San Francisco County
Biographies
WARREN AUGUSTUS ROUSE
WARREN AUGUSTUS
ROUSE, senior partner in the firm of W. A. Rouse & Co., commission produce
merchants of Oakland, was born in
Gun Plains township, Allegan county, Michigan,
August 27, 1846, a son of
Jonas and Sarah (Downing) Rouse. His
father was a native of Vermont,
of the Rouse Point family from whom that place was named, and he moved to Michigan
in 1836, settling in Allegan county. He had been a machinist by trade, and that
and farming were his chief pursuits in life. He was president of the water-works
department in Plainwell, Michigan,
one of the enterprising men of that section, and a pioneer of that county. He lived to the age of sixty-nine years,
dying at his home in Plainwell, in 1876.
Mr. Rouse’s mother was a native of the State
of New York, and lived to the age of eighty years, dying in 1887, leaving five
children, who are now living; three in Allegan county, two daughters and one
son; the other two sons are W. A. and William Henry; the latter was at one time
a merchant in San Francisco, and is now retired and a resident of Oakland; he
was born in 1834.
The subject of this
sketch, Mr. W. A. Rouse, was brought up to farming. He was married at the age of twenty-one
years, in Plainwell, to Miss Lora M. Conrad, a native of New
York State, born
in 1849, a daughter of Jacob and Betsey Conrad, who died respectively at the
ages of fifty-five and fifty, and were also natives of
New York State. The grandfather, Amos Rouse, of Bennington,
Vermont, lived to be ninety-four years of
age; his wife lived to be about seventy years old. The grandfather, Gerardus
Downing, was also a native of the State of New York,
a carpenter by trade and lived to the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. Rouse continued farming on his father’s
place until 1871, when he came to California
and engaged in teaming in San Francisco
for about five years. In the winter of
1876-7 he opened the produce business as a wholesale merchant at first, and has
continued since 1886 in retail trade as well as wholesale. His wholesale transactions extend even to Arizona
and Oregon. In the retail department the house of W. A.
Rouse & Co. is among the leaders in their line in Oakland,
employing five wagons and a dozen men.
Their store at Nos. 476 and 478 Eleventh street, is 33 x 100 feet, with
an outside storehouse.
Mr. Rouse is a
member of the order of Knights of Pythias.
He has five
children living, as follows: Pearl Grace, now Mrs. Albert Tucker, of Oakland,
is the only surviving child of her deceased mother. Mr. Rouse was again married, in Sacramento,
in 1878 to Carrie E. Grabner, who was born in Iowa
in 1857, a daughter of George F. Grabner, who was
born about 1830. His wife, whose maiden
name was Knopp, was born in 1835, and died
comparatively young, about 1865. The
children of Mr. and Mrs. Rouse are: Mary Ethel, William Henry, Jennie Louise, Warena and Alice.
Transcribed
by Cathi Skyles.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2,
page 321-322, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2005 Cathi Skyles.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library