Charles HOLBROOK

 

Charles HOLBROOK.  At the venerable age of ninety-three Charles HOLBROOK is one of the last survivors of that gallant company of brave and venturesome spirits that came to California when it was the world’s newest eldorado.  Very little of his career, however, was identified with gold seeking.  He has been a business man, and is now the oldest merchant in the state, and head of one of the best known houses in the commercial district of San Francisco.

 

Mr. HOLBROOK is a descendant of William and John HOLBROOK, who came from Weymouth, England, in 1635 and settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts.  Mr. HOLBROOK is a son of Clark Bates HOLBROOK, who was born April 11, 1794, in Massachusetts, son of Capt. Peter HOLBROOK.  Clark Bates HOLBROOK, became a prominent physician in New York.  Others of the children were Lyman, Clark, Sarah, Mary and Olive.

 

Charles HOLBROOK was born August 31, 1830.  He was educated in public schools, spent two years in Mt. Caesar Seminary under Rev. L. J. FLETCHER, and when fifteen years of age went to Springfield, Massachusetts, where for two years he attended public school.  On leaving school he learned the trade of machine builder in the American Machine Works, but this routine experience was interrupted by the news of gold discoveries in California, and on April 13, 1850, embarking on the steamer Georgia at New York, he went down to the coast of Panama, walked over the Isthmus, and the sailing vessel Thomas P.  Hart brought him up to San Francisco, where he landed July 27, just eighty-one days from Panama.  After an experience in the mines of about eighteen months Mr. HOLBROOK went to work for HOWES & PRADER, iron merchants at Sacramento.  The summer of 1853 was spent in the lumber business in El Dorado County, and in 1854 he became an employe of J.D. LORD and Company, stove and metal merchants at Sacramento.  In 1857 came the offer of an interest in the business, and after making a trip East to his old home he became a partner in the house of J. D. LORD and Company on January 1, 1858.  During the winter of 1861-62 Sacramento suffered from severe floods, and all business was more or less injured.  In 1863, Mr. HOLBROOK opened a branch house of his firm at Austin, Nevada, and remained as manager there for two years.  In 1864, he was elected mayor of Austin.

 

In 1865 Mr. Lord retired from the business and Mr. Charles MERRILL entered the new firm of HOLBROOK, MERRILL and Company.  In 1867 San Francisco was chosen as the permanent headquarters of the house.  Nine years later, in 1876, the building was destroyed by fire, causing the firm a loss of $200,000.  In 1878 James R. STETSON entered the partnership and in 1882 the business of HOLBROOK, MERRILL and STETSON was incorporated, Mr. HOLBROOK being elected president and continuing the chief executive of the firm until the burden of his increasing years caused him to retire.  He is now chairman of the Board of Directors.

 

On January 29, 1866, at Sacramento, Mr. HOLBROOK married Miss Susan M. HURD, oldest daughter of Mr. M.S. HURD. The four children born to their marriage are Henry Morgan, Mary Hurd, Susan Maria and Olive Mellen.

 

During the many years he was active in business Mr. HOLBROOK was a director in the following companies: The Market Street Railway, the San Francisco & San Joaquin Valley Railroad, the California Insurance Company, the Pacific Lighting, the Mutual Savings Bank and the Union Trust Company of San Francisco.

 

His membership in the Masonic Order dates back for some more than half a century, his affiliations being with Lodge No. 49 at Sacramento.  He is also an Odd Fellow.  Mr. HOLBROOK  and his wife after their marriage went East to visit his old home.  In 1875 he traveled over Mexico and Central America, and spent about a year and a half in Europe in 1888 and 1889. In 1880 he built the HOLBROOK block on Beale and Market streets in San Francisco.  He is a member of the First Congregational Church, belongs to the Olympic and Pacific Union clubs, and for many years was a trustee of the Pacific School of Religion, the Lux School of Industrial Training, the Hospital for Children of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association.  In 1883 he was associated with Sarah B. COOPER and Archbishop Montgomery in organizing the Associated Charities in San Francisco. He has always been ready to help in any work for the public good.

 

He resides at the northwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and Washington Street, which has been his home for about forty years, as the fire destroyed most of the old homes, this one of the few now occupied by the original family.