Alameda County
Biographies
FRANCISCO IGNACIO DE LEMOS.
Francisco Ignacio de Lemos is one of the foremost and in point of residence the oldest lawyer in Hayward. He is a representative of the Portuguese nation, so many members of which have become useful and substantial citizens of this state. He was born March 10, 1865, at Villa Nova, in the island of Terceira, in the Azores.
When about twenty-three years of age he crossed the ocean, landing in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on September 20, 1888. In the latter part of October of the same year he made his arrival at the Mission San Jose and there wrote for a Portuguese paper which was published at that point and known as O Amigo dos Catholicos. Being attracted to Alameda county and Hayward by the opportunities of which he had heard so much, he came to this city a short time later, arriving February 18, 1889, and entered the law office of the late G. S. Langan in order to teach Mr. Langan Portuguese and receiving in exchange instruction in English and law. He immediately took up his studies, which he unflaggingly pursued until he was admitted to practice before the superior court of Alameda county on June 16, 1894, and the supreme court on April 25, 1895. In the preceding January he had become a partner of Mr. Langan and continued in that association until November 1, 1903, when the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent. He immediately engaged in practice independently and has since continued to do so. Mr. Lemos has a large and important clientele. He represents a number of prominent commercial enterprises and has also been very successful in court work.
He is a director of the Bank of Hayward and also the Bank of Centerville and for nineteen years has acted as a notary public. Interested in the cause of education, he has served as clerk of the board of school trustees for five years, still holding that office. In the spring of 1914 he was chosen as one of a committee of Portuguese from California to visit their native country in order to induce the Portuguese government to participate in the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Since 1890 he has been a member of the U. P. E. C., a Portuguese society, and in 1896 and 1897 was supreme president of this order. Ever since 1898 he has been secretary of its board of directors with the exception of one year. Mr. Lemos has been continuously engaged in the active practice of law in Hayward longer than any other lawyer, having established himself in 1894. Among his countrymen he was also well known as proprietor of the Portuguese paper which he conducted for about four years and which is now known as O Arauto. In 1898 Mr. Lemos paid a visit to his native land and was there married on September 1, 1898, to Miss Adelaide L. Cotta de Menezes, a native of the Azores, who for several years prior to her marriage was a teacher. They have one son, F. Clemente, who is attending the Hayward grammar school. Mr. and Mrs. Lemos reside at No. 1272 B street in a handsome residence. In 1907 they, accompanied by their young son, took a trip to their native land, deriving great pleasure from this visit.
Mr. and Mrs. Lemos are devout communicants of the Catholic faith. For years he has been an adherent of the republican party but lately has changed his allegiance to the progressive organization and is actively interested in politics, doing much valuable work in a quiet way, although he does not expect or seek political preference in remuneration for his work. Fraternally he is a member of Cypress Camp, W. O. W.; Alameda Lodge, No. 1015, B. P. O. E.; the Knights of Columbus; the Fraternal Order of Eagles; the Foresters of America; and the I. D. E. S., a Portuguese society. He has held office in all of these organizations. Mr. Lemos has become one of the useful and public-spirited citizens of Alameda county and Hayward. He has made many friends in the community in which he resides, and all agree as to his high standards of manhood.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 536
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
ILO RAFENEL AIKIN, M. D.
Dr. Ilo Rafenel Aikin, a practicing physician of Oakland, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 26, 1876, a son of N. J. and Edna J. (Gates) Aiken, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Canada. The father passed away many years ago, but the mother survives and now makes her home in Oakland.
Dr. Aikin was a lad of twelve years when he arrived in the city where he now resides. He acquired his education in the public schools of Grand Rapids and of Oakland, pursuing the high-school course here. He entered upon the study of medicine in the Hahnemann Medical College at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and completed his course in the Hahnemann Medical College of the Pacific at San Francisco, winning the degree of M. D. in 1898. He then practiced for a few months and in February, 1899, at the opening of the Masonic home at Decoto, was appointed medical superintendent of that institution and continued in that capacity for five years. He next accepted the position of chief surgeon for the Miller Plantation Company at Cautotolapan, in the state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he continued for one year. Returning to California, he located at Niles, Alameda county, where he practiced for eight months and then went to New York city, where he pursued a post-graduate course for six months. On the expiration of that period he returned to Oakland, where he entered upon practice, continuing active in the profession in this city to the present time. He has built up an extensive practice and his increasing ability enables him to successfully cope with many of the difficult and intricate problems which continually confront the physician.
In Oakland; in the fall of 1907, Dr. Aikin was married to Miss Annie Welling, of Troy, New York, and they have become parents of two sons, Ilo Rafenel and John Stewart. The parents attend the Episcopal church and Dr. Aikin holds membership in Oakland Lodge, No. 171, B. P. O. E. His political support is given to the republican party, although he is not an active worker in party ranks. Along strictly professional lines his membership is with the Alameda County, the California State and the American Medical Associations, and thus he keeps in touch with the advanced thought of the profession and with the latest scientific research and investigation. He makes his professional duties his first interest and is a most conscientious and capable practitioner of medicine.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 550
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler