HENRY A PFISTER
Surnames: Pfister, Glein, Hoffman, LaMolle, Landrum, Lynn
contributed by jchavnar
History of Santa Clara County
California with Biographical Sketches,
History by Eugene T. Sawyer, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles,
California, 1922, page 366 - 371
HENRY A. PFISTER - If one were to tell
the story of Santa Clara County
from 1847 to the present day in the biographies of her distinguished
sons - mean, in every sense virile, citizens, in every sense American -
such a one would find inextricably woven with that history the name of
the Pfisters. And to recount the advance of this community; to review
the progress achieved, and to leave that name out, were to utter an
apostrophe without an inflection of the voice; were to paint a picture
without dipping the bush in the radiant tones of the artist's shades.
While we have here essayed to write concerning the county clerk of this
county, Henry A. Pfister, still it must be known that no such biography
of however brief a compass would be complete with a word snatched from
the past - some short word, written in retrospect, regarding those who
have gone before.
Mr. Pfister's father, Adolph Pfister, was
born
in Strasburg, Alsace, in 1821; and after acquiring his education in the
land of his birth, traveled extensively all over Europe, coming to New
York in 1844. In 1847 he joined Stevenson's Regiment and circling Cape
Horn came to California tinged with the romance of that early and
gallant expedition, landing first at Monterey and coming later to San
Jose.
After a short visit to the mines of
Eldorado County, where
he was amply rewarded in his pursuits, he returned to San Jose, and at
once enlisted himself actively in the business and civic affairs of
this city. He located first, on Santa Clara Street, near where the same
is crossed by the Guadalupe River and there engaged in making
saddle-trees. Later he erected the Washington Hotel, at the corner of
Santa Clara and San Pedro streets - the first hotel to be built in San
Jose.
This hostelry and landmark he later
sold; then established
himself in the general merchandise business at the corner of Market and
Eldorado, now Post Street. Selling this, he then moved to a site at the
corner of First and Santa Clara streets, where the Bank of Italy now
stands, and there continued in the mercantile business. Upon selling
this to the Farmer's Union he occupied himself in the grain business,
owing at one time four flour mills in this county. Besides these many
enterprises in which he was engaged he was also for many years the
vice-presidentt of the Bank of San Jose. Safely can it be said that but
few men have reached the civic heights of Mr. Pfister, for he was twice
elected mayor of San Jose, and it was he who founded San Jose's first
Free Library - having donated his salary as mayor that that
philanthropic end; and was honored with the presidency of the Library
Board for many years.
In 1850, Mr. Pfister married Miss
Louisa
Glein and to this marriage were born Henry A. Pfister, the present
county clerk of Santa Clara County, his two brothers and three sisters,
all of whom have made their mark in the work.
Henry Adolph
Pfister was born in San Jose on January 26, 1859, and received the
first rudiments of his education at the Gates Institute which stood on
the east side of First Street, between St. James and Julian streets,
but later matriculated at the Santa Clara College, from which
institution he was graduated with honors, in 1874. With an uncle, C.E.
Hoffman, he then went to Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and still later to
Mexico, engaging in mining in these various places. He then returned to
San Jose and soon opened and conducted a store at the Guadalupe
Quicksilver Mines, at Guadalupe, in Santa Clara County. After the
closing of the mines, he opened a large store in Santa Clara, in which
business he was still engaged when on November 8, 1894, the voters of
Santa Clara County bestowed on him the office of county clerk. For
almost thirty years Mr. Pfister has occupied this position in the
public service, and has acquitted himself at all times in a manner
indicative of that type of public official that is fast becoming
extinct, but the memory of which shall ever remain as the inspiration
and examplar of coming generations.
He entered the political
field as an Independent, with by no means weaklings offering the
opposition, but his victory was assured from the very beginning; and
his many times since happy returns to office, and at times over
apparently invulnerable opponents, bespeak in glowing tones the
admiration, confidence and trust with which the citizens of this county
view him, his political career and his success as a public official.
This repeated approval of his constituents has made him the longest
incumbent in the chair of county clerk in the State of California, and
one of the most respected in the state. This latter fact being shown by
his being for the past twelve years, by unanimous voice, president of
the County Clerk's Association of California. Fraternally, Mr. Pfister,
is a Knights Templar Mason, and belongs to the native Sons of the
Golden West.
On June 28, 1880, Mr. Pfister married Miss Maria N.
La Molle, a member of an old,
well-known and respected family of this
community; a charming and accomplished lady whose untimely death on
October 3,1920, left a wide circle of friends to mourn the passing of
one, who, but to be known was to be loved. A daughter, Emily, who has
since become Mrs. Thomas M. Landrum, the wife of a member of the C.C.
Morse Co.; and another daughter, Marie, now the wife of Clarence M.
Lynn of San Jose, and four grandchildren give hope of the perpetuation
of this interesting family tree.
Henry A. Pfister is the
possessor of an attractive personality that renders his individuality
magnetic, pleasing and compelling. He is blessed with an acute mind; is
quick of mental grasp and perspicacious, which give to him an analytic
insight into things that would ordinarily baffle other men; and by
reason of his long experience in public life he is able to apply broad
and liberal principles which always find a happy solution to problems
however perplexing and exacting. He is endowed with a native force of
character strong but kind; and is fully cognizant that nobility obliges
and that unselfish zeal and sacrifice have their own rewards. While
profoundly clinging to the ideals and traditions of the past, he is
not, however, blind to the innovations of today, all of which leave him
clean and kind of heart. His lifetime of labor in public office gives
his distinguished usefulness an eminence that compels the more
sensitive to, or better able to discern, the public pulse and
heartbeats, or more apt in the appreciation of public needs or better
fit to met emergencies.
There has been no phase of
governmental
development in which Mr. Pfister has not shared, keenly sensing, as he
does, the responsibility of one in office; and is therefore, found
always working for higher civic standards and a healthier, stronger
patriotism. This is shown, if in no other way, in his many and
consecutive conscientious and efficient administrations where in his
public and official capacity he ever retains the trust and confidence
of his fellow-citizens, who repeatedly acclaim their approval of his
many re-elections. His years of service has richly mellowed him into
the kind protector of the counselor of all. Easy to approach, easy of
access, he is always found willing to lend a hand; always ever ready to
perform a goodly deed. The name of Henry A. Pfister will long be
cherished and long will his accomplishments and achievements be retold,
chiseled as they are on the annals of time, but mere words are vain and
futile, for his praise stands out in the bold relief of service and
deeds - truly is he the eminent son of a noble father - a scion worthy
to perpetuate the heritage of the past.
RETURN TO SANTA CLARA COUNTY FAMILY CHRONICLES
GO TO SANTA CLARA VALLEY HISTORY