San Francisco County
Biographies
HOWARD
CLARENCE STRATTON
STRATTON, HOWARD
CLARENCE, Oil and Mining Operator, San Francisco, was born in Cadiz, Ohio, September 14, 1861, the son of Howard Whittlesey and Mary (White) Stratton. On the paternal side
of the house he comes of an old English family, authentic records of which date
back to the fourteenth century, and whose American descendants were among the
early colonists of Virginia, Long Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey. His maternal ancestors, who were
originally Welsh, settled in Pennsylvania. The first of the Strattons
to reach America came to Virginia in the spring of 1628, Joseph Stratton
by name, bringing with him his grant of land of 500 acres. The following year
he was a member of the House of Burgesses. A great many of the name Stratton
saw military service in the Colonial wars, the French and Indian war and in the
War of the Revolution, most of them as officers. Mr. Howard Stratton’s
grandfather, William Obediah Stratton, only son of
William and Mary Ann (Howard) Stratton, was born in Baltimore, Md. And was one of the first settlers of Ohio, a clergyman by occupation. Another
American ancestor of note was Elisha Whitlesey,
Controller of the United States Treasury under Lincoln.
On April 12, 1882, Mr. H. C. Stratton was
married in Portland, Ore., to Miss Cora Alice Cox, and is the father of Vivien
S. (Charleston) and Clarence Melville Stratton.
In 1870 Mr. Stratton left the grammar school of Warren, Ohio, and from 1870 to 1875 attended the
public schools of Iola and Oswego,
Kansas. He then moved to Albany, Oregon, where until 1878 he was a student in
the Albany Collegiate Institute, which he left in that year to become a “devil”
in a printing office of that town.
After following this trade for about three
years he decided, in 1880, that there was “nothing in it” for him, at least. He
then entered the Bureau of the Merchants’ Exchange of Portland, Oregon, and
through 1880-1881 was engaged chiefly in making reports on the markets,
shipping intelligence, etc. At the end of this period he became Secretary to
the Purchasing Agent of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, the road of
which was then under construction by Henry Villard, and remained with them
until the completion of the system in 1884. His next occupation was that of
bookkeeper in the Portland Savings Bank, for which he was chosen among the
various competitors. In this capacity he showed such aptitude that at the end
of a year he was elected cashier, over the heads of all the other employees in
line for the promotion. Under his supervision the bank’s business grew from the
comparatively small figure of $800,000 to that of $4,000,000.
In 1900 Mr. Stratton came to California to enter the oil business, and has been
identified therewith ever since. With characteristic alertness and energy he
threw himself into this new occupation, wherein he has achieved a notable
success. The great possibilities of the Midway fields in Kern County appealed to him strongly, and he became
one of the pioneer operators there. Shortly afterwards he organized the Midway
Oil Company of Oregon, becoming owner also of the Stratton Water Company that
supplies water for the Midway field. Seeming to develop “oil sense,” he
discovered the now famous Palmer Oil Field, which he brought to the attention
of his associate, Frank L. Brown, and of which Charles E. Ladd of Portland is a director and one of the large
stockholders.
While in Oregon Mr. Stratton was a private
in the Oregon militia for three years. His leanings
are all financial and commercial. He is president and director of the Stratton
Water Co. and secretary and director of the Palmer Oil Co., Palmer Oil Jr. Co.,
San Juan Portland Cement Co., and the San Juan Pacific Ry.
Co. He was formerly a member of the Arlington Club of Portland, Ore., and of
the Cosmos Club of San Francisco.
Transcribed by Gloria (Wiegner) Lane.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 694, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2007 Gloria
Lane.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library