J. V. Hall

J. V. Hall, proprietor of Hall's Boiler Works, at 304 Beale street, was born in Yorkshire, England, January 4, 1834.  His grandfather, Henry Hall, came to America in an early day, and enlisted in the American army for the war of 1812, was wounded, and subsequently returned to England, where he died at the age of eighty four years.  James Hall the father of our subject, was a skilled mechanic, who worked at lathe turning on wood, ivory, iron and other metals, being very proficient in his line of workmanship.  He died in 1852, at the age of fifty-two years, leaving a widow and four children to mourn his loss.  The widow is still living in Manchester, England, at the age of eighty-one years.  Three of the children also reside in Manchester.  Joseph, of the firm of Fairburn & Hall, has invented several important steam appliances.  The firm are manufacturing his patent automatic injectors and ejectors for steam boilers, which has greatly accelerated steam locomotion, and his appliances are being used on all the fast steamers of the Atlantic, and on the fastest engines of the world.  Henry Hall is foreman of the extensive shops of Fairburn & Hall. The only sister, Annie, is also living in Manchester.

     J. V. Hall, the subject of this sketch and the eldest of the children, was apprenticed at the early age of thirteen years at the old Cyclops Foundry in Hull, England, to learn the trade of boiler-making, and after a service of seven years he became a finished artisan.  He then went to London and found employment with John Penn & Son, at their great engine works, at Deptford, and while there he was one of the new school to reform the class of boiler-makers, and through education to elevate them to a higher position.  In July, 1856, Mr. Hall started for Canada, there to establish a new home.  He first found employment with the Great Western Railroad at Hamilton, and made and put in the first fire-box and tube-sheet in a repaired locomotive on that road.  After about eighteen months he went to Montreal, and worked in the shops of the Grand Trunk Railroad, and again repaired the first engine with new tube-sheets, remaining there about two years.  He next worked upon the Montreal side of the Victoria bridge, and in the fall of 1859 returned to England, going into Government service at the Chatham dockyard, where he had charge of the placing of machinery and furnaces.  He laid the first iron plate used in the construction of the man-of-war Achilles, and this was the first iron ship built by England in her own yards.  He subsequently went to Hull, where he worked at ship-building five years, or until the close of the American civil war, when he came to the United States, landing in Boston with his wife and family, and having lost one child on the passage, which was buried at sea.  He had a very rough passage in crossing, and the ship lost her rudder and part of her propeller, but through the suggestions of Mr. Hall, she was refitted and they made the port.  He then found employment with McKay & Aldus, of East Boston, in building locomotives for the Central Pacific Railroad, and in August, 1867, through the influence of Mark Hopkins, he was transferred to the Western Department of construction at Sacramento, where he continued until after the opening of the road.  Mr. Hall then started the Sacramento Boiler Works, being generously backed by Mark Hopkins and the Central Pacific Railroad Company, and his first job was a $6,000 contract with the city gas works, also doing a general business in boiler and sheet-iron work.  In 1876 he came to San Francisco and started the boiler works on the corner of Mission and Fremont streets, remaining there three years, and then, requiring more room, he moved to Beale street, and in 1883 to his present location.  Since coming to San Francisco Mr. Hall has made a specialty of oil-tanks, of which he has turned out large quantities, as well as cannery outfits.  As evidence of his successful work, in 1877 he received a bronze medal and diploma from the Mechanics' Institute, for having built the first iron steamer ever erected in San Francisco and run upon the bay.  This steamer was subsequently sold and sent to Oregon, where she ran upon one of the smaller rivers, Pacqua, in freight and mail service.  In 1889 he received a special silver medal for the best cannery outfit exhibited at the Mechanics' Institute Fair, and a special grand diploma for the best steam boiler of Pacific coast manufacture.

     Mr. Hall was married in London in April, 1856 to Miss Mary Ann Knight, a native of that city.  They have five children, viz.: Alice M., now Mrs. Dr. C. S. Duckett; Alfred V., Frank J., Maud E. and Florence.  The sons have been educated in the business of the father.  For eleven years Mr. Hall has been a member of the A.O.U.W., and was also a member of the Manchester Unity, I.O.O.F., and filled the treasurer's chair of the Industrial Lodge, I.O.O.F., of Sacramento.  He was naturalized in 1870, and in politics is a Republican, staunch and true, believing that that is the true party of America.

 

Transcribed 9-6-04  Marilyn R. Pankey