Alameda County
Biographies
ISAAC P. ALLEN.
The force of Isaac P. Allen's ability in the world of finance, of his energy, enterprise, constructive power, his initiative, aggressiveness and organizing skill has been felt in a vital way in banking circles of San Francisco and, extending beyond local limits, has in no unimportant manner influenced the banking development of the world at large. He is known not only as the founder of the agency of the Russo-Chinese Bank in America, but also as the founder of the Bank of Canton, Ltd., in Hong Kong, and he undoubtedly occupies a central position in financial circles of San Francisco, where since 1907 he has been manager of the Canton Bank of that city. A spirit of enterprise and progress, dominated and controlled by keen business discrimination and sound judgment, has actuated him in all his undertakings and has brought him to the position which he occupies today among the captains of finance in this section of the state.
Mr. Allen was born in Manchester, Massachusetts, November 2, 1847, and is a son of Isaac S. Allen, a native of Cavendish, Vermont. The father was one of the early settlers in San Francisco and was well known in the old city, with the business interests of which he was closely identified for many years. His wife, who was in her maidenhood Miss Alice Jane Patten, was born in Hancock, New Hampshire.
Isaac P. Allen was eight years of age when his parents moved to San Francisco and in the public schools of the city he acquired his education, completing the high-school course. He afterward studied chemistry and became very proficient along this line, securing a position in 1864 with Reddington & Company. He later identified his interests with those of Heathfield, Bogel & Company, becoming a member of the firm and engaging in the wholesale drug business in this connection. When he retired from this association he purchased the interests of R. H. McDonald & Company of Sacramento and conducted the business successfully for some time, enlarging his concern by the establishment of a branch in Chico under the name of J. W. Scott & Company. On account of his failing health he was eventually obliged to sell this enterprise and in 1871 became connected with the Bank of California, thus beginning a financial career which has brought him prosperity and distinction and which has contributed substantially to general banking development. Acting in various capacities, he remained with the Bank of California until September, 1887, when sickness again compelled his retirement, his enforced inactivity lasting for about five years. After his recovery he acted as auditor for several eastern concerns, engaging in this line of work for about four years. In 1902 he accepted the agency for the Russo-Chinese Bank and established a branch of this institution in San Francisco, this marking the first appearance of the concern in America. With ability, keen discrimination and enterprise, Mr. Allen directed its affairs, keeping it on a solid financial basis and developing it along modern and progressive lines until after the earthquake in 1906. He severed his connection with the Russo-Chinese Bank in March of the following year, after having done able work in its interests and in the interests of the city of San Francisco by aiding in forcing the German and Austrian insurance companies to pay to the extent of their ability losses incurred in the earthquake and fire.
On the 5th of October, 1907, Mr. Allen opened the Canton Bank of San Francisco with four hundred and forty stockholders, located all over the world. He has been manager of this institution since that time, and in this position his excellent business and executive ability has been called forth, the credit for the remarkable growth and development of the enterprise being largely due to him. He has given unsparingly of his energy, his time and his ability to its affairs, and the bank has steadily prospered, being today one of the strong, safe and conservative financial institutions in the west. Mr. Allen left San Francisco on the 27th of September, 1911, for Hong-Kong, and there he established the Bank of Canton, Ltd., with a capital of two million dollars. In this work he was assisted by four of the employes of the Canton Bank of San Francisco, and when he left China, February 16, 1912, he had already placed the institution upon a businesslike, safe and profitable basis, establishing it in strict conformity to the laws of Hong-Kong. He arrived in San Francisco on the 14th of March and reassumed his duties as manager of the Canton Bank. In the course of years his energy, enterprise and unusual ability have carried him forward into important business relations in this city and he has steadily extended the scope of his interests, being identified with a great many of the most important corporate concerns. He recently assisted in establishing the Prudential Loan Society and has become its president, his name standing as a guaranty of the permanence and reliability of the enterprise. The concern, which has offices in the Phelan building, is patterned after the Collateral Loan Society of Boston, which has been in existence for over fifty years and which has been of inestimable benefit to the community at large.
Mr. Allen married Miss Lizzie C. Fuller, a daughter of Hiram and Laurilla Fuller of Hancock, New Hampshire. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have three sons: Arthur, forty-four years of age; Sidney D., forty-two, and I. Christy, thirty-nine. The two younger are in business in San Francisco and the oldest is in Manila, Philippine Islands, and all are following in their father's footsteps, proving themselves reliable, resourceful and enterprising business men.
Mr. Allen is well known in the Masonic order, holding membership in Excelsior Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; in San Francisco Chapter; Golden Gate Commandery; and Islam Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a splendid type of the twentieth century American business man, keen, aggressive and resourceful, modern in his views, progressive in his ideals and actuated at all times by a sense of community obligation and the necessity of making his individual success an element in general advancement. Throughout a residence of many years in San Francisco he has proved himself trustworthy and faithful in business, progressive in citizenship and loyal to the claims of friendship, and he has thus commanded and kept the esteem and high regard of all who are associated with him.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 400
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler