# California Historical Society Quarterly/Volume 22/Number 2/News of the Society

​News of the Society
Meetings
"Irish Leaders in Early California" was the topic of an address by Judge Thomas F. Prendergast at the March meeting of the California Historical Society — held on Tuesday, March 14, in the Comstock Room, Palace Hotel, San Francisco, with sixty members in attendance.
Judge Prendergast, who is the author of the recent book. Forgotten Pioneers, traced the influence and activity of Irishmen in California affairs, from the years of the Spanish regime down to recent times. Many prominent Irish families which settled early in San Francisco, the Santa Clara Valley, and Santa Barbara were noticed particularly, with reference to individuals who were outstanding in the pioneer days of California.
"The Adobe Houses of California" was the subject of the address by Mrs. Helen S. Giffen at the luncheon meeting on Tuesday, April 27, in the Com- stock Room of the Palace Hotel. Mrs. Giffen, a member of the Society and an authority on early California houses, graciously substituted for Hilde- garde Hawthorne, the scheduled speaker, who was unable to be present because of illness. Mrs. Giffen limited her subject to some of the more out- standing adobes in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Shasta, Tehama, and Monterey counties, giving colorful anecdotes relating to their careers as well as valuable historical data. After the meeting she displayed many photographs of the adobes described and answered ques- tions regarding them. Fifty-two members and guests were present at the meeting.
Dr. Milton H. Shutes spoke on "Lincoln's California Contacts" before the meeting of the California Historical Society on Tuesday, May 1 8. Author of the recent book, Lincoln and California, Dr. Shutes presented some of the outstanding results of his research, in a most interesting manner. Much of the material was new, or little known. Special attention was devoted to four of Lincoln's commanders in the Union Army— Generals Fremont, Halleck, Hooker and Sherman— who had close association with California in years before the Civil War.
The meeting, at which forty-four members and guests were present, was held in the Comstock Room, Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
A CORRECTION
The date of the Annual Meeting was erroneously given in the March issue of this Quarterly as January 29, whereas the meeting was actually held on January 22.
183 ​
REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1942
As has been customary for several years past, the books of the Society have been audited by Messrs. Farquhar & Heimbucher. Their complete report for the year 1942 is on file, and a summary of the receipts and disbursements of the General Fund and of the Publication Fund is printed below:
GENERAL FUND RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES Receipts Dues:
Active Members $5,465.00
Patron Members 1,275.00
Sustaining Members 750.00 $7,490.00
Contributions:
General Purposes Special Purposes
Sales:
Quarterlies Duplicate Books
Total Receipts
Expenditures
Operating Expenses: Salaries Rent
Telephone Postage and Express Office Expenses Printing Insurance Miscellaneous
Luncheon Expense Quarterly Publication Costs
Total Regular Expenses Special Expenses:
Equipment Expense Purchases from Donated Funds
Total Expenditures
Excess of Receipts over Expenditures Fund Balance at Beginning of Year
Fund Balance at End of Year
fFigures in italics indicate negative amounts.
$ 645.00
10.00
655.00
$ 125.00
200.00
325.00
$8,470.00
$3,605.50
1,800.00
77.95
133.06
181.70
87.37
35873
25.77
$6,270.08
206.27
2,677.09
104.00
$9,153.44
104.00
$9,257.44
332.26
$ 4^S-iSf ​
PUBLICATION FUND RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES
Sales of Publications % 223"
Cost of Sales:
Inventory at Beginning of Year $1,942.70
Additions to Inventory- Less Contribution tovi^ard Expense of Publication
Inventory at End of Year
Gross Profit from Sales
Selling Expenses (Circulars, etc.)
Net Gain from Sales Interest on Savings Account
Net Gain to Fund Fund Balance at Beginning of Year
Fund Balance at End of Year
276.10
3n 90.00
186.10
$2,128.80
1,989.10
139.70
83.41
78.32
5.09
23.58
28.67
3,629.07
$3,65774
BALANCE SHEET
AS AT December 31, 1942
December 31, 1942
Cash- Wells Fargo Bank and Union Trust Company Commercial Account Savings Account Office Cash Fund
$ 276.85 1,791.72
lO.OO
2,078.57
Accounts Receivable General Fund Publication Fund
Inventory of Publications
Total Assets* Liabilities
State Sales Tax Payable Prepaid Dues
8.24 14.51
$ 2.86 885.00
22.75
1,989.10
$4,090.42
887.86
Funds
General Fund Publication Fund
455'iS^
3,^5774
3,202.56
$4,090.42
Due to the exigencies of the year that has closed we had to draw heavily upon advance dues, of which an unusually large amount had been received before the end of the year. We are making every effort to increase the membership so as to make up for the drain upon our resources, and we hope that the members will keep this in mind.
