Below are short biographies of the 32 men who created the East Bay presence of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1925. They comprise a cross section of our great country, with native Californians, and men who emigrated from the east to the area in pursuit of happiness. Some of the biographies are short, because information from free public resources is scarce. Extensive use was made of the California Digital Newspaper Collection (https://cdnc.ucr.edu/), which is extensive, but not exhaustive. Any interested party can contribute additional verifiable infomation to these biographies by contacting the chapter.
Babcock, George Reed
CASSAR Number 0191, joined originally in 1896, descended from Benjamin Franklin. Born in Oakland, California, October 7, 1871, from a family who arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, and later helped form Providence, Rhode Island. He married Eleanor Olney in 1903, and they resided in Oakland for their entire lives.
George was an engineer, City of Oakland Electrician and Superintendent of Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph. He was named to the latter position at age 22 after the previous Superintendent was removed for "improprieties." Compatriot Babcock designed an ornamental pedestal for fire alarm and police patrol boxes, allowing one conduit for underground telephone, police, fire, and street light wiring, which was used throughout the city. He was a recognized expert in citywide lighting and went on to positions with Pacific Gas & Electric, where he held "a top engineering job," retiring in 1937. He passed away in 1955.
Bixby, Dr. Edward Marcellus
CASSAR Number 0643, joined originally in 1908, descended from Samuel Bixby. Born in San Juan Bautista, June 10, 1859. His father was a partner in the Flint-Bixby firm, which operated the first stage line between San Francisco and Los Angeles. He married Mary Tippett in 1902.
Dr. Bixby was a physician and surgeon, resident at the New Waldeck Sanitarium on Jones Street in San Francisco, which was described by the San Francisco Call as, "perhaps one of the most unique and scientifically equipped institutions of the kind on the Pacific Coast, and one from which the physical sufferer can truly draw the balm which is in Gilead."
In 1908 Dr. Bixby was on the state ticket of the Lincoln-Roosevelt League. The initial aim of the league was to curb the power of the Southern Pacific Company in California politics, and was instrumental in the election of Hiram Johnson as governor of California in 1910 and the formation of the national Progressive (Bull Moose) Party in 1912.
Compatriot Bixby was also an officer in the San Francisco chapter of the Loyal Knights of the Round Table, a benevolent organization. Dr. Bixby passed away in 1936.
Bradley, Walter Wadsworth
CASSAR Number 0867, joined originally in 1911, descended from Lieutenant Nathaniel Frost. Walter was born in San Jose, California, September 28, 1878. He graduated from the University of California in 1901 with a BS in Mining, later receiving the advanced degree of Mining Engineer from the same school in 1917. He married Alice Roberts.
Walter worked as a mining engineer in California, Nevada and Mexico before joining the California State Mining Bureau in 1912. Thirty-four years later, he retired as Chief of the Division of Mines and State Minerologist, and along the way authored many articles on mineral resources and production in the state.
Compatriot Bradley served as president of the University of California Club (1945-47), Union League Club of San Francisco (1944), and was Past Master of Durant Lodge 268, Free and Accepted Masons, Past Commander Berkeley Commandery No. 42, Knights Templar, and Grand Patron of the Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star of California. He passed away April 11, 1950.
Breed, Arthur Hastings Sr.
CASSAR Number 0335, joined originally in 1898, descended from Aaron Childs. Arthur was born in San Francisco in 1865 and moved to Oakland in 1883, where he ran a real estate company in downtown Oakland. Arthur married Caroline M. Hall on May 9, 1893.
Breed became involved in buying sand lots in the city from a young age. After the Panic of 1893, Breed was left with large amounts of debt from his mortgages and was told by a friend that he should run for auditor and assessor of Oakland to earn some extra money, and was elected City Auditor Oakland in 1899. In 1907, he is listed as one of the Executive Committee of the Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican League.
Arthur was elected to the state Senate in 1912, and in 1917 he became President pro tempore of the Senate and held the post for 16 years until 1933, being the person to hold that role the longest up until that time. In the senate, he authored the California Motor Vehicle Act of 1913, which required all motor vehicle operators to have a license, and the gas tax, which provided for the construction of highways in California. Governor Earl Warren called Breed “the father of our state highway system.”
He was named an honorary member of the Sierra Club in recognition of his efforts to build the John Muir Trail, running from Mt. Whitney to the Yosemite Valley. Arthur Hastings Breed passed away April 28, 1953, in Alameda County, California.
Brush, Rev. Frank Spencer
CASSAR Number 0373, joined originally in 1893, descended from General Joseph Spencer. Frank was born June 7, 1857, in Zanseville, Ohio, and emigrated to California around 1900. He married Charlotte Elizabeth Spencer. Rev. Brush was the long-time pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Alameda, now on the National Register.
