Alameda County
Biographies
WILLIAM J. ROTH
The planing mill and manufactory conducted by William J. Roth,
one of the important industries of Oakland, is located at No. 514 Second
street, and consists of a two-story building, 100x100 feet, equipped in the
most modern style, having an eighty-horse power engine and boiler and all other
machinery necessary to produce the best grade of work. In addition to a general
milling business he turns out sash, doors, tanks, etc., his products being used
in Oakland and San Francisco, as well as being shipped to all the coast
counties and the interior. He employs on an average twenty-five men the year
round. Mr. Roth is a master workman, and through years of constant effort and
thought he has met with the success which he deserves, all of it is the result
of his own planning, business ability and labor. A native son of California he
was born in Santa Cruz, August 28, 1872, a son of Conrad Roth. The latter
served in the Mexican war, after which he became a pioneer of California, now
being proprietor of a novelty store of San Francisco. His wife, Margaret
Hastings, of Scotch ancestry, came from Belfast, Ireland, and settled in
America. Of the two daughters and one son born to them, one daughter and the
son are now living.
The second child and youngest living of the
family, William J. Roth, was reared in Santa Cruz, where he attended the public
schools until he was twelve years old. Securing employment in a planing mill in that city, he remained at work for ten
years, during the time attending night school and took a course at the Chestnut
Business College of that city. In time he became foremen of the mill, and thus
gained an insight into every detail, and a thorough acquaintance with all the
departments, though wood turning was his special work. After ten years in his
first position he entered a larger mill in Santa Cruz as an employe,
(sic) and in 1894 he came to Oakland and bought his present plant, which is now
operated under the name of The Standard Planing Mill.
He has built up a custom which has since became very lucrative and has numbered
him among the successful manufacturers of the city. In 1901 he was able
financially to build a new mill adjoining, which has been the means of
improving his business in many ways.
In Santa
Cruz Mr. Roth married Janet Thompson, of New York state,
and they are the parents of two children, Edward and Paul. Fraternally Mr. Roth
was made a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Oakland, and is
also identified with the Woodmen of the World, belonging to Camp No. 94.
Politically he is independent in his views, supporting the man whom he
considers best fitted to discharge the duties of public office. He is a member
and an active worker in the First Methodist Episcopal Church. A forceful and
earnest citizen, he is also identified with the Young Men’s Christian
Association, being a member of the Young Men’s Building Fund Committee, and in
the line of his business he is a charter member of the Alameda County Planing Owners’ Association, in which he is now serving on
two important committees, and was also the first temporary secretary of the
association. It is not alone the fact that Mr. Roth has succeeded in his
undertakings, but the manner in which he has brought about his success, his
daily life, and his association with those about him, that have won the
commendation of his fellow citizens. He is a broad-minded, public spirited man
and citizen, of fertile ideas and boundless energies, and that which he has won
only presages a future of continued effort and consequent success.
Transcribed by: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 572. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.
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