Respectfully submitted, GEORGE D. LYMAN, Treasurer (1942)
tFigures in italics indicate negative amounts. ​
186 California Historical Society Quarterly
NAME
Bliss, Miss Hope
Bamett, Mrs. John T. Barney, Major Royce Bridges, Francis W. Burpee, Isaac Denman, Frank H. Geary, Joseph J. Green, Robert Miller Guthrie, Hon C. L. Hawthorne, Miss Hildegarde Lilly, Lewis Mansfield, Walter E. Martin, Dr. George C. O'Neill, Eugene Pattiani, Mrs. William L. Pool, Charles Henry, Jr. Robinson, A. Porter San Mateo County Historical
Association
Sperry, R. A. Stuart, R. R. Sweet, Joe G. University of Michigan University of the State of
New York Whipple, Mrs. James R. Wier, Miss Jeanne Elizabeth Zellerbach, Harold L.
New Members
Sustaining
ADDRESS
San Francisco
Active San Francisco Oakland Hayward Portland, Ore. Petaluma San Francisco San Francisco Porterville Berkeley San Francisco Berkeley
Washington, D. C. Danville Oakland San Francisco Burlingame
San Mateo Oakland Encino San Leandro San Francisco Ann Arbor, Mich.
Albany, N.Y. Niles
Reno, Nev. San Francisco
PROPOSED BY
Dr. George D. Lyman
Mrs. Silas H. Palmer Dr. Morton R. Gibbons Miss Dorothy H. Huggins Mrs. Alice B. Maloney Mrs. Silas H. Palmer Dr. George D. Lyman Mrs. Jerome A. Hart Mr. Paul Parker Dr. George D. Lyman Mr. Lowell E. Hardy Miss Dorothy H. Huggins Miss Dorothy H. Huggins Mrs. J. J. Van Nostrand Mr. Lowell E. Hardy Mrs. Jerome A. Hart Mrs. J. J. Van Nostrand
Miss Dorothy H. Huggins Mr. Anson S. Blake Mr. A. L.Weil Mr. Ralph H. Cross, Sr. Mr. Lowell E. Hardy Huntington Library
Mr. Edward Eberstadt Miss Dorothy H. Huggins Dr. George D. Lyman Miss Dorothy H. Huggins
Reclassification of Membership
From Active to Sustaining: Mrs. Samuel Knight
•Former member, reinstated. ​
Neivs of the Society 1 87
In flDemoriam
John D. Galloway 1869- 1943
Major John Debo Galloway, one of America's outstanding civil engi- neers, passed away in Berkeley, California, on March 10.
He was born in San Jose, California, on March 1 3, 1869, the son of James and Emily Hoover Galloway. Shortly after his birth the family removed to Virginia City, Nevada. This was in the midst of exciting times on the Com- stock Lode. After his mother's death eight years later, he returned to Cali- fornia. From an early age, left largely to his own resources, he developed the self-reliance which was a marked characteristic.
Graduated from the Rose Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1889, he soon thereafter made his headquarters in San Francisco, though his engineering work often took him far afield. In the next fifty years he had a part in most of the major engineering projects of northern California, including such projects as the San Mateo Bridge, Shasta Dam, Coyote Dam, and the Stanislaus, Las Plumas and Moccasin hydro-electric plants.
He was a pioneer in the design of earthquake-proof structures, as well as in the field of hydroelectric plant construction. Irrigation development, water supply works, bridges, and dams were among the projects in which he specialized.
Following the San Francisco fire and earthquake of 1906, his firm designed and supervised the construction of many of the new city's important struc- tures, and he revised the San Francisco building code.
