San Francisco County
Biographies
GUY VAN
SCOYOC SHOUP
As general solicitor for the Southern Pacific Company in charge of the legal business of this organization for the Pacific system lines, Guy Van Scoyoc Shoup holds a prominent place in the law fraternity of San Francisco. He is a native of Bedford, Iowa, where his birth occurred February 7, 1872, and he is a son of the late Timothy Van Soyoc and Sarah (Sumner) Shoup. His paternal ancestors were of German and Holland Dutch stock, while those of his mother were English, Welsh, and French, and members of both the Shoup and Sumner families came to the American colonies before the Revolutionary war.
Guy V. Shoup was eighteen months old when brought to California by his parents, who established their home in San Bernadino. Following the death of the father, in 1877, the widowed mother went back to Iowa with her family, and in the public schools of that state Mr. Shoup received his academic training. In 1888, he returned to San Bernadino with his mother, and when sixteen years old entered the law office of Byron Waters as a clerk. Under the preceptorship of this brilliant lawyer, he studied to make of himself an attorney, and in 1894 he was admitted to the California state bar, after having successfully passed the examinations. He then went to Boise, Idaho, for the purpose of entering active practice, and so continued until the fall of 1896. At this point, he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Company as assistant to Byron Waters, his former preceptor and partner, who had been appointed claims attorney for that company, with offices in San Francisco. Since that date, Mr. Shoup has been successively assistant land attorney for the Southern Pacific Company; attorney in Nevada; general solicitor for the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific during the period of federal control of the railways; and, since March, 1927, has been general solicitor of the Southern Pacific Company in charge of the legal business for the Pacific system lines. His offices are situated at 65 Market street. The length of Mr. Shoup’s service with the Southern Pacific, and the important positions he has held and is holding, are strongly indicative of the ability and efficiency he has shown, and he is generally recognized as a competent authority on railroad law and litigation. He is a director of the First National Bank of Los Altos, California; of the Wells Fargo Bank; and the Union Trust Company of San Francisco.
In San Bernadino, California, on June 5, 1906, Mr. Shoup took as his wife Miss M. Adell Colliver, a daughter of Dr. J. T. and Frances (Adams) Colliver. Dr. Colliver is a prominent physician of San Bernadino. Mrs. Shoup was born in West Jefferson, Ohio, and is descended from English and Irish ancestry. The Collivers were Kentuckians, who moved to Ohio before the Civil war. Her mother, whose maiden name is Adams, is related to the John Quincy Adams family. Mr. and Mrs. Shoup have one daughter, Frances E., who is a graduate of Stanford University and the Prince School of Boston, Massachusetts, and at present is a resident of Boston, where she is engaged in personnel work in Filene’s large department store.
Mr. Shoup and his wife are both leading members of the Los Altos Union Church, in which he is a trustee. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. He has always shown much interest in work directed toward the welfare of the youth, and is now vice president and a director of the San Francisco Young Men’s Christian Association. He is a member of the Union League Cub, the Transportation Club, the Commonwealth Club, the Pacific Railway Club, and the Los Altos Golf and Country Club. His duties as a citizen have always been one of Mr. Shoup’s foremost considerations, and he has never been remiss in their fulfillment.
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 456-458.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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