USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The builders of a great city : San Francisco's representative men, the city, its history and commerce : pregnant facts regarding the growth of the leading branches of trade, industries and products of the state and coast > Part 29
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For a while it had ceased to op- erate, but in January, 1866, was re- vived by the gentlemen named. In the year 1870 the firm name was changed to that of Parrott & Co.
Mr. Louis B. Parrott and Mr. Wm.
Babcock became members in 1876, thirteen years ago. Mr. P. has long occupied an important position in it, and is now senior member. He was born in the famous and wealthy city of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1842. Though a native of Maryland, his family was one of the first in Vir- ginia. He received a solid educa- tion in his native State, and was en- gaged in the shipping and commis- sion business in Mississippi, which, through a long and successful career, has ever since claimed his undivided attention. He came to California in 1865, not, like many others, in search of the much coveted treasure of her mines, but to take a clerkship in the banking house of Parrott & Co. HIe arrived via Panama, and had the usual experience of all who traveled by that route. After laboring hard for eleven years, and acquiring a thorough knowledge of what was to be his life business, he was admitted a member of the firm in 1876, as already mentioned.
Tiburcio Parrott retired in 1880, leaving William F. Babcock senior member. On the death of Mr. Bab- coci . in 1885, Mr. Parrott, with Mr. W. Babcock, continued the business until December 30, 1887, when Mr. Babcock retired actively, and Mr. Joseph Plaw was admitted as a member. As already noted, the business is one of the oldest and largest in its line in the city, and has reached its present standing through the labors of a series of able and tal- ented men. Not any of the financial panies of earlier or later days affected it, and it has kept on its way, ac- quiring strength with years. The business, of which Mr. Parrott is
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head, extends to China, Japan, Aus- tralia, the East Indies, Central and South America and Europe, and con- sists in all the great staples which form the basis of our commerce with these countries. The house has been especially prominent in the great coffee trade with Central America. Mr. Parrott occupied the very re- sponsible position of Guatemalan Consul for six years, for which his education and commercial connec- tions especially fitted him. He is a member of the Chamber of Com. . merce and the Produce Exchange.
He belongs to the Pacific Union Club, and is also a member of the Bohemian Club. He was married in 1880 to an amiable and respected lady, who has borne him two chil- dren. He is a pleasant, unassuming gentleman of amiable manners. His business qualifications are such as become the responsible head of a house like that of Parrott & Co. IIe is of a charitable, friendly and oblig- ing disposition, and has always pre- served his character as a gentleman, unspotted and unstained during a long carcer.
JAMES PATTERSON.
HE successful pioneers of our Cal- ifornia industries should be held in everlasting honor, as it is main- ly by industrial pursuits that a people grow rich and powerful. The task of establishing such industries in our day is no easy one when powerful manu- facturing States and nations have, at their beck and call, all that wealth and science and the latest triumphs of invention can bestow to keep them far ahead in the race. The industrial pioneer must therefore be no ordinary man even though often but the re- sult of his labors are seen, while he himself, modest and shrinking from publicity, is not unseldom robbed of the credit and honor that is justly his due. We have been led into these observations by a consideration of how . such a great industry as that of saw making in our city could be so suc- cessfully developed, while the men who have done it all were, for the most part, hardly known outside of their own immediate circle. This is one of the industries which has suc- cessfully maintained itself against the wealth and power of the Eastern man- ufacturers in the same business, and sketches of those who have done it all will by no means come amiss. Not that there is anything of startling or absorbing interest in the record of their careers; on the contrary, they have gone on quietly, and we may say uneventfully, were it not for the suc- cess that has attended steady and un- remitting toil welldirected. James Pat- terson, the manager of the firm known as the "Pacific Saw Manufacturing Company," was born in Dalkeith, Scot- land, in 1835. He was taught to be useful at a very early age, and helped
the family by his labors from the time that he was nine years old, so that he has been both literally and metaphori- cally the architect of his own fortune. He attended night school in New York while otherwise employed during the day. He left the shores of "Auld Scotia " in 1846, arriving in Baltimore in the same year. As he was then barely eleven years old, his education and training must be considered as having been wholly American. He was apprenticed to the business of saw making in Baltimore, and served three years at George Stead's estab- lishment; thence going to New York he worked at Hoe's for eight years. Here he became a thorough mechanic, and as Hoe had a night school where the scholars were supplied not only with tuition, but with books, slates and pencils frec, he laid here the solid foundation of a good business education. While an apprentice with George Stead at Baltimore, he first be- came acquainted with Charles P.Shef- field, who was afterwards to be a life partner in the business which both had learned.
