Biographies
JOHN
CHARLES WILSON
After attending the
primary and grammar schools of San Francisco he entered Sackett’s
School, in Oakland, where from 1886 to 1889, inclusive, he took the regular
commercial course, together with Latin and the higher mathematics, and studied
to equip himself for the business career he had planned, primarily to enter the
firm with which his father was connected, that of J. Macdonough
& Co.
From 1890 to 1902 he
was a clerk in this house, in which he also had a contingent interest. Not
being afraid of jolts he took anything that came his way, from marking and
handling sacks to balancing a ledger, and rose rapidly to a responsible
position. In 1900 the company sold to the Western Fuel Company, in which
Mr. Wilson became a director. This function he discharged for the next two
years, but found the business insufficiently active for his abundant
energies. He desired something requiring initiative, originality and the
traits that make for genuine progress. He found this desideratum in the
course of which he subsequently adopted, that of a broker for clients dealing
in stocks, bonds, grains, provisions, oil and similar industries. On
This remarkable
expansion of his business is fairly well indicated by the important connections
he has made in the last six years. On
Through these years
Mr. Wilson, by concentrating his energies on the work in hand, giving his
clients every facility, and by an absolute absence of failures winning their
confidence, has gradually enlarged his business to a very wide scope. Of
this fact the character of his eastern correspondents, among them such firms as
Harris, Winthrop & Co., is another index.
Outside of his
brokerage business he has considerable real estate interests, and a large
social acquaintance. Beyond this the many financiers from the East, who
visit the coast, are in a measure responsible for Mr. Wilson’s reputation as a
lavish entertainer.
For a period of six
years, from 1900 to 1905, inclusive, Mr. Wilson was a Yosemite Park
commissioner, under both Governor Gage and Governor Pardee,
but has not otherwise been very active politically He has for years been a
prominent and popular clubman, and among his many clubs and organizations are
the Pacific-Union, Bohemian, Family, Cosmos and Merchants’ Exchange, of S. F.;
Burlingame Country, San Mateo Polo, of San Mateo County; California, of L. A.;
Masons, and K. T. (Cal. Commandery).
Transcribed
by
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 199, International News Service,
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.