San Francisco County

Biographies

SAMUEL W. DIXON

SAMUEL W. DIXON is one of San Francisco’s enterprising business men, and also one of her native sons. He was born February 22, 1861, and is the son of Richard Kixon, a native of Cork, Ireland. His father was a seafaring man, and emigrated to California in 1851. He was married in Liverpool, England, to Miss Sarah McCarty, a native of that place, and to them were born ten children, nine of whom are living. He mined successfully on Fraser river and at other points in California, and finally turned his attention to river mining; in this, however, he met with reverses. He was a man of strict integrity of character and highly respected. He died November 7, 1890. He was a worthy member of the I. O. O. F., and in politics was a Republican.

Samuel W., the subject of this notice, was educated in the public schools of San Francisco, and at the age of fifteen years he accepted a situation in the hat store of Mr. M. Meussdorffer, where he was employed for fifteen years; he became thoroughly informed in all the details of the business, and November 1, 1890, he opened an establishment of his own at No. 429 Kearny street; he has a store neatly fitted up, and keeps a full line of all the new and desirable styles in fine hats, etc. He is courteous in manner, thoroughly reliable in business, and in every way worthy of the generous patronage he is receiving. Walter Dixon, brother to Samuel W., is an efficient salesman in this store. Five of the brothers are engaged in business within a radius of three blocks.

Mr. Dixon is a widely and favorably known throughout his native city, and has a host of friends who wish him the prosperity he so heartily deserves.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker.

Source: “The Bay of San Francisco,” Vol. 2, Pages 665-666, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.

JAMES LESLIE McCOLLUM, M. D.

JAMES LESLIE McCOLLUM, M. D., of Oakland, was born in Augusta, Kentucky, January 18, 1856, a son of Hugh and Mary Minerva Jane (Maxwell) McCollum, both residing in Berea, Kentucky, in 1890. The father, born in southern Ohio, in 1805, engaged in the practice of dentistry, being a pioneer of the profession in that region. He settled in Augusta, Kentucky, practiced there for many years, and was twice elected President of the Ohio and Mississippi Valley Dental Association. He served in the Mexican war. The mother was born in Kentucky about 1825. They are the parents of eight children: James Leslie, the subject of this sketch; Hugh B., a graduate of Berea College, Kentucky, an educator by profession, now Superintendent of Schools in Central City, Nebraska, is married and has one boy, Hugh Leslie, born June 9, 1889; John Thomas, at present a student in Johns Hopkins University, intends to study medicine; Frank Siegel, a farmer in Brighton county, Kentucky, is married and has one boy; Fred. Winans, a carpenter in Brooklyn, New York; Emma Louisa, the wife of A. J. Hanson, a merchant of Berea, Kentucky; Anna Belle, the wife of W. H. R. Markley, a manufacturer of Cincinnati, Ohio, residing in Foster, Kentucky; Sally J., a twin sister of John Thomas, a trained nurse of the Bellevue Hospital Training School, is a resident of New York city. Grandfather McCollum, born in Scotland, found refuge from persecution in Ireland and emigrated thence to the United States about the close of the last century, accompanied by a brother, their names being John and Hugh.

J. L. McCollum, the subject of this sketch, was graduated in the classical courses from Berea College in the class of 1879. After teaching school one season in Foster, Kentucky, he entered Yale College to study for the ministry of the Congregational Church, and there received the degrees of A. B. and B. D. in 1883. Admitted to the ministry he served three years in what was then Washington Territory, under the auspices of the Home Missionary Society of the Congregational Church. Relinquishing that field of labor in 1886, he went to Chicago and entered the medical department of the Northwestern University, from which he was graduated M. D. March 28, 1889. He then spent nine months in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital as house physician, was appointed Assistant Professor of Pathology in the Medical College, his specialty being the technique of microscopy, and became a member of the Chicago Medical Society. In December, 1889, he came to Oakland and formed a partnership in the practice of medicine with Dr. B. T. Burton of this city, which, however, was dissolved in August, 1890. Dr. McCollum is a member of the Congregational Club of this city.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker.

Source: “The Bay of San Francisco,” Vol. 2, Page 667, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.

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