Sacramento County
Biographies
FRED LeROY
MARTIN
Dependent upon its progressive citizens is
the permanent advancement of any community and particularly of such as conserve
the business interests of a prosperous farming region while at the same time
serving their commonwealth as the seat of legislation. Lacking the
natural advantages which give to some western cities popularity as beach
resorts and to others prominence as ports of entry for the ships bearing the
commerce of the world, the capital city of California nevertheless possesses
its own claim to pre-eminence among the great towns west of the Rockies, and
far from its least important claim is that of attracting to its commercial and
financial leadership men of honor, ability and intelligence, men of intense
loyalty to civic progress and displaying a patriotic spirit without which no
community attains a lasting prosperity.
It is not too much to state that the
identification of Fred LeRoy Martin has been helpful
to the commercial and financial growth of Sacramento, with whose business
enterprises he maintained a long association and to whose banking affairs he
has devoted his attention more recently. A long residence in the capital
city has given him broad ideas concerning its possibilities and an underlying
assurance as to its future importance. Since the age of ten years he has
made his home in Sacramento, hence his belief in local development is not the result
of sentiments spasmodically formed, but of knowledge absorbed through close
observation and personal experience. Of eastern lineage, he was born in Syracruse, N. Y., September 25, 1868, and at the age of ten years came to Sacramento in company with his mother.
The grammar and high schools of Sacramento, which then as now held a wide reputation for thoroughness
of instruction, gave to Fred LeRoy Martin the
advantages of an intimate acquaintance with the studies that form the basis of
all true education. After he had completed the high school course he
entered upon business affairs. At the age of seventeen years he became
identified as a clerk with the firm of Thomson, Diggs & Co., wholesale
dealers in hardware, and for twenty-one years he continued with the same
company, meantime rising from a clerkship to a position of trust and
responsibility. During the long period of his association with the
hardware establishment he became prominent in civic enterprises and also
founded a home of his own, his marriage April 29, 1902, uniting him with Miss Henrietta Schammel
of San Francisco. The same period of business activity was
interrupted by an active service of nine months as captain of the signal corps
in the Spanish-American war, his position giving him charge of all the signal
work along the Pacific coast.
The connection of Captain Martin with
banking affairs in Sacramento began during the year 1909, when he was elected president
of the Capital Banking and Trust Company, holding that position until it became
a national bank. He now holds the position of assistant cashier of the
California National Bank. A sound, conservative policy, aloof from merely
speculative ventures and guided by keen perceptive qualities, has been his
chief characteristic as a banker and has given him the confidence of depositors
demanding the utmost safety for their moneys. With business and financial
matters demanding his entire time, he has not identified himself with public
affairs nor has he enjoyed a leisure sufficient for active participation in
politics, yet he has maintained a large circle of friends in every circle of society
and has held prominent connection with the well-known Sutter club of
Sacramento, also has engaged in fraternal work with the local lodge of Odd
Fellows and is a leading member of the organization of Spanish-American War
Veterans.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 699-700. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.