San Francisco County
Biographies
THOMAS HANFORD WILLIAMS
WILLIAMS, THOMAS HANSFORD, Capitalist, and President of December 9, the New California Jockey Club, San Francisco, Cal., was born in Sacramento, Cal., December 9, 1859, the son of General Thomas Hansford Williams and Rebecca (Bryant) Williams. For generations his paternal ancestors were residents of Virginia, some of them subsequently moving to Kentucky, while his mother’s family were prominent Mississippians. His grandfather, Sherrod Williams, was a member of Congress from Kentucky for twelve consecutive terms, and the General Williams who distinguished himself at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and was known henceforth as “Cerro Gordo” Williams, was a cousin of his father, Thomas H. Sr. The latter came to California in the Spring of ’50, where he won fame as an able lawyer and subsequently as one of the largest landowners in the State. He first practiced his profession in Eldorado county and then went to Nevada, where he became prominently identified with the famous Comstock mines. In 1859 he was elected Attorney-General of California, and served with distinction for one term, afterwards devoting himself to his practice and to his large land interests. His son, Thomas H., was raised in the country about the Bay of San Francisco, and on March 23, 1901, was married in Oakland to Miss Beatrice Steele, daughter of the well known merchant, E. L. G. Steele. The children of this marriage are Thomas H. Williams, Jr., and Beatrice Steele Williams.
“Tom” Williams, as he is widely and popularly known, attended schools in San Jose, and in 1872 entered Oakland High School, but left there to become a student in the Golden Gate Academy of Oakland, from which institution he was graduated in 1877 into the University of California. While at the University he was president of his class and a prominent track athlete, but through a misunderstanding between faculty and himself he left the institution in 1879. He then entered Santa Clara College, from which he was graduated in the Spring of ’80, with the degrees of B.S. and B.A.
Shortly after leaving college Mr. Williams devoted his energies to his father’s properties, which were situated principally in the counties of Sacramento, San Joaquin and Contra Costa. They comprised of about one hundred and ten thousand acres, mostly fertile land, given over to grain and cattle. Some of them, such as Union Island, in the San Joaquin, and Grand Island, in the Sacramento River, were famous for their yield per acre. In the active management of these estates Mr. Williams gained a valuably practical experience as a farmer and rancher, and after eight years, though he continued to exercise general supervision, he resigned the active care of the business to his brother Percy.
In 1887 he entered the contracting business and continued therein for another eight years, in partnership with Mr. Ferris, under the name of Ferris & Williams. During the period the firm did much important work in the way of excavating, grading, reclaiming waste lands, and digging ship canals, etc. Among their notable achievements in these directions were the grading of Sunset Heights, and the reclaiming of Grand Island and 29,000 acres on Roberts Island, which latter property Mr. Williams and Mr. Ferris bought in 1890 from the Glasgow Land Company. They also did considerable contract work for the Government, such as cutting bends in navigable rivers and building the overflow weir dam in the San Joaquin.
Since 1888 Mr. Williams has also been active in the racing and breeding of blood-horses, and is perhaps known for his connection with this industry. In 1889 he moved from the vice-presidency to the presidency of the old Blood Horse Association, which in the following year he took over, and formed the California Jockey Club, to the affairs of which he has since been giving much of his attention. He planned the organization primarily to do away with the frequent postponements occasioned by the rainy season throughout the winter. In this he was remarkably successful, the meets improving steadily both in the quality of attendance, until the crusade against gambling checked the progress in which Mr. Williams was the chief factor.
On these points he holds emphatic views, which in justice to himself and the cause should be expressed. He has always believed that the gambling adjunct should be permitted, under proper control, simply to encourage interest in the sport which he has found by experience could not thrive without that stimulus; and his contention that the game is necessary not only to the breeding of the thoroughbred horse but also to the improvement of the strictly useful variety of the animal is well supported by Major-General Wood, who has publicly stated that on account of the crusade against racing it is now impossible to get a high-class cavalry horse without paying an exorbitant price, and that the infusion of the thoroughbred strain is essential to the production of the best horse for the army.
Among Mr. Williams’ other interests are the following concerns, in which he is an officer: Federal Ballot Machine Company (president); Pacific Packing Company, of Guadalajara, Mexico (director), and president of the Mexican Investment Company; director Shasta Water Company and Jerome Garage Company. His clubs are the Pacific-Union, Olympic, Press, San Francisco Gold and Country, of San Francisco; Claremont Country, Athenian and Reliance Athletic, of Oakland; Marin Country, of Marin County; Sutter, of Sacramento; Yosemite, of Stockton; and the Brook, Rocky Mountain, and National Hunt and Steeple Chase Association of New York, and others. He is not only popular in the world of business, society and sport, but it also known, among his immediate associates for his great generosity and unostentatious charities.
Transcribed
by Joyce and David Rugeroni.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page
895, International News
Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2007 Joyce
and David Rugeroni.