San Francisco County
Biographies
PAUL T.
CARROLL
Descendant of one of California’s pioneer families, Paul T. Carroll is now rated as one of the foremost merchants in San Francisco, being the largest distributors of men’s hats in the metropolitan area, and is likewise most favorably known for his activities in the service of San Francisco civic organizations since the year 1908.
Mr. Carroll was born in the state of Kansas, February 9, 1873, while his parents, Patrick and Susan (Carpenter) Carroll, were journeying westward. His paternal grandfather, Isaac Carroll, was one of the first cattlemen in California. He drove his live stock eastward over the Santa Fe trail and returned by the same route with mules. These journeys were perilous, and he encountered many adventures with hostile Indians and desperados. He was familiar with the life of the plains, spoke several Indian dialects, and in every situation was able to take care of himself and his property. He had left his home when he was a lad, and was a drummer in the United States Army during the Mexican war. He reared his family in Hangtown, Eldorado county, California, but died in Colorado. Patrick Carroll, son of Isaac Carroll and father of Paul T. Carroll, was a veteran of the Civil war, and afterward was a scout on the western plains for a period. For a time he owned a cattle ranch in Wyoming, and also conducted a hotel there. He then came with his family to Oakland, California, and there engaged in the grocery business until his death about 1911. His wife died many years before.
Paul T. Carroll received his education in the public schools of Oakland and San Francisco. While still a youth in his teens he secured employment in a men’s outfitting store in Oakland, and he has been continuously identified with mercantile interests of this character to the present time. He was the first to open a permanent store in the Mutual Bank building in San Francisco after the disastrous fire of 1906. The development of his business has been rapid, and has been based on his true understanding of his customers and of the demands of the trade. He has five hat stores and employs on an average of forty people in them. His success as a merchant satisfies a boyhood ambition, but he has attained his goal only by persevering effort and keen judgment.
The wife of Mr. Carroll was in her maidenhood Marie Adele Pezzoni, of New York. In public affairs of San Francisco, Mr. Carroll has taken a conspicuous part for over twenty years. He has been three times a director of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, twice a director of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and twice the California representative to the International Chamber of Commerce. He has been grand marshal of twenty-eight civic parades in San Francisco, including all of the Liberty Bond parades and the Red Cross parade in which thirty thousand women marched; the Portola celebration parade; the opening parade for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and many others of interesting memory. He has served as president of the San Francisco Convention and Tourist Bureau almost continuously since 1914. He is a member of the Olympic, the Commonwealth, the Family, the Foreign Trade, the Public Spirit, the Lakeside Golf, and the Presidio Golf Clubs. He is past treasurer of the Down Town Association. He is a supporter of the republican party in politics. Sports have always been a favorite hobby with Mr. Carroll. During his younger years, he was a lightweight champion in wrestling. Golf, hunting and fishing are diversions he now enjoys at every available opportunity. He was golf champion of the Presidio Club at one time, and plays in all championship matches of this club and the Lakeside. He has traveled extensively. During the period of the United States’ participation in the World war, he played the part of a patriotic citizen in every phase of local activity, and after the war was over he was chairman of the executive committee which planned the reception to all returning overseas troops to San Francisco. In social circles he is one of the most popular men of the city, due to his democratic and straightforward personality and his efforts to make and hold his friends.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 3 Pages 437-439.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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