Alameda County
Biographies
CHARLES A. LITTLEFIELD
Prominent as a contractor and builder of Oakland and San Francisco, Charles A. Littlefield has attained a position in the confidence of his fellow townsmen by years of earnest and indefatigable toil in the prosecution of his trade. Locating in Oakland in 1876, a stranger in a strange place, he at once set about the task of making for himself the competence which is every man's due and of building up a reputation for such work as has made him well known in both Oakland and San Francisco.
Some of the buildings which he has erected are well known throughout this part of the state, among them being the Crellin Hotel, Blake Block, Unitarian Church and the residences of ex-Mayor W. R. Davis, R. A. Wellman, Capt. E. F. Taylor, A. L. Scott and many others of Oakland; the city and country residences of Henry T. Scott, president of the Union Iron Works, the residences of Daniel Earl, C. R. Chambers, Timothy Hopkins, M. S. Sperry, Judge Levy and others of San Francisco. He also erected the Hotel Ramona of San Luis Obispo, for the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, the contract for which was $62,000. In 1888 his business had increased to such an extent that he built and conducted for two and one-half years the Pioneer Planing Mill of Oakland, manufacturing sash and doors, principally for use in his own contracts. Since 1891 he has rented the mill to other parties.
Born in Somerset county, Me., July 22, 1839, Charles A. Littlefield was the son of Charles Littlefield, a farmer and wheelwright. As a lad his happiest hours were passed with his father handling the tools in his efforts to use them successfully, thus early demonstrating his taste and talent for mechanical labor. As a young man he worked on the home farm, and when nineteen years of age he was given a chance to go to Boston, Mass., in remunerative employment, and after having gained his father's consent, went to that city in March 1859, and worked there until the outbreak of the war.
In September, 1861, in response to the call for men in the cause of the country, he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry, serving for twenty-seven months, when he was sent home on account of illness.
He served with Butler at New Orleans, but the climate nearly cost him his life, though he came safely through the battles. In his old home in Maine he recovered his health, and in 1864 returned to Boston, where he worked at the carpenter's trade. He was successful and remained in that city until 1870, at that time deciding to go west. He located in Denver, Colo., where he became foreman of the Charley McPhee Company, and subsequently built a home and sent for his wife and family. The climate not agreeing with his wife's health, he came to California in 1876, and after visiting various places decided that climate and business prospects were such as to justify him in locating in Oakland.
Success has since attended his efforts, and numbered him among the prominent and enterprising business men of the city. Though he has been associated with others at various times in the contracting business, he has been practically alone throughout the years, the success which has come to him being the result entirely of his own efforts, plans and patient labor.
While in Boston, Mass., Mr. Littlefield was united in marriage with Mary F. Wentworth, a native of that place, and to them have been born three children, of whom F. Alberta was a bookkeeper in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company for a period of eight years, but is now at home; Roscoe W., who served as a sergeant in the Spanish-American war in the Philippine Islands, and is now a sergeant on the Manila police force; and Burge P., who is associated with his father in the contracting business.
Fraternally, Mr. Littlefield has been connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Army of the Republic. He is esteemed and honored as a citizen whose many qualities have placed him among those upon whom a community depends for the substantial support of its best interests.
Transcribed
10-21-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1360-1361. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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