Frank Brush was well traveled, having visited every country in Europe and North Africa. At home, he was a staunch advocate for women's suffrage. In a sermon published in the San Francisco Call, he stated, "To say, that any man, no matter how ignorant and venal, shall have a voice in directing the public welfare, and that no woman, no matter how intelligent, or vitally concerned, shall have a voice, is illogical and absurd." Rev. Brush also took a lead role in holding police to account for corruption, accusing, along with other local pastors and the Civic League, the Alameda Police of complicity in gambling and illegal liquor sales. 150 warrants were to be issued in the crackdown.
Rev. Brush was also a man of action, as demonstrated when, as reported in the San Francisco Call, he "was awakened by his little son, who said he heard a man trying to break in at a rear window. The minister was ready in a moment with a trusty pistol, and going In the direction of the noise, banged away. Dr. Brush is a crack shot with a pistol or a gun and an all-round sportsman." He passed away in Alameda County on March 13, 1940.
Canfield, Col. George Hathaway
CASSAR Number 1157, joined originally in 1923, descended from Ebenezer Canfield. Colonel Canfield was born in Geneseo, IL, in 1881. As President of the California Society, Sons of the American Revolution 1933-34, he dedicated a "Washington Elm" at Lake Merritt, which was grown from a cutting of the original tree under which General Washington took command of the Continental Army in 1775. One-time head of the land department of Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Partner in American Mining Company, founded 1934.
Colonel Canfield was part of the Veterans' Committee that planned the 1927 Armistice Day Celebrations in Oakland, including parade, barbeque for uniformed men, and an Army-Navy football game held at the University of California's Memorial Stadium (apparently, not the "official" Army-Navy game, which was held in New York). Compatriot Canfield passed away in 1969.
Clough, John Philander
CASSAR Number 1086, joined originally in 1922, descended from Oliver Clough (his grandfather). John was born in DuQuoin, IL, in 1845. He served with Company C, 134th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, in 1864, and afterward married Lucy Amelia Ross on October 22, 1871.
He first emigrated to Idaho, where he served as a state senator for 13 years. In 1896, he was listed as an executive committee member from Idaho for the National Silver Convention, held in St. Louis that year, an outgrowth of the Free Silver Movement. Compatriot Clough was Department Senior Commander for California and Nevada in the Grand Army of the Republic. He passed away in Los Angeles in 1939.
Corbusier, Claude Romeyn
CASSAR Number 0959, joined originally in 1919, descended from Sgt. Cornelius Sloat. Claude was born at Camp McDermott, NV, in 1872. Established by the US Army in 1865, the camp was initially set up to protect travelers passing through the region, particularly between Boise, Star City, and Virginia City.
Compatriot Corbusier faced many struggles in his life, which ended tragically, as reported by the Oakland Tribune, December 5, 1927: "Military rites will be held tomorrow afternoon at the San Francisco Presidio for Claude R. Corbusier, former captain in the anti-aircraft forces whose body was found Saturday afternoon. . .
"Fear that he was going blind and worry over his general health caused Corbusier to kill himself. . .Corbusier, who was 57 years old was well known in club and civic circles in Berkeley, was formerly superintendent of mails in Alaska, where his eyesight was impaired when he was lost in an Arctic snowstorm. Corbusier also was gassed overseas and had been in poor health for several years. . .Corbusier was engaged in business in Berkeley as head of the Berkely Industrial Institute."
Daniels, John Alden
CASSAR Number 1246, joined originally in 1925, descended from Brig. Gen. James Reed. John Alden Daniels was born in 1865 in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. He became an engraver, and by 1919 was the manager of the Suffolk Engraving Company in Newton. He moved to California, and lived on Neilston Street in north Berkeley. He became a real estate agent in California. He died in 1933 in Berkeley, California, and was buried in the Newton Cemetery in Newton, Massachusetts.
Everett, Charles Crandall
CASSAR Number 0809, joined originally in 1915, descended from Pvt. Solomon Allen. Charles was born in Dover, MA, in 1871. He was an auditor an accountant for "a large oil firm in San Francisco," and resided at the Whitecotton Hotel, now the Hotel Shattuck Plaza, on Allston Way in Berkeley. He never married.
Compatriot Everett traveled to Honolulu to visit his sister and nephew, a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii, and passed away there September 3, 1941, after "heart trouble" necessitated his hospitalization in Hawaii.
Finch, Charles Newman
CASSAR Number 0938, joined originally in 1918, descended from Lt. John Finch. He was born in Benicia, CA, in 1861, to John and Margaret. He moved to Oregon around 1899, and worked as a customs inspector and bartender. By 1910, he was back in Oakland managing a hotel. He was a member of Astoria Lodge No. 35, International Order of Odd Fellows, and, as a Navy veteran of WWI, the World War Veterans, a group which sought "live wire, red blooded returned servicemen" in its ranks. He passed away in Oakland in 1939.