From 1906 to 1908 he was associated with John Galen Howard in the architectural and engineering firm of Howard and Galloway, and from 1909 to 191 7 he was a member of the engineering firm of Galloway and Markwart.
In the first World War, he was chairman of an organization of seven hun- dred engineers for the study of war work. He was commissioned major of engineers in the United States Army, in G-2 section of the general staff at the headquarters of the American Expeditionary Force, Chaumont, France, receiving for this service a citation from General Pershing. He remained in the Army till January 19 19.
On his return to San Francisco, the partnership with A. H. Markwart was revived and existed until the end of 1920. From then on Major Galloway maintained a consulting practice in San Francisco. He was on the first com- mission for the location of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
A resident of Berkeley for many years, Major Galloway was prominent in civic affairs. Up to the time of his last illness, he was serving as Berkeley's transportation administrator. ​
Major Galloway wrote extensively for technical publications, especially for the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was signally honored by that Society in 1940, when he was made an honorary member and also was awarded the Thomas Fitch Rowland prize for his paper on "The Design of Rock-Fill Dams."
He served for some years as president of the Board of Directors of the California School of Mechanical Arts, and he was a member of the Astro- nomical Society of the Pacific, the Society of Military Engineers, and the Seismological Society of America.
Much interested in the early history of the West and its railroads, he was a member of the California Historical Society, serving as a director at the time of his death. He was a charter and life member of the Commonwealth Club; an honorary member of the Bohemian Club and a long-time member of the Hillside Club of Berkeley.
Major Galloway is survived by two daughters, Mrs. E. Ronald Foster of Berkeley and Mrs. Alice Wilder of Oakland; three grandchildren, John Douglass Foster and the Misses Margaret Ellen and Rosemary Foster, also of Berkeley. He also leaves a brother, Mason Galloway of Cupertino. Mrs. Galloway had passed away about 1 8 months before his death.
The national publication of the American Society of Civil Engineers said editorially, in referring to Major Galloway: "No civil engineer on the Pa- cific Coast has enjoyed a more secure place in the esteem and affection of his fellows." Aubrey Drury
Gifts Received by the Society
March i, 1943, to May 15, 1943 BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS
From CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES- Alden, Roland H., and Ifft, John D., Early Naturalists in the Far West (Occasional Papers, No. XX), San Francisco: Cali- fornia Academy of Sciences, 1943.
From CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - California State Chamber of Commerce, Research Department, Economic Survey of California and Its Counties— 1942, reprinted from California Blue Book— 1942 [Sacramento, 1942].
From CALIFORNIA STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION - California State Historical Association, comp., A Partial List of Organizations in California Interested in California History, 2d ed., Los Angeles: California State Historical Association [1942].
From MISS LILIAN A. CROSS-Cross, Lilian A., Appreciation . . . John Francis Cross . . . Sarah Jane Cross, Oakland, 1933; idem, Sylvan Recollections, a History of the Sylvan District, Sacramento County, California, 1943.
From MR. AUBREY DRURY-Olmstead, Frederick Law, Report of State Park Sur- vey of California, Sacramento: California State Printing Office, 1929.
From MRS. MILTON H. ESBERG-Academy of Pacific Coast History, Publications, Vol. I, Nos. 2-4 (August 1909-March 1910) ; Portold Festival, Official Souvenir Program, 1909; San Francisco, Municipal Reports, Supplement, 1908-9. ​
From MR. FRANCIS P. FARQUHAR-Driggs, Howard R., Westward America, New York: American Pioneer Trails Association, 1942; Farquhar, Francis P., A Brief Chronology of Discovery in the Pacific Ocean from Balboa to Capt. Cook's First Voy- age, 1S03-1770, San Francisco: [priv. prtd.], 1943; idem, The Famous Chinese Navigator Hee-Li, reprtd. from The American Neptune, Vol. Ill, No. i, 1943.
From MR. F. N. FLETCHER-Nevada State Historical Society, Biennial Reports, 1907-12, Carson City, Nevada, 1909-13; idem., Papers, 1913-26, Carson City, Nevada, 1917-26.
From MRS. HELEN S. GIFFEN-Giffen, Guy J., California Gold, n.d.; Giffen, Helen S., and Woodward, Arthur, The Story of El Tejon, Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1942.
