Henry J. Crocker (1861Personnel of San Francisco's Grand Jury
''The San Francisco Call'', 26 April 1895, p. 8. Retrieved 10 June 2011. – 11 October 1912"Death of Mr. H. J. Crocker." in '' The London Philatelist'', Vol. XXI, No. 251, November 1912, p. 301.) was a prominent San Franciscan businessman, one of the Committee of Fifty formed after the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

; he was also a noted philatelist.

Personal life

Crocker was born in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

in 1861 and moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1874. He was the son of Clark W. Crocker and a nephew of

Charles Crocker Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took ...

, a railway magnate.Guide to the Mary Virginia Ives Crocker Papers, 1876-1910.
Online Archive of California, 2001. Retrieved 10 June 2011. Crocker had one brother and three sisters, one of whom (Lizzie Eldridge) married the prominent judge William Cary Van Fleet in 1887. Crocker and his wife, Mary Virginia (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Ives, 1863–1929) were married in 1889 and had six children: four daughters (Florence, Marion, Kate, and Mary) and two sons ( Harry and Clark). Florence Crocker did not survive to adulthood. Kate Crocker was a victim of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. He fell ill during the summer of 1910, which he was spending at his farm in

Cloverdale Cloverdale may refer to: Place names ;Australia *Cloverdale, Western Australia ;Canada *Cloverdale, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood *Cloverdale, Surrey, British Columbia * Cloverdale, New Brunswick * Cloverdale, Nova Scotia *Cloverdale Mall in T ...

, but was not moved to a hospital in San Francisco in October, where he died on October 11.

Career

In 1879 he started work with ''Sisson, Wallace & Co.'', beginning a successful business career that lead to directorships of numerous firms and the acquisition of great wealth. He was President of the ''Central Gaslight Company'' and a Director of the ''San Francisco Stockyards''. He and his wife, Mary Ives Crocker, owned large estates in California including a winery. In 1898, Crocker was one of the founders of ''The West Side Flume & Lumber Company''. Crocker was President of the ''American National Bank'' and the ''Refining and Producing Oil Company of San Francisco''. Crocker sued his cousin William Henry in 1902, alleging that William and William's brother-in-law, Prince

André Poniatowski Prince Louis Léopold Charles Marie André Poniatowski (24 January 1864 – 8 March 1954), was a Polish nobleman, member of the House of Poniatowski who became a prominent French financier and industrialist. Early life Prince Poniatowski was born ...

, had fraudulently acquired Henry's interests in the ''Pacific Coast Jockey Club'' and the ''Western Turf Association''. Crocker brought a separate suit against Poniatowski in October. The suit between the Crocker cousins was dismissed in November. However, in apparent retaliation, William and Poniatowski forced him out of the board of directors of the ''Sierra Railway Company'' in April 1903.

Politics

In 1903, he stood for the office of Mayor of San Francisco, but was unsuccessful. Crocker, a Republican, was selected to run in September and was leading the race in the weeks leading up to the November election. In public appearances, Crocker was greeted by adoring crowds, giving him confidence he would defeat incumbent Mayor

Eugene Schmitz Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician and politician, the 26th mayor of San Francisco (1902-7), who was in office during the 1906 San Francisco earthqu ...

of the Union Labor Party. Crocker's popularity was demonstrated in the days before the election, with a parade that attracted thousands and numerous endorsements from union labor officials and local businessmen. When Schmitz was re-elected, the '' San Francisco Call'' blamed the unsuccessful campaign of Democrat

Franklin K. Lane Franklin Knight Lane (July 15, 1864 – May 18, 1921) was an American progressive politician from California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as United States Secretary of the Interior from 1913 ...

for splitting the anti-Schmitz vote. Following the

, Crocker was named to the '' Committee of Fifty'', a group of prominent citizens formed by Mayor Schmitz to deal with the crisis.

Philately

Crocker was one of the founders of the ''Pacific Philatelic Society'' in 1884. He had a notable collection of the famous Hawaiian Missionary stamps, the first stamps of Hawaii. Part of Crocker's collection was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake but important Missionary stamps were saved as they were on display in Britain at the time. Crocker was named a ''Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of London'' by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

in 1907. Crocker was entered on the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their n ...

in 1921 as one of the "Fathers of Philately".

Other interests

Crocker was an equestrian, he was one of the founders of the ''Pacific Jockey Club''A Lap Around the Old Track
foundsf.org, 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011. and was credited with restoring the fortunes of the San Francisco

Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established o ...

, of which he was elected president in 1891. His club memberships were numerous including

The Family A family is a domestic or social group. Family or The Family may also refer to: Mathematics *Family of curves, a set of curves resulting from a function with variable parameters *Family of sets, a collection of sets *Indexed family, a family wh ...

, the ''Pacific Union Club'' and others. He was a

Free Mason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and described as a "'' Knight Templar''" and a ''Native Son''. A section of a stained glass window is dedicated to his memory at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Publications

*''Hawaiian Numerals a Compilation of Unofficial Data Relating to the Type-Set Stamps of the Kingdom of Hawaii''. San Francisco: Henry J. Crocker, 1909.

References

External links

Profile of Mary Ives Crocker.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crocker, Henry J. Crocker Businesspeople from San Francisco 1861 births 1912 deaths American business executives American bankers Fathers of philately Businesspeople from Sacramento, California 19th-century American businesspeople