Gatch, Claud
CASSAR Number 0934, joined originally in 1918, descended from Pvt. Francis McCormick. Claud was born in Olympia, WA, in 1859, and attended law school at Willamette University, where his father was president. Both he and his father served as mayors of Salem. He married Helen Plummer, an award-winning photographer, in 1885.
After working 25 years for a bank in Salem, Compatriot Gatch was appointed National Bank Examiner of Northwestern States in 1906, and later for California, and the family moved to Berkeley in 1912. Claud was one of a small group of bankers called to Washington to organize the Federal Reserve System, and he was named vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He later resigned those positions to become vice-president and director of the Central National Bank in Oakland.
Compatriot Gatch passed away in 1939. His son, Thomas Leigh Gatch, served in the United States Navy as a ship commander during World War II, including captain of USS South Dakota (BB-57), and was Judge Advocate General of the Navy from 1943 to 1945.
Gilkey, Errol Clarence
CASSAR Number 1134, joined originally in 1923, descended from Col. Edmund Phinney. Erroll was born in Montesano, WA, and was married to Katharine. Compatriot Gilkey graduated from Willamette University, then attended University of California Law School. He also held advanced degrees from New York University and Columbia University. Compatriot Gilkey practiced law in Oakland, and in 1925 was named by then Attorney General Earl Warren as an interim Deputy District Attorney to fill a vacancy.
He was with the US Army Motor Transport Corps from 1917 to 1919, and a member of American Legion, Berkeley Post No. 7. Additionally, he was a member of Sequoia Lodge 349, Free and Accepted Masons. He passed away in Oakland in 1962.
Greene, Charles Samuel
CASSAR Number 0183, joined originally in 1896, descended from Christopher Greene.
Charles Samuel Greene was the founding president of our chapter. The first meeting was held at the Wild Duck Inn on Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, on 6 October 1925. President Howard Cortland Rowley of the California Society presented the charter, and Charles Greene was unanimously elected president of the chapter.
The son of Nathanael Greene and Hannah Wells Eldridge, he was born on 6 December 1856 in Bridgeport, Fairfield County, Connecticut. In 1876, Charles graduated from New England College, East Greenwich Academy. After graduation, he followed his family to California, where he attended the University of California in Berkeley, California.
In 1880, Charles was an Honor Graduate of the University of California, and belonged to Phi Beta Kappa. Charles was a poet and a writer, and he submitted works to the Overland Monthly, which featured California Literature. The magazine was published at 415 Montgomery Street, San Francisco. Charles Greene’s works were so well received, that he became assistant editor of the Overland Monthly in 1887.
In 1890, he was listed in the San Francisco City Directory as living in Berkeley, and working in San Francisco at the Overland Monthly. By 1896, he was living in San Francisco, California.
Charles Greene traveled to Massachusetts to attend the annual meeting of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, on 17 June 1895. He delivered the following poem at the meeting:
June 17, 1775
Where far Atlantic billows gild with the rising day
There stands upon a hilltop on Massachusetts Bay
A stately shaft of granite, which rises in the air
Because a band of yeomen did deeds of valor there.
They had no gaudy trappings that mark the trade of war.
Their uniforms were homespun, and the weapons that they bore
Were crude and clumsy flintlocks, with pouch and powder horn,
And their ranks had no precision that early summer morn.
Yet calmly stood they waiting behind their slight redoubt
While on the strand below them, from many a boat poured out
The scarlet-coated soldiers, the best the world then knew,
Who came with British courage against that chosen few.
And when the day was over, the English grenadiers
Stood victors on the hilltop where now the shaft uprears,
While driven far with slaughter upon the Charles’s banks
The patriots gathered grimly to mend their shattered ranks.
Yet never one among them but firmer held his gun,
And burned with higher courage when that red day was done:
For though at last defeated because of powder’s lack
They twice that day before them had seen the foe fall back.
That is the old-time story, yet ever since that day
Has Yankee blood been constant, however fierce the fray,
And by the Western Ocean the love of freedom still
Shines out with undimmed splendor, as once on Bunker Hill.
