Sacramento County
Biographies
HON. JOSEPH STEFFENS
HON. JOSEPH
STEFFENS. There are names so closely
associated with the permanent development of Sacramento
that the mention of the city’s commercial growth brings to the old residents thoughts
of the personality of these citizens and their important contribution to local
progress. None has been more active than
Mr. Steffens in promoting measures for the welfare of the city; none has been
more deeply interested in the civic affairs, and few have been more influential
in fostering enterprises necessary to the city’s material, commercial and
educational growth. Hence in local
annals his name is worthy of perpetuation, and a complete history of the place
could not be written without giving due mention to the citizenship of this
prominent pioneer.
The life
which this narrative sketches began in the township
of York, Upper Canada,
January 15, 1837, in the home of Joseph and Mary A. (Graham) Steffens. Following the trend of emigration toward the
States in 1840 the family became pioneers of Carroll county,
Ill., where they remained for
many years. The lot of a farmer’s boy,
with its pleasures and trials, its summers of hard work and winters at school,
brought few changes to the boyhood years of Mr. Steffens, yet it was during
those uneventful years that he laid the foundation of future success. With a personality early characterized by
self-reliance, enthusiasm and force of will, the task of earning a livelihood
and achieving financial independence would have presented no discouraging
features had it not been for the handicap of ill-health. Eventually, however, it proved that the lack
of robustness, which rendered the occupation of agriculture impracticable for
him, did not prove an unfortunate circumstance, for it turned his thoughts
toward openings more suited to his temperament and talents.
When
nineteen years of age Mr. Steffens entered the Rock River Seminary, where he
took an academic course, and later he studied mercantile branches in Bell’s
Commercial College,
Chicago. For several terms he taught school, but the
profession of an educator possessed little fascination for him, his tastes
being in the line of business activities.
During 1859 he first became connected with the line of business in which
his later successes were won. From that
year until 1862 he was a clerk with G. M. Clayton & Brother, of Freeport,
Ill., where he acquired a thorough
knowledge of paints and oils. Meanwhile
he had heard much concerning opportunities offered by the region west of the Rocky
mountains, with its unsurpassed soil and
climate, and its openings to young men of ambition. Wishing to take advantage of these
opportunities he closed out his interests in Illinois and during the summer of
1862 crossed the plains with Levi Carter of Stockton. On the 9th of September he arrive
as San Francisco, where without delay he secured employment with Fuller &
Heather, dealers in paints and oils, and received from them $50 per month as a
bookkeeper. However, it was not long
before he had demonstrated his keen and thorough knowledge of the paint
business, and by active attention to the firm’s affairs, he won their
confidence and received deserved promotion.
Upon the consolidation of this firm with Cameron, Whittier & Co.,
under the title of Whittier, Fuller & Co., he remained with the new
corporation, which later became the leading paint firm on the Pacific
coast. Fuller & Heather had a store
in San Francisco and another in Sacramento
but these were merged into the properties of the new company, and the
headquarters of the company were at the corner of Fourth and Pine streets, San
Francisco, where Mr. Steffens remained for one
year. In 1869 he was chosen to become
manager of the Sacramento business
and in 1874 was admitted into the firm as a partner, after which he was given
control of the financial affairs of the house in this part of the state. To a large extent the prominence won by the
firm was due to his keen sagacity, tireless energy and executive ability. With an intense devotion to the business and
an eye single to its development, he labored unweariedly
year after year until the house had gained a position second to none in its
specialty.
While to a
large degree the management of the firm’s interests remained Mr. Steffens’
principal occupation through all the years of his active business career, this
specialty did not shut him out from participation in civic affairs. In December, 1882, he was elected president
of the Sacramento Board of Trade, and under his supervision were
issued the annual reviews widely circulated and forming documents of great
value. When the board was merged into
the Chamber of Commerce he continued in his official capacity and won
distinction by his meritorious services as the head of a most important body;
after a long and honorable service, in 1904 he resigned from the
presidency. As a member of the
Sacramento Improvement Association and as a director of the California Museum
Association, he was closely connected with two important enterprises, in both
of which he was deeply interested. For a
number of years he acted as a member of the board of directors of the state hospital
of Stockton, but from this position
he has resigned, as, indeed, he has retired from all other public preferments. The
only position which he still holds is that of director of the California State
Bank of Sacramento, and he
continues to be one of the most active members of this directorate, the bank
now being his headquarters.
Although
Mr. Steffens possesses the tastes and temperament of a business man rather than
a politician, he has interested himself in public affairs, has kept posted
concerning the problems before our state and nation, and in party matters has
given his support to Republican principles.
In 1884, at the earnest solicitation of party leaders in the city, he
consented to become a candidate for mayor.
Out of four thousand votes polled, a week’s canvass showed that he
lacked only thirty-one votes of being elected.
With that exception he has declined offers of public positions,
preferring to devote his attention to the management of his business interests
and the enjoyment of the society of family and friends, and in his beautiful
home, at No. 815 Fifteenth street, he passes the twilight of his useful
existence in quiet contentment, surrounded by the comforts made possible by
years of strenuous activities.
Not only
does Mr. Steffens rank among the eloquent speakers of Sacramento, but also he
possesses unusual qualifications as a ready writer,
and both as a speaker and as a writer he is known far beyond the limits of his
home city. Among the speeches which he
has delivered upon important occasions may be mentioned his addresses at the
driving of the last spike at Ashland, Ore.;
as the representative of Sacramento at Placerville
on the completion of the Southern Pacific Railway; and at the Margaret E.
Crocker flower festival. As a writer he
won merited praise through his series of letters to the Record-Union during the course of a journey of some twelve thousand
miles in the United States. These letters were not merely of a
superficial nature, but possessed a depth of thought as well as a correctness
of diction that made them the most notable feature of the periodical in which
they appeared. In his predictions as to
the future of the country he was remarkably clear and time has proved the
accuracy of many of his forecasts.
In San
Francisco, January 15, 1865, occurred the
marriage of Mr. Steffens and Miss E. Louisa Symes of Hoboken,
N.J.
They are the parents of a son, Joseph Lincoln, and three daughters: Lulu, Lottie and Laura. The only son is a young man of extraordinary
ability and already has gained national prominence as a writer and editor. Born in 1866, he was the fortunate recipient
of exceptional educational advantages.
After having graduated for the State University of California, he spent
three years in special study in Europe. On his return to the United
States he became a reporter on the New York Evening Post and later was employed on the staff of the New York Commercial advertiser. From the latter
position he was promoted to be editor of McClure’s Magazine, in which his
signal success has made his name almost a household word. As a writer on state governments he is peculiarly
well informed, but his greatest fame has come through his series of articles
relating to the corruption of the officials in many of the leading cities of
the United States.
The eldest
daughter of Mr. Steffens is the wife of Dr. A. H. Suggett,
a successful dentist of Marysville, this state.
Lottie, who studied abroad for some years and received three degrees
from Guttenberg College
in Germany, after her return to the United
States became the wife of J. J. Hollister, member of one
of California’s most noted
pioneer families. Since graduating from
the Leland Stanford University Mr. Hollister has followed the occupation of
mining engineer, and is now superintendent of a mine near Carters, Cal. Laura, who, like her sisters has had
exceptional educational advantages and is a woman of many accomplishments, now
holds a responsible position in the state library. The work of which she has charge is the
circulating library for various parts of the state, one department of which
consists of raised-letter literature for the blind.
Transcribed
by Kathy Porter.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by
J. M. Guinn. Pages
307-308. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Kathy Porter.