San Francisco County
Biographies
MATTHEW HARRIS
MATTHEW HARRIS, senior member of the firm of Harris &
Jones, lumber merchants and manufactures of doors, sash, and blinds, at 838
Bryant street, San
Francisco, is a native of Blue River,
Wisconsin, born in 1842. His father,
Matthew Harris, was an Englishman, and emigrated to Wisconsin
in his boyhood. He fought under Lincoln
in the Black Hawk war, and experienced all the
hardships incident to Pioneer life. In 1851 he came with his family to California,
but soon after his arrival he was stricken with a disease which proved fatal.
His widow and six children were left in want, but the I.O.O.F., of which he was
a member, provided them with the necessaries of life. After the fathers death
they removed to Sacramento, and in
four years went to Mariposa county. Before young
Matthew was thirteen years of age he began mining for General Fremont, and was
employed on the Fremont grant in
Mariposa county until 1864. He then went to Nevada
county where he followed quartz-mining for twelve months,
and then engaged in stage driving; he was very successful in this business, as
his total abstinence from intoxicants won for him the confidence of his
employers. He was retained in his position until stages were crowded out by the
incoming railroads. In 1868 he returned to San Francisco
and secured a position with W. B. Bradbury, who operated a planning mill on Mission
street; he afterwards
removed to Brannan street.
Mr. Harris superintended the teams but was soon promoted to the position of
buyer for the mill; it was during this period that the foundation of his
present success was laid. In the fire of 1886 Mr. Bradbury`s
mill was swept away, and Mr. Harris then entered upon his own individual
business career. He formed a partnership H. B. Jones, and at the end of the
first thirty days a destructive fire consumed $12,000 worth of property. They
then located at 838 Bryant street,
where they have large buildings and yards convenient there to. They handle all
varieties of choice woods, and make a specialty of sugar and yellow pine.
Mr.
Harris was married in Nevada county in 1868 to Miss Armanda C. Moore, a
daughter of Henry M. Moore, the founder of Moore`s
Flat in Nevada county. They are the parents of two children, Frank Henry and
Matthew A. Mr. Harris is a member of F. and A. M., the Knights of Pythias, the I. O. O. F.., the A. O. U. W., and the Legion
of Honor.
Transcribed by Kim Buck.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages
506-507, Lewis Publishing
Co, 1892.
© 2006 Kim Buck.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library