Sacramento County
Biographies
ALBERT ALEXANDER VAN VOORHIES
A. A. VAN VOORHIES, manufacturer of and
wholesale dealer in harness, Sacramento. The
name of the gentleman who forms the subject of this biographical notice is well
and honorably known in Sacramento and throughout this portion of the State as
the head of one of the most extensive manufacturing firms on the coast; and it
is pleasing to note that his present high position has come to him as the
reward for faithful attention to business and business principles. The history
of his ancestry can be traced back to a period as early as 1760, when four
brothers emigrated from Holland to
the new World. One of these, the ancestor of our subject, settled in what is
now Bergen County, New Jersey, near
the present manufacturing city of Paterson;
and it is a fact worthy of note that the grandfather, also the father, John Van
Voorhies, and the subject himself were all born in
the same house. While the latter was yet a child, his father, and his
mother, nee Sarah Storms—who descended from an old Holland
family—removed to Ann Arbor, Michigan,
where he was educated in the elementary schools. At the age of seventeen
he returned to New York and served an apprenticeship as saddle and harness
maker, under the instructions of a Mr. Volland, and
continued his trade in that city until 1853. California,
at that time and since, the land of golden promise to so many young men of
energy and spirit, became the Mecca
of his hopes, and he started for the far West. Coming by way of the
Isthmus, he arrived in San Francisco
in November, 1853. There he almost immediately obtained employment as a
clerk in the harness establishment of Mr. I. Madison, at that time the leading
harness manufacturer on the coast. Continuing there for two years, he went
in 1855 to Placerville, El
Dorado County,
then called Hangtown, and established a wholesale and
retail house. It was during the Washoe mining excitement, and this, his
first business venture, proving to be a success, he remained at this field
until January 1, 1869, when he came to Sacramento
and bought an interest in the harness business of R. Stone & Co. In
1880 they removed to No. 322 and 324 J Street,
their present location. In 1882 Mr. Van Voorhies
purchased the interest of Mr. Stone, and the present firm of A. A. Van Voorhies & Co. Was established, the other members being
L. C. Montford, R. C. Irvine and George A. Phinney. Mr. Van Voorhies
has twice been married. For his first wife he wedded Miss Harriet
Wadsworth, a native of Connecticut. By
that marriage there was one daughter, Harriet, now the wife of George A. Phinney, of this city. His second wife, whom he
married in 1873, is a daughter of the late Harry Montford,
an old resident of this State. By this marriage there he has been born one
son, Ralph Henry. During his residence in El
Dorado County, Mr.
Van Voorhies was active in political matters; but the
increasing cares of his extensive business since coming here have made it
impracticable for him to engage in party work. Still, he takes an active
interest in all things pertaining to the prosperity and advancement of the
city. In the Masonic fraternity he has been for many years treasurer of
Sacramento Commandery, No. 2; is a member of Union
Lodge, No. 58, and of Sacramento Chapter, No. 3; and is also a warden of St.
Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church. His aim is
the elevation of mankind through Christian influences, while his liberality has
been unostentatious, but heartfelt and real. This, the merest outline of
the life of one of the representative business men of the Capital
City, will be recognized by his
friends as in keeping with his innate modesty; without it no historical volume
of the county would be complete.
Transcribed 9-25-07 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 767-768.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.