JOHN DANIEL

 John Daniel, the pioneer marble manufacturer now in the business on this coast, came from New York to California in 1859.  He had learned the trade of marble-cutting in the city of Albany, beginning in 1855.  He had heard and read flattering reports about the climate of the Golden State, and came believing it more conducive to a pleasurable existence than that of the Empire State, and his expectations have been fully realized.  Arriving at his destination in November, he was delighted with the springing grass and blooming flowers, contrasting so sharply with the bleak frosts and bare, brown branches of his native State.  After working at his trade for some time in San Francisco, Mr. Daniel opened a shop on Pine street, where the Nevada Bank is now situated, in 1862.  He did a general retail marble business, subsequently moving to his present location, No. 421, on the opposite side of the street.  He had built up an extensive trade in marble work, aggregating as high as $125,000 a year, and employing forty to fifty men.  Formerly he did a large business in marble mantels but of late has given special attention to the monumental and other cemetery work, and marble stairways.  He uses the Colton and Inyo California marbles almost exclusively, and has been instrumental in giving these most beautiful marbles their now wide celebrity and great popularity.   Mr. Daniel, whose work is distributed all over the Pacific slope and in Central and South America, ranks among the leaders in the marble trade on this side of the continent, and occupies a prominent position as a business man in the metropolis of which he has been an active and influential citizen since he was twenty-five years of age.  Mr. Daniel is a member of the Mechanics' Institute, and also of the Masonic and Oddfellows orders, and a Knight of Honor.  He married an English lady in San Francisco; Charles, their only son, twenty years of age, has a practical knowledge of the marble business, and has charge of a branch manufactory at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

 

Transcribed 10-22-04  Marilyn R. Pankey