ALFRED CANE

 

Alfred Cane, a dentist, whose office is at No. 6 Turk street, San Francisco, has been engaged in the practice of dentistry since 1865.  He was born in London, England, in 1849, and his early education was received in Australia, his parents having removed there when he was a child.  He commenced the study of dentistry in 1865, under the preceptorship of Dr. Charles Pardoeza, a celebrated dentist of Melbourne, Australia, with whom he studied five years.  At the conclusion of that time Dr. Cane came to San Francisco, where he engaged in the practice of his profession in 1870, and has continued for the past six years in his present office.  He has been the preceptor of several prominent dentists of San Francisco, and besides his devotion to his profession Dr. Cane has developed remarkable talent as an artist in modeling.  A plaster cast of the late Professor E. J. Griffith, of Fresno, who was lately killed by the cable cars in this city, is the latest evidence of his artistic skill in that direction.  It has a wonderful resemblance to the original.

 

Dr. Cane’s family have been for many years residents of London, England.  His father removed with his family in 1850 to Australia, and since that time he has been a resident of that country and New Zealand.  He has been a well-known business man of Melbourne, and also for about thirty years of Demedin, New Zealand.

LINCOLN SHERIDAN CHURCH

Lincoln Sheridan Church, Assistant District Attorney of Alameda County, was born in Alvarado, in this county, May 12, 1865, the youngest of the nine children of Augustus M. and Ellen (Cronkhite) Church, both natives of New York.  The father, born in Allen's Hill, Richmond township, Ontario county, June 19,1816, a son of Lovett and Sally (Boyd) Church, arrived at Bear river, California, August 13, 1849, and after an eventful and honorable career on this coast, died in Oakland, September 1, 1889.  (For a full sketch of his career from boyhood to old age, see Wood's History of Alameda County, pp.862-4.)  The mother, born  February 13, 1822, a resident with her parents of Berrien county, Michigan, at her marriage, in May, 1839, after a married life of over fifty years, is living in this city, which has been the home of the family since 1876.  She came to California in 1852 with her five children to rejoin the husband and father.  Of their nine children, three sons and two daughters are living, in 1890, all residents of this city except one daughter, Sarah, now Mrs. John Gill, of Oceanside, San Diego county. The other living children are:  Helen, now Mrs. Helen Salisbury, the widow of B. J. Salisbury, late of Santa Ana, Orange county; William H., employed in the Hall of Records of this city; Rod. W., Recorder of this county (see preceding sketch); Lincoln S., the subject of this sketch.  Grandfather Lovett Church, a native of Vermont, a shoemaker by trade, moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, where he died at the age of sixty-five.  His wife, by birth Sarah Burns, died in middle life, leaving three children.  Her son, William Church, a Captain of artillery in the civil war, died in Michigan, aged over sixty years. Grandfather Cronkhite, at one time a merchant in New York, and afterward in Michigan, died of cholera on his way across the plains in 1849. His wife, by birth a Miss Springstein, a descendant on her mother's side of
Abraham Clark, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died in St. Joseph, Michigan, at the age of seventy-four.

     Lincoln S. Church, educated in the public schools of this city, entered the law office of J. C. Martin in August, 1883, and after three years' study was admitted to the bar in August, 1886.  He continued in Mr. Martin's office until January 1, 1889, when he was appointed Assistant District Attorney, a position he fills with marked success and general approbation.

Transcribed 11-21-04  Marilyn R. Pankey

RODERICK WATTSON CHURCH

Roderick Wattson Church, Recorder of Alameda county, was born in Alvarado, in this county, March 1, 1855, a son of Augustus M. and Ellen C.Church.  (For parentage and ancestry see sketch of his brother, L. S. Church.)  Rod. W. Church received a common-school education in this county, and spent some time in the Brayton Collegiate School.  On the removal of the family to Healdsburg, Sonoma county, in 1870, he there entered the Alexander Academy, preparatory to a university course; but, his father's venture in Healdsburg proving unprofitable, he helped him as clerk in 1871, and continued to work as clerk in Healdsburg until 1873, when he returned to this county, and was placed in charge of a warehouse in Pleasanton.  In the fall of 1873 he took a course in Heald's Business College in San Francisco, and received a certificate from that institution in 1874.  Filling the position of weighing clerk in Waterman's warehouse in Livermore for a short time, he was appointed that year a Deputy Tax Collector, holding that office until the spring of 1875, and then acted as Auditor's Clerk for a time.  In the fall of 1875 he resumed his position in the Tax Collector's office, and in 1876 changed again to Auditor's office.  In July, 1876, he was appointed Deputy County Clerk, and held that office until January 1, 1880.  After brief service as Deputy County Assessor, and as assistant to City Assessor, he was appointed Deputy City Marshal in the fall of 1880, and about July, 1881, was again employed in the office of City Assessor, and later in the office of City Marshal.  Before the close of 1881 he became the bookkeeper of Comegys, Block & Co., of Livermore. where he remained until they wound up their business in the winter of 1883-'84.  In 1884 he engaged in the sale of carriages and agricultural implements with a partner, under the style of Gardner & Church, until he sold his interest in the fall of that year, returning to Oakland in November.  Mr. Church was a candidate before the Republican County Convention for County Clerk in 1882 and 1884, but failed to receive the nomination.  In January, 1885, he was appointed Deputy County Clerk, serving until January 1, 1889, when he entered on the discharge of the duties of County Recorder, to which he had been elected November 6, 1888, and for re-election, to which he was nominated by the Republican party in 1890.

     Mr. Church was married in Oakland, December 17, 1877, to Miss Mattie Mendenhall, born in this county July 9, 1860,  a daughter of Absalom and Delia (Suits) Mendenhall.  Her mother died in middle life, leaving four children.  The father is living in this county at the age of about sixty.  Mr. and Mrs. Church have two children:  Jesse Roderick, born November 1, 1881, and Gladys Eleanor, born April 22, 1888. Mr. Church is a member and Past Grand of University Lodge, No. 144, I.O.O.F., and Past President of Oakland Parlor, No. 50, N.S.G.W.

Transcribed 11-21-04  Marilyn R. Pankey