Mr. Patterson came to the Pacific Coast in October, 1858, by the Panama route-on the steamer St. Louis on the Atlantic side and the Sonora on the Pacific side. In 1863 he met his old shopmate, C. P. Shef- field, in this city and both went into the business of saw repairing on the northeast corner of Battery and Jack- son streets. While here engaged it occurred to them that saw manu- facturing on a small scale would pay. The great and inexhaustible lumber resources of the Coast and the mag- nitude that they had even then
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assumed, rendered the manufacture of saws for cutting down the forests already a great and thriving industry. But others were not at all of their opinion, and Mr. Patterson's land- lord, who would have loaned him any amount of money under ordinary circumstances, regarded the new project as wild and chimerical, and said : "You are intelligent, indus- trious and have a knowledge of your business. I will loan you money, but not to make saws." " People who used saws all had their preferences," said Mr. Patterson. " Some used one brand of saws, some another; they would only give us second chance. We would say to them, ' If the saw does not suit you send it back at our expense.' For ten or fifteen years," continued Mr. Patterson, "it was just this way ; but then it became acknow]- edged that we could make a saw better suited to the wants of the coast than any one else, and that it was merely a matter of price that sent custom elsewhere. In this we have been handicapped ; we have to pay dearer for our material, dearer for our labor, for our fuel-more for everything. Could we manufacture as cheaply as in the Eastern States we could enjoy ten times the amount of business that we do. The first two mill saws that we made, one eleven
feet, the other twelve, were ex- hibited in the Mechanics' Institute Fair, held where the Lick House now stands. They were sold to McPherson & Wetherbee and to Duncan's Mills. Our first establishment was on the northeast corner of Battery and Jackson streets, in the old iron store still standing. £ We removed from that to Pine street, between Front and Battery, and then to our present location in 1868."
In 1864 Mr. Patterson, Mr. Sheffield and Mr. Spaulding joined themselves together under the style and title of the Pacific Saw Manufacturing Com- pany. There has not been since any change in its personnel, but in 1884 the partners, like many others, thought it wise to incorporate.
Mr. Patterson was married in 1856 and has had several children. One son is engaged in the business with him, having learned the trade of saw-making in California.
In person Mr. Patterson is slightly over the middle height, strongly but not stoutly built, in the prime of life and in the full flush of mental and physical vigor, unassuming in manner, with a kindly word for everybody, but intensely practical ; he is a fitting type of the successful pioneer in the San Francisco industrial world.
GEO. C. PERKINS.
GEORGE C. PERKINS.
EW ENGLAND has no worth- ier son, nor one better known throughout the length and breadth of California, than the Hon. George Clement Perkins. His posi- tion in the mercantile community and in the political world has for a long series of years been second to that of none in our State, and we may add that in few instances has this prominence been better de- served. Yet, while such is the case, he has climbed the ladder of success round by round, having, throughout his diversified career, received none of the adventitious aids of wealth or fortune. His family traces its origin to England, but so far back that they may be truly regarded as essentially American. Their first settlement was made in Massachusetts, that small State which has given birth to so many renowned men, and thence it gradually spread all over New Eng- land. One branch settled in Maine, and Mr. Perkins is therefore one of those patriotic sons of that State to which California in general and San Francisco in particular owes so much. His birthplace was Kennebunkport; the year, 1839. His childhood was spent on his father's farm. His edu- cation was afterwards obtained in the schools of the neighborhood, which, however, in that day and generation, were more remarkable for their defi- ciences than their excellencies. He owes more, however, to home in- struction, to home example, and the precepts of honesty, industry and perseverance there inculcated than to anything that he acquired in schools. His parents were people of sturdy New England character, and he is in- debted, perhaps, more to their ad-
vice, and above all their example, than to anything else in the world.
