Sacramento County
Biographies
WILLIAM H. QUAAS
It has been the fortunate experience of
Sacramento to attract to and retain in its citizenship a large number
of men possessing in eminent degree the qualities that promote the prosperity
of a municipality. Not the least conspicuous among these citizens is
William H. Quaas, who as a junior partner in the Kane
& Trainor Ice Company maintains an association
with one of the leading firms of the city and by formulating plans for its
growth at the same time advances the general civic welfare. Although
still on the sunny side of life's prime, he has gained a thorough knowledge of
many districts of California through business relations therein, and in addition he had
the advantage of travels abroad and study in the educational institutions of Germany. It is his opinion, the result of close observation
in various localities, that Sacramento offers to men of energy advantages unsurpassed by regions
whose attractions are more widely heralded.
With some degree of pride Mr. Quaas claims to belong to a pioneer family of California. His maternal grandfather, Adolph Heilbron, came from Germany in 1850, and after a brief sojourn in St. Louis proceeded to the west during the era of mining
activities. William H. was born in Sacramento September 6, 1884, and is a son of Henry and Carrie (Heilbron) Quaas, the former born in Germany and the latter in Sacramento, her death occurring in San Diego. The father now makes his home in Sacramento, where the grandfather, Adolph Heilbron,
also resides. On the conclusion of the preliminary course of study in the
California schools, Mr. Quaas was sent to
the ancestral home in Dresden, Germany, where he attended school for two and one-half years,
finding in the educational institutions of that country a degree of
thoroughness and discipline most helpful to the formation of desirable traits
in the students. Upon his return to California he spent six months in Fresno county on a ranch owned by the family, and from there went
to Napa county, where he engaged in the
growing of fruit and in general ranching for five years.
As an employee of the surveying corps
connected with the Southern Pacific railroad in 1906 Mr. Quaas
was sent to the Imperial Valley on the border of Mexico and continued to work there until the San Francisco disaster, when he was transferred to the surveying
department of the road at Santa
Cruz. When he
severed his connection with the road he formed an alliance with the Shattuck
& Desmand Company, contractors, in whose
interests he engaged in construction work on the coast road, meanwhile gaining
much helpful information concerning the region in which he worked. During
June of 1907 he secured a position as bookkeeper with the Buffalo Brewing
Company of Sacramento, and continued in that capacity for three years,
eventually resigning to enter upon his present business relations. The
death of Mr. Kane and the necessity of the settlement of his estate led Mr. Quaas to purchase his one-half interest in the Kane & Trainor Ice Company, an influential and prosperous concern
that acts as distributors for the Buffalo Brewing Company, the Union Ice
company and the national Ice & Cold Storage company.
The personal tastes of Mr. Quaas are not such as to lead him into public affairs or
partisan activities. Aside from voting the Republican ticket he takes no
part in politics and at no time has he been willing to consider official honors
for himself. A broad-minded sympathy with all efforts for the upbuilding of humanity leads him to maintain an interest in
all denominations and creeds, but he is especially generous in his
contributions to the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which his wife is
actively associated. Both are identified with the Saturday club, one of
the leading social organizations of the city, and both are likewise solicitous
to promote all measures for the permanent advancement of the community.
Prior to their marriage, which occurred September 28, 1909,
Mrs. Quaas was Miss Abbie
McKay, her family being among the well-known residents of Sacramento. The only child of the union, Abbie
Capitola, was born in this city April 29, 1911.
Friends won by years of earnest helpfulness maintain a deep interest in the
success of Mr. Quaas and predict for him years of
steady and growing prosperity.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages
457-459. Historic Record
Company, Los
Angeles,
CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sally Kaleta.