San Francisco County
General Samuel W. Backus
General Samuel W. Backus, the able and efficient Postmaster of San Francisco, though comparatively a young man, has been prominently identified with public affairs and with the interests of the city and State for nearly forty years.
General Backus was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in November, 1844. His parents were early settlers of Dutchess county, that State. Guerdon Backus, his father, who for many years was engaged in the mercantile business, is now a resident of Napa county, California. He came to this coast in 1849 and is an honored member of the Society of California Pioneers. The General’s mother, whose maiden name was Woolsey, also of a Dutchess county family, died in 1863.
He received his education in the Sacramento high school, leaving there to join the Army of the Potomac in January, 1863. At the age of nineteen he was commissioned Second Lieutenant; served in the army of the Potomac and the Shenandoah Valley under General Sheridan; was transferred to the Second California Cavalry by special order of the War Department, after the close of the war in July, 1865. He afterward served in the Modoc country, in 1865 and 1866, and was placed in command at Fort Bidwell, then on the frontier, during the winter of 1865 and 1866.
After leaving the service he clerked in the Internal Revenue Department and also in the Surveyor’s Office of the Custom House. These positions he resigned to engage in the shipping and commission business, and for ten years was agent and proprietor of a regular line of Oregon packets. In 1878 he was elected Representative to the State Legislature, the last session under the old Constitution, representing the same district and elected on the same ticket with the Hon. John J. Swift, late Minister to Japan. In January, 1880, he was appointed Adjutant-General to California by Governor Perkins, and held that position until May, 1882, when he was appointed Postmaster of San Francisco by President Arthur, although not a candidate for the office. He held that position four years and three months, after which he engaged in business in Santa Barbara. He there engaged in the real-estate business, organized the Electric Light Company, and also the Santa Barbara Paving Company. This company built several miles, the best and longest continuous line, of bituminous street pavement in the State.
Upon his return to this city in 1888, General Backus engaged in the publishing business and newspaper work; is the editor and proprietor of the Wasp, the oldest cartoon paper in colors in the United States. In May 1890, he was appointed Postmaster of San Francisco, by President Harrison, which important position he now occupies.
General Backus is what might be termed a self-made man, his success in life being due entirely to his own efforts.
Transcribed
by Joyce and David Rugeroni.
Source: “The Bay of San
Francisco,” Vol. 2, Pages 365-366, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
M. Strauss.—Among the gifted artists of San Francisco is found the subject of this sketch. He was born in Bavaria, in 1831, and until seventeen years of age lived in Germany. In 1848 he came to the United States, and for many years resided in St. Louis and other parts of the South. He went to Chicago in 1872 and had a studio there. Two years later, on account of failing health, he came to California, opened a studio here, and with the exception of two or three years, has since devoted his time to his profession in this city.
Mr. Strauss gives his chief attention to landscape and figure painting, and among his works that have attracted much attention we mention: “Founding of the Mission”, “Gray’s Peak, Colorado”, “Louisiana Swamp”, “One Purpose”, and “Abandoned Companion”.
Transcribed
by Joyce and David Rugeroni.
Source: “The Bay of San
Francisco,” Vol. 2, Page 366, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Joyce & David
Rugeroni.