Joseph Charles Boyd?ÿ(written in 1905)
Joseph Charles Boyd, who is filling the position of county surveyor of Sacramento county, has in the line of his profession controlled many engineering projects which have been of much value to central California.?ÿ He has attained precedence of many in his profession, having won an enviable position through marked ability and a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the great scientific principles which must underlie all practical and successful work in this direction.
Mr. Boyd is a native son of San Francisco, his birth having occurred on the 19th of February, 1864. James L. Boyd, his father, was born in Montreal, Canada. He was a stevedore and died about 1876. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Martin Wallace, was born in the north of Ireland and was a representative of an old Protestant family of Scotch descent. She died in 1898 at the advanced age of eighty-two years. In their family were three children, the brother of Joseph C. being George W., who is a mechanical engineer of San Francisco. Her sister is now the wife of J.C. Pierson, city engineer of Sacramento.
Joseph C. Boyd having completed the work of the grammar schools in San Francisco continued his studies in the high school of that city, and on graduating put aside his text-books in order to enter upon the study of engineering under the direction of Mr. Pierson, who was then the engineer in charge of the construction of the Bear river dam and other works connected with the state engineer??s office. This was in the year 1879, and Mr. Boyd has continuously followed engineering since that time. He remained with Mr. Pierson until 1887 and served as deputy county surveyor of Sacramento county, performing various duties in connection with the work of the office. From 1887 until 1889 he was associated with the engineering department of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the construction of its line between Raymond and Berenda and the coast line extension from Newhall, now Saugus, to San Luis Obispo. In 1889 he was elected county surveyor of Sacramento county, serving until 1891, during which time he did important service as an engineer in the reclamation of several hitherto unimproved districts in and adjacent to Sacramento county. From 1892 until 1894 he was city engineer of Sacramento under Mayor Comstock, and in 1895 was chosen for the office of county surveyor by popular suffrage. He has since been continued in this position, serving there for the third term which will expire in 1907. His work in this connection has been of an important character, and that he has the entire confidence and support of the public is indicated by the fact that he has been three times chosen for the position. Not alone to the duties of the office, however, has his attention been given, although he never allows anything to interfere with the faithful performance of the tasks which devolve upon him as a public official. He is a director of the Frederick Mier Company, and was one of its organizers and incorporators. This company was incorporated for one hundred thousand dollars, and does a general business in buying and selling real estate and loaning money. For a number of years he has been a director in the elks Hall Association, which is capitalized for sixty thousand dollars, and he has been interested in a number of mining and canal projects in California, which have resulted in financial benefit to the stockholders and have been a marked source of good in the improvement of the state.
On the 25th of April, 1888, Mr. Boyd was united in marriage to Miss Julia L. Mier, a native of Sacramento and a daughter of Frederick Mier, a capitalist of this city, who was one of the pioneer residents of California, arriving in this state in 1849. He was at one time the owner of Sutter Fort, also of the Sacramento electric light plat, of an excelsior manufacturing establishment and the Ione Coal Mine. He was likewise proprietor of the Capital Furniture Company of Sacramento, and the extent and importance of his business affairs made him one of the most prominent men of the city, his prestige, however, being won through individual capability in the control of his business interests. The Mier family is of German descent. Through his marriage Mr. Boyd has become connected with several of the most prominent business men of central California. He is a brother-in-law of Robert White of the firm of White & Bauer, of the San Francisco News Company; of W.E. Palmer, cashier of the Humboldt Savings Bank, of San Francisco; and of J.R. Mier, assistant cashier of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of San Francisco. To Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have been born two children, Melvin D. and Lauretta, both in school.
Mr. Boyd belongs to the Native Sons of the Golden West, to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and to the Masonic fraternity. In his political views he is a Republican, active and earnest in support of the party, and it was upon the Republican ticket that he was elected to his present position. His entire life having been spent in California, he has witnessed much of its growth and improvement, and his own labors have been a material factor in the development and progress of the central section of the state. He is not only well trained in the line of his chosen profession, but is thoroughly reliable and trustworthy, and his honor and integrity stand as an unquestioned fact in his business and political career.
