WILLIAM FREDERICK PRISK

Los Angeles County

Biographies

WILLIAM FREDERICK PRISK

Years before a Grass Valley high school boy, in 1887, selected as the subject of his commencement address, “The Power of the Press,” William Frederick Prisk had committed himself to the career of a newspaper publisher. As the second son of a miner, Will Prisk sprang from common stock, and tasted the hardships incidental to the lot of California pioneers. He was born in Nevada County, California, April 2, 1870. His father the, the late William Prisk, and his mother, Mary (Hosking) Prisk, now also deceased, were natives of England but came to American in their early years. In the ‘60s they were attracted to the Golden state and made the trip by way of Panama. Grass Valley became their permanent home, and for forty years the elder Prisk was engaged in gold mining in that region.

Will Prisk was educated in the public schools and was graduated at the age of seventeen. During boyhood his spare time was given over to his apprenticeship as a printer and to other duties around the office of the Grass Valley Tidings. He was carrier, compositor and reporter during the successive stage of his preliminary training, and when his schooling was finished he was ready for his first venture into business for himself. He had not yet reached his majority when he became associated with Rufus Shoemaker in publishing the Grass Valley Telegraph. Mr. Shoemaker was a pioneer editor of California and a writer of exceptional ability.

The Telegraph was one of the smallest dailies ever issued with only four pages of five columns each. After a year or two, Mr. Prisk sold his interest in the Telegraph and went to Fresno for a time, later going to Sacramento, where he was employed by the Record-Union. Next his search for experience led him to San Francisco, where he also did newspaper work.

About 1895, Mr. Prisk returned to Grass Valley and purchased the Union, then a paper with a somewhat listless existence. While purporting to be a morning newspaper it usually went to press in the afternoon. The new publisher, with the energy which has characterize his journalistic life, seized upon the opportunity to serve Northern California with a live morning newspaper, with Associated Press dispatches and the news of the local field fully covered. He could beat both the San Francisco and Sacramento papers by several hours, and soon caused the Grass Valley Union to be recognized through Sierra and Nevada counties and adjacent sections. This position the Union still holds. Mr. Prisk retains an interest in that newspaper property and is president of the publishing company. He visits Grass Valley at least twice each year, not only on account of his affection for his first publication and the relatives and friends who reside there, but because of the attraction which the childhood home of both himself and Mrs. Prisk has for him. With his brother, Charles H. Prisk, of Pasadena, a joint owner, Mr. Prisk is also drawn to Nevada County by a fine orchard of Bartlett pear, of more than one hundred acres.

His conspicuous achievement in building up the grass Valley Union into one of the strongest newspapers of the state, and his wide acquaintance throughout the district, led to an insistent demand that he become a candidate for state senator. Although nominated by the minority party, he was elected in 1898 as a member of the upper house of the California legislature, and served through the four-year term, in the thirty-second and thirty-third sessions. He declined to stand for reelection and never again was an aspirant for public office, although frequently urged to accept these honors. His interest in public affairs has been not less active because of his continued refusal to participate more directly in politics. His contributions of service and time to community life in Nevada County and to Long Beach in particular, and to California and the nation in genera, have been unceasing and of inestimable value.

Miss Alice Othet became the bride of Mr. Prisk at Grass valley on December 16, 1891, thus uniting two of the pioneer families of Nevada County. Her father, the late Thomas Othet, was engaged for many years in the freighting between Sacramento and Grass Valley.

James H. Prisk, eldest of the three Prisk brothers, resides at grass Valley and is associated with his brother-in-law, Edgar M. Shaw, in developing the Prisk Brothers’ orchard. Mrs. Shaw, his sister, also lives in Grass Valley. Her daughter, Miss Alice Shaw, has made her home much of the time during recent years with Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Prisk. Miss Shaw is a graduate of the University of California and has had postgraduate work as a dietitian at Santa Barbara and Pasadena. Mr. and Mrs. Prisk have no children.