The necessities of the case com- pelled him to leave home at a very early age, and he was, so to say, matured and grew to manhood amidst a constant succession of toils and struggles that doubtless helped him to acquire those very qualities which were the necessary conditions of his after success. He went to sea when only 12 years old. He chose a life on the ocean owing to his love of adventure, and to that craving which impels so many youths to see the world and seek adventures in strange lands. He shipped as cabin boy on the " Golden Eagle " to New Orleans. He did not want to go home after his first trip, but persevered in the path marked out for him, and made seven voyages to the Old World as a sailor boy, visiting Eng- land, Ireland, Wales, France, Nor- way, Sweden and Russia.
After his return home he attended the district school for six months. While yet not 15 years old, he again sailed for New Orleans, where he had an attack of yellow fever. Upon his recovery, he made three more voyages to Europe on the ships "Lizzie Thompson," "Nath. Thomp- son " and "Luna," from New Orleans, Maine and New Bruns- wick to Cork, Ireland. The men mutinied on the last voyage, and so well advanced was he in sea- manship that the officers placed him at the wheel. The mutiny being sup- pressed, the "Luna" returned to to port. While on this trip, an old sailor whose acquaintance he had made pictured to him in glowing terms the glories of California, when the resolve was at once formed to
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seek the Golden State at the first op- portunity, and, after a voyage to Dublin and Liverpool, thence across the ocean to New Orleans and back to New York, he visited home and friends once more, and made prep- arations for the trip to California. He arrived here on the clipper ship " Galatea " in the Fall of 1855. He shipped before the mast, and came as a sailor on the vessel around Cape Horn. At that time his re- sources were few, but his enterprise and ambition great. A few days after arrival he went to Sacramento by schooner, thence to Oroville, nearly one hundred miles distant, walking all the way. He engaged iu mining for about two years, but, meeting with poor success, he after- wards found employment in teaming and lumbering. The work was hard and the remuneration small, with lit- tle chance of improvement. This being apparent, he gave up the occu- pation, finding employment in the store of Hedley & Knight. Here his energy and industry attracted atten- tion, and he was advanced step by step, till finally he became a partner in the business. At last the whole management devolved upon him, and it prospered exceedingly. While here he assisted in establishing the Bank of Butte County, built the Ophir Flour Mills, and became in- terested besides in mining, saw mills and sheep farming. He throve wonderfully, and the suc- cess of his various enterprises not only redounded to his own advan- tage, but added to the wealth of the entire country.
Such a man could not long remain in private life. The numerous friends that he made, well acquainted with his character and abilities, insisted on his becoming a candidate for State Senator, and though his party, the Republican, was in a minority, he was elected triumphantly by over four hundred majority. He was sub- sequently elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Senator
Boucher. While a member of the State Senate he worked honestly and earnestly to advance the interest not only of his section, but of the great State of which it formed a part.
It was at this time that he made the acquaintance of Captain Char es Goodall, who was a meir ber of the Assembly from San Francisco. Th . result was the formation in 1872 of the well-known firm of Goodall, Nel- son & Perkins, which has exercised such an important influence it he transport tion interests of the Satc. The partnership continued as at first constituted until 1876, wh n, Mr. Nelson retiring, the firm assumed the style and title, of Good ill, Perkins & Co., which it retains to th s day. Despite the attention which his great business interests required, Mr. Per- kins still remained in the political arena, or rather, his friends knowing his worth and his importance to the party, would not consent to his re- tirement. The result was his · lec- tion as Governor in the Fall of 1879 by a plurality of over 20,000. There was a sharp struggle before the State Convention, but the majority of that body felt that it needed a man of character and standing to lead the Republican hosts to victory. He was inaugurated January 1, 1880, and his record in the gubernatorial chair was one of the best in the history of California.
