Sacramento County
Biographies
ADOLPH J. and HAROLD R. MATTHIAS
ADOLPH J. and HAROLD. R. MATTHIAS.--Experienced caterers to
the motoring world, Messrs. Matthias Brothers, at Oak Park,
have done their share through the liberal and energetic management of the
People’s Garage there, towards advancing the progress of everything pertaining
to the resident or touring motorist’s welfare.
They have not only studied carefully for years the conditions and
problems affecting the needs of users and owners of automobiles, but have
sought to anticipate the wants of the public, with the result that the People’s
Garage has been given a liberal patronage by the appreciative public.
Adolph
J. Matthias was born in Sacramento on March 3, 1886, the
son of Louis W. and Katherine (Metzler) Matthias, both of whom are natives of San
Francisco, representing old pioneer families. Grandfather Matthias left his native Germany
and went to South America and
later sent for his intended bride, who joined him there and they were married
on board a British man-of-war. They came
to San Francisco and in that city
the husband followed his trade of cabinet-maker. Louis W. Matthias came to Sacramento
forty-three years ago and for many years he was in the employ of the state
printing office and then was with the Sutter Engraving Company and now is doing
business for himself as an electrotyper.
He is a past master of Concord
Lodge, F. & A. M., and a member of Sciots.
Adolph J. took the usual public school courses and then went to Howe’s
Academy. He then worked under his father
in the state printing office for a year; next worked at the plumbing business
for three years; then took up work as a stationary engineer and put in eleven
years at that, while he was active in the garage in the day time. He was married in 1906, at Sacramento,
to Miss Louisa Wahl, born in Sacramento,
and they have had five children: Louis,
who died aged nineteen months, and Thelma, Bernice, Gertrude and Adolph J.,
Jr. For thirty-four years Mr. Matthias
has lived on one block. He is public-spirited
and as deeply interested in Sacramento of the past as he
is in the Sacramento of the future.
Harold
R. Matthias was born at the family home on December 31, 1897, and he attended
the public schools of the city and then started to learn the trade of auto
mechanic. In 1918 he purchased the Oak
Park Garage from M. Hamilton & Son, and conducting that business for three
years, he sold out to join his brother in the People’s Garage. He was married in 1917, to Miss Phoebe
Blanche Johnson, a native of Denver, Colo.,
and they have two children, Edith M. and Lois K.
In
1921 Adolph J. and Harold R. Matthias formed a partnership and erected a modern
brick edifice on Thirty-fifth Street in Oak Park, where they conduct one of the
successful garages in that growing suburb of the capital city. They have the agency for the Gould Batteries,
United States Tires and the Castolene oils, and these speak for
themselves. They employ six men in the
usual season and do a general garage and repairing business. Messrs. Matthias Brothers are Republicans in
national affairs, but locally support the best men and measures. They belong to the Blue Lodge of Masons and
to the Sciots, and are counted among the representative business firms in Sacramento.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 525.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles,
CA. 1923.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.