Sacramento County
Biographies
SAMSON E. LIMA
SAMSON
E. LIMA.--Industrial art in Sacramento
County is well represented by the
talented Samson E. Lima, of Twelfth Street
road, in the capital city, and his successful enterprise of making ornamental
plaster decorations. He is a Norwegian
by birth, and was born in that picturesque Northern country in the city of Stavanger,
October 26, 1871, a son of Erik and Anna (Stueland) Lima;
and in the schools of Norway
he received that fine educational training which has proven of such inestimable
value to him in his path-breaking work.
When
old enough to do so, Samson E. Lima learned the wood-carver’s trade; but he had
no sooner made himself proficient in that than he took up the making of plaster
decorations. Then he went to British
South Africa in 1903, and stayed there for three years; and after that he
returned to his native country. All the
while, he was acquiring more and more practical experience of value and more
thoroughly preparing himself for his present responsible undertakings.
In
1907, believing that his future lay in the New World, Samson Lima crossed the
ocean to the United States, locating
in San Francisco, where he spent two years and then one year at Lincoln
as model-maker with the Gladding McBean terra cotta
works. It was in 1910 he came to Sacramento. He was not long in establishing himself in
the field in which he is now a leader, and such is his ability, his experience,
and his devotion to the best interests of his patrons, that he now does most of
the ornamental plaster-work wanted in the city.
He put the artistic touches to the Forum Building,
the Masonic Temple
at Tenth and J Streets, the County Hospital
and the principal theaters; and he has also done much work outside of the city,
including the ornamentation of churches and banks, and he keeps two men
employed all the time. His plant is
located on the Twelfth Street
road, near the railroad, and it is a busy art-center. He built his residence at 621
Fortieth Street, where he resides with his family.
In
San Francisco, in 1909, Mr. Lima married Miss Inga Person,
a native of Sweden, near Stockholm,
and they have four children to gladden their happy domestic life. Anny is the eldest, then come Elizabeth and
Edith, while the youngest is Ruth; and they are all attending the local
schools. The family
belong to the Scandinavian Mission
Church, and Mr. Lima seeks to exert
the best political influence as a man independent of party. He is fond of the attraction and pleasures of
outdoor life, and that means that he is found of Sacramento
County.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 802.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles,
CA. 1923.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.