He has occupied prominent posi- tions in many important orders. Gov- ernor Perkins was raised a Master Mason in Oroville Lodge, No. 103, December 15, 1859, and after hold- ing nearly all the offices in his lodge, including that of Worshipful Master, was elected Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of California in 1871, Grand Senior Warden in 1872, Deputy Master in 1873 and Grand Master in 1874, by an almost unani- mous vote. He was knighted Octo- ber 28, 1861, in Oroville Command- ery No. 5, in which he held the po- sitions of Junior and Senior Warden, Captain of the Guard, Recorder and
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Commander. In 1868 he was elected Grand Standard Bearer of the Grand Commandery of California, and in 1871 Grand Senior Warden. In 1882 he was elected Grand Com- mander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of California, and held the position during the Tri- ennial Conclave of the Grand En- campment of the United States in this city. At that session he was elected Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar in the United States.
He is connected with many char- itable and benevolent associations, especially with the Boys and Girls' Aid Society, of which he has been President for eight years. He was President for two years of the Art Association, and is a member of the Pacific-Union, Bohemian and Athe- nian Clubs. He served as President of the Merchants' Exchange in 1878, and was again elected President in 1889, holding the position at this time. He has been for several years a Trustee of the Academy of Scien- ce-, and is also a Trustee of the State Mining Bureau, and a Trustee f the State Institute for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind at Berkeley.
As a shipping house the firm of which he is a member has long com- manded or controlled the most ex- tensive business on the coast, ex- tending from Alaska to Mexico.
This has largely been developed by their energy and industry. About two thousand men are constantly em- ployed in this trade. The firm, be- sides, has a large interest in the Pacific Whaling Company and other corporations. Governor Perkins him- self is largely interested in various industries. He is a
Director in the First National Bank of San Francisco, Starr & Co., Bank of Butte County, California State Bank, Pacific Steam Whaling Company, Arctic Oil Works and other corporations. He is largely interested in mining, and is the owner of a large cattle ranch in Southern California.
He was married in Oroville in 1864 to his present wife, an accom- plished and excellent lady. They have a fine family of three sons and four daughters. As a public speaker he is forcible, pleasing, and, above all, convincing. He expends much money in charities, and has never been known to turn a deaf ear to the calls of benevolence. He is courte- ous, gentlemanly, cheerful and geni 1, and withal adverse to pretension- modest and unassuming. He has been one of our most enterprising and successful men, and none have been more deserving of success than he. It is hoped that he will long re- main one of California's representa- tive citizens.
DR. E. B. PERRIN.
DR. EDWARD B. PERRIN.
ITH the exception of the Bo- nanza Kings and the leading stockholders of the Southern Pacific, Dr. Edward B. Perrin may be said to be one of the wealthiest men in California, and though he possessed all the advantages that birth, education, and a competent fortune could supply, yet his success in building up his colossal fortune may be said to be entirely due to his own good sense and eminent busi- ness ability. He was born January 12, 1839, in Green County, Ala. Through his father, who was an eminent physician, he was of French descent, while his mother was of English line ge. Besides being re- nowned in his profession, his father was a wealthy Southern planter, and lived in all the style and elegance that characterized the Southern gen- tleman in the ante-bellum era. Dr. Perrin's early education was ac- quired at his home from competent teachers. He subsequently attended the South Carolina College, from which he graduated with distinction, and afterwards studied medicine at New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Mobile, Ala., from the medical college of which latter city he gradu- ated as Doctor of Medicine. He did not intend to become a practicing physician, but undertook the study solely as an accomplishment. He also intended to study law for the same purpose when the war broke out and called him to the field. He responded to the summons of his native State and entered the army of Virginia as a private soldier be- fore the first battle of Manassas. He was soon, however, at the re- quest of Dr. Choppin, who was an old teacher and the Medical Director
