Contra Costa County
Biographies
EDWARD BERNARD MASTERSON
Continuously since 1882 Edward Bernard Masterson has conducted the Hotel San Pablo in the town of that name, and has not only established an enviable reputation as entertainer to the traveling public, but has proved of mettle as a justice of the peace, and all around enterprising and public-spirited citizen. County Longford, Ireland, has for generations been the home of the Mastersons, and there Edward Bernard was born January 1, 1844, his parents, Peter and Margaret (Sheridan) Masterson, being natives of the same locality. On the paternal side there is a remarkable strain of longevity, for Peter Masterson, at the time of his death in 1903, was about a century old. The parental family comprised seven boys, all of whom were obliged to start out at an early age to earn their own living, although their educational advantages were above the average.
Graduating at Mells Seminary, at Longford, Ireland, Edward Bernard afterward entered and completed the course at Mellory Seminary in County Waterford, and was thus equipped for whatever fate might have in store. Coming to the United States in 1864, he secured work in a foundry in New York City, and was thus employed when a spirit of patriotism for his adopted land resulted in his enlistment in October, 1865, in Company E, Fourteenth Volunteer Infantry. Sent to the Pacific coast he was stationed at the Presidio at San Francisco, later being transferred to Idaho and Vancouver, Wash. His final service was at Camp Winthrop, where, at the time of his discharge in 1868, he was a non-commissioned sergeant major. Returning to San Francisco, he was employed in the construction department, assisting with the grading of the road between Davisville and Sacramento. He was next with the Western Union Telegraph Company, later engaging in farming in different parts of the state, and still later located in San Pablo, where for a time he ran a threshing machine and was employed in the powder works. In 1882 he began to run the San Pablo hotel and has since been one of the foremost hotel men in this part of Contra Costa county.
December 26, 1882, Mr. Masterson was united in marriage with Josephine (Pfaller) Antony, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, and who, when fourteen years old, was sent to America with an old family servant to visit her uncle John Pfaller, a Catholic priest of New York City. It had been her intention to return to her native land, but May 14, 1852, she was united in marriage to Claus Truax. Subsequently, with her husband, Mrs. Truax came to California, but on the return trip Mr. Truax was drowned off Central America. In 1862 his widow married Andres Antony, of Placerville, who in 1865 located in San Francisco and established a bakery enterprise at No. 1006 Folsom street. September 1, 1871, Mr. Antony bought the old Spanish road house, and in 1877 built the San Pablo hotel, which he was managing at the time of his death, June 17, 1882.
Mr. Masterson has been an active Democrat for many years, and after filling various offices of trust and responsibility, was elected justice of the peace November 1, 1902, of the tenth township with headquarters in San Pablo. Mr. Masterson is poplar and genial, understanding well the requirements of the public, and managing his hostelry with due regard for the comfort and convenience of guests.
Transcribed
11-23-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 1397. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Contra Costa County Biographies