Santa
Clara County
Biographies
HENRY LAURENS UPHAM
A successful contractor and builder, Henry
Laurens Upham is numbered among the progressive and
enterprising men of Palo Alto and one who has done much in the past ten years
to advance the best interests of the community in which he has made his home. He
is the western representative of an old New England family, four generations of
whom have lived in Brookfield, Mass., where he was born June 18, 1852. His
father, Laurens Upham, was a man of much personal
worth, and having received his education in Leicester Academy he gave some time
to educational work, while he also followed farming, the latter occupation
occupying the greater part of his time up to his death December 22, 1891, at
the age of seventy-three years. He married Catherine C. Prouty,
a native of Brimfield, Mass., and she now makes her home in Brookfield.
Of the four children born to his
parents, three sons and one daughter, Henry Laurens Upham
was the eldest. He attended the common schools of his native state in youth,
and also attended the Hitchcock High School for a short time. Afterward he
worked with his father on the home farm until he began an apprenticeship to
learn the shoemaker’s trade. In 1872 he followed the course of so many of the
New England youth and entered upon a seafaring life, sailing from New York City
on the ship Enoch Train, bound for Hong Kong, China. Before reaching their
destination they were dismasted in the China sea by a
typhoon----this being in the month of September---and were towed to Hong Kong
by an English steamer. From Hong Kong he went to Manila, where he was
superintendent of the cargo of the ship, and on the same ship returned to New
York City in 1873, thence finding his way again into his native state. He then
entered into the work of a carpenter and builder, working at the trade in his
native town and the adjoining places, continuing so employed until 1876, when
he went to Kansas and in Neosho county pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres
of land and engaged in farming. Two years later he located in St. Louis, Mo.,
and worked at his trade and that of millwright until 1881, in which year he
came to California for the first time. Locating in Riverside he continued at
his trade for two years, then removed to Los Angeles county, where he remained
three years, then to San Diego all the time following the trade of carpenter and
contractor. While in the latter city he acted as foremen in mill carpentering.
In 1890 he came north, and was engaged on the buildings of Stanford University
for a time. In 1894 Mr. Upham located in Palo Alto,
where he has since made his home, continuing his work of contracting and
building, among other buildings putting up the high school as well as many fine
residences. He is also a successful designer of houses. Mr. Upham
has clearly identified his interest with those of the community, and as an evidence
of his faith in the future of the town has invested in town property. In his
political convictions Mr. Upham is a stanch adherent of the principles advocated in the platform
of the Republican party, and fraternally is associated
with the Independent Order Foresters. He is a representative member of the Palo
Alto Board of Trade.
In Kansas, Mr. Upham
was united in marriage with Mary Alice Talbot, who was born in Illinois,
February 5, 1857, a daughter of Hugh Augustas Talbot.
One daughter was born of this union, Augusta May, who is attending the
university.
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 1041-1042. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.