of the army of General Beauregard, assigned to duty as his assistant. He was afterwar I assigned to duty on the staff of General Pendleton, who was first General Jolinson's and afterwards General Lee's Chief of Artillery. He was on his staff until after the first battle of Fredericks- burg. At his own request he was transferred to the Army of the South, where he remained till the close of the war, at which time he was Chief Surgeon of a division of cavalry under General Forrest. After the war he was engaged in cotton planting for two years at his own home in Middle Alabama. Here he was interested in and carrying on five cotton plantations, employ- ing about 200 hands. Finding the country going backward, he deter- mined to seek out some new field in which to woo fortune and begin a practical business life. For this pur- pose he determined to go either to Baltimore, New York, Chicago or San Francisco. He first visited Bal- timore and then New York, from which latter city he proceeded to San Francisco by way of Panama. This was in 1868. To accomplish his purpose he must visit Chicago, and traveled overland from Sumn Francisco to that city. He went by car to Humboldt only, from there to Green River, Wy. The result of this trip was that he made up his mind to settle in San Francisco. When he arrived here, Dr. Toland, who had been a warm friend of his father, strongly urged him to resume the practice of medicine, promising that he would aid him to advance in his profession to the utmost of his power. He had, however, finally made up his mind to enter on a prac-
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tical business career, and all the good doctor's pleadings were of no avail. He had mapped out his path in life and was firmly resolved to pursue it. He brought with him to this coast about $40,000. This he determined to invest in country lands, where he knew the railroads in days to come would be sure to lead. Having pur- chased these lands he would, on the advent of the railroad, sell a portion of them at advanced prices and hold the rest. This policy has worked like a charm. In order to do this intelligently he visited personally the valleys of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Salinas and Los Angeles. Following out this idea he made arragements for the purchase of the land where the flour- ishing town of Redding now stands. He also bought land near the town of Shasta, and three of the present depots of the Southern Pacific in Fresno County. These depots are now known as Herndon, Malaga and Fowler. Still following out the same Jine of action he went to Southern Arizona, and bought the Babacomo- nari Ranch, a land grant of 132,000 acres, and containing three town- sites. In No thern Arizona on the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Rail- road he purchased 265,000 acres, in- cluding four townsites. Here he has a large number of cattle and sheep. He has als > been in the business of building irrigating canals during the last twelve years in Fresno County. In this county, prior to establishing his colonies, he also sold from 40,- 000 to 50,000 acres of land for which he obtained from $4 to $10 per acre, much of which has since advanced to from $100 to $200 per acre. Here, Perrin Colony No. 1 has been organ- ized for three years and much of the land has been laid out in vineyards and orchards. Perrin Colony No. 2, where the Hollanders have re- cently settled, has also been a great success. Perrin Colony No. 3 con-
sists of 11,000 acres, near Herndon. Colony No. 4 will be called the Mc- Mullen Colony, after Miss McMullen, now his wife. He controls the Chow- chilla Ranch, consisting of 115,000 acres, and located near Fresno. Ar- rangements will soon be made to divide this up and place it on the market. Dr. Perrin owns altogether not less than half a million acres of land.
He has been twice married. He was united to his first wife, a Miss Herndon, a cousin of the wife of the late President Arthur, on May 10, 1864. He married his second w.fe, Miss Lilo MeMullen, a daughter of Mrs. John McMullen, in June, 1887.
His oldest daughter, a young lady of 19, has recently returned from Wash- ington, where she had been visiting Mrs. Hearst. His second daughter attends school at Farmington. His son is being educated at home by private teachers. He has been en- gaged in many enterprises besides those mentioned. He commenced the construction of the railroad from Dunbarton Point, via Newark, to San Jose, which has since been con- tinued to Santa Cruz on the south, and brought up to Alameda on the north. He is a member of the Pacific Club, and the Junior Warden of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. As a business man he is far-seeing and energetic. He is one of the busiest men in San Francisco, and an aud- ience with him is extremely difficult to obtain. Outside of business de- mands he confines his attention al- most exclusively to his family. As becomes a gentleman of his anteced- ents, he is courteous, dignified and unassuming, and in this particular is typical of the best traits of the South- ern character. He may still be called a young man, and his phenomenal success in life already suggests the idea that future days may see him counted amongst the richest men in America.
JOHN PERRY, JR.
JOHN PERRY, JR.
OHN PERRY, Jr., whose tall and erect figure has been famil- iar for forty years to the fre- quenters of Montgomery and Cali- fornia streets, San Francisco, and who now (1889), though seventy- four years old, is as busy and active as though he were yet in the prime of life, is a native of the old Granite State. He was born in 1815, in Strafford County, New Hampshire, being the second of the nine children of John Perry and Abigail Kimball, his wife.
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