From GHOST TOWN NEWS-Wilson, Nichols Field, California Business Roll of Honor . . . [Buena Park, California] : Ghost Town News, 1943.
From INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SAN FRANCISCO- [Haviland, Flo- rence E.], Lives Make America's Destiny . . . [1942], 2 vols.
From A. T. LEONARD, JR., M. D.-Devens, R. M., Our First Century . . . Spring- field, Mass., 1882; Hamill, John, The Strange Career of Mr. Hoover Under Two Flags, New York: William Faro, Inc., 193 1.
From NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION-Norwgi^- American Studies and Records, Vol. XIII, Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American His- torical Association, 1943.
From MR. NAT SCHMULOWITZ-Schmulowitz, Nat, The Nazi Joke Courts, San Francisco: priv. prtd., 1943.
From MR. EMORY E. SMITH— Midwinter International Exposition, The Official History of the California Midwinter International Exposition . . . San Francisco, 1894.
From STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI-Shoemaker, Floyd C, ed., Missouri Day by Day, Vol. I [Columbia, Mo.] : State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.
From MR. ARCHIBALD TREAT-The White House Gallery of Official Portraits of the Presidents, New York and Washington: Gravure Company of America, 1908.
From MR. HENRY R. WAGNER-Jerrett, Herman Daniel, California's El Dorado Yesterday and Today, Sacramento, 191 5; Morse, Salmi, The Passion: A Miracle Play in Ten Acts, San Francisco, 1879; Shay, John C, Twenty Years in the Backwoods of Cali- fornia, Boston: The Roxburgh Publishing Co., Inc. [1923].
From MRS. FRANCIS WILLIAMS-DeVoto, Bernard, The Year of Decision, 1846, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1943.
From MRS. WILLIAM A. WOOD - Wood, Ellen Lamont, George Yount, the Kindly Host of Caymus Rancho, San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1941.
From MISS LOTTIE G. WOODS-Baillie-Grohman, William A., Camps in the Rockies . . . London, 1882; San Francisco Illustrated . . . , Oakland, Calif., n.d.; The Golden Butterfly, a Novel, New York, n.d., and others.
CERTIFICATES AND MANUSCRIPTS From MISS FRANCES M. MOLERA-Certificates and diploma issued to Eusebius J. Molera by: Mercantile Library Association, January 27, 1893; California Academy of Sciences, May 19, 1873; American Society of Civil Engineers, October 6, 1904.
From MR. WILLIAM D. PAGE— Letter written by Charles Darwin August 25, 1877, acknowledging his membership in the "State Geological Society."
MAGAZINES From MR. ALLEN L. CHICKERING-The Garden Club of America Bulletin, No. 6, 8th series (December 1942), containing his article on "A Professional Man's Experience in Growing Wild Flowers." ​
From MR. JOSEPH EWAN-The Colorado Mountain Club, Trail and Timberline, No. 282 (June 1942).
From DR. LOREN B. TABER-California State Dental Association Bulletin, Vol. I, Nos. 1-2, 4-8 (May -Dec. 1916), Vol. II, Nos. i, 3-5 (Jan. 1917-May 1917) ; idem., Journal, Vol. II, No. 6, Vol. V, No. 6 (June 1917-Aug. 1920), Vol. VI, Nos. 1-4 (May 1930- Dec. 1930), Vol. VII, No. I. Vol. XIX, No. 26 (Feb. 1931-April 1943).
MAPS AND PICTURES
From MR. W. C. ARBUCKLE— 10 block prints of San Jose and vicinity.
From MRS. GEORGE CLOUGH-17 photographs of former residents of Forest Hill, Iowa Hill, and other California localities.
From MR. LOWELL E. HARDY-"Scenes on the Pacific Coast," Illustrated Wasp Supplement, December 25, 1880.
From MR. M. HALL McALLISTER- Group photograph of members of the Cor- delia Shooting Club, "California's First Duck Club" (framed) .
From MR. GEORGE NATHAN NEWM AN-4 lithographs from drawings by Bay- ard Taylor: "Mazatlan," "Sacramento City, from the South," "San Francisco in Novem- ber 1849," "Portsmouth Square, San Francisco"; i lithograph published by Henry Bill, "San Francisco 1852"; i illustration, "San Francisco in 1848," from Sir S. M. Petto, Re- sources & Prospects of America.
