San Francisco County
Biographies
JOHN JAMES SCOTCHLER
JOHN JAMES SCOTCHLER, a retired merchant of San Francisco,
and landowner of Oakland, was born in Moultonboro,
Carroll county, New Hampshire, April 20, 1826, the
eldest child of James and Harriet (Huntress) Scotchler.
The father, born in Boston, about 1805, the only child of James Scotchler and his wife (by birth, Hathaway) learned the
trade of painter, which he followed until he came here in 1858, with his wife,
a native of New Hampshire, to spend their declining years with their sons. They
had resided several years in New Bedford, Massachusetts,
and survived their arrival here many years, the mother dying in 1876 and the
father in 1878. The Huntress family is an old one in New
Hampshire, and two uncles, Joseph and John Huntress,
lived to an advanced age. James Scotchler, Sr.,
appears to have arrived in Boston,
a boy of fourteen years, on a German vessel. He there grew to manhood, learned
the trade of ship-rigging, and was married to a Miss Hathaway. He died at about
the age of forty, leaving only one child, James, who was then but two years
old. His name has been found in the records of the Masonic order in that city,
and but little else is known of him. It is even doubtful whether he was of
German parentage, there being no recurrence of the German type in his
descendants. It has been conjectured that he may have
been of Scotch descent, and that the name Scotchler
was based on that fact. No other instance of the name as given has ever been
met with on either side (sic)the ocean. His wife was
of New England descent for several generations. Two sons
and three daughters of James Scotchler, Jr., came to California
and settled on the bay of San
Francisco. All are now deceased except the
subject of this sketch.
John
J. Scotchler, after receiving the usual education of
the common schools in Boston, Massachusetts,
learned the trade of his father, who removed in 1843 to New
Bedford, with whom he worked chiefly at painting
furniture, until the age of twenty-three. He returned to Boston
in 1849, and became a clerk with Granville Mears, an oil merchant of that city,
remaining about three years. He was married in New Bedford,
Massachusetts, August 10, 1854, to Eliza H. Manchester,
born in that city November 20, 1828, a daughter of Humphrey and Anna (Bartlett)
Manchester. The father was of the
firm of Watson & Manchester, ship-bread bakers of that city. He came here
late in life and died in Oakland in
his eighty-fifth year. His wife died this year, aged eighty seven. Mr. John J. Scotchler came out in 1855, being invited by his brother J.
B., who had preceded him in 1852. (See sketch of his son, J. L. Scotchler.) On arriving here he went to work as clerk for
John L. Taggard, a wholesale grocer of San
Francisco, with whom he remained seven years as clerk
and bookkeeper. In 1862 he entered a wholesale provision house of that city as
bookkeeper, remaining another seven years. In 1870 he went into business on his
own account, in partnership with Charles E. Gibbs, under the style of Scotchler & Gibbs, commission merchants. In the spring
of 1870 Mr. Scotchler went East
to form business connections with Eastern houses, and secured many valuable
consignments from various houses, and laid a basis for a rapidly enlarging
business. In 1873 Scotchler & Gibbs added the
salmon-canning business, becoming agents in the San Francisco
market for several of the most extensive canning establishments on the Columbia
river in Oregon, and on the
Sacramento river, California,
which eventually became the leading department of their trade. In 1885 Mr. Scotchler’s health failing, he sold out to his partner, Mr.
Gibbs, who still continues the business without change of style. In settling
with his partner, Mr. Scotchler took over $50,000
worth of land in Oakland township, having handled more or less of real estate here
for several years.
Mr. And Mrs. John J. Scotchler
have one living child, John Manchester, born October 10, 1860, having lost two
daughters, aged six and three years, in 1868. J. M. Scotchler
was educated in the schools of this city, including the high school, and became
a clerk at the age of seventeen for Scotchler &
Gibbs, with which house he is still a confidential clerk, though his father
retired from it in 1885. J. M. Is a member of several clubs, athletic and
social, the Reliance, Acme and Athenian being of the number.
Transcribed 1-30-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Page 291-292, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library