San Francisco County
Biographies
W.
G. BADGER
W. G. BADGER, a
native son of New England, and for more than forty-one years a prominent
business man and honored resident of San Francisco, was born in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, October 2, 1821. His father was William G. Badger, and his
mother’s maiden name was Brown, both being of old Puritan stock. They had
a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, the subject of this
notice being the only surviving son. The paternal grandfather and
great-grandfather participated in the Revolutionary war, and were in the battle
of Bunker Hill. In his school days in New England, Mr. Badger was
associated with the lamented Thomas Starr King. In March, 1850, he
embarked in the steamer Georgia at New York, and in
the Sarah Sands from the port of Panama for California, and arrived at San
Francisco in June of the same year. He did not follow the throng to the
mines, but engaged in an enterprise that did not prove a profitable venture.
Not to be discouraged by one failure, he again engaged in business, and for
over forty years he has led an active commercial life. He has been a great
benefactor to the unemployed, who for years have been flocking to this coast,
and has aided numberless men and boys to find positions and become useful
members of society. He has been identified with church work, and in 1858
he organized the first Sunday-school, from which sprang the Advent
Church. For six years, from 1865 to 1871, he was an efficient member of
the Board of Education, and through his exertions the Lincoln, Tehama street and Denman school buildings were all erected. He
was President of the Industrial School Department in 1867-‘68, and has been
President of the Bunker Hill Association since 1861, a period of thirty
years. He was made a master Mason March 20, 1845, and is one of the oldest
members of the order on the coast. He is also a member of the Chapter and Commandery and of the Scottish Rite; May 3, 1848, he joined
St. Andrews Chapter, R. A. M. , in Boston. He was
elected a member of the masonic Veteran Association
of the Pacific coast July 14, 1887, having at the time been a Master Mason in
good standing forty-two years. He was elected a life member of the
Mercantile Library in recognition of the aid he had rendered in extinguishing
the debt of that institution. He has been a zealous worker in the
temperance movement. Although he has been at the head of a large
mercantile business, he has always found time to assist in the relief of the
distressed, and much of his life has been cheerfully given in advancing the
interests of humanity.
Mr. Badger has one
daughter, who married Edward L. Burlingame, son of the late Hon. Anson
Burlingame, the eminent statesman and diplomat. Mr. Burlingame is managing
editor of Scribner’s Magazine.
Transcribed7-1-06
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages
416-417,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.