Santa
Clara County
Biographies
HAROLD
F. EMLAY
Not only is H. F. Emlay a
conscientious and popular agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at San
Jose, but he has identified himself with many public spirited undertakings
since his arrival here in 1890. As one of
the charter members, and as secretary of the First Ward Improvement Club, he
has advanced, and helped to carry to completion many valuable suggestions for
the betterment of this part of the town, and as a member of the board of
education from the same ward has justified, in a comparatively brief period,
his appointment by Mayor Warswick in July, 1904. He
is a member of the National Union, and of the Southern Pacific Employes’ (sic) Mutual Benefit Association, and politically
is a broad minded and helpful Republican.
Mr. Emlay began life in the town of
Alvarado, Alameda county, Cal., January 19, 1864, and
on both sides of his family comes of pioneer stock, his father Eli Emlay,
having arrived by way of the Horn in 1852, while his mother, Helen C. (Farley)
Emlay, crossed the plains with her parents in 1850. Mrs. Emlay was born in
Michigan near St. Joseph, a daughter of Ebenezer Farley, captain of a steamer
which plied between the shores of beautiful St. Joe river.
Captain Farley started out one spring morning with ox teams and wagons to cross
the plains to California, and once arrived at his destination settled on a farm
near Alvarado, Alameda county, where he farmed and
served as justice of the peace, (sic) and where death came to him in 1876. Mrs.
Emlay’s uncle, Napoleon Smith, and his brother, Henry
Clay Smith, came to California in 1845, crossing the plains and enduring great
hardships. They were practically the founders of agriculture in Alameda county, and in 1847 opened a store in Alvarado, which for years
had a monopoly of business in that section. Napoleon Bonaparte Smith attained
to political distinction, and was prefecture of Santa Clara during the Mexican
war. He is still living, one of the most venerable of the arrivals of 1845. Mr.
Smith’s grandfather participated in the Revolutionary war.
Eli Emlay was born in Amhurstburg, Ontario, and when thirteen years old was
apprenticed to a saddler and harness maker, a trade which he followed for some
time in Detroit, Mich. In 1852 he embarked on a sailer
and came around the Horn, the journey occupying six months. From San Francisco
he made his way to the mines on the Yuba and Feather rivers, where he achieved
a fair measure of success. Weary of miming, he returned to his trade, securing
a position with the government at Martinez. Later he settled in Alvarado and
worked at saddle and harness making, and in 1869 removed to Gilroy and remained
there until 1903. During all these years he had worked up a large business, and
when trade began to fall off in 1903 he removed his stock to Pacific Grove,
where he owns property, and where he is meeting with his usual success. He is
fraternally connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Both he and his
wife rejoice that their six sons and four daughters have been spared to them,
and that all are established in homes of their own.
That the present agent of the
Southern Pacific at Gilroy was an industrious and ambitious lad, was
demonstrated during his school days, when, while attending the high school,
from which he graduated in 1882, he learned telegraphy from the agent stationed
at Gilroy, and was thus able to step into a self-supporting position as soon as
he had finished his education. In the fall of 1882 he was made assistant agent
at Gilroy, and in 1883 was transferred to Menlo Park, filling the position of
assistant agent and operator for a year. In the fall of 1883 he became station
agent at Mountainview, (sic) and in 1884 filled a
similar position in Menlo Park. The year 1885 found him the station agent at
Santa Cruz. In 1888 he was transferred to Gilroy, and in 1890 he was removed to
San Francisco, being ticket agent at the station on the corner of Third and
Townsend streets. The same fall he became agent of the station in San Jose, and
is one of the most popular and obliging of the men to represent the road at
this point. In Gilroy Mr. Emlay married Mamie Belle Strickland, a native of San
Francisco, and Earl S., the son of this union, is following his father’s
example, and is ticket agent and clerk of the Southern
Pacific office in San Jose.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1401-1402. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2017 Cecelia M. Setty.