Victor Lemay, general foreman, Car Department, Central Pacific Railroad Shops, Sacramento, is a native of St. Emilie, County of Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada, born July 6, 1838, his parents being John B. and Clair (LeClair) Lemay. Both parents were of Canadian birth and French ancestry, and his father was a carpenter and blacksmith by trade, was extensively engaged in business, having a tract of land which he farmed, and a grist-mill, saw-mill and fulling-mill. He was also a ship owner, and would send lumber to Quebec for shipment to London. Victor Lemay spent his boyhood days at his native place and received his education there and at college at Quebec. When yet a mere child he exhibited a taste and natural genius for mechanical work, and as a mere boy constructed some quite intricate and original contrivances in wood-work. He also labored one or two years at blacksmith work in his brother’s shop. He left college when sixteen years of age, and worked as a brick-maker during the succeeding summer. In the fall of that year he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and about three weeks later secured employment with a gunsmith and carriage maker, named Chatelle, who did a great deal of work for the Sioux and Winnebago Indians. He worked for him about a year, repairing guns and at general mechanical work, and then went to Hudson City, Wisconsin, on the St. Croix River, where he went to work for a farmer named James Murphy, building corn-cribs, sheds and barns. In the latter part of 1860 he went back to his old home in Canada. He first engaged in farming and afterward went to work in a Quebec shipyard. Then he went home and started a cabinet shop, and he was connected with that for a time, then started a shipyard and blacksmith shop of his own. In 1865 he sold out, and, going to East Douglas, Massachusetts, engaged with the Hunt Axe Manufactory, cabinet-making being dull at that time. He ground hatchets and axes properly at the first trial. He had been employed by the company at this work for nine months, and then they commenced the erection of a large cotton mill. He went home for his tools, and went to work on the construction as a carpenter. He worked until the building was completed, about four months, then went to Ashton and engaged with the Lonsdale Company, who were putting up a big cotton factory. After he had been there three months he was promoted foreman of the joiners, and had charge of the work of putting up machines, looms, floor-work, etc. He was employed by Lonsdale Company about twenty-three months, and for a year of that time he kept boarding-house, having been induced to do so by Superintendent E. Kilbourn and Architect John Hull. He decided to go to California, and on the 1st of January, 1868 gave notice to his employers of his intention to leave. By the 4th of the month he had sold his household effects and was in New York all ready for the trip. He took the steamer Arago, which left New York for Aspin-wall on the 5th of January. He crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and took the old steamer America for San Francisco, landing there January 28, 1868. It was two or three weeks before he could find satisfactory employment, and he then went to work on the residence of Mr. McCollum, builder of the Mint. That job was completed in less than two months, and he then worked for contractor Pratt about a month. He and a foreman were then sent by Pratt to the firm of Cautrall & Dell, and after he had been with them a short time he was given charge of their window-frame and sash works. In the fall of 1868 he came to Sacramento, and was here introduced to A. J. Simmons, then general foreman at the railroad shops, and Mr. Lemay was given assurance of work if he would come here. So he went back to San Francisco, made arrangements accordingly, removed to Sacramento, and on the 11th of November went to work as a carpenter. In 1871 he was promoted foreman of the cabinet department, in which at that time only five or six men were employed. This number had increased to from 100 to 150 men by 1885, and on the 5th of July of the latter year he was promoted assistant foreman of the car department under Mr. Turner. On the 6th of January, 1889, he was introduced to general foreman of the car department. Mr. Lemay was married in Canada to Miss Marie Anna Marcotte, a native of Portneuf, Canada. They have five children, viz,: Joseph Alphonse, John B., Raisen, Joseph and Mary. The first three were born in Canada, the fourth in Rhode Island, and the last in California. Mr. Lemay is a member of Columbia Lodge, K. of P., and of Owosso Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men. He is a great field sportsman, and was a member of the first gun club organized in Sacramento, generally know as the California Gun Club. Mr. Lemay, besides being a master of his business, is a most popular man with those in his departments, and the community generally.
Transcribed
by: Marla Fitzsimmons
An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California.
By Hon. Win. J. Davis. Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 296-297.
© 2004 Marla Fitzsimmons.