San Francisco County
Biographies
EUSEBIUS
JOSEPH MOLERA
A civil engineer and architect of international prominence and a power in constructive development and evolution, Eusebius Joseph Molera has rendered notable service to California and is now living largely retired in San Francisco at the venerable age of eighty-two years. He is a worthy scion of an old and honored family of Spain and was born at Vich, in the province of Barcelona, November 17, 1849, a son of Andrew and Francisca (Bros) Molera. His father was a distinguished general in the Spanish Army and a square in his native town was named in his honor. In Puigcerda, a city which he defended against the Carlists, the principal avenue is named for him. He was a brother in arms of General Prim and gave his life in action. The father of Mrs. Andrew Molera was knighted for services to Queen Isabella II.
Accorded liberal educational privileges, Eusebius J. Molera completed his studies in 1868, when he was graduated from the Academy of Royal Engineers at Guadalajara, Spain, and soon afterward sailed for America. Entering the service of the United States government from 1870 until 1875, during which time he aided in improving the harbor of San Francisco, and was in succession attached to the construction department of the twelfth and thirteenth lighthouse districts. He was made assistant lighthouse engineer and under his direction the majority of California’s lighthouses were built and nearly all of the fog signals were installed on this section of the Pacific coast. In 1875 he made a survey of the Valley of Mexico for President Gonzales and then returned to San Francisco. From 1882 until 1887 he served as president of the Mercantile Library of San Francisco and was the builder of the new library. During the administration of Mayor Taylor he was a supervisor of the city and county of San Francisco and in many ways he has contributed toward the upbuilding, improvement and advancement of the Golden state. He was a partner of J. C. Cebrian, a prominent civil engineer, and maintains an office at 519 California street but has virtually retired from the profession, acting chiefly in the capacities of an adviser and consultant.
On the 28th of April, 1875, Mr. Molera was married in San Francisco to Miss Amelia Cooper, now deceased. General Vallejo was her natural uncle and her father, Captain John B. R. Cooper, came to California in 1823. A native of England, Captain Cooper crossed the Atlantic as a child with his parents, who settled in Boston, Massachusetts. Qualifying as a master mariner, he commanded ocean-going vessels and after abandoning a seafaring life turned to agricultural pursuits and cattle raising. He acquired an extensive acreage in farm lands, as well as valuable property in the city of Boston, and his death occurred in California in 1873. Mr. Molera makes his home at 2453 Filbert street, San Francisco. His son, Andrew J. Molera, lives in Salinas, California, where he has a large country estate, and the daughter, Frances M., also a large property owner, resides at 2025 Sacramento street, San Francisco. Both are unmarried.
Mr. Molera gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is a Roman Catholic in religious faith. Socially he has connection with the Pacific Union Club, which he aided in founding, the University Club, of which he is a charter member, and the Chit Chat Club, all of San Francisco. In 1867 he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Spanish Army and in 1868 was created a Knight of the Military Order of Spain. Keenly interested in scientific matters, Mr. Molera was president of the California Astronomical Society for two years, president of the Technical Society for a similar period, a trustee of the California Academy of Sciences for more than fifteen terms and its president for three terms, and is also a past president of the San Francisco Academy of Sciences. He is a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences & Arts of Barcelona and also of the Royal Society of Spain; a life member of the International Society of Electricians of Paris, which he aided in organizing; an honorary member of the Geographic Society of Mexico; and a member of the Geographic Society of the Pacific, the California Society of Architects and the Civil Engineers Association of California. He was director of the San Francisco Academy of Sciences during the erection of the original museum and its president after the fire of 1906, when the new buildings were constructed in Golden Gate park. Coming here in the early days, Mr. Molera has witnessed a notable transformation in the appearance of the city, and in the work of upbuilding and progress he has borne a conspicuous part. His long and upright career of marked usefulness contains much that is of inspirational value and as one of California’s pioneers he is esteemed and honored throughout the state.
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 350-354.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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