Perhaps as a result of his experience at Bunker Hill, Charles Samuel Greene joined the California Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (CASSAR#0183 and NSSAR #3583) on 12 September 1896 on the service of his patriot ancestor Christopher Greene, the brother of General Washington’s trusted General Nathanael Greene. He was a life member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Charles Greene’s patriot ancestor, Christopher Greene, was born on 23 July 1748 in Potowomut, Warwick County, Rhode Island. Christopher served as a member of the Committee of Public Safety in Rhode Island. He was also the Commander of the Kentish Guards of East Greenwich, Rhode Island Volunteers. He took part in Sullivan’s Expedition on Rhode Island. Christopher Greene died on 22 December 1830 in Potowomut, Rhode Island. In his SAR application, Charles Greene described his Revolutionary War ancestors:
CHRISTOPHER GREENE, a patriot of the Revolution, was intrepid and zealous in the cause of freedom. He was a member of the “Committee of Public Safety”, one of the earliest commanders of the Kentish Guards, which corps he helped to organize in the year 1774; and a volunteer in Sullivan’s Expedition on Rhode Island, in which he occupied an honorable command under his brother, Major General Nathanael Greene. He was also a member of the United States Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. My great-great-grandfather, Governor Samuel Ward, father of Deborah Ward, wife of the above Christopher Greene, b. Newport, R.I. May 27, 1725, was Chief Justice of Rhode Island in 1761; in 1762 and ’63 and from 1765 to ’71 Governor; Delegate from R.I. to the General Congress of the Colonies of 1774 and to the Continental Congress, May 10, 1775, of which he was one of the most efficient members. He was chairman of Committee of the Whole when Washington was elected General of the Continental Army, and an ardent advocate of his election. He was always active in forwarding the interests of his country. In 1774, as chairman of a Committee of the town of Westerly, R.I. he introduced resolutions in a spirit of patriotic devotion to the rights of the Colonies. He died in the midst of his service for independence, at Philadelphia Mar. 27, 1776. Wanton Casey, father of Abby Sophia Casey in the foregoing genealogy, in 1776 and during the early part of the Revolutionary War, was a member of the Kentish Guards, a company that was called into service in Rhode Island during the war. He married Elizabeth Goodale, daughter of Major Nathan Goodale, of Brookfield, Mass. Who was an officer in the Massachusetts line during the Revolutionary War.
Charles Greene became well known through the Overland Monthly, and was approached to change careers, and become a librarian. He decided to leave the magazine, which owed him $1,200 on his salary of $75. He had been making due with the unpaid salary by purchasing items with free advertising in the magazine. On 1 July 1899, Charles Greene became the Librarian of the Oakland Free Library in Oakland, California. At that time, the library was located in an old building on the site of the current Oakland City Hall. He immediately set about securing a location for the new Main Library building, and was deeply involved in its construction. The new library building opened in 1902. Over the years, he expanded the library system: Golden Gate (1899), Temescal (1899), Fruitvale (1910), Elmhurst (1911), Melrose (1911), Piedmont (1912), Dimond (1913), Rockridge (1919), and Allendale (1922).
In 1901, Charles Greene married Miss Olivia Day, who also descended from a Revolutionary War line. Olivia was the great granddaughter of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Articles of Association, Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and the Constitution of the United States. In addition to his work at the Oakland Free Library, Charles Greene was active in many groups. Charles was President of the California Alumni Association from 1900-1902. In 1901, he was President of the Library Association of California. From 1904 to 1917, Charles was trustee of the California State Library. From 1909-1914, Charles was a counselor of the American Library Association. In 1909, Charles was one of the founders of the Oakland Rotary Club (the third Rotary Club established). He was also vice president of the Oakland Associated Charities.
In 1910, Charles and Olivia were living at 135 Kempton Avenue, Oakland. In 1915, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held in San Francisco to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal. Charles Greene was responsible for the very successful Library Exhibit at the Exposition. During World War I, Charles Greene was active in War Camp Community Service providing training for the soldiers, sailors and marines.
In 1920, Charles and Olivia were still living at 135 Kempton Avenue, Oakland. In 1925, Charles Greene went to the Carnegie Corporation and secured funding for new buildings for the Golden Gate, Temescal, Melrose and 23rd Avenue branch libraries. On 31 December 1926, Charles Greene retired as Librarian of the Oakland Public Library, and became Librarian Emeritus. When asked what he planned to do in retirement, Charles replied that he was going to have a long rest, and then go back to writing, which he had to severely curtail during his library career. Charles published a collection of the poetry he had written over the years entitled From the Sierra to the Sea.
In 1928, Charles and his wife moved to 139 Tunnel Road, Berkeley, to be closer to the University of California. Charles S. Greene passed away at his home at 139 Tunnel Road, Berkeley, on 7 May 1930 at the age of 74. His funeral services were held at the First Congregational Church in Oakland, where he served for 20 years as a deacon and a clerk. His widow, Mrs. Olivia Day Greene, passed away in her home in February 1932.
Hale, Charles Everett
CASSAR Number 0856, joined originally in 1916, descended from Sgt. Jesse Abbott. Charles was born in Spencer, MA, in 1848. He was a wholesale grocer, awarded a patent for an "apparatus for steaming and spicing dried fruits." Well known as a "clubman," he was also a member of The Golden Gate Commandery of the Knights Templar, Mission Lodge 196, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Island Temple of the Mystic Shrine of San Francisco. He passed away in 1928, leaving a widow, Martha.
Hieronymus, Dr. Arthur Shirmer
CASSAR Number 1230, joined originally in 1925, descended from Col. Daniel McFarland. Dr. Hieronymus was born in Franklin, IN, in 1871, and graduated from Indiana University, then studied medicine at the Bellevue Hospital and Medical College in New York.
He moved to Alameda around 1902, and practiced medicine, including seven years serving as physician and surgeon for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, assigned to SS Mongolia, a 13,369-ton passenger-and-cargo liner plying a San Francisco - Hong Kong - Hawaii route. The doctor was once shipwrecked on Midway Island In the Pacific when Mongolia ran aground with 60 passengers. The party made shore In small boats and waited eight days for a relief steamer to arrive from Honolulu. Over $5 million In gold bullion was saved from the wreck.
In 1912, he was appointed Health Officer in Alameda, a post he held until 1931, when he was appointed city health officer in Oakland, serving in that post for three years. Dr. Hieronymus was a member of Apollo Lodge No. 396 of the Masons; past high priest of Lodge No. 7 of the Royal Arch Masons; a member of Alameda Commandery No. 88, Knights Templar; of Oakland Council No. 12 of the Royal Masters; of Oakland Scottish Rite Bodies; of Aahmes Temple of the Shrine; of Alameda Lodge No. 1015 of the B. P. O. E., of Aerie No. 1076 of the Eagles; past president of the S. A. R.; a member of the Alameda Lodge of the Woodmen of America; a member of Sierra Council of Royal Arcanum and past president of the Alameda Kiwanis Club.
Dr. Hieronymus passed way in 1936, leaving a widow, his second wife, Fay Templeton Hieronymus.
Hutchinson, Ely Champion
CASSAR Number 0572, joined originally in 1905, descended from Col. Thomas Hunt. Ely was born in San Francisco in 1882. He married Florence Adelaide Grant.
Ely was an engineer. In 1910, he received a patent for an ore crushing machine, and was at one time a member of the executive committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was chief engineer, then vice president of Pelton Water Wheel Company, a San Francisco-based company established in 1888 to manufacture and market Lester Allan Pelton’s innovative impulse water turbine, also known as the Pelton wheel.
In 1929, Ely resigned from Pelton to take an executive position with M. W. Kellogg company, a petroleum engineering firm, and relocated to New York. He passed away in 1955 in Washington, DC.
Kellogg, Sheldon Ingalls, Jr.
CASSAR Number 0176, joined originally in 1895, descended from Phineas Kellogg. Sheldon was born in Cincinnati, OH, in 1847, great-grandson of John Harvey Kellogg, the dry breakfast cereals scion. Colonel Kellogg was educated in France and Germany, and in the latter 1860s went to New York, where he served with credit for some time in the Twenty-third Regiment, National Guard of New York.
In 1874 Sheldon came to Oakland and for some years engaged in the gun and ammunition business. He was the champion pistol shot of California, and in 1898 issued a challenge "against all comers," which challenge was successfully defended for years. He served in the National Guard in the old First Infantry Regiment, and was made assistant adjutant-general, afterwards serving in the Oakland Light Cavalry, Second Artillery Regiment and Fifth Artillery Regiment.
Colonel Kellogg passed away in Oakland in 1933, and left a widow, Lillian Reynolds Kellogg, whom he married in 1897, after his first wife died in 1881. He caused a flap when he entered his age in the license book as "21 and over," trying to obscure the fact that he was 49 while she was 18. The ruse didn't work, providing plenty of grist for the local wags.
Kemp, William Webb
CASSAR Number 0956, joined originally in 1915, descended from George F. Helmer. William was born of California pioneering stock in Placerville in 1873. In 1907 he married Grace Hayes, who was a constant source of inspiration to him until her death in 1929.
After graduation from Stanford University in 1898, he entered upon his chosen profession of education. Serving first as a teacher in secondary schools and then as principal in the Alameda elementary schools. He was a graduate student at Stanford University and the University of California. From 1910 to 1912, Mr. Kemp was a graduate student in the libraries of London, England, and Columbia University, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the latter institution in 1912. During the next three years, he was professor of education and director of the summer session at the University of Montana.
In the fall of 1915, he returned to his native state as professor of school administration and chairman of the department of education at the University of California. From 1920 to 1923, the University granted him a leave of absence in order that he might serve as President of the San Jose State Teachers College. Having completed this work, he returned to the University of California in 1923 as professor of education and dean of the School of Education.
He was President of the National Society of College Teachers of Education, of the California Educational Research Association, and of the California Schoolmaster's Club. He passed away in Oakland in 1946.
McCann, Warner
CASSAR Number 1168, joined originally in 1923, descended from Col. Thomas Underwood.
Warner McCann was born in his parents’ home on Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz in 1878. He was the son of Judge Ferdinand Jay McCann (1826-1893), who left his native Maryland in 1849 for California, where he practiced law in San Francisco. His mother Lucy Underwood was also an attorney. Ferdinand McCann moved to Santa Cruz in 1867, and was elected as a judge in 1875, serving until his death.