Among Mr. Prisk’s ventures into the publishing business outside the Grass Valley was that at Watsonville a little more than twenty years ago. With his brother, Charles H Prisk, and his cousin, A. J. Hosking, he bought the Register. Not long after that he became interested in Southern California possibilities, and the Watsonville paper was sold that the members of this family partnership might purchase the Pasadena Star, then owned by J. P. Baumgartner. Charles H. Prisk took charge of the Pasadena newspaper, A. J. Hosking coming actively into the organization a year or two later. W. F. Prisk continued as editor and manager of the Grass Valley Union, making frequent trips to Pasadena.

In December, 1910, the same interest purchased the Long Beach Press, of which J. P. Baumgartner and C. L. Day were the publishers. W. F. Prisk became manager and editor of the Long Beach publication and took up his residence in that city.

The Press then was a small paper with fewer than three thousand subscribers. Long Beach’s real growth was only beginning, and the Press grew with it, with a mutual helpfulness which never has ceased to be an element in the prosperity of both the community and the newspaper. His cousin, W. H. Hosking, a younger brother of A. J. Hosking, joined Mr. Prisk here a few years later and became part owner and business manager of the Press. W. H. Hosking had been connected with the Grass Valley Union before coming to Long Beach. He also is a native of Nevada County.

The merging of the Pasadena Star and the Pasadena News in March, 1916, was looked upon as one of the notable events in the newspaper history of Western America. It was urged by merchants and others as an economic development, with the result that duplication of effort was eliminated, and the capital and energies concentrated upon the production of a more complete daily journal. Abundant proof of the wisdom of this step, afforded by experience and confirmed by public and publishers, had a large influence in bringing about a similar merging of the Long Beach Press and the Long Beach Telegram on September 1, 1924. Associated with the Prisk Brothers and the Hosking Brothers in the ownership and management of the Press-Telegram were: Miss Bell McCord Roberts, as vice president, and S. S. Conklin, as secretary-treasurer of the Long Beach Press-Telegram Publishing Company, they having been owners and publisher of the Daily Telegram. Miss Roberts later sold her interest to Colonel I. C. Copley.

Another striking parallel, likewise speaking of the substantial foundation upon which these two important businesses are place, is that both the Star-News and the Press-Telegram completed, in 1925, new homes, designed especially for newspaper service and constituting attractive contributions to the architectural progress of their respective communities. What are the qualities which have brought this success? They may be stated thus: impersonal journalism; idealistic principles, which never are sacrificed to expediency; unwavering devotion to friends; determination, back of the definite policy evolved from careful study and analyzed experience; executive ability of rare precision and soundness; natural aptitude for his profession, coupled with a willingness to work unceasing until the object is attained; thorough grounding both in fundamentals and in details; capacity for leadership which inspired and cheers his colleagues; business integrity of the highest order; confidence in himself and in those loyalty has stood the test of time and trust.

The attributes of W. F. Prisk undoubtedly reflect to a marked degree with the impressions gained during his youth in a rugged, whole-souled, care-free California mining town, which at the time of his first recollections was larger than was Los Angeles at that period, and which had a corresponding importance to the rich section of which it was the center. In the late ‘50s Grass Valley ranked with Sacramento as the base of extensive mining operations and business activity. There he learned to know men and to measure them for their true worth. There he found that “the gold of human character” was of greater value than the yellow metal which is father “panned” from the soil of his native state. There he proved that the rough garb and uncouth speech often were the covering for a true heart and a great mind.

“Will’s life,” says hi brother, Charles H. Prisk, “is a striking example of what may be accomplished by perseverance and high devotion to duty, and by showing for others that consideration which he would expect for himself. Whatever the position in which he may be placed, he rings true. One thing that stands out among his fine qualities is that he has persistently stood by those who, in his early days, stood by him. As a result, the friends of his struggling youth are the friends of his successful maturity.”

