San Francisco County
Biographies
JOSEPH
DONOHOE GRANT
GRANT, JOSEPH
DONOHOE, President of the Murphy-Grant Co., San Francisco,
California, was born in that city, March 28, 1858, the son of Adam Grant and Emma F. (Gummer)
Grant. Of Scotch-English ancestry, he has carried through life the
qualities of shrewdness, integrity and affability presumed to inhere in that
happy combination. He father, Adam Grant, was a true Highland Scotchman,
who went to California in 1850, and in San Francisco founded the pioneer and long famous dry goods house of
Murphy, Grant & Co., which his son, Joseph, has successfully controlled
since 1904. The latter was married in Portland,
Ore., June 28, 1897,
to Miss Edith Macleay, daughter of Donald Macleay, one of Portland’s oldest and most noted bankers and
merchants. Josephine and Edith Grant are the children of this marriage,
and Douglas Grant is a son by Mr. Grant’s first wife.
Joseph D. Grant’s
early education was received in the Lincoln Grammar, 1866-67; the next three
years at the old Washington School, of which Miss Jene
Parker was principal, and from 1870-75 at the Boys’ High School. In the
latter year he entered the College
of Social Science of the University of California, but left one year before graduation; a year later he
toured the greater part of Europe and the East, and for five
months attended the Sorbonne lectures on Political Economy and Literature.
In 1881 he returned
to San Francisco and entered the firm of Murphy, Grant & Co. He
began at the bottom and progressed through all the various departments.
Throughout the
greater part of this period, however, many outside activities, such as his
large ranches in California and interests in Oregon claimed his attention, but did not swerve him from his
main purpose, the mastery of the details aforesaid. He regarded as a
precious legacy, with all the responsibilities the term implies, his succession
to the ownership of the oldest commercial house in its own line on the Pacific
Coast.
In 1904 Mr. Grant
became the owner of the business and President of the corporation. Since
then the expansion of the trade has been due as much to the efficiency of the
management as to the natural growth of the commerce. In the first quarter of
the year 1906, preceding the great fire, the sales exceeded those of any
previous similar period in the history of the house, and this disaster called
for the maximum of managerial and executive ability. As in the case of
every business alike afflicted, entire rehabilitation was a necessity. All
sources of supply were cut off, and new stock and new quarters had to be
procured. This practical re-creation was begun within seven days after the
fire.
On April 25, 1906, or
just one week after the destruction of the business section of San Francisco,
the house reopened with a stock of goods in the Tribune building, Oakland, and
on April 18, 1907, the anniversary of the fire, the firm moved into a
substantial concrete building on the corner of Sansome
and Market streets. But as soon as the necessary supplies and materials could
be secured the Class “A” Adam Grant Building, on the corner of Sansome and
Bush streets, was erected on lines that will permit its enlargement to double
its present size. This is a model of modern construction for the dispatch
of business and for the convenience of customers; and therein, on July 25,
1908, or a little more than two years after the earthquake, the company was
completely installed ready for business that now covers this extensive
territory: California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Lower
California, Arizona, New Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, Tahiti and Manila.
The principal
directors of the firm are now Joseph D. Grant, President, and Charles R.
Havens, Vice President and Manager.
Besides his
presidency of the Murphy-Grant Co., and of the North Central Improvement
Association, he is a director of the First National Bank of San Jose,
Mercantile Trust Co. of San Francisco, Mercantile National Bank, Security Savings
Bank, Donohoe-Kelley Banking Co., Natoma
Consolidated Co., Coast Counties Light and power Co., and
the Charities Indorsement Committee.
He is a life trustee
of Stanford University, as well as the Academy
of Sciences, a member of the Council of the Academy
of Pacific Coast History, the American Astronomical Society and the Seismological
Society, and for two years was President of the S. F. Art Association. His
club memberships include the Union, and the Rocky Mountain, of New York; the
Pacific-Union, Bohemian, Olympic, Press, of which two last he is a life-member;
Golf and Country, and the Commonwealth, all of San Francisco; Menlo Country and
Burlingame Country, of San Mateo, of the latter of which he is also a life
member, and the Chi Phi Fraternity of the University of California.
Transcribed 11-18-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press Reference Library, Western
Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 121, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library