Charlie Jenkins BOSWORTH

 

Charlie Jenkins BOSWORTH, resident manager for the Fidelity and Casualty Company at San Francisco, is a native son, and record of his family in California dates from the first year following the discovery of gold.  His father, Solomon Dewey BOSWORTH, was a splendid example of the old type of Californian pioneer.  He was born on a farm at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1824.  He entered Union College in 1843, and after graduating, and after tutoring and teaching school for about three  years, he heard of the wonderful opportunities in California and set out for the Pacific Coast late in 1851.  Before coming to California he married Miss Emma Whitberk LANSING, of Schenectady, New York.

 

As Solomon Dewey BOSWORTH landed in San Francisco in the spring of 1852, he immediately proceeded to the gold diggings in Grass Valley, Nevada County.  In 1854 his wife Emma Whitbeck LANSING, joined him and they occupied a house on Church Street, directly north of the Methodist Church.  Seventy years later this house, with some alterations, is standing in a splendid state of preservation.

 

In the early ‘50’s a notorious character, known as Jennie-on-the-Green, was conducting a dance hall at the corner of Mill and Walsh streets in Grass Valley, and cutting frays and shooting craps became so numerous in her place that she was warned by the authorities to find some other location in which to live, if live she desired to.  Accordingly she disposed of the place to Lola Montez, another famous character, who made wonderful improvements in the house and grounds.  After reigning for a while in Grass Valley Lola decided to go to Australia, and the purchaser she found for her property was Solomon Dewey BOSWORTH.

 

It was in that old Montez house, which is still standing there as a memory of the days of old, the days of gold, that six of the eight children born to Solomon Dewey BOSWORTH and Emma Whitbeck LANSING came into the world.  Solomon D. BOSWORTH died at Grass Valley in July 1896.  His widow passed away in San Francisco in September 1913.

 

The habits of riding and hunting represented the chief tastes of the boys were among whom Charlie Jenkins BOSWORTH grew up.  All his associates were splendid horsemen and good shots at the early age of twelve.  As there was no closed season for game in those days, the boys had constant opportunity to improve their skill as marksmen and hunters.  Charlie Jenkins BOSWORTH was born at Grass Valley, October 24, 1861 and in 1875, at the age of fourteen moved to San Francisco, attending the Pacific Business College, then located on Post Street, between Stockton and Powell.  Graduating there, he went to work for a large mercantile establishment, and had about ten years of this kind of experience.  Then after a three months visit at the old home in Grass Valley, he became a mines foreman near Washington, Nevada County, his experience in the practical operations of a mine covering about a year.  He resigned to try his luck again in mercantile pursuits, and for about a year held a position in Los Angeles.  It was on his return to San Francisco that he entered the employ of the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York.  With that old and well known organization his service has been continuous for more than a third of a century.  At first, he was an accident insurance solicitor, then city agent, then general agent, and for some years has held the position of resident manager.

 

Mr. BOSWORTH married at Santa Cruz, California, November 21, 1891, Miss Anna Louise HOFFMAN, a native of Yreka, California, and a daughter of Christian HOFFMAN.  Mr. BOSWORTH’s second marriage occurred October 23, 1919, at Berkeley, California when Julia Pauline STERNE became his bride.  She was born in Mariposa, California, a daughter of Joseph Amador STERNE and Elizabeth M. STERNE.  Mr. BOSWORTH has three children, the two of his first marriage being Charles Lansing BOSWORTH and Anna Gertrude BOSWORTH, and the youngest and third child is Lansing BOSWORTH, but none of them are married.  Charles Lansing BOSWORTH is a graduate of the University of Farm School at Davis, California, is now employed with the Associated Oil Company of California, and during the World War was a second lieutenant in Battery A, Fortieth Field Artillery, serving for about two years.  Charlie Jenkins BOSWORTH served as a private in the California militia in 1882.  He is a republican in politics and some of his social and church affiliations are represented by his membership in the following clubs: San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Merchants Exchange Club, San Francisco Commercial Club, the Astronomical Society of The Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, Piedmont Civic Center, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, California State Fish and Game Protective League, Lagunitas Rod and Gun Club, Pepper Gun Club, Eureka Gun Club and Piedmont Republican Club.