JAMES M. WELSH
James
M. Welsh. In the course of a busy lifetime, James M. Welsh accumulated
many interests in California, and some of these interest are still retained by
his family, who live in San Francisco and vicinity.
The late Mr. Welsh, who died at Stockton,
California, July 26, 1904, was born in Scotland in 1845, and at the age of five
years was brought to Canada. He was reared near Toronto, Canada, was
educated in the common schools, and at the age of eighteen began learning the
building trade. In 1868, as a young man of twenty-three, he left New
York, traveled by way of the Isthmus, and after an eventful journey, arrived in
San Francisco. His knowledge of the building trade led him to seek
employment along that line, and his first work was with the McCreary Flour
Mills at Tehama. From there he went to Red Bluff, and for a time had
charge of the McCreary Mills at Sacramento. In 1872 he removed to Oregon
City, and four years later bought an interest in the Eureka Mills and one other
mill at Walla Walla, Washington. This business was conducted by the firm
of Welsh & Company and he kept his active interest in it until November,
1881.
At that time he went East, but the following year returned to California and
located at Stockton. In that city he became prominent not only in a
business way, but in civic affairs. He was associated with the
Schwabacher Brothers, Balfour, Guthrie & Company, as one of the proprietors
of the Stockton Milling Company.
Mr. Welsh had been a resident of
Stockton only two years when he was elected mayor, being the first mayor
elected under a new charter of the city. He filled that office with great
credit for two terms. A number of other interests claimed his time. He
was active in the Alta Fire Insurance Company, the Stockton Land, Loan and
Building Association, was president and one of the large stockholders in the
California Navigation Company and served as its president from the time of its
organization, and was president of the San Joaquin County Bank and a director
of the Sampson Iron Works.
Fraternally he was affiliated with Morning Star Lodge No. 68, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, and for five years was master of Walla Walla Lodge No. 7,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He was also a member of the Royal Arch
and Knight Templar Commandery, the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masons
and a member of Truth Lodge No. 55, Independent Order of Odd Fellows at
Stockton.
March 15, 1871, in New York State, Mr. Welsh married Miss Mary E. Wheeler.
Three daughters were born to their marriage: Grace, Mrs. W. E. Elliott, of
Oakland; Mrs. Beatrice Elliott; and Maud, wife of F. C. Dutton, of San
Francisco.
Transcribed
by Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The San
Francisco Bay Region" by Bailey Millard Vol. 3 page 110-113. Published by The
American Historical Society, Inc. 1924.