From his boyhood, W. F. Prisk was intensely interested in newspapers. He was always making a deep study of them, and because of his familiarity with every phase of the subject he was able to surmount any obstacle that might be presented. “He makes up his mind what should be done, and goes ahead and does it,.” is another tribute from his bother and lifelong business associate.

He has shown a keen desire to help those who need assistance in education and other ways, particularly those who appreciate this help to the extent that they are willing to help others when the opportunity is given. While not a college graduate, having had most of his training in the school of hard knocks, Mr. Prisk appreciates the value of such an education and has encouraged others to pursue these higher studies.

Although a man of strong convictions, Mr. Prisk has a breadth of vision and thought which is willing to see and hear the other side. Nevertheless, he has the courage to follow his conscience, even though it means financial loss to him. These standards have drawn to him many warm friends, to whom he has been true under every circumstance, and they to him... Born of poor parents, whatever success W. F. Prisk has attained has come as a result of his own efforts and through the loyal support of friends. He is typical of the man of whom it is said: “His word is as good as his bond.” His word is inviolate. His ability as a newspaper man is recognized throughout the west. His judgment in politics invariably is sound, and his generalship in the business office, the editorial rooms and the mechanical department places him among the leaders in American journalism. His genius for newspaper makeup is remarked generally by the craft. It is expressive of that studious attention which he give to everyone one of the many elements which enter into the production of a newspaper.

What might be looked upon as an epochal achievement in his life as a publisher is seen in the building and the plant of the Press-Telegram at Pine Avenue and Sixth Street, in commemoration of the completion of which this sketch was written and publish in the form of a souvenir for presentation to him on the date of the formal opening. This model newspaper establishment is more than a home for the Press-Telegram. It is a tribute to Long Beach and its people, whose cooperation made this improvement possible. The building and the mechanical arrangement as now existing will care for the newspaper needs of a community of a half-million population, and is so designed that extension can be made without interference with the present installation.

“The Power of the Press,” which was the subject of Mr. Prisk’s graduation paper in the Grass Valley high school in 1887, has been found to be under his direction a power for good, for progress, for a united and a greater state, for a better civilization, a sounder economic status, a more active citizenship. Whatever inspires and helps and comforts and encourages and strengthens for the upward climb, materially, politically, socially, educationally, spiritually, has had his consistent and telling advocacy throughout the long span of his newspaper editorship and management. His most potent service, and the fullest fruitage, will come in the era which now is at hand, with facilities which give him and his associated a broader opportunity, and with more profound and more helpful understanding between paper and public, the result of a closer acquaintance and a deeper appreciation.

With becoming modesty, Mr. Prisk has preferred to voice his purposes and his ideal in the impersonal form of the newspaper page. Nevertheless, his influence has been widespread, and has touched many factors of western development which may not have traced the impelling force of right thinking, effectively disseminated through the medium of a superior journalism. In one important particular he has made the “power of the press” felt in upholding the idea of an undivided California, no matter how sectionalism may rage under recurrent efforts to kindle ill-feeling and strife. Few men there are who have a better knowledge of California - north, south, central; nor are there many citizens of the state who have such close familiarity with the resources of this great commonwealth, whether of soil or mind, industry or commerce…

Mr. Prisk’s fraternal affiliations included membership in the Native Sons of the Golden West, Elks, Masonic blue lodge and Knights Templar. He is one of the charter members of the Long Beach Rotary Club, and looks upon all such organizations as affording a worthy range of service and for putting into practice the Golden Rule, which he has endeavored earnestly to apply to the newspaper management. Mr. Prisk’s club memberships include the Virginia Country Club, Yosemite Mountain Club, Masonic Club, and the Pacific Coast Club. He is a member and trustee of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach.

(Biography of W. F. Prisk, as written by Frank M. Selover, for the special “New Home Edition” of the Press-Telegram, March 7, 1925.)

Transcribed By: Michele Y. Larsen on February 28, 2012.

Source: California of the South Vol. II, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 71-78, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.

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