Charles F. Jobson
CHARLES
F. JOBSON, who was one of the distinguished citizens to reach the Golden Gate
before the celebrated Forty-niners made their raid upon the Pacific Coast, was able
to trace his ancestors back to the Colonial period and to show that he came
from one of the earliest of the old Quaker families. He was born in the City of Philadelphia, in the year 1821, and
there grew to manhood, receiving a good education and the right religious
training. He followed his father's
occupation at first, but soon learn to branch out for himself in various fields
of endeavor. Finally he concluded to go
to the Pacific Coast, which was then in the possession of Mexico, in 1846 he
reached San Francisco Bay, which was then very wild and almost wholly
uninhabited. Perhaps the most
characteristic feature of the present California was then the enormous cattle
ranches which lined the whole coast from the Canadian border to the Isthmus of
Panama. Across the bay where Oakland
now stands was the old Alameda Ranch, with the residents back several miles
from the beach, and here, it is declared, where it at least 20,000 cattle
spread out to pasture over a wide stretch of country, plains and mountains. In this wild region Mr. Jobson located, but
soon was required to take part in the war with Mexico, which started the year
after his arrival. He aided the
American forces in subduing and driving out the "Greasers," and soon
the treaty bestowed this golden land upon Uncle Sam. From the start he took deep interest in the welfare and progress
of the new state, as soon as it was established in 1850 and admitted to the
Union. He was here when the colossal
rush of the forty-niners filled the whole region with adventurous strangers,
with here and their plunderers and outlaws.
In
the year 1856 Mr. Jobson, Col. J. J. Ayres, William Barnes, E. Foster, and Mr.
Weil, after considerable discussion and preliminary dickering, came to an
agreement to establish a newspaper in San Francisco. No doubt this matter with considered somewhat informally before,
but no completion had been reached until it became necessary to settle on the
title. One day, so the fable goes, the
partners while considering the question saw a bill poster at work advertising a
show or circus which with large circulars on fences and walls, naming the whole
thing the "Morning Call."
Suddenly Mr. Jobson, no doubt with bright eyes and animated countenance
exclaimed, "That's the name boys: We'll call it "The Daily Morning
Call." That seem to strike his
companions favorably, and the name was accordingly adopted, and to this day is
used, though slightly altered or manipulated.
To date it is one of these cities newest papers. Mr. Jobson remained connected prominently
with this sheet until he was finally called by death in 1869, at which time the
city lost one of its most distinguished citizens and the paper one of its
wisest managers.
When
yet a young man he was joined in marriage with an attractive Baltimore in young
lady, Ellen Bryan. Mrs. Jobson was
graduated from the first Boston high school and was quite literary in her case
and was a writer of poetry. To this
union two children were born: Sally Gertrude and William Ayres. The latter died of typhoid fever in the age
of twenty-five years. Sally was born in
1865 and has witnessed the growth of San Francisco from a straggling and
unpolished village to one of the marvelous and most attractive cities on the Pacific
Coast. Soon after reaching maturity she
married James B. Clifford, who was quite connected with the Standard Oil
Company for some thirty years and distinguished himself as a sagacious business
director. During this long period he
managed to amass enough wealth, as well as enough experience to assure the
future comfort of him and his family.
He and his wife became the parents of two children, Elsie and
Evelyn. It is now apparent that Elsie
has probably inherited much of her grandfather's literary qualification which
were disclosed to an admiring public during his long newspaper career. She shows the same rare literary style and
the same choice and appropriate vocabulary.
Their daughter Evelyn married Sylvanus Cobb Farnham,
who became president of the Oakland Box & Lumber Company, one of the
prosperous business concerns of the city.
He was born at the American Legation of Shanghai, China, and was brought
by his father at an early age to Vallejo, Solano County, California. His father
was one of the founders of the Farnham & Boyd Shipbuilders & Dock
Owners organization. Since their establishment in this state they have
prospered greatly and become well and favorably known. During the World war Mrs. Farnham was active
and prominent in all local Red Cross work, and earned the gratitude of the
sufferers and the praise of her acquaintances.
Mr. and Mrs. Farnham have one son Sylvanus Cobb III, who is of the third
generation of his mother's side to be born in San Francisco. He is now a student at the Potter' s School
for Boys.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton.
Source: "History of the San Francisco Bay
Region" Volume III by Bailey Millard.
Publishers: American Historical Society, Inc. 1924. Pages 5-6.
San Francisco County California Biography Project