Biographies
FRANCK C. DREW
DREW, FRANCK C., Attorney (firm Metson,
Drew & McKenzie), San Francisco, California was born at San Jose, that
State, May 31, 1861, the son of John R. Drew and Mary Francis (Dowling) Drew.
He married Mrs. Helen P. White (formerly Miss Ramsay) in
After
a course through the Lincoln Primary and the
In 1879, when he was 17 years old, he entered the publishing house of Bacon & Co., where he became a book and job printer and proof reader. But the progressive bee was already in his bonnet, so at night he studied shorthand to qualify as a stenographer. These efforts were rewarded a few years later, in 1883, by a position as amanuensis with Eppinger & Co., wheat operators.
Here he remained until 1887, and then entered, in the same capacity, the House of Siegfried & Brandenstein, tea importers. Losing his position two years later, he went over to the San Francisco Call as compositor and proofreader, but after another two years became the stenographer in the law office of Patrick Reddy.
This position he retained until 1894, in which year he was appointed stenographer to Governor James H. Budd. At the end of three months, however, he returned to the office of Patrick Reddy, but retained his allegiance to the Governor, becoming, in fact, his chief political adviser. From this point he was an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic Party.
Upon the appointment of Rhodes Borden as Judge of the Superior Court, Mr. Drew was made official shorthand reporter in Department 11. He held the same position under Judge Lawlor and managed both his and Borden’s political campaigns. After another course of night study, this time of the law, he was admitted, in 1903 to the bar and soon became a member of the firm of Campbell, Metson & Drew, which changed subsequently to the present title of Metson, Drew & McKenzie.
By
a curious turn of fate this firm was employed in 1905, to prosecute Mr. Drew’s
old employer, Eppinger, who had been indicted on a
charge of issuing false warehouse receipts.
Sentiment proving stronger than the lure of success and dollars, Mr.
Drew refused to associate himself with the
prosecution. Among other important cases with which his name is prominently
linked may be mentioned that of the People vs. Eugene Schmitz, Mayor of San
Francisco, and the People vs. Rankin, who was accused of hypothecating some of
the
Mr. Drew’s marriage in 1900, indirectly enlarged his field of activities. To prevent a strike, wherein much diplomacy was necessary, he became president and superintendent of the L. E. White Lumber Company and spent two years in close study of the business, at the same time that he was preparing for admittance to the bar. Under his management the assets of the company grew from a half a million to five million dollars, and incidentally made him a holder of many acres of sugar pine lands in the Southern part of the State.
This foregoing industry, however, has apparently only stimulated Mr. Drew’s desire to find recreation in his favorite hobbies, the study of French and Esperanto, in the former of which he is skillful and in the latter an expert.
He has also found time to contribute articles and verses to the newspapers and to keep alive his interest in his clubs and societies, among which are the Bohemian, the Family and the Press clubs, the San Francisco Bar Association, Touring Club of France, Native Sons of the Golden West, the Eagles, the Redmen, the American Geographical Society, the Dolphin Swimming and Rowing Club, the American Esperanto Association, the French Society for the Development of Phonetics and the International Association of Esperanto Jurists.
He is an exempt member of San Francisco Topographical Union No. 21.
Transcribed by Betty Vickroy.
Source: Press Reference Library,
Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page
246, International News
Service,
© 2007 Betty Vickroy.