San Francisco County
Biographies
ERIC LYDERS
Eric Lyders was born at Svendborg,
Denmark, on the 13th of June, 1874, the son of a captain in the Danish Army,
Eric Lyders, and his wife, Anna, nee Gudme. After being privately tutored, Mr.
Lyders at the age of sixteen was prompted by an adventurous disposition and a
desire to see the world to ship before the mast and within the next four years
he visited, besides several of the European countries, Australia, New Zealand,
Brazil, the United States, India and Egypt. He then studied for one year at the
Nautical College at Baagö,
Denmark, and resumed his seafaring career as a ship’s officer. He became an
American citizen in 1904 and in 1905 entered the hydrographic office of the
navy department at Washington, D. C., as a nautical expert. He then commenced
to study law, attending evening classes at the National Law School, from which
he was graduated in 1907. He thereupon entered the law branches of the United
States government, serving in the agricultural department, the department of
justice and later in the general land office of the interior department, where
Mr. Lyders had charge of the United States public land litigation in the
district embracing the states of California and Nevada, from which position he
resigned in July, 1910, and has since been engaged in private law practice at
San Francisco, California.
In
April, 1917, Mr. Lyders entered the United States Navy with the rank of lieutenant,
later being promoted to lieutenant commander. He was first assigned to the
Pittsburgh, going with the Pacific fleet to the South Atlantic in pursuit of
the German raider, the Seeadler. In the fall of 1917 he was sent as a passenger
from Rio de Janeiro to New York and after serving a short time in the office of
naval intelligence in the navy department at Washington was made navigator of
the army transport Mount Vernon on which he served until the end of the war.
His ship was torpedoed off the French coast on the 5th of September, 1918, with
a loss of thirty-six lives, but remained afloat and was brought back to Brest.
On
the 21st of February, 1910, Mr. Lyders married at San Diego, California, Mary
Elizabeth Perkins of Washington, D. C. They have two children, both born in San
Francisco, Margaret, on the 28th of October, 1911, and Frances on the 27th of
May, 1916. The family has resided at 2429 Green street, San Francisco, since
1912.
In
1921 the king of Denmark bestowed on Mr. Lyders the order of the Knight of
Dannebrog for services rendered as attorney for the Consulate of Denmark at San
Francisco.
Among
the interesting litigation in which Mr. Lyders has figured is the case of
Whaler Island, lying in Crescent City harbor, California. Mr. Lyders claims
that he became the owner thereof in January of 1927. Thereafter the president
of the United States set aside and reserved the island for harbor purposes and
congress passed a law giving the island to Del Norte county for a public wharf, but in the latest
court decree it has been held that neither the president or congress could
deprive Mr. Lyders of the island.
As
a successor of Luther Burbank, Mr. Lyders is developing eight thousand acres of
land in the state of Arizona, showing its adaptability to the cultivation of
spineless cactus.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of San Francisco 3 Vols”, S.
J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 219-221.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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