Sacramento County
Biographies
CAPTAIN H. A. LEWALD
CAPTAIN H. A. LEWALD.--An exceedingly interesting story is that of
the life of Captain H.A. Lewald, now a rancher at Rio
Linda. He was born in New York City
on November 2, 1883, the son of Harry and Anne Sinclair (Deidrick)
Lewald, both New Yorkers, they having been born in
the metropolis in 1847 and 1858, respectively. The father of our subject was an
artist, and although he passed away in 1887, his fame as an interior decorator
has lived after him in many of the finest buildings of New
York of a generation or more ago. Another son, William
Lewald, is a graduate of Columbia
University, and has also been honored with
scientific degrees from other institutions; and he is at present in charge of
the Department of Health and Physics, in New York City,
where Mrs. Harry Lewald is still living.
At an early age H. A. Lewald
was imbued with the desire to see the world, and at the age
of fourteen he entered the British sea service as a roustabout on the barque "Chili," and set out on a long voyage to
Australia, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, eventually arriving in England on
the same vessel via Cape Horn. From the bottom rung of the ladder, our subject
worked himself up to be a lieutenant-commander in the United States Navy; the
story of his career reads like a veteran's tale of adventure, although he is
still a comparatively young man. Thirteen months after he went to sea, he left
the "Chili", in England,
and for the next ten years he lived and worked on other sailing vessels. At the
age of eighteen he was made an officer on the ship, "Astral," a four-masted barque flying Old Glory,
and ever since that time he has sailed only under the American flag. He was on
the ill-fated "Star Bengal" which was lost in the Sumner Straits, in
Alaskan waters, in September, 1908, with a toll of 111 lives, when only through
heroic rescue work were twenty-two seamen saved. The vessel was commanded by Captain
Wagner, and was owned by the Alaska Packers, Inc., for whom our subject was
working; and he was in charge of a gang of men when the ship foundered in a
gale.
On his return to San
Francisco, Captain Lewald
took command of the "Alert," to run in Alaskan waters. His first
experience on steamers at sea was gained in the employ of Oregon River
Navigation Company, on the steamer "Columbia,"
running between San Francisco and Portland
and Astoria, Ore.
Shortly thereafter he was with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, filling a
two years' engagement in Central-America waters, with headquarters at Panama.
After that, Captain Lewald was in command of various
vessels making trans-Atlantic runs.
At the outbreak of the World War, in 1914,
Captain Lewald returned to New York
and became commander of the "Frederick Luckenbach,"
belonging to the Luckenbach Steamship &
Navigation Company, the largest steamship company in America.
For the following twenty-four months this vessel was used to run the blockade
from England to France.
While lying off Cardiff, Wales,
Captain Lewald received a summons from Brig.-General
Bartlett, on the entrance of the United States
into the war, to prepare the vessel for army transport duty; and this
being accomplished, the blockade was again run, for
twenty-one months, on trips to France
and England. It
was at Cardiff that Captain Lewald
was made Lieut.-Commander, U.
S. N. R., in 1917, Rear Admiral Phil Andrews
being in command of the base.
Captain
Lewald continued in active service throughout the
war, and the lurking dangers of deadly mines or submarines were only a few of
the many hazards undergone in devotion of Old Glory. His vessel was made over
into a man-o’-war at Cardiff; but
he still continued to run the blockade, successful as ever. Returning to America,
in March, 1919, Captain Lewald was appointed
court-martial officer at Bay Ridge, on the receiving ship “New
York,” embracing a field of sixty acres of territory;
and in July, 1919, he was passed into inactive service, at his own request, and
was reluctantly given leave of absence. His honorable discharge is dated
September 30, 1922. The interesting record of his service is well worthy of the
man.
It
is characteristic of the man that when on the sea he has always given the most
conscientious attention to duty, and when on land he has improved wisely every
free moment of time; He owns many priceless mementos, to say nothing of the
extensive collection of photographs taken by himself in far-away quarters of
the globe.
Captain
Lewald was married at San Francisco, in May, 1907, to
Miss Stella E. Quinn, a native of Nauvoo, Ill., who was brought out to
California and the Bay City when a child, by her parents. She was reared in
that city, and in time attended Stanford
University. One child, a daughter,
has blessed this union, and she bears the name California Star. She is a
graduate at the Rio Linda school. Captain Lewald is a Republican of the Hiram Johnson type. He is a
blue lodge Mason, and is active in the American Legion.
Early
in 1919, Captain Lewald bought eighty acres of choice
land at Rio Linda, formerly owned by Mr. Woodward, the pioneer merchant there.
On retiring from the navy, he and his family moved onto this ranch property,
where he has expended thousands of dollars in making important improvements,
adding a poultry farm, and an orchard of almonds, olives and other fruits, all
of which has had its effect on the general development of the locality. When he
located here, only thirty homes were to be counted; but now some 400 homes have
been built in the Rio Linda district. He was for a term president of the Rio
Linda Country Club and Farm Bureau, and director of the Sacramento County Farm
Bureau, and with his wife he has done much to forward the growth of schools,
Mrs. Lewald having been instrumental in successfully
putting over the enterprise of the new $40,000 school. She has also served on
the Sacramento County
grand jury.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Taylor.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 530-531. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.