Sacramento County
Biographies
HARRY SIMPSON
HARRY
SIMPSON-A wide-awake contractor who has come to take a
very active and an enviable part in building developments in Sacramento
environs, is Harry Simpson, an Englishman from the old Saxon city of Leicester,
on the Soar, where he was born on September 2, 1882. His father was James N. Simpson, a
brick-layer, and he married Miss Clara Benson; and being intelligent,
progressive folks, they sent the lad to the ordinary English grammar schools,
and then gave him the benefits of the best technical schools, at the same time
that he also enjoyed private tutoring.
Taking up hand-work, he learned from his father the trade of the brickman; and being also the grandson of an artisan of
particular expertness in that field, he soon mastered the technical details of
the business. The New World appealed to
him; and hither he came, in 1906, locating at Pittsburgh, Pa., for one year.
In August, 1907, Mr. Simpson arrived in
Sacramento; and after a short stay in this city, he went to San Francisco, where
he worked at his trade for two years.
Then he went to Salt Lake and remained there two and one-half
years. In 1911 he returned to
Sacramento, and in 1912 began business for himself as a contractor. He built a number of shops for the Southern
Pacific, and also worked on some moulding pits; and with his
brother, under the firm name of Simpson Brothers, he has built the brick-work
in many fine residence, and also the Crystal Ice Plant. His course in the International
Correspondence School was of much benefit to him; but his actual experience has
been the best training. As a side-line,
he owns two trucks, and operates them for hauling,
Simpson Brothers are now building a most modern sand plant at twenty-fifth
Street and the American River. The
building is made of reinforced concrete.
The sand is sucked from the river by means of a pump, and is then
conveyed to the pit by carrier buckets, where it is washed and screened, being
then ready for the market.
At Salt Lake, October 22, 1909, Mr.
Simpson married Miss Florence Bell, of England, a school-chum with memories of
childhood days in the “old country”; and she shares with him a busy social life
in the circles of the Sons of St. George, and Lodge No. 6 of the Sacramento
Elks. They have two children, Norman
Harry Bell and Joyce Dorothy. Mr.
Simpson is fond of outdoor life and sports, and was captain of the Salt Lake
soccer football team for two years; and he has done much to make soccer
football popular in Sacramento. He
belongs to the Chamber of Commerce of Sacramento, and the Exchange Club, and is
a Republican.
Transcribed by Suzanne Wood.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Pages 427-428.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Suzanne Wood.