Sacramento County
Biographies
JOB FRANCIS CALDERWOOD
J. F. CALDERWOOD, one of the oldest and
best known men in the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, is a
native of Maine, and was born in Waldo
County, April 27, 1837, and is a
son of Levi and Lydia Calderwood. He attended school during boyhood, and upon
reaching manhood he determined to come to the Pacific coast, and sailed in the
“Star of the West,” and came via the Isthmus, and on the Pacific side came in
the steamer “John L. Stephens,” and arrived in San
Francisco October 16, 1858. Like all who came here in
the early days, he went to the mines in El Dorado
and Placer counties, and continued for nine years in hydraulic mining. In the
early part of 1868 he engaged in railroading. Upon the construction of the
Central Pacific he was on the first regular train that went across the summit
into Truckee. He was conductor on the Mountain division
twelve years, and has been in the service of the company as conductor for
twenty-two years. In June, 1876, he brought the noted Centennial train of
Jarrett and Palmer, over the Mountain Division. The time made across the
continent, from New York to San
Francisco, was eighty-four hours, less four minutes.
Mr. Calderwood is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a member of Capitol
Lodge, I.O.O.F., for the past twenty years. He is past chief of O. R. C., and
served three years as chief. He was actively identified in establishing the
order and building it up. Mr. Calderwood was married by the Rev. Fred Charlton,
November 25, 1862, to Miss Sarah J. Fuller, of Sacramento.
Her parents, Jacob N. and Jane E. Fuller, came to California
in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Calderwood have three sons, viz.: William T., Samuel H. and
George E. They have lost two sons and two daughters.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 10/3/07.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 778-789.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Vicky Walker.