Sacramento County
Biographies
JOHN H. CARROLL
JOHN H. CARROL
was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, November 17, 1825. His parents, John and Susan
(Grammer) Carroll, were also natives of Massachusetts, and of New England
ancestry. They moved to Woburn, in that State, where his father continued in
the shoe trade, which was the business of his life, residing there for forty
years. His parents came to California in 1870, celebrated their golden wedding
here and remained during the remainder of their life-time in Sacramento. Mr. Carroll,
when a youth, was duly apprenticed to the shoe trade, and in time moved to
Albany, New York, where he had an extensive patronage. On the 25th
of January, 1849, he started for California, by way of Cape Horn, and arrived
in San Francisco on July 6th of the same year. For a time he mined
in El Dorado, Placer and Nevada counties. Coming then to Sacramento, he entered
the grocery business on J street, between Second and
Third, the firm being Carroll, Scudder & Co. for some years. Afterward he
engaged in the wheat and milling business in the Bay State Mills at Folsom, one
of the earliest and largest flour mills in the State, the firm being Carroll,
Mowe & Co., which continued until 1865, when the mill burned; but they went
on with the wheat trade for some years longer, when Mr. Mowe died. Then Mr.
Carroll bought the Pioneer Mills in Sacramento, and conducted them for a number
of years, under the firm name of J. H. Carroll and Co. He subsequently admitted
H. G. Smith as partner, when the firm name was changed to Carroll, Smith &
Co. Several years afterward Mr. Carroll withdrew, and became interested in the
manufacture of California wines and brandies, being at the same time a member
of the firm of James I. Felter & Co. He organized and owned the United
States Special Bonded Warehouse No. 1. He succeeded Governor Stanford and Edgar
Mills as President of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 1882 he
established the Capital Packing Company, one of the largest fruit canneries on
the coast, with which he was identified until the time of his death,
Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1887. He was married in New York city in 1854 to Miss Hester H. Winans, a native of that city
and daughter of William W. Winans, who died in January, 1889, in his
ninety-eighth year. Of Mr. Carroll’s six children, five are living, namely:
Harry W., Edgar B., Flora H., Minnie P., and Leila W., a daughter, Katie W.,
having been lost in childhood. Mr. Carroll was a member of the Society of
California Pioneers, and in 1861-’62 was president; was also an Exempt Fireman,
and for years a director of the State Agricultural Society. In religion he was
an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church; in politics Republican; was
one of the trustees of the Marguerite Home; member of the Sanitary Commission
during the war; member of the original Sacramento Light Artillery Company, and
formerly of the Hook and Ladder Company, of Sacramento. He was public-spirited,
charitable and enterprising, and his name and influence were a material factor
in the history and prosperity of Sacramento.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 11/29/07.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 801-802.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Vicky Walker.