Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOSEPH C. HALL
Possessing sound sense, good
judgment, and an energetic nature, J. C. Hall is held in high regard as a man
of worth and integrity, and is numbered among the respected and useful citizens
of San Jose. An experienced railroad man, he has occupied many positions
connected with railway management, and is now rendering appreciated service as
yardmaster for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. A son of George C. Hall,
he was born September 4, 1860, in Pensacola, Fla. He comes of thrifty Scotch
ancestry, his grandfather, Cornelius Hall, having immigrated
with his family from Scotland to Florida, where he was engaged in stock-raising
until his death.
Born and reared among the hills of
Scotland, George C. Hall came with his parents to Florida, where he also
engaged in stock-raising and in horticultural pursuits, making a specialty of
orange growing. Subsequently removing to Alabama he continued in business as an
agriculturist and stockman until his death. His wife, whose maiden name was
Amelia Brown, was born in Pensacola, Fla., and died in Alabama. Of their six
children, all grew to years of maturity, and three are living, J. C., the
second child of the household, being the only one on the Pacific coast.
Brought up in Pensacola, J. C. Hall
attended the district schools during his boyhood days, and assisted in the
labors incidental to farm life. Migrating to Texas in 1878, he was for four
years in the employ of the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company, serving
first as brakeman and then as conductor, his home being in Waco. In 1883 he was
transferred to the northern division of the same road, and for three years ran
as conductor between Corsicana and Denison. Migrating to California in 1886,
Mr. Hall located in Los Angels, where he remained a year, being first employed
as a brakeman, and later as conductor, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The
following year he lived in San Francisco, being brakeman on the coast division
of the same road. Returning to Los Angeles in 1888, he was engine foreman in
the Los Angeles yards for a year. He was subsequently a brakeman on the coast
division of the Southern Pacific for a few months, and in the fall of 1889 went
to San Francisco to Missoula, Mont., where for six years he was conductor on
the Northern Pacific Railroad. Resigning his position in 1895, Mr. Hall came
back to California, locating in San Jose, where he embarked in the paint and
oil business, having a store at the corner of Park avenue
and Locust street. Being burned out in 1897, he resumed work with the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company, being switchman for a short time and then accepting
his present responsible position as yardmaster.
In San Jose Mr. Hall married Nellie
McCarthy, a native of New York City, and they have three children, namely:
Josie, Laura and Lester. In 1904 Mr. Hall was appointed a member of the City
Board of Education from the First ward, and is serving on the library and
printing committee, and on the committee on supplies and furniture. He belongs
to the San Francisco Organization of the Order of Railway Conductors.
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 723-724. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.