Warner McCann was raised in Santa Cruz. In 1893, he won an award from the California State Agricultural Society for his Brown Leghorn poultry he raised.
After graduating from Santa Cruz High School, in May 1897, Warner McCann moved to Mexico to accept a position as assayist and chemist with his brother Ferdinand McCann’s business, Heckelmann & McCann Assayists and Chemists in Mexico City. In 1900, Warner McCann became an assayer and mill foreman for Esperanza y Anexas Mining Company in El Oro, Mexico. In 1902, Heckelmann died, and the firm of McCann Brothers & Jeffcock assumed all assets and liabilities of the previous company. It was at this point that Warner McCann became a partner with his brother Ferdinand in the business. Around 1904 he married Mary Evans Cook.
In 1905, Warner moved to Pachuca, Hidalgo State, Mexico, and became manager of the Compania Beneficidora de Metales de San Francisco, which processed ores from the Maravillas mine on Hacienda of San Francisco in Pachuca, using cyanide to precipitate the metals. In 1909, Warner supervised the expansion of the ore treatment plant. In 1910, Warner served as a director of the Bank of Hidalgo in Pachuca, Mexico.
In 1910, a revolution broke out in Mexico when President Porfirio Diaz refused to resign the presidency. By 1914, Venustiano Carranza came to power and promulgated a new constitution which contained many of the rebels demands. The brothers Warner, Ferdinand and Frank McCann were joint owners of a hacienda in the District of Zumpango, State of Mexico. Around this time, their property in Mexico was seized, and they were forced to return to the United States.
Around 1916, Warner McCann moved to Berkeley, California, and became an insurance broker with Northwest Mutual Life Insurance Company. He purchased a home at 2524 Warring Street in Berkeley, and lived there for the rest of his life. In 1919, the California School for the Deaf and Blind was planning to expand, and Warner and other neighbors petitioned the California Senate to block the expansion, which they felt would lower their property values. His wife died in Berkeley in June 1920.
Warner McCann joined the Sons of the American Revolution in 1923 on the service of his 2-great grandfather, Thomas Underwood (1740-1815), who served as a member of the House of Burgesses for 13 years. Col. Underwood was a member of the committee of safety for Goochland County in 1775-1776, and commanded the Goochland County Militia during the Revolutionary War. Warner McCann was a charter member of the Alameda County Chapter SAR in October 1925.
Warner McCann and his brothers made a claim under the Special Claims Commission of 1923 which adjudicated claims of American citizens against the government of Mexico. Sadly, he would not live to see restitution, as the cases were not settled until 1938, when his estate was awarded $11,628.33 by the Commission.
In 1927, his brother, William D. McCann, furnished the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco prior to its opening in 1928. His brother was a prominent furniture and antiques dealer on the West Coast. William McCann died in March 1928, and Warner McCann and Neil D. Parker decided to continue the William D. McCann Furniture Company on Post Street in San Francisco, with Warner McCann serving as manager.
Warner McCann died on June 27, 1932 in Berkeley, California, and was probably buried in Berkeley or Oakland.
Miller, Clement Harvey
CASSAR Number 1035, joined originally in 1921, descended from Lt. Col. Thomas Farrington, Sr.
Clement Miller became a surveyor in Tacoma, Washington. On March 13, 1889, he enlisted in Company C, 1st Regiment, Washington State National Guard. Clement Miller married Alice Webster Davis on June 27, 1889 in Tacoma. Clement Miller was discharged from the national guard on December 9, 1889, because he was unable to attend drills due to his occupation. He briefly moved to Marshfield, Oregon.
In 1892, Clement Miller became a civil engineer for the city of Oakland. By 1908, he purchased a home at 1228 24th Street in Oakland. He worked as a civil engineer through the 1930’s. He retired by 1940, and lived in Alamo, California.
In 1921, Clement Miller joined the Sons of the American Revolution on the service of his ancestor, Lt. Col. Thomas Farrington, Sr. (1712-1777), who served in the Continental Army under Col. Rufus Putnam, from January to March 1777. His sponsors were his son, Harvey D. Miller, and H.C. Capwell.
His wife Alice died on October 5, 1943 at their home in Alamo, and was buried in her family’s plot in the St. Helena Cemetery beside her uncle, Brigadier General George Valentine Rutherford (1830-1876), who was known for his actions following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; he placed two silver half-dollars on Lincoln’s eyes after his death, an act that he documented immediately. Clement Miller died on September 20, 1945 in Napa, California.
Miller, Harvey Davis
CASSAR Number 0978, joined originally in 1920, descended from Col. James Frye. He was born on September 17 1891 in Marshfield, Oregon, the son of Compatriot Clement Harvey Miller. He was raised in Oregon and moved to Oakland, California, by 1910. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in civil engineering. He became a civil engineer, like his father.
