Mrs. Abbie KREBS-WILKINS
Mrs.
Abbie KREBS- WILKINS, only daughter of the late Capt. Jacob G. JACKSON and former
wife of Henry KREBS, both distinguished citizens of San Francisco, whose
careers are given in the preceding sketch, is a California woman who has made
of the opportunities and circumstances of life a record of service and
achievement far beyond the ordinary.
She was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and as a young child, with her
mother, came around the Horn, landing in San Francisco, at the corner of
Montgomery and Washington streets, where she joined her father, Jacob G.
JACKSON, who had come two years earlier.
Later she returned East, and was graduated from a young ladies’
seminary, an adjunct to Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. On her return to California she became the
confident and business companion of her father, which experience was destined
to serve well when, following his death she inherited his business, the Caspar
Lumber Company. Those first years were
discouraging and laborious, the volume being small, credit poor, prices low and
competition keen. It was, moreover, a
new and strange field for a woman, yet she faced the situation with courage,
ability and great energy. She assisted
in many constructive movements for the betterment of the trade, being
associated with other California lumber operators in creating a market in the
Eastern states for the excess supply of redwood. As told elsewhere, she added to the timber reserve of her company
and opened up new tracts of timber by extensive railroad extensions. She also attended most of the trade
meetings, being the only woman present, and was always constructive and fair,
her whole attitude calling for and winning the respect and admiration of her
business associates. In 1903, she was
selected by the Redwood operators to represent them at the exposition in St.
Louis.
Mrs.
Abbie KREBS-WILKINS has been actively affiliated with the order of the Eastern
Star for more than half a century, and was elected grand secretary of the Grand
Chapter of California in 1875, and continued in office for the next seven
years. In 1885 she was elected grand
matron and since that time has, with few exceptions, been a regular attendant
at the Grand Chapter sessions. She has
also served as matron in her home city, San Francisco, of California Chapter
No. 4, Aloha Chapter No. 206, and Casimir Chapter no. 252. She has regarded the Eastern Star as the
forerunner of woman’s clubs in California, in many of which she has until
recent years been an active member, whether of social, liberty, political or
civic nature. Members of the Masonic
order generally in the West are familiar with the name and service of Mrs. KREBS-WILKINS. The Masonic World has been publishing serially a history of the
Eastern Star in California, of which Mrs. KREBS-WILKINS is the author. She is a member of the Pen Women of America,
a Pacific Coast Woman’s Press Association, of which she was a president two
terms. By reason of her long experience
in business and social organizations Mrs. KREBS-WILKINS was fully qualified for participation in that new
department of woman’s work opened by suffrage.
The national republican party in 1916 for the first time accorded women
the distinction of places as delegates at the national convention, and Mrs.
KREBS-WILKINS was one of the few elected as delegate to the national convention
of that year, when Justice HUGHES was nominated. During the convention Mrs.
KREBS-WILKINS, was paid many marks of honor by the delegates and the
press. She was president of the Taft
Club in San Francisco, and served on the Republican County Central Committee
and was in charge of the woman’s department during the campaign. Mrs. KREBS-WILKINS, under the administration
of Mayor Ralph, was member of the City Planning Commission for five years, and
in gathering plans and information that would assist the commission in its work
she visited seven cities in seven different states.
Mrs.
KREBS-WILKINS is now practically retired from active life, her two sons having
succeeded her, the younger being now vice president of the company. In the past she has contributed to the success
of business, personal, literary and political affairs in San Francisco. Recently she has completed and has occupied
a beautiful new home situated in San Mateo.
Transcribed
by Deana Schultz.
Source: "The San
Francisco Bay Region" Vol. 3 page 294-297 by Bailey Millard. Published by
The American Historical Society, Inc. 1924.
© 2004 Deana Schultz.