From MR. EMORY E. SMITH— Album of mounted photographs, souvenir of the California Midwinter International Exposition.
From MISS LOTTIE G. WOODS-Painting, "Yosemite Valley" by unknown artist (framed).
MISCELLANEOUS
From MR. HARRIS S. ALLEN— Many newspaper clippings on California historical subjects.
From MR. FREDERICK J. BOWLEN-Grocery store account book.
From COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL-Program and menu, citizens' banquet in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, San Francisco, May 12, 1903.
From MRS. MARGARET COOK— Miscellaneous newspaper clippings.
From MISS KAY LAWLOR-"Marin Tales," by Kay Lawlor, clippings from the San Anselmo Herald, 1942-43.
From MRS. CLARENCE LOVERIDGE - Address by Colonel Orlando Hurley Moore, July 4, 1863 (typed copy).
From MISS FRANCES M. MOLER A— Invitation to the laying of the cornerstone for the California Academy of Sciences, July 12, 1889.
From MISS SUSAN MULLALY-Control levers used by the late General Thomwell MuUaly in piloting the streetcar which ended the long traffic deadlock caused by the strike of 1907.
From SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION- Various issues of La Peninsula, mimeographed publication of San Mateo County Historical Association.
From MRS. GERTRUDE A. STEGER-Report of Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield, June 2, 1859, on Fort Crook (copied from the National Archives, Records of the War Dept., Office of the Adjutant General) ; Reminiscences of Lotta Crabtree in Yreka, writ- ten by G. H. Conner, Dec. 7, 1942 (MS) . ​
Marginalia
Three deaths have occurred in recent months, of persons who were not members of our Society yet whose passing leaves a gap in the field of western historians: Thompson Coit Elliott, of Walla Walla, Washington, a director of both the Oregon and Washing- ton Historical Societies and author of many articles and brochures on the history of the Northwest, died on May 5. Miss Mary Eudora Garoutte, head of the California History section of the California State Library from its organization in 1903 until her retirement thirty years later, died on January 8. Due to Miss Garoutte's sagacity the Californiana collection at the State Library was started and increased, and it was she who started the card index of newspaper files which is invaluable to writers who visit the library. She was always ready and eager to help embryo authors who were delving into the history of California, in which she was a recognized authority. Terry E. Stephenson, past presi- dent of the Orange County Historical Society and of the Bowers Museum at Santa Ana, and author of books and articles on Orange County history, died on May 7. He was a graduate of Stanford, a former newspaper editor, and had been treasurer of Orange County since 1935.
Two of our members take over their new duties as university presidents in September: Dr. Lynn T. White will be president of Mills College, and Dr. Donald B. Tresidder, president of Stanford University. William P. Fuller, Jr., another of our members, suc- ceeds Dr. Tresidder as president of the board of trustees of the University, and Judge M. C. Sloss and Charles R. Blyth are also officers.
Sponsor of the Liberty ship Fremont Older, launched at Richmond Shipyard No. 2 on June 17, was Fremont Older's widow, Cora, a member of our Society. Another member, John Francis Neylan, noted San Francisco attorney, was one of the speakers.
Dolores Waldorf (Mrs. H. C. Bryant), author of the article, "Gentleman from Ver- mont," will be remembered for her "Charles P. Kimball, San Francisco's 'Noisy Carrier' " in our Quarterly for December 1939. She was formerly assistant editor of the Quarterly of the Society of California Pioneers.
Mrs, Alice B. Maloney, a frequent contributor to our Quarterly, is working for the Berkeley Defense Council. Her biographical article on John Work, in this issue, will be followed by Work's diary of his trip to California in 1832-33 with a Hudson's Bay Company brigade.
Lieutenant Commander Harold F. Taggart, a member of our editorial staff and editor of "The Journal of David Jackson Staples" printed in this issue, until recently has been professor of history and dean of men at San Mateo Junior College. He is now com- manding officer of Navy V-12 Unit, at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He was bom in Indiana, graduated from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, in 1916; received the degree of M.A. from the University of California in 191 7, and Ph.D. from Stanford in 1936. Readers of the Quarterly will remember him for his article on "The Senatorial Election of 1893 in California" in the March 1940 issue.