In 1917, he was living in Copper Creek, Arizona, employed in mechanical construction by the Copper State Mining Company. He enlisted on October 17, 1917 in the US Army, and served overseas in World War I. He was discharged on June 24, 1919, and he returned to Oakland, where he worked as a civil engineer expert in general practice.
Harvey Miller married Pauline Schemmer on November 9, 1921 at First Congregational Church in Oakland, California. He bought a house at 2641 Marlin Avenue in Oakland, and worked for the city as a civil engineer. By 1940, he moved to Silverado Trail in St. Helena, California, and he worked as a supervisor for the Napa County Agricultural Conservation Association. In 1967, Harvey Miller was the President of the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce. His wife Pauline died in 1985 in Sonoma County, California.
Harvey Miller died on March 28, 1986 in Santa Rosa, California.
Munsell, James Roy
CASSAR Number 0426, joined originally in 1902, descended from Matross Elmore Russell. Roy was a native Oaklander, born in 1880. He graduated with a Bachelor of Letters from the University of California in 1903. In 1904, at age 24, he was commissioned major in the California National Guard, and served as military instructor at the Hitchcock Military Academy in San Rafael.
In 1914, he opened the Oakland office of Bradstreet Co., which merged in 1933 with R. G. Dun & Company to form Dun & Bradstreet. He continued to supervise that office until his retirement. Compatriot Munsell was for 53 years a member of Oakland Lodge No. 188 of Masons. He passed away in 1955, and left his wife, Edwina Henderson Munsell, who was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants.
Palmer, Walter Curtis
CASSAR Number 1235, joined originally in 1924, descended from Roswell Saltonstall Palmer. Walter was born in Stockbridge, MA, in 1882, and passed away in Oakland in 1953.
Rowley, Ridgway Lloyd
CASSAR Number 0561, joined originally in 1916, descended from Pvt. Nathan C. Rowley. Lloyd, as he preferred to be called, was a native Californian, born in San Francisco in 1883. He attended the University of California, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Fraternity, which came under investigation for a hazing incident, where a pledge, attempting to escape from a band of fraternity brothers who were hazing him, leaped from a window at the fraternity house, sustaining injuries which for several days were thought to be fatal. Lloyd was cleared and graduated in 1907, with a degree in mechanical engineering.
In 1918, as shown on his draft registration card, he was a Fire Protection Engineer for the U.S. Shipping Board in San Francisco. He later became an inspecting engineer of the Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pacific, and inspected public and private fire protection systems throughout the state as part of the underwriting process.
His 1950 obituary stated he was "a Bay Area insurance executive who handled the earthquake insurance on the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island." Compatriot Rowley was a member of Berkeley Lodge 363, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Aahmes Temple of the Shrine. He left a widow, Bertha Strite Rowley.
Seely, Frank Howard
CASSAR Number 1264, joined originally in 1925, descended from Col. Sylvanus Seely. Frank was born in Missouri in 1868. His father was a veteran of the "War of the Rebellion," obtaining the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His first marriage ended in divorce, but his second marriage, to Mary Blachly Seely, who was very active in the D.A.R., lasted until his death.
Frank was a graduate of George Washington University, and in 1938 was named as one of the university's outstanding alumni. He was then first vice-president of the American Duodecimal Society, which promoted the use of the duodecimal number system, also known as base twelve or dozenal. He was a composer of music, writing operettas and patriotic songs.
In 1934, Compatriot Seely led the planting of a "Washington Elm" at Lake Merritt, claiming that his ancestor had owned the property where the original tree grew. The Washington Elm was a tree on Cambridge Common in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that lived approximately 210 years and died in 1923. The story, now disputed, is that General Washington took command of the Continental Army under the boughs of the tree. A sapling of the elm was planted in the Cambridge Common on April 19, 1925. The original tree was divided up into approximately 1000 pieces, and these were distributed throughout the country.
Compatriot Seely passed away in Oakland in 1943.
Smith, Willard Payson
CASSAR Number 0650, joined originally NYSSAR 1894, descended from Armorer Tyler Jacob, Sr. Willard was born in Dunkirk, NY, in 1866. He was a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University. He practiced law in New York and emigrated to California in 1907. In 1924 he organized the "Cal for Coolidge Club" for fellow Amherst alum Calvin Coolidge in San Francisco.
In 1927, Compatriot Smith was named the first president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company, and later appointed director. The company was the result of the acquisition of the Federal Telegraph Company by International Telephone and Telegraph, and over time provided direct telegraphic service to over 800 communities in the United States, and 31 countries.
