San Francisco County
Biographies
CHARLES
W. ARMES & RICHARD B. DALLAM
ARMES & DALLAM,
manufacturers and importers of wooden and willow ware and brooms, at 232-230
Fourth street and 226 Front street. The firm was originally composed of C.
W. & G. W. Armes, and their brother-in-law, R. B.
Dallam, and the business was established by W. A. Hauxhurst
& Son, on Clark street, in 1852, and succeeded by
the present firm in 1859. They removed the stock to No. 117 Sacramento street, in rooms occupied by the Vigilance Committee, in
1856, and the building from which Cora and Casey were hung by the same
committee. Subsequently the business was again moved to the present and
more commodious quarters. About 1862 the firm bought a one-third interest
in the Pioneer Pail and Tub Manufactory, established
by Parish Brothers, on the corner of Fremont and Mission streets, and
subsequently succeeded to the entire business. They then increased their
capacity, and began manufacturing assorted wooden ware, Mr. Dallam taking
entire charge of the factory. In 1864 they moved the factory to Davis
street, and there manufactured until 1876, when the State offered special
inducements in convict labor, and the factory was moved to San Quentin, within
the prison walls. They remained there until 1883, when the new
constitution prohibited the use of convict labor, and the factory had to be
moved. They next sold their machinery to the Coos Bay Wooden-ware Works,
and retired from the manufacturing business. Mr. Dallam then superintended
the factory of the company until 1885, when the firm of Armes
& Dallam again began manufacturing in the Kimball building, on Fourth street. They were subsequently burned out, and
afterward started their factory in the West Coast Furniture building, on Fourth
street, between Bryant and Brannan, Mr. Dallam
continuing in charge of the factory, which has been increased in capacity, and
they now manufacture churns, step-ladders, cheese safes, ice-boxes, wash-boards
and various other articles. In wash-boards, they are the only
manufacturers in the State, and in broom-handles the largest on the
coast. Most of their willow ware comes from Syracuse, New York, but the finer
grades from Germany and France, and their market includes all States west of
the Rocky Mountains, extending from Alaska to Central America, Mexico,
Australia and the Sandwich Islands. In 1886 Mr. G. W. Armes
retired from the firm, which was continued by Messrs. C. W. Armes
and R. B. Dallam, the present proprietors.
Armes Brothers are the pioneer broom-corn growers and broom
manufacturers of the Pacific coast. They were born in Hadley,
Massachusetts, but in childhood emigrated with their parents to Webster,
Michigan, where the father farmed, raised broom-corn and manufactured brooms.
The brothers came to California in 1852, C. W. crossing the plains, while G. W.
remained at home to close up some business, and in the fall came to this State
by the Panama route. Joining his brother, they then began mining at Red
Dog, on the Greenhorn river, near Nevada City, but
after an unsuccessful winter, in the spring of 1853 they decided to resume the
occupation of farming, in which they were more familiar. They then leased
land on shares, on Mark West creek, Sonoma county,
thus performing all the labors while the proprietors furnished teams and
seed. They put in 125 acres, and secured a fair crop. As brooms were
high-priced in the market, with their knowledge of broom-making they decided
that the industry would be profitable, provided broom-corn would grow, and to
try the experiment they secured seed through Harmon Heald,
the founder of Healdsburg, at fifty cents per pound, and in the spring of 1853
they planted two acres, the first broom-corn planted in California. The
corn grew coarse and curly, but very tough and serviceable. They then
split handles from redwood, rounded them with a hollow plane, and when
completed the broom was a rough affair, but it embraced all the qualities of
endurance, and the first five dozen were sold to Harmon Heald
for $7 a dozen, to them an extravagant price, as brooms sold in Michigan at
$l.50 per dozen. In the following year, 1854, they put in a large crop,
and afterward located at San Francisco and established the broom
business. They sent seed about the State to be used experimentally, thus
to determine the best location to grow fine corn, and they discovered that
where the nights were warmest the corn grew the straightest and finest, and Marysville
proved the best location. They met with great opposition in San Francisco,
as all brooms were of Eastern importation, and the merchants were jealous of
home production. But by persistence, frequently carrying their brooms on
their shoulders to introduce them, they made a market which steadily increased,
and in 1860 they opened the Australian market. Broom factories are now
being established in Australia, most of the broom-corn being sent from
California, and the supply is insufficient to meet the demands. The firm
of Armes & Dallam continued to manufacture brooms
until 1880, when they retired from that branch of the business.
