Los Angeles County

Biographies

 

 

 

 

 

JOHN W. WILSON

 

 

            The late John W. Wilson, who organized the examination department of Los Angeles Clearing House Association and headed it for twenty years, until 1928, sustained a relationship to the banks of this city which in importance was not exceeded by any other official.  “The service which he rendered,” said a contemporary biographer, “was in a sense unique and was made effective through his knowledge, ability and loyalty.”  Mr. Wilson was born in Gardiner, Kennebec County, Maine, August 25, 1858, his parents being John S. and Anna Louisa (Brown) Wilson, the former a descendant of old Revolutionary stock of Scotch-Irish origin.  The latter, of English descent, also represent an early American family.  John S. Wilson, the father of our subject was a native of Maine and a grocer and hardware merchant of Portland, that state, prior to 1849, when he came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama.  During two years’ residence in San Francisco he was identified with mercantile activities in association with two other men.  He conceived the plan to bring chickens from Maine by Cape Horn to California and with others to establish the industry in Sonoma County, which for years has been recognized as the center of the chicken industry of the coast.  He was also a member of the famous San Francisco Vigilance Committee, as was William T. Coleman, and he helped hang the first two desperadoes in the general cleanup made by that committee.  Mr. Wilson went back to Portland, Maine, after two years in California, but when the Union Pacific Railroad completed its line to the Pacific coast, he was one of the passengers on the first transcontinental train.  He learned to love the Golden state and in October, 1886, returned to take up his permanent residence here.  He purchased land and developed an orange grove of twenty-five acres at Redlands, and with the aid of three sons constructed a residence where he resided with his family throughout the remainder of his life.

            John W. Wilson acquired his early education in the public schools of his home neighborhood and received his more advance intellectual training as a student at Bowdoin College of Brunswick, Maine, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.  In 1881 he embarked in the wholesale hardware business with his father in Portland, Maine, conducting the enterprise successfully for a period of five years or until 1886, when he accompanied his father and the other members of the family on their removal to California.  He assisted his father in the cultivation of the latter’s orange grove at Redlands for a few months and then accepted the proffered position of cashier of the First National Bank of Redlands, with which institution he was thus officially identified for thirteen years.  On the expiration of that period he was appointed a national bank examiner by Charles G. Dawes; his territory included California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.  The controller certificate was one of his treasured possessions.  He continued in the position of national bank examiner for seven years and subsequently served as vice president of the American National Bank of San Francisco for one year.  In response to a telegram from the bankers of Los Angeles he returned to this city to establish some sort of bureau in connection with the Los Angeles Clearing House.  The details of the matter were left entirely to him, the idea being to collect and store up facts and practical information which should be put into such shape that all bank members would know something of them.  The result was the establishment of the examination department of the Los Angeles Clearing House.  Mr. Wilson conducted the department for twenty years, during which period only the bank encountered difficulties; this was taken over by the Clearing House and every claim against it was cleared.  The organization, its functioning and the results of the system reflected very favorably on the ability, integrity and application of Mr. Wilson.  At the time of his retirement from active service in that position on May 1, 1928, the Clearing House made Mr. Wilson advisory examiner and placed Henry M. Thompson in the position vacated by him.  The esteem in which Mr. Wilson was held is indicated in the following letter addressed to him by the Clearing House committee:

“Dear Mr. Wilson:

            “It is with sincere regret that we accept your decision to retire from active service with the Los Angeles Clearing House Association, for not only has the Association benefited by the constructive effort you have put into your duties, but the community at large has for many years indirectly felt the influence of your sterling and steadfast qualities.

            “Twenty years have gone by since you first took up your duties as chief examiner for the Association.  Those years have been the period of our city’s greatest growth, the period when the customs and practices of all business, especially that of banking, have undergone great changes, the period during which so many vexatious problems have confronted this organization. It has been a privilege to have had your wise counsel throughout these two decades of growth and change.

            “With meticulous care and conscientious thought you have performed your task, and we believe your splendid example of strong, clean manhood will not end abruptly when you cease to meet and advise with us, but will continue to mold in the minds of young men who are now handling the finances of our great community ideals which will make them stronger and better fitted to cope with the demands made upon them.

            “Your work has been worthily and well done, and we trust the years left to you will be filled with hours of happiness and days of peace and contentment.

                                                            “Most sincerely yours,

                        J. F. Satori                               J. A. Graves

                        A. M. Chaffey                                    E. J. Nolan

                        J. Dabney Day                                    Benjamin R. Meyer

                        Henry M. Robinson

            “Members of the Clearing House Committee, Los Angeles Clearing House Association. April 27, 1928.”

            The death of Mr. Wilson occurred on August 12, 1933, when he was seventy-five years of age.  On the 7th of October, 1886, at Topsham, Maine, he married Miss Jane H. Haskell, whose father, James Haskell, was a retired capitalist of that place.  Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were the parents of two children:  Marguerite, who became the wife of Hoyt Post, Jr., of Detroit, Michigan, and who passed away in 1918, leaving a daughter, Helen Jane; and John Sanford, was born in Redlands, California, September 24, 1895, is a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan and is now a prominent attorney of Los Angeles.  John Sanford Wilson married Miss Mary Neel, of Los Angeles, and they are the proud parents of a son and a daughter, John W. (II) and Diane.  John W. Wilson was a life member of the Redlands Lodge, No. 385, B. P. O. E. was an honorary life member of the Los Angeles Country Club, and was captain of the team that won the Tom Morris trophy three successive years.  Mrs. Wilson makes her home in Los Angeles.

 

 

 

 

Transcribed By:  Michele Y. Larsen on November 10, 2012.

Source: California of the South Vol. V,  by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 407-410, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,  Indianapolis.  1933.

© 2012 Michele Y. Larsen.

 

 

 

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