Biographies
WILLIAM GEARY
Perhaps no occupation presents more
difficulties to the amateur or imposes greater responsibilities upon the expert
than that of pharmacy. The fact that, during a very long and close
identification with the drug business, Mr. Geary has met with exceptional
success in the work proves his natural qualifications of accuracy, intelligence
and trustworthiness. When he left school, scarcely more than a boy, it was for
the purpose of studying the drug business, and as the years passed he displayed
an increasing knowledge of the occupation. From that he rose by thrift and
energy into a financial association with an old-established drug establishment,
and eventually he acquired a large interest in a western house. When it is
remembered that he began without means or influence and rose from a humble
station into prominence and business success, it will be realized that he
possesses abilities of a high order, and such indeed is his reputation
throughout the country tributary to the city of Sacramento.
It was during 1881 that Mr. Geary first
became a resident of Sacramento, where later he achieved business success of a
high order. For a long period prior to his removal to the west he had been
identified with Canada and the eastern states, but his residence in our own
state has covered so many years that he is now a typical Californian, loyal to
the progress of the commonwealth, interested in any movement for the general
welfare and a contributor to projects of permanent value to the people. Of
Canadian birth, he was born in London, Canada, in March of 1837, and received
his education in the schools of that city, but at the age of fifteen left
school in order to learn the drug business. When nineteen years old he went to
Philadelphia, Pa., and secured employment with a large drug firm. As a
traveling salesman for that house he visited the principal cities of the east
and gained a comprehensive knowledge of all that section of country. The west,
however, proved so much more alluring to him than the older-settled east that
in 1862 he became a resident of San Francisco, where he made his home for
almost twenty years, meanwhile being connected with a wholesale drug firm. Upon
coming to Sacramento and assuming the management of the wholesale drug house of
H. C. Kirk & Co., he became a partner in the business, the title of which
was thereupon changed to Kirk, Geary & Company. Since then he has built up
one of the most important drug houses of its kind in the state, and he has
established a wholesale trade whose customers comprise retail dealers
throughout California, Nevada and Southern Oregon.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 887-888. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.