San Francisco County
Biographies
ROBERT WOODS
MARTINDALE
The name of Robert Woods Martindale is well known in business circles of San Francisco, for he is Pacific coast manager of the United States Pipe & Foundry Company and has made his headquarters in this city since 1906. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, December 8, 1871, he is a son of Franklin Gray Martindale and represents a New England family that was established in New York state in the early part of the seventeenth century. Franklin G. Martindale was born in Cayuga County, New York, in 1836 and at the age of nine years went to Michigan with his parents, who settled in Kent county in 1845. In that frontier district he was reared and educated, later going to Washington, D. C., where he enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil war. Assigned to the First Regiment of New York Volunteer Cavalry, he was in the service for more than four years and participated in a number of important battles. He was wounded seven times and on the last occasion received leg injuries which he carried to his grave. In 1868 he was married in Pine township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Annie M. Gibson, who was born in that township July 30, 1845, and belonged to a family that had been founded in the Keystone state early in the eighteenth century. Her ancestors came to this country from the north of Ireland, while the Martindale family came originally from northern England. After his marriage Franklin G. Martindale took his bride to Baltimore, Maryland, and then to North Carolina, where he engaged in contracting, and was the builder of ten miles of the air line railroad in that state. He prospered in business, accumulating what was considered a comfortable fortune in those days, but subsequently met with financial reverses, which undermined his health, resulting in his death in 1896, at the age of sixty-one years, while on a visit to California. Mrs. Martindale long survived her husband, passing away in San Francisco, December 16, 1918, when seventy-three years of age. She was the mother of three sons: Chester E., who lives in Jacksonville, Flordia; Robert Woods; and Murray G., a resident of Baltimore.
Robert W. Martindale attended the public schools of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and at the age of twelve years became a wage-earner, obtaining employment in a retail store. There he worked sixteen hours a day and received a weekly salary of two and a half dollars. His first important business contact was made in 1891, when he became connected with the Chattanooga Foundry & Pipe Works, with which he continued for five years, mastering the technical phases of the business. The knowledge and experience thus acquired won for him the position of assistant manager with the McNeal Pipe & Foundry Company at Burlington, New Jersey, where he acted in that capacity until 1899, when the United States Cast Iron Pipe & Foundry Company took over the business, and appointed Mr. Martindale assistant resident manager. In 1906, when the company opened sales offices in San Francisco, he was transferred to this city and has since been their manager for the Pacific coast. Bending every effort toward the promotion of the interests under his charge, he has secured for the company a large volume of business, making this one of their most profitable fields.
On the 25th of November, 1915, Mr. Martindale was married to Miss Ethel Cooley, a native of San Francisco and a daughter of Agnes (Rowland) Cooley, who was also born in this city, where members of the Rowland family have lived since 1850. Mr. Martindale has membership in the Presbyterian Church, and in politics he is a republican. While he has avoided public office, he is never remiss in the duties of citizenship and during the World war was active in the various Liberty Loan drives. Through his connection with the Chamber of Commerce he is working systematically to further San Francisco’s progress along business lines. With his wife he has membership in the Presidio Golf Club and Mrs. Martindale also belongs to the Women’s City Club. A prominent Mason, Mr. Martindale belongs to Burlington Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M., of Burlington, New Jersey; Burlington Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M.; the Scottish Rite bodies in the Valley of Camden, New Jersey; Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco; and was formerly a member of Crescent Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Trenton, New Jersey. His home is at 275 Fourteenth avenue, San Francisco, and he has a suite of offices on the ninth floor of the Monadnock building at 681 Market street. Deprived of educational advantages in his youth, Mr. Martindale has been an apt pupil in the school of experience, daily mastering the lessons of life and thereby developing his powers, which have carried him into important business relations, and is deserving of much credit for what he has accomplished.
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 192-194.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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