Additionally, Willard was senior partner in the San Francisco law firm of Smith, Southwell & Smith, and was a member of the Charter Rock Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, the Olympic Club, and the Commonwealth Club. He passed away in 1933, leaving a widow, Marion Hubbard Smith.
Thurston, Eugene True, Jr.
CASSAR Number 0581, joined originally 1906, descended from Sgt. Oliver Thurston. Eugene was a native Oaklander, born in 1873, and he graduated from the University of California in 1895. He was a practicing structural engineer for over 30 years, and retired as the City of Oakland Superintendent of Public Buildings.
Compatriot Thurston was past president of the San Francisco Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Commonwealth Club. He was a member of Live Oak Lodge No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons. Eugene passed away in 1952, leaving a widow, Mary Ella Thurston.
Wales, Morris Frederick
CASSAR Number 0593, joined originally 1906, descended from Pvt. William Wales. Morris was born in The Dalles, OR, in 1881, and passed away in Sacramento, CA, in 1957.
Watson, Horace Howard, Jr.
CASSAR Number 0289, joined originally 1898, descended from 2nd Lt. Marston Watson. Horace was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1870, son of a successful sea captain, who was, in 1912, featured in the San Francisco Call in a story about ferry commuters and was nominated as one of the oldest and most frequent ferry riders: Horace, Sr., had been taking the ferry daily for 40 years. In fact, since he rested on the 7th day, and thus his tokens went to waste, the captain estimated that he had wasted 2,080 round trip ferry trips and that Southern Pacific owed him $208.
Both Horace, Jr., and his sister Mary became embroiled with their father in a bitter lawsuit. As printed in the San Francisco Call, February 13, 1908:
"Captain Horace H. Watson, who has brought suit against his son, H. H. Watson Jr., and his daughter Mary Holton Watson Grim, to have a deed annulled by which he conveyed to them real estate in San Francisco and Alameda county, said to be worth more than $250,000 [close to $9 million in today's depreciated currency]. . .In 1902 the captain determined that he would leave nothing to the daughter who had offended him by marrying against his wishes. He told his son of his intention, and the son persuaded him to deed the property to him. The deed was executed and placed in a tin box in the captain's office. According to the complaint, H. H. Watson, Jr., stole the deed and recorded it, although it had been agreed that it should not be recorded until after the death of the captain. After recording the deed Watson Jr. is alleged to have conveyed half the property to his sister, whom his father had wished to disinherit."
Horace H. Watson, Jr., passed away in Oakland, CA, in 1943.
Young, Charles Sommers, Sr.
CASSAR Number 1121, joined originally 1917, descended from Ensign Henry Young. Charles Young joined the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1917 on the service of his 2-great grandfather Henry Young (1746-1819), who served as an ensign in the Cape May County Battalion, New Jersey Militia, during the Revolutionary War.
Charles Sommers Young, Sr. was born on March 28, 1873 in Camden, New Jersey. He was raised in New Jersey. In 1891, Charles Young graduated from Friends’ Central School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Around 1892, Charles Young enrolled in Cornell University in New York. He was a member of the Alpha Phi Chapter of Sigma Chi, Theta Nu Epsilon, Sphinx Head, XXX Club, Kwill Club and the Press Club. He was the editor of the Cornell University Sun in his sophomore, Junior and senior years. He managed the Cornell baseball team. Charles Young graduated in 1895 with L.B. in Advertising.
By 1902, he became an assistant advertising agent for the Burlington Route in Omaha, Nebraska. He joined the editorial board of the Omaha News in Nebraska. Around 1904, he became advertising manager for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (with his office in Chicago).
Charles Young married Marjorie Louise Whiting on October 29, 1907 at St. Chrysostom’s Church in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1911, Charles Young left the railroad to become advertising manager of the San Francisco Examiner (a Hearst company). In 1916, he left the Examiner to become manager of the Chicago office of the advertising agency N.W. Ayers & Son. In 1917, he was toastmaster for the Cornell Alumni Association of Chicago’s 40th annual banquet in Chicago.
In 1920, became vice president and business manager of the Omaha Bee in Nebraska. Charles and Marjorie divorced around 1921. In 1922, William Randolph Hearst bought The Post-Enquirer in Oakland. Charles Young left the Omaha News, and was elected president of the Oakland Post-Enquirer Publishing Company, and made publisher of the newspaper. At that time he transferred his membership from ILSSAR to CASSAR.
Charles Young was married to Harriet Gladys Meyer on January 27, 1923 by a superior court judge at the Hotel Oakland in Oakland, California. They honeymooned in Yosemite Valley.
Around 1925, Charles Young left the Oakland Post-Enquirer to become publisher of the San Francisco Call (a Hearst company). In 1929, the San Francisco Call and San Francisco Evening Bulletin were merged into the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, and Charles Young became publisher of the merged newspapers.
Charles Young died on July 17, 1941 in Ukiah, California, and was buried in the Ukiah Cemetery.