sebool in San Francisco. He had entered up sa department of the University of California, Int with an accident, had to defer his plans to str ly Damng 1874-5 he was on the road as a salesman LG for a boot and shoe firm. He was a trevelgon December 12, 1882, he became a clerk 'n a et emg to study law. He gained forh practiend during his connection with the law firm, and on tted to practice before the supreme court. ( bg he became a member of the law firm of Louttit, Has partnership was continued until December 31, y then formed a coalition with Mr. S. D. Worgs, , te recently. Mr. Levinsky now represents many of this state, he leing the local attorney for the Atchta Fe Ra'lway Company, the Stockton Savings Bank, tion and Improvement Company, the Stockton Electric the Pool Consolidated Mines of Hodson, and other le we the first city attorney of Stockton under the nex fee hung the years 1891-92. He is a st. unch Rend takes much interest in party affairs.

tes with San Joaquin Lodge No. 19, F. & A. M.. n Parka No. 7, N. S. G. W., and is a prominent member of the The Transportation Club of San Francisco, and als

iCo'er, actively identified with industrial and manufactır.. California, makes his home in Sacramento. He is community affairs and his efforts have also been a potent es progress of this section of the state. He has with tno,tunity directed his labors into various fields wherem he has a and at the same time has promoted a business enterprise that los ocet more than local value, largely promoting commercial

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activity of t (

Mr. Gorpers are of Buffalo, New York, Lorn September 8, 18:2. The family is of German descent, and his parents, Pantalion and Sybilla (Gele) Gerler, were Loth natives of Germany, whence they came to Aterica in 1844. The year 1860 witnessed their arrival in California an! ablishment of their home in Sacramento. The father was a butcher e and in this city conducted a wholesale butchering business until his labors were ended in death in 1878. He was then succeeded in business

1

three sons, John, Henry and Lous, and at the present writing the busiis conducted by John and Louis Gerber,

Wiliam Emil Gerber was a pupil in the public schools of Sacramento - early boyhood days, having been brought to California when in s year. In 1866, however, he returned to Buffalo and attended the St

Louis Academy, devoting a year and a half to the study of German. He afterward pursued a course of study in Bryant and Stratton's Business College in Buffalo, New York, and in 1869 returned to California. The following year and a half he devoted to the work of a clerkship in a grocery store, and in 1870 he purchased a half interest in a mercantile enterprise in Sacramento, the funds for this business venture being advanced to him by C. W. Clarke, to whom he has ever expressed deepest gratitude for his friendship and timely assistance. Mr. Gerber continued in the grocery business for seven years with excellent success, putting forth every effort in his power to build up a good trade and make the enterprise profitable. On the expiration of that period he sold out, and in the same year, 1877, was elected county auditor and recorder of the county. He filled the position so acceptably that in 1879 he was re-elected and again in 1881 and 1883, so that he was the incumbent in the office for four consecutive terms and continued to discharge its duties until January, 1885.

At that time Mr. Gerber was appointed assistant cashier of the California State Bank and filled the position for nine years or until 1894. He was then elected cashier and served in the latter capacity until 1901, when he resigned that position in order to devote his time and energies to the development of various business concerns with which he had become connected. He was, however, elected a director and vice president of the bank, which is his present connection with the institution. In the meantime Mr. Gerber has become connected with various industrial and commercial interests of the state, and his sound business judgment and enterprise have proved important factors in the successful control of many important interests. He is the president of the Earl Fruit Company, and has been the secretary and a director of the Buffalo Brewing Company since its organization in 1889. He is president of the Folsom Development Company, engaged in mining with dredging processes near Folsom. This is one of the largest companies of the kind in the state. Mr. Gerber is a director and the vice president of the Sacramento Natural Gas Company, is a director of the California Winery and president of the California Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of fruit boxes and baskets and other supplies used by fruit shippers. He owns and operates cattle and sheep ranches in Tehama county, his landed possessions there comprising eleven thousand acres.

On the 21st of December, 1881, Mr. Gerber was united in marriage to Miss Hattie A. Lyon, a daughter of Edward Lyon, who came from Vermont to the Pacific coast in 1860 and was for many years a prominent and leading merchant of Sacramento. They now have five children: Edward H., Anna, Irma, Harriett and William E., Jr. Mr. Gerber belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a believer in Republican principles, is an active worker in the ranks of the party and has frequently been a delegate to county and state conventions. In 1901 he was appointed state fish commissioner by Governor Gage and in 1903 was re-appointed by Governor Pardee. For many years he has been connected with the upbuilding of Sacramento and central California, and has just reason to be proud of the fact that to his efforts can be traced many a substantial

enterprise or advancement contributing greatly to the growth and prosperity of this section of the state. In every sense of the word he is a representative citizen and a business man of marked capacity. He always attributes his success to his friend, Mr. Clarke, who loaned him the money to engage in business before he had attained his majority, but while this certainly is a matter of gratitude it was to the inherent force of character and commendable ambition and the unremitting diligence of Mr. Gerber himself that he steadily advanced in the business world until he now occupies a leading place among the active and representative men of central California.

EUGENE ARAM.

Eugene Aram, a prominent lawyer of Sacramento, is certainly one of the very oldest living native sons of California, with whose business, professional and political affairs he has been identified to a degree most honorable and creditable to an eldest son. He was born at Monterey, in what is now the state of California, on January 26, 1848, two days after Marshall had made his epoch-making discovery of gold in Eldorado county. Mr. Aram was one month old when the treaty of peace was concluded with Mexico which ceded to the United States the great territory now comprising California and other states of the west, and he was over two years old when California was admitted to the Union. Thus he has grown as the land of his nativity has grown, and as he himself has prospered in material and professional advancement so he has likewise been active in promoting the improvement and welfare of his commonwealth, so that Senator Aram ranks foremost among the men who have proved themselves public benefactors and have given their time and unsefish efforts for enterprises of public moment and worth. Throughout his career he has been actuated by the highest principles of integrity and devotion to the general good, and in public and private life his record is without blemish.

Mr. Aram is only the third generation removed from the ancestral home in Yorkshire, England, where his grandfather Matthias was born, and whence he emigrated to New York, and during the war of 1812 was drillmaster of the United States troops. The history of Mr. Aram's parents has special connection with pioneer records of California, and they must always be ranked among the prominent early settlers, distinguished not only because of their early arrival in the Eldorado country but also for what they accomplished during the remainder of their lives. His father, Joseph Aram, was born in the state of New York, and joined a party that crossed the plains to California in 1846. He arrived while the Mexican war was in progress, and was met in the foothills by a detachment of soldiers sent by Fremont to protect them against roving bands of Spaniards. The party made their first camp at Sutter's Fort, and then they were accompanied by the soldiers as far as Santa Clara, where Fremont commissioned Joseph Aram captain of a company and placed him in charge of the fort, at which Captain Aram remained until the close of the war. He took part in the battle at Santa Clara, and later built the old, fort at Monterey. He was elected a member of the