Ensign Warren R. Howell, U.S.N.R., former secretary of the Society and member of our editorial staff, writes that his address is now c/o U.S.S. Essex, c/o Fleet P. O., San Francisco.
The Society continues to elect new members. Some of them we mention below:
Miss Hope Bliss is the daughter of Duane L. Bliss, California pioneer of 1851, who was well known throughout Nevada and California, particularly in the Lake Tahoe region. Under his good management the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Com- pany furnished millions of feet of timber a month to the Comstock mines and thousands of cords of fuel for their Cornish pumps, yet he was careful to leave sufficient trees to preserve the beauty of the scenery for generations to come. It was Mr. Bliss who put in the first railroad from Truckee to Lake Tahoe, and at its terminal he built the Tahoe ​Tavern, its casinos and railroad office. He was instrumental in preserving the lake as a beautiful recreation spot when a proposed canal for irrigation and power purposes threatened to lower the shoreline and expose unsightly mud banks.
Francis W. Bridges is a graduate of the University of California and of the Harvard Business School, His maternal grandfather, John Wilson, came to San Francisco in 1854 from Nova Scotia and New Zealand, went north to British Columbia after the dis- covery of gold there, then around the world to New Zealand, and back to California in 1870. His paternal grandfather came to the Bay region from Massachusetts in the early 1870's and was one of the engineering party that led the construction of the Southern Pacific over the Siskiyou Mountains.
C. L. Guthrie is a member of the California State Assembly from Tulare County, a director of the Farm Credit Administration, and an authority on stock horses, judging them at horse shows and county fairs. His grandfather, Washington Guthrie, came from Kentucky in 1 848, bringing with him thoroughbred horses. The family moved to Tulare County in 1872 and raised horses and cattle on their ranch near Porterville. Guthrie horses figured in quarter-horse races all over the Western states and one even went to England as a polo horse.
Hildegarde Hawthorne* (Mrs. John Milton Oskison), well-known author of many books, poems, and stories, is the daughter of Julian and granddaughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Dr. George Curtis Martin* has held various positions in geological and paleontological fields with the U. S. Geological Survey, Maryland Geological Survey, Johns Hopkins University, and in Alaska and Mexico. More recently he has been with the United States Board on Geographic Names.
Eugene O'Neill* noted playwright, is the son of the actor, James O'Neill, who first came to San Francisco with the Hooley Comedy Company in 1875 and later became famous as "The Count of Monte Cristo" in the play of that name.
Mrs. William L. Pattiani (Evelyn Craig) is the eldest daughter of Hugh Craig who came to San Francisco from Australia in the early 1870's, entered the insurance business, and built one of the early homes in the Piedmont hills, moving into it in 1880. The house is still owned by Mrs. Pattiani. Hugh Craig was largely responsible for the compiling of the present city charter of Piedmont and served as mayor of that city for seven years. Mrs. Pattiani's maternal grandparents, the Samuel Fleming Gilcrests, arrived in Oak- land in 1864, having come "across the plains" from Ohio in covered wagons. Mrs. Pat- tiani is collecting data for a book on the Piedmont district.
A. Porter Robinson is the grandson of Alfred Robinson, author of the famous Life in California (New York, 1846), who first came to California in 1829. His other grand- father was Horace Hawes, pioneer of 1847, prominent lav^yer and author of the Con- solidation Bill which in 1856 united the City and County of San Francisco.
R. A. Sperry, vice president of the General Petroleum Corporation of California, has been in the oil business since 190 1, the year after the discovery of oil in Kern County. He comes from the family that started the Sperry Flour Company in the very early days, and is the grandnephew of James L. Sperry who was in the hotel business at Angel's Camp and Murphy's and afterwards built and ran the hotel at Calaveras Big Trees Grove. His mother's family, the Ashes, did not come to California until after the Civil War, but they were related to Dr. Richard P. Ashe who came in 1849.
Miss Jeanne Elizabeth Wier*, founder of the Nevada Historical Society, has been its secretary since its organization in 1904. A graduate of Stanford University, she received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Nevada in 1924, at which institution she has taught history since 1899 and has been the head of the Department of History and Political Science since 1901.