-A History of the New California, Volume 1, pages 484 and 485
(The Lewis Publishing Company)
Edited by: Leigh H. Irvine
I'm doing the math and figuring that Joe's mother was 48 years old when she gave birth. In 1864.?ÿ ?ÿCan that be right?
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I'm doing the math and figuring that Joe's mother was 48 years old when she gave birth. In 1864.?ÿ ?ÿ
Picky Picky 😉
That book looks like a paid advertisement to me, can't say for sure but it looks like the glowing articles were paid for by the subjects.?ÿ I like how they are all in public service AND private ventures but you can be sure that THERE IS NO CONFLICT OF INTEREST, no sir, they are men of the highest integrity and moral values!
This one has typos but the computer did a pretty good job of reading the text (published in 1923):
DRURY DE WOLF BUTLER.??Distinguished among the efficient public officials of Sacramento County may well be mentioned Drury De Wolf Butler, the popular and proficient county surveyor, a native son proud of the Golden State in which he was born and wherein he has demonstrated his public-spiritedness in many ways, including his enthusiastic advocacy of better roads and bridges. He first saw the light near Folsom, in Sacramento Countj', on November 22, 1877, the son of John E. Butler, who crossed the plains to California, arriving in February, 1850. Afterwards, he went into the mines, and then settled on Cache Creek, Yolo County, where he remained until 1864. He then bought the Half-Way House in Sacramento County, on the Sacramento-Placerville road, and conducted it as a hotel. Afterwards he embarked in the sheep business, in which he continued until 1904; and then having sold out. he died seven years later. He served in the California Assembly in 1894, and made there a very creditable record for intelligent and fearless advocacy of the best interests of the people he served. In 1875, at San Jose, he married Miss Electa De Wolf, a meriiber of a pioneer family from Ohio; and she is still living, making her home in Sacramento, with many happy memories of days in California dating back to 1874.
Drury De Wolf Butler enjoyed the advantages of public education in California and in 1890 was graduated from the old White Rock grammar school near Folsom. For six years he studied by himself and then in 1897 he was graduated from the Sacramento high school. In 1899 he entered the LTniversity of California, and in 1903 he was graduated in mining, with his degree of B. S. He was a mining chemist for the Boulder Reduction Works in Jamestown, Colo., and next he was field engineer for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in Butte County; he was also assistant engineer for the Sacramento Southern Railroad. He went to Chile to engage in mining work, but returned in 1908.
Mr. Butler was appointed deputy county surveyor upon his return to California, but 1911 found him again in the more inviting field, from certain standpoints, of private practice. In 1914 he was elected county surveyor, and on September 1, 1920, he was appointed by the board of supervisors to be county engineer. In 1921, when the office of county engineer was abolished, Mr. Butler again took up the work of county surveyor. At the general election in November, 1922, he was reelected to his present office. He has carried through some very difficult work, accjuitting himself very creditably; and among other meritorious undertakings, he designed and constructed the Folsom bridge, which has a span of 209 feet and is made of concrete.
In 1917, at Sacramento, Mr. Butler was married to Miss Lalita Jodon, born in Portland, Ore., although a resident of Sacramento since her childhood. They have one child, Jacklyn Lauretta. Mr. Butler is a Republican and is a live wire in the Sutter and Rotary Clubs; he belongs to the Masons, and is a past master of Union Lodge No. 58. F. & A. M.; is past wise master of Sacramento Chapter No. 6, Knights Rose Croix; is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and belongs to the Consistory, in which he is knight commander of the Court of Honor; is a member of Sacramento Commandery, K. T., and belongs to Ben Ah Temple, A. A. O.N. M.S. He is past patron of Columbus Chapter No. 117, O. E. S. He also belongs to Granite Parlor No. 83, N. S. G. W. and to the Odd Fellows, and he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He shows his public spirit in many ways, always for the betterment of local conditions and for the development of the resources of the county.
-History of SACRAMENTO COUNTY CALIFORNIA with Biographical Sketches
(The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to Present)
History Edited by: G. Walter Read
(Historic Record Company)
