Sisson, Wallace & Company
From: "Richard Zack" urentropy2003@yahoo.com
Canal construction in the late 1870's in Tulare County was done by the Sisson, Wallace Company. What were the first or Christian names of "Sisson" and "Wallace"? It appears that Sisson, Wallace & Company outright owned some of the land that was ultimately sold to one of the irrigation districts. In other words, to keep their railroad crews busy between railroad contracts, Sisson, Wallace & Co. actually bought abandoned canals, upgraded them and then sold them back to the irrigation companies. I need the construction company founders' names to match up with landowners to pursue that idea further.
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 5:45 PM
11 Comments:
"A.W. Sisson, W.H. Wallace and Clark W. Crocker were co-partners in the name of Sisson, Wallace & Co." p. 36.
From: "Richard Zack" urentropy2003@yahoo.com
Subject: W.H. Wallace of Sisson Wallace and Co
Thank you! All of my questions to date on Mr. Wallace were answered with that court case summation/transcript. The court case gave me enough information so I could locate an irrigation canal off of an early property ownership map. Wallace's land fronted on the Kaweah River. ...
—Richard Zack
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
Doing a bit of Googling, I came across a legal case involving Sissons & Wallace, and their partner Clark W. Crocker (starting on pg. 34).
A. W. Sisson (dead by 1893)
W. H. Wallace (died Oct 2, 1881)
Clark W. Crocker (dead by 1893)
—Kyle
Here's a web page that mentions Albert W. Sisson and the firm - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/sfbsis.htm
In the 1880 census, Albert W. Sisson was listed as a Grocer in San Francisco.
In the L.A. Times, 9/9/1882 is an article about a guardian's sale for W.H. Wallace, minor. The sale was ordered by the Superior Court for San Francisco, and made and entered on July 17, 1882. Emeline Wallace was the guardian. Among the items for sale was an interest in the merchantile firm of Albert W. Sisson, Willian H. Wallace, now deceased, and Clark W. Crocker, doing business under the name of Sisson, Wallace, and Co. The article runs about a column and a half and has an extensive list of real estate and about 11 stores in California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. Terms are cash in gold coin on confirmation of sale.
Dick Morris
Anchorage, Alaska
San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, November 19, 1888:
SISSON - At Byrons Springs, November 18, Albert W. Sisson, a native of New York, aged 64 years.
San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, November 23, 1888. An article on his probate, saying his estate was valued at $350,000.
San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, March 19,1890. First annual account of executors. The summarized the holdings of the estate which was appraised a $461,654.
Dick Morris
Anchorage, Alaska
From: Hsweetser@aol.com
Subject: Sisson, Wallace & Company
I just came across I newspaper photocopy I had pertaining to this subject ... Under the headline "Sisson, Crocker & Co.," an article in the February 22, 1882 Truckee Semi-Weekly Republican stated:
"S.M. Cutler, G.W. Scott, R.A. Wilson and M.A. Burke have purchased the interest of W.H. Wallace, deceased, in the general merchandise business of Sisson, Wallace & Co., and the firm will hereafter be known as Sisson, Crocker & Co. This firm is by far the most extensive dealers in general merchandise on the Pacific Coast, having large stores at Sacramento, Truckee, Carlin, on the C.P.R.R. and Mojave, Los Angeles, Yuma, Benson, Camp Rice on the Southern Pacific railroad, and at Termonil Station and End of the Track, on the Galveston, Houston and San Antonio railroad. S.M. cutler, one of the new members of the firm is well known in Truckee, having resided here some years ago, and worked in the store at this place in the capacity of salesman."
Other references to Sisson & Wallace:
Sept. 7, 1899 Visalia Daily Times – Sisson, Wallace & Co's. store in Tulare was where Goldman's now is.
There was also a reference to Sisson & Wallace at Tulare in the Fresno Weekly Expositor possibly of May 6, 1874 (I'm not real sure about the year).
June 6, 1877 Evening Express (3:6) (Los Angeles) – Wallace and Sisson store cars burned near the Colorado River.
It appears that Sisson & Wallace set up stores almost as soon as new track construction reached a location. However, I have never found mention in newspapers of them being railroad construction labor contractors as was indicated by the original poster.
—John Sweetser
From: "Larry Mullaly" lmullaly@jeffnet.org
Thank you as always for your fine newspaper sleuthing. This broadens the picture of Sisson and Wallace for me.
Regarding the labor contracting of Chinese workers ... an excellent summary of the Sisson, Wallace & Co.’s relationship to the Central Pacific is found in the court case available in Google Books:
Wallace et al. vs. Sisson et al. (1896) reported on pp. 36-47 of California Unreported Cases By California. Supreme Court, Peter V. Ross.
—Larry Mullaly
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
I also found an 1893 portion of that court case – another Google books item, California Supreme Court decision. And I think there are 2 different printings of the 1896 decision. I Googled Sisson, Wallace & Company and came up with them.
—Kyle
From: "Richard Zack" urentropy2003@yahoo.com
Subject: W H Wallace photo
[Does anyone have] a photo of W. H. Wallace of the Sisson, Wallace Company? [Need] a high resolution scan of the photo to be used in the Tulare Irrigation District History Project.
Thanks for the help about four years ago on another W. H. Wallace question! ...
—Richard Zack
I am interested to know if anyone has information regarding where the 19th Century records of Sisson, Wallace & Company or the subsequent Sisson, Crocker & Co. may reside? Have they survived to the present and, perhaps, are languishing in some repository I know nothing about?
Thanks.
Mike Polk
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