day discussed these questions and Mr. Gage delivered two addresses that were indicative not only of his comprehensive knowledge of the question but of his great sympathy with those who were struggling upward. He was also active as a member of a committee of forty formed at the instigation of the noted London reformer, William Stead, to bring about a cooperation of the best elements of Chicago, representative of all classes, for the improvement of the moral condition of the community.
He added to his prominence, if this were possible, by his activity in behalf of the World's Columbian Exposition. He was a guiding spirit in directing
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every step taken to promote the great enterprise in which Chicago engaged. He was especially prominent in the organization of the committee to whom was entrusted the formulations of plans for bringing the exposition to Chicago. When Senator Hitchcock of New York, opposing Chicago, claimed that the city could not carry out her pledge of raising ten millions of dollars toward the expense of preparation for the fair, Mr. Gage and three other leading financiers of the city personally pledged themselves for the amount. There was not a dissenting voice in his election to the presidency of the board of directors of the fair. He assumed the office with reluctance, however, owing to his pressing duties in connection with the presidency of the First National Bank. When he consented to accept, however, he brought his characteristic energy and saga- city to the work in hand and public opinion is at one in the feeling that to Mr. Gage, perhaps, more than to any other man, is due the success of the initial steps which were taken for the holding in Chicago of the greatest international exposition ever seen in America. It would be difficult to determine the extent of the influence of the life work of Lyman J. Gage. Writing of him while he was still actively connected with Chicago's interests, one biographer said: "Mr. Gage is a banker and a most successful manager; but he is more. He is pos- sessed of wide intelligence, gained by observation of the course of business and events, and much more by close and thoughtful study of philosophy and economics, of history and literature. He is quick of perception, intuitive in judgment, rapid in conclusions and generally correct in his estimates of char- acter. He takes a broad survey of events and forms a philosophic theory of their trend and outcome. Beyond the routine of the bank and the immediate influence of passing events he has a comprehensive view of affairs. He is interested in public questions and has that wisely directed public spirit which makes him a leader of opinion and a moulder of men. He is a philosopher without pedantry, a politician without partisanship, a humanitarian without hobbies. Withal he possesses an impressive personality, a large frame, a firm gait, a steady eye, a pleasant mien, a cordial manner and features comely, if not positively handsome. With such qualities and many more which elude ready analysis, is it any wonder that he has reached the high position in finance and the commanding influence in society which makes him today one of the most impressive personalities that mingle in the daily round of business in Chicago?" 1192412
Mr. Gage has been married thrice. In 1864 he wedded Miss Sarah Etheridge, a daughter of Dr. Francis B. Etheridge, of Little Falls, New York. At her death a year later she left an only son, Eli A. Gage. In 1887 Mr. Gage mar- ried Mrs. Cornelia Gage, of Denver, Colorado, who died in 1901. Since his removal to San Diego he has wedded Miss Francis A. Ballou, a daughter of George H. Ballou. He occupies an attractive home there and his life con- tinnes to be one of broad usefulness. Any man of generous impulses and wide views can give money away to worthy objects. So while his contributions to charity have been real and creditable his signal service has been in the vigor which he lent to the establishment of financial stability, shaping the financial policy of the country and in stamping his intensely practical ideas upon projects of public importance. Such careers are too near us now for their significance
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to be appraised at its true value, but the future will trace the permanent effect of their labors upon the society and the institutions of their times.
The possibilities of high position afforded in the United States to industry and fidelity were never better illustrated than in the career of Mr. Gage. Going to the middle west as a youth of nineteen, working for his living and dependent on his own hands for whatever the world was to bring him of enjoyment or success, he reached not only a position of financial independence and political distinction but also an exalted social position with a mind enriched by travel, books and art, by constant mingling with men and women of the highest breeding, education and accomplishments. He started with nothing but has today almost everything that men covet as of value. It is well that so success- ful a life should also have found time for the finer things our self-made men are so prone to overlook-aid in money and personal attention to schools and projects for moral progress, the collection of rare objects of beauty from all over the world.and the artistic adornment of his city and of his home.
RUFUS CHOATE.
