Thomas Mellersh
Thomas Mellersh, who died June 9, 1922, at San Francisco, was a railroad
employe and official, beginning in early boyhood in England, and for nearly
forty years was identified with American railroads, most of the time in
California, where he had a conspicuous part in the development of what is known
as the Northwestern Pacific Railroad.
Mr. Mellrsh was born August 2, 1856, at Hawkley, England. His father,
William Mellersh, was a barrister and gentleman farmer, and was born at Sand
Hill, England, in 1809, and died at Tigwell in 1868. Thomas Mellersh was twelve
years of age when his father died. He attended school at Petersfield, was
educated under private tutors, and early displayed special proficiency in
mathematics. In 1871, at the age of fifteen, he became a clerk in the London
accountant’s office of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railroad. His
accuracy and devotion to duties soon won promotion. From clerk in the ledger
department he was given a position in the secretary’s office and subsequently
returned to the secretary’s office as corresponding clerk.
Soon afterward coming to America, Mr. Mellersh in 1880 was appointed
assistant auditor and traveling auditor for the Alabama Great Southern
Railroad, with headquarters at Chattanooga, Tennessee. The following year he
became assistant auditor of the Alabama Great Southern, the Vicksburg and
Meriden, the New Orleans and Northwestern, and the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Pacific railroads. In 1882 his headquarters were transferred to Cincinnati,
where he was made a general bookkeeper of the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas
Pacific. In these duties he was employed three years and was then promoted to
chief clerk in the comptroller’s office of the Queen and Crescent Route, and
was made assistant comptroller in 1887.
In 1888 Mr. Mellersh removed to New York City to take charge of the
accounting department of the American Cotton Oil Trust, but resigned after a
few months, this having been the only important diversion of his talents from
the business of railroading. During the same year he came to California, and
from that time until he resigned in 1916 was identified with what is now the
Northwestern Pacific. His first position was secretary and auditor of what was
known as the San Francisco and North Pacific Railway Company, then owned by
Peter F. Donahue. In 1891 he was given the additional duties of comptroller,
and continued as director and comptroller until he retired in 1916.
The old San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company was purchased by
A.W. Foster and his associates in 1893, who subsequently built, under the name
of the California Northwestern Railway Company, an extension of forty miles
into the Redwood timber of Mendocino County, surrounding Willlits. These two
roads were subsequently sold to the Southern Pacific and Atchison jointly, and
with the North Shore Railroad Company, which was purchased by them, were
transferred to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company, they subsequently
building the road from Willits to Eureka. Mr. Mellersh continued with them
until a short time prior to his death, when he was retried on a pension. By
whosoever he was employed he devoted his best energies to their interests. Mr.
Mellersh was the author of the System of Railroad bookkeeping, and his works
are preserved in the state library at Sacramento and the Congressional Library
at Washington, D.C.
During the World war Mr. Mellersh was
assistant manager and treasurer of the Pacific Coast Division of the American
Red Cross. He married Miss Carrie Coombe, of Cincinnati, who with one daughter,
Margaret, survives him, with home at 1880 Fell Street, San Francisco. By a
previous marriage Mr. Mellersh was the father of two children: Mr. T.C.
Mellersh, of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, and Miss Neale Mellersh.
Louise E. Shoemaker, Transcriber February 22, 2004
Source: "The San
Francisco Bay Region" by Bailey Millard Vol. 3 page 100-102. Published by The
American Historical Society, Inc. 1924.
© 2004 Louise Shoemaker