Contra Costa County
Biographies
SAMUEL R. CURRY
The Checkered Front Stables started upon its era of usefulness in the fall of 1901, and has since sustained the prominence expected of the only establishment of the kind in Point Richmond. Samuel R. Curry, its owner and proprietor, is the representative of a family closely identified with the stage driving and livery interests of the state, having been established in 1851 by James R. Curry, a native of Tennessee. The elder Curry removed with his parents to Missouri when eighteen years old, and in 1851came across the plains with the other members of the family, the journey being saddened by the death of his mother from exhaustion. Mr. Curry started the pioneer livery and stage driving business in Clayton, Cal., and himself drove the first stage over the then rough highways of Contra Costa county. After a long life of ceaseless activity he retired from business in Clayton in 1903, and has since made Martinez his home. His wife, formerly Ellen Callahan, bore him seven sons and one daughter. She died in the hospital in San Francisco in 1894. Five the children are living, Samuel R. being the third.
Samuel R. Curry was initiated into the livery business at an early age, and in 1885 he was entrusted with the stage from Martinez to Clayton. For three years he conducted a livery in Martinez with his brother, and in 1892 stepped into active political service as chief deputy assessor of Contra Costa county under Francis Williams. After the completion of his term he engaged in surveying for the Kern Land Company for nine months, in 1894 returning to Martinez, and in March, 1895, was appointed guard at Folsom prison. Later he became an officer in the prison, and eventually was assistant postmaster of the place until October, 1901. Mr. Curry came to Point Richmond in October, 1901, and at once erected his present livery barn, one of the best equipped and most model barns in this part of the state. He is doing a large and paying business and besides derives an additional income from an undertaking business which he is conducting with his brother, H. J. Curry. Mr. Curry has a pleasant home in a desirable part of the town, and his family consists of his wife, formerly Rose Hyman, daughter of the late J. Hyman, a general merchant of Sacramento county; and his son Harry. Mr. Curry is a member of Twilight Lodge No. 119, I. O. O. F., of Point Richmond, and of the Mount Diablo Parlor No. 101, N. S. G. W., of Martinez. He is a Democrat in politics, and in casting his vote exercises the same caution and good judgment which characterizes his business enterprises. He is a liberal, popular and successful citizen.
Transcribed
Joyce Rugeroni.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 625-626. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Joyce Rugeroni.
Contra Costa County Biographies