Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES H. DEVINE
JAMES H. DEVINE.
Among the representative citizens of Sacramento,
James H. Devine occupies a prominent place, won in the commercial world by his
ability in business, his strong principles of honor and integrity,
and in the municipal life of the city through his intelligent comprehension of
the needs of the public. For many years
a marble dealer in this city, he is now retired from the active cares of life
and enjoying in peace and quiet the fruits of his early efforts. Mr. Devine is a native of Ireland,
born in 1846, a son of Michael and Ann Devine, the father, a man of good
education, keeping the village records.
He died in Ireland, while his
wife afterward removed to American and died in Jersey City,
N.J., in 1883. She was a woman of rare worth and ability and
a mother beloved and esteemed by her ten children.
In the
common schools of Ireland James H. Devine received his preliminary education
and while still young came to Jersey City, N.J.,
where he attended the public schools. After several years he completed his
studies and upon leaving school became apprenticed to learn the trade of marble
cutter. He served an apprenticeship of
four years, when he came to California, leaving the
eastern coast in January, 1864, and arriving in California
in the same year. In Sacramento he
formed a partnership with his brother, John C. Devine, under the firm name of
J.C. Devine & Brother engaging in the marble business. Both being skilled workmen they were soon in
possession of a good business, and in connection with their work took contracts
to furnish dressed stone, marble and granite for fine buildings, their work
going into many of the best dwellings of Sacramento
and the surrounding country. At the same
time they did considerable work as sculptors, the firm erecting many of the
costly monuments in the city cemetery and throughout northern and central California. The firm became well and favorably known
throughout the section where their work was sent, the promptness and dispatch
with which orders were executed, and the design and finish of their work
generally, winning universal commendation.
The brothers continued successfully in business until 1895, when they
closed out and retired, having accumulated sufficient property to enable them
to live on the income. This property
consists of good business houses on K street, as well as dwellings in
different parts of the city, which they rent.
Their business house is located at Nos. 722-724
K street, the office of
John C. Devine being in the rear of the store.
He also has another building at Nos. 2324 and 2324
˝ K street,
which has sixteen rooms and is utilized for a rooming house.
Mr. Devine
affiliates with the Democratic party and takes great
interest in the advancement of his party and the election of his friends. For ten years he served as a member of the
Board of Trustees. In 1901 he was
nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for the mayoralty of the city of Sacramento
and lacked but a few votes of being elected, the election speaking eloquently
of his popularity. Mr. Devine is a ready
speaker and a forceful writer, and is the author of a work entitled, “A
Treatise of Drinking Water,” an article in defense of the water of the
Sacramento river and its system, a work which every
tax payer in Sacramento should
read. Mr. Devine was one of a committee
of three to represent the city and county of Sacramento
at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Mo.,
in 1904.
Transcribed
by Kathy Porter.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by
J. M. Guinn. Page 637.
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Kathy Porter.