Isaac
Lawrence Requa was born in Tarrytown, Westchester county, New York, in the year
1828. The ancestors of Mr. Requa, as
the name suggests, were Huguenots, who fled from France to England in 1681, and
from thence came to America, settling in Westchester county in 1689. On both sides of his family Mr. Requa is
well connected, his grandfather having served in the Revolutionary war as a
captain, while the ancestors on his mother’s side—the Lawrences, of Westchester county—descended from three
brothers who emigrated from Holland to the colony of New Amsterdam in 1641.
Mr.
Requa obtained his early education in the district schools of Tarrytown, at the
Newman Academy, situated very near the spot where Andre was captured. At the age of eighteen he left his home and
went to the city of New York, where he remained until 1850. Early in that year he left the city of New
York for California in a clipper ship, by the way of Cape Horn, and soon after
arriving in San Francisco he decided to try the mines. He embarked for Sacramento with that idea,
and after spending some time in the “City of the Plains,” he started for the
mountains, where he prosecuted placer-mining, which, however, proved quite
unprofitable. After much unfortunate
experience in the placers, he devoted his energies to river mining, and in the
summer of 1856 flumed the American middle fork at Big Bar, with success. In the early part of 1861 he went to
Virginia City, Nevada, and drove his stake on the Comstock lode. For over eighteen years he superintended the
Chollar-Potosi mines, and for two years also superintended the Gould &
Curry mine, and for ten years was also the manager of the Union Mill and Mining
Company’s affairs. One of Mr. Requa’s
strongest characteristics is the habit of sticking to whatever he undertakes
with great tenacity of purpose.
While
Mr. Requa has never been a politician, he has always taken an active part in
the public affairs of the State of Nevada.
He was originally an old-line Whig.
Since 1860 he has been identified with the Republican party, and has
worked efficiently for its success. He
was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature of the State of Nevada, and,
after the State organization, received the nomination of the Republican party
for the Senate, but was obliged to resign, owing to his pressing business
engagements. He has been many years
Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of the State of Nevada, and
during the Rebellion was an ardent worker in the ranks of the Union party. For twenty years he served on the staff of
the Governors and Generals of that State in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Mr.
Requa was married in 1863, at San Francisco, to Sarah J. Mower. A few years ago he selected a site for a
homestead at Piedmont, Alameda county, California, where he now resides. He is a good citizen, a warm friend, of a
kindly and genial nature, but of so positive a character that all of his acquaintances
know just where to find him.
Transcribed by
Donna L. Becker
Source: "The
Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, pages 575-576, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2004 Donna L. Becker.