C. W. Armes was married in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1864, to
Miss Susan E. Parker, a daughter of Charles Parker, a manufacturer of trunks.
To this union has been added three children, two of
whom survive: George Henry and Charles W., –one daughter dying in
infancy. Charles W. was married in Oakland, June 4, 1891, to Miss Sara
Ward, of the same city. The sons are both engaged with the father in
business. Mr. Armes is a member of the First
Presbyterian Church, of which he has been Elder for over twenty years. He
is a life member of the Y. M.C. A., of San Francisco, and also a member of the
same order at Oakland. G. W. Armes was married
in San Francisco, in 1857, to Miss Sarah E. Dallam, a native of
Kentucky. They have had three children, only one son, William D.,
surviving. He graduated at the State University at Berkeley, and then
passed one year in study at Strasbourg, and is now instructor of English at the
University of Berkeley. In 1886 G. W. Armes
retired from the firm of Armes & Dallam, and
established a similar business in the interest of his son, but as the latter
preferred an educational life, and as Mr. Armes’
health was failing, he retired from the business in 1891. Since then he
has been devoted to Sunday-school and church work in Oakland, having been an
Elder of the First Presbyterian Church for about twenty-five years.
R. B. Dallam was born
in Muhlenburgh county, Kentucky,
November 2, 1824, of English ancestry. Two brothers came to the United
States in 1690 and settled in Maryland, and founded the Dallam family in
America. The father of our subject, Josias Middlemore Dallam, was a farmer by occupation, and in 1834
he moved his family to St. Louis, Missouri, and was there connected with the postoffice until his death. R. B. Dallam was educated in
St. Louis, and afterward learned the trade of wood-turning and
cabinet-making. In 1846, upon the first Government call for six months’
troops to quell the Mexican trouble, Mr. Dallam went with Company A, of the St.
Louis Grays, to to(sic) the Rio Grande under Colonel Eastland and Captain
Coleman. They served six months without engagement, and were then returned and
discharged. He then began his trade at St. Louis, which he continued until
news was received of the gold excitement in California, and he closed his
business and was among the first to start, joining a party of thirty
men. They left St. Louis April 2, 1849, with horse and mule teams, and
crossed the plains for the El Dorado of the West, arriving at Hangtown the latter part of August of the same
year. He then began mining on Weaver creek, soon afterward going to
Redding Diggings, near Shasta, where he mined during the winter, and in the
spring of 1850 to Trinity river, and mined there until
July 1, when he came to Sacramento and began work at carpentering at $16 per
day. After a few weeks he came to San Francisco to meet his brother, Aquilla P. Dallam, who came to this State by the Panama
route, and with him engaged in the baking business, which was continued very
successfully until 1856. During the troublous days of that year Mr. Dallam
was an active member of the Vigilantes, and the sergeant of one company. After
peace was restored he again went to the mines at Nevada City, and was
interested in the Esquimaux Hill tunnel, which proved
unsuccessful. He then went to Sierra county and aided in the erection of
several quartz mills, one of which he operated as amalgamator for Reese
Brothers, where he remained until he joined the firm of Armes
& Dallam.
He was married in San
Francisco, in 1863, to Miss Anna J. Weaver, a native of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. They have had four children, three of whom are now living:
Ella C., Annie B. and Frederick B. The last mentioned is now connected
with his father in in(sic) business. Mr. Dallam has been a member of
California Lodge, No. 1, I.O.O.F., since 1853, being among the oldest members
of the order.
Transcribed
by 7-30-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 425-426,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.