San Joaquin County
Biographies
ALEXANDER CHALMERS
One of the most important mines in
Angel’s Camp, California, is managed and partly owned by the subject of this
sketch. Mr. Chalmers was born of Scotch
ancestry in Canada, February 24, 1842, a son of William and Elizabeth
(Templeton) Chalmers, both natives of Scotland.
They came to America in 1832, settling on a farm and becoming highly
respected and influential residences of that locality. Mr. Chalmers was elected to the Canadian
parliament, although residing upon his farm until the time of his death. Both Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers were devoted
adherents of the Presbyterian Church, and were well and widely known as persons
of reliability and the highest respectability.
Of their fourteen children, two of them, George and our subject, are now
residents of California, the former a resident of San Francisco.
Alexander Chalmers was reared on the
farm, attending the schools of the district, but he received his higher education
at the Ohio Wesleyan University, following which he spent four years on the
Great Lakes, in the employ of the Steam Navigation Company. Changing his residence, he taught school
first for four years in Canada and in 1864 came to Coloma, California, where
his brother Robert had resided since 1850, and for twenty-two years conducted
the Sierra Nevada Hotel. Robert Chalmers
was much interested in vine culture, was a practical man of business, was
elected to the state legislature and died in 1886.
Our subject engaged in general
merchandising in Coloma for four years, removing then to Stockton, where he
engaged in the same line of business for thirty-two years. Selling out, on the first of May, 1900, he
then took charge of the Lightner mine, in which he had
been one of the principal stockholders and a member of the board of directors
since the incorporation of the company, and vice president for two years. He is now the active manager, and since
assuming the duties of the position he has given the stockholders entire
satisfaction, reducing the payroll two thousand five hundred dollars, and the
supplies two thousand five hundred dollars, and increased the output nine
thousand dollars monthly, placing it upon a sound basis. Such a desirable result displays the
practical methods which are characteristic of Mr. Chalmers. He has introduced machinery into this mine,
which reduces the loss to but thirty cents to the ton, less than that of any
other mine in the locality.
The marriage of Mr. Chalmers took
place in Stockton, in 1869, being contracted with Miss Fannie Wilkins, a native
of New Hampshire and a niece of the late United States Senator Patterson, a
widely known statesman. Mr. and Mrs.
Chalmers have two daughters: Anna, the
wife of L. A. Redman, an attorney of San Francisco; and Harriet, the wife of F.
P. Adams, now in charge of the electric plant in the city of Stockton.
Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers and family are
esteemed members of the First Congregational church of Stockton, in which he
has been a trustee for twenty-nine years.
Socially he is a Mason of the highest degree, is a past master of San
Joaquin Lodge, No. 19, A. F. & A. M.; a past high priest of Stockton
Chapter, No. 28, R. A. M., and a past commander of Stockton Commandery, No. 8,
K. T. He has taken a great interest in
Masonic affairs, attaining the highest degrees in the order.
The beautiful residence of Mr.
Chalmers is located on the corner of El Dorado and Linsey
streets, Stockton, where the family has resided for the past twenty-eight years. It is a charming home, indicative of the
taste and refinement of its owners.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 325-326. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget
Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget
Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy Databases