Rufus Choate, secretary of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and by virtue of his position and the force of his ability and personality one of the lead- ing figures in the business life of the city, was born in San Diego in 1870 and is a son of Daniel and Sarah L. Choate, the former one of the earliest California pioneers. The father of our subject was a native of Maine, born in Kennebec county, on September 9, 1827. He spent his early years on a farm, availing himself of such educational advantages as the district school afforded, and he remained with his parents until he was twenty years of age. At that time, in 1847, he went to Lowell, Massachusetts, and after attending school there for two years joined a party of '49ers to seek gold in California. The party went via Panama, the journey being attended with the usual inconveniences, hard- ships and perils incident to pioneer travel, and after a month's delay the young fortune seeker obtained passage on a sailing vessel to San Francisco. This por- tion of the long journey was the most tedious of all, for one hundred and sixty-seven days were spent upon the trip and early in that period provisions and water ran low, passengers and crew being on short allowance for one hundred days. Finally on the 12th of October, seven months from the time Mr. Choate left Boston, the steamer sailed through the golden gate and came to anchor at the straggling settlement of Yerba Buena. After Mr. Choate came ashore he started immediately for the mines, making Ophir his objective point. He remained there throughout the winter months, but in April started for Yuba, where he remained until the spring of 1851. Meeting with very little success in his mining operations, he returned to Ophir and established himself in the mercantile business, in which he continued for seventeen years. His patronage came entirely from the miners and, therefore, when the mines in that section became exhausted and business dull, he removed to San Francisco and opened up a dry-goods store on Kearney street, between California and Pine. He was by this time a fairly successful man but had only made a beginning of the vast
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fortune which later rewarded his labors. After his San Francisco store had been in operation for a year Mr. Choate determined to take a brief rest from business cares and seek recuperation in San Diego, having heard enthusiastic reports of that city's healthful climate. Accordingly, he took passage on one of the steamers which ran down the coast once every month and finally reached San Diego. Before he had been in the city many hours he had definitely decided to locate here permanently, for he felt confident that upon the shores of this magnifi- cent harbor would eventually arise a city that would equal San Francisco in great- ness and resources. He had seen the latter city grow up like magic and he recognized similar possibilities in San Diego, believing firmly that its popula- tion and wealth would increase enormously in a short time. So sanguine was his faith that he did not even return to San Francisco but wrote to his brother to sell out their interests and join him in San Diego. August, 1869, found Mr. Choate permanently located in this city and established in the real-estate business, his operations along this line forming the foundation of the princely fortune which he at length acquired. He made it a point to buy up land by the acre, purchasing all he was able to acquire and depending upon the future for his profits. His faith in the coming greatness of his adopted city never forsook him and he held his real estate, adding to it when he could until he finally became one of the most extensive landowners in this part of southern California. Mr. Choate laid out and platted ten different additions to the city of San Diego, each containing from forty to eighty acres. He was the promoter of the famous University Heights addition, which is becoming one of the most important real-estate projects ever undertaken around San Diego. He also promoted and was interested in the Steiner, Klauber, Choate and Castle addition, east of San Diego, comprising one thousand acres, two and a half miles from the city. Mr. Choate was one of the prime movers in inducing the railroad to build a branch to San Diego and was one of five who founded the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. In 1875 he was appointed postmaster of the city and retained that position until 1882, when the increasing volume of his private business necessitated his resignation. Few, if any, men of San Diego were better known throughout this section of California and few have been greater forces in busi- ness development. He stood as a central figure in real-estate circles and as a dominating force in all movements for civic expansion-an eminently successful and progressive man-his activities reaching back to the foundation and early growth of San Diego having left a distinct impress upon the city's history. He passed away April 6, 1899.
Rufus Choate of this review was educated in the public schools of Hacketts- town, New Jersey, and afterward attended Princeton University for one year. Upon his return from college he settled in San Diego and engaged in the real-estate business with great success. When he abandoned this line of occupa- tion he became connected with the Merchants National Bank and for ten years was connected with that institution. In March, 1910, he accepted the position of secretary of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and through his energetic, public-spirited and well directed work has played an important part in the devel- opment of the city. He is a man of broad learning, extensive knowledge and practical business judgment and his character is rich in those enterprising and
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reliable qualities upon which the prosperity and substantial growth of every community depend.
In 1900 Mr. Choate was united in marriage to Miss Flora May Martin, and both are well known in social circles of the city. Mr. Choate belongs to the Cuyamaca Club and fraternally is a thirty-second degree Mason. He is a mem- ber of the legislative committee for the exposition soon to be held in San Diego and is director and vice president of the Western Investment Company. He is a worthy son of his pioneer father, inheriting much of the latter's sturdy and upright characteristics as well as his excellent business ability. His well de- veloped intellectual qualities and his breadth of view make him a favorite in commercial circles and he enjoys the respect and esteem of the most intelligent and representative men of the city.
GILBERT AUBREY DAVIDSON.
The life record of Gilbert Aubrey Davidson is proof of the fact that success and an honored name may be won simultaneously. There are too many who contend that prosperity must be acquired at the cost of high ideals and principles, but again and again men come to the front whose lives show an even balance in their business affairs on the one hand and a recognition of their duties and obligations to their fellowmen on the other. Notably prompt, energetic and enterprising Gilbert Aubrey Davidson has gained a position of distinction in financial circles as the president of the Southern Trust & Savings Bank of San Diego, and while developing its interests he has also labored for the welfare of the city at large and for the adoption of those principles which take cognizance of the social, intellectual and moral side of man's nature. He was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, June 21, 1868, a son of George Albert and Eliza (Pal- meter) Davidson. His educational training was received in Kings County Academy of Nova Scotia and shortly after his text books were put aside he came to San Diego, arriving in this city in October, 1886, when a young man of about eighteen years. He brought with him no capital save the qualities of determina- tion, diligence and laudable ambition. He secured the position of head book- keeper with the Santa Fe Railway Company which then had its general offices in this city. For two years he acted in that capacity and in 1888, soon after the transference of the company's headquarters to Los Angeles, was appointed cashier and paymaster of the road. He filled that dual position for approximately seventeen years and in 1905 was promoted to the position of auditor for the coast lines of the Santa Fe system. His interests, however, centered in San Diego and in May, 1907, he resigned his position and returned to this city where, receiving the financial support of several Santa Fe officials, he organized the Southern Trust & Savings Bank which was capitalized for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. From the organization down to the present he has been president of the bank and its success is due in large measure to the high esteem in which Mr. Davidson is held by the citizens of San Diego. The history of this bank is one of the most remarkable in California. Its license was granted by the state July 1, 1907, and on the Ist of October, with headquarters in the
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