San Francisco County
Americus V. Lancaster
Americus V. Lancaster, one of Alameda’s progressive and enterprising citizens, is a native of Belfast, Maine, born September 5, 1835; was reared and educated in Penobscot county, same State; and when a young man he learned the cooper’s trade. His parents were Joseph and Elsie (Potter) Lancaster, both natives of Maine. The father died in 1846, and the mother resides with our subject, now in her seventy-sixth year, hale and hearty. She had six children, of whom our subject is the eldest. He came to California in 1854, by way of Panama. The first eighteen years of his residence in the Golden State were devoted to mining, and he has been more or less connected with that interest ever since. He has also been more or less engaged in the mercantile pursuits for many years, but of late more actively in quartz-mining. He and a partner, W.T. Smith, of Elko, Nevada, are owners of the Young America South mine, located in the same district, Tuscarora, where he built the first house erected in that flourishing camp. He also deals heavily in real estate in Alameda county. He has been prominent in many of the public and private enterprises of the city of Alameda, among which may be mentioned the erection of the Masonic Hall, one of the finest of Alameda’s edifices, built at a cost of $60,000; it is now owned by a joint stock corporation, but will eventually pass into the possession of the fraternity. Mr. Lancaster is one of the directors, and a brother of the F. & A.M., Oak Grove Lodge, No. 215; also of Chapter 70, of Alameda, and of Oakland Commandery, No. 11 K.T.
Mr. Lancaster has been twice married, the first time in 1858, by which union there are four children, namely: Ernest M., Charles A., Schuyler C. and Cora E. The second union was consummated in the State of Maine, in 1871, with Miss Adeline Geary, a native of that State, and by this marriage there are three children, viz: Chester J., Lillian C. and Edna May.
Transcribed
by David Rugeroni.
Source: "The
Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Page 223, Lewis
Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2005 David Rugeroni.