Santa
Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM
H.WERNER
The
growth of Santa Clara from a hamlet with only a few houses to a city with
modern improvements and beautiful homes has been witnessed by Mr. Werner, who
passed the years of boyhood here and is now, after having visited many other
places, as firm a friend as in youth to the city with whose interests his own
are identified. With a faith in its
progress and a loyalty to its institutions, he has devoted much time and thought
to movements for the benefit of the town and for the development of it
resources. On the organization of the
Santa Clara Commercial League he became a charter member and has since been
prominent in enterprises projected and fostered by this body.
A native
Californian, Mr. Werner was born in San Francisco March 17, 1865. His father, C.W. Werner, was born in Hamburg,
Germany, and there learned the hairdresser’s trade and served the usual time in
the German army. In 1848 he came on a
sailing vessel around the Horn to San Francisco, where he carried on a grocery
business at Fourth and Market streets, the present site of the Flood
building. In 1852 he returned to
Germany, but four years later came back to California and settled in Sutter county, where he bought land and engaged in stock-raising. Among his acquaintances of that period was General
Sutter with whom he formed a warm friendship.
The year 1859 found him in Santa Clara, where he opened a mercantile store
on Main street, but in 1864 he sold out and removed to
San Francisco, wheel he started a hair-dressing parlor which, in conjunction
with a barber shop, he conducted for many years. A stanch Republican, his party frequently
tendered him nominations for local offices, but these he always refused. As a boy he was confirmed in the Lutheran
Church, but after coming to America identified himself with the Presbyterian
denomination. During the latter years of
his life he made four trips to Germany and thus kept in touch with the scenes
of his childhood in the old German home.
His wife, Meta Kuhn, was born in Bremen, Germany, and died at Santa
Clara, and in this city his death also occurred when he was sixty two years of
age.
In the
parental family there were two daughters and two sons. Namely: Mrs. Erna
Proseus of San Jose; William H., of Santa Clara; Oscar H., and Mrs. Clara
McQuiod, both of San Jose. The older
son, William H., was reared principally in Santa Clara, from whose high school
he was graduated in 1881. In starting
out for himself he learned to set type in the office of the Santa Clara Journal, where he remained
about two years, and then spent a year in San Francisco on the Daily Alta, after which he began as a
compositor with the San Jose
Mercury. In recognition of his
ability he was soon promoted to be foreman of the job department. After five years with the Mercury he resigned
his position and took up job printing in San Jose. Meanwhile he had devoted considerable time to
music, of which he has always been passionately fond. As a boy he played the cornet in bands and
orchestras and lost no opportunity for acquiring additional knowledge of his
loved art. On the afternoon of December
10, 1890, he yielded to the impulse which led him to take off his printer’s
apron and enlist in the United States navy as a musician. Assigned to the flagship San Francisco, he
accompanied it on a cruise along the coast of South America and to the Sandwich
Islands. In February of 1892 the San
Francisco went out of commission and he received an honorable discharge. Returning to San Jose he worked at the printer’s
trade there and later received an appointment in the state printers
office at Sacramento. During 1894 he
abandoned his trade permanently and took up the laundry business in Santa
Clara, where he is now vice-president of the Enterprise Laundry Company. In connection with the president, Mr. Roll,
he has overcome discouragements in the building up of a business and has now
established a trade extending throughout this section of the state. At their laundry, No. 867 Sherman street, every modern improvement will
be found for the proper management of the business and the efforts of the
owners, supplemented by a large force of experienced assistants, have won the
confidence of customers to a degree seldom surpassed. For years Mr. Werner was leader of the Santa
Clara band, but ow plays the baritone in the Fifth Regiment Band of San
Jose. In politics he votes with the
Republican party.
Fraternally he was made a Mason in Liberty Lodge No. 200, and is also
connected with the Improved Order of Red Men and Santa Clara Parlor No. 100,
Native Sons of the Golden West.
Transcribed by
Louise E. Shoemaker December 10, 2015.
Source:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 901-902. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Louise E. Shoemaker.