Contra Costa County Biography

WILLIAM MORRELL HALE (Deceased)

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
                  Among the influential men of Contra Costa County who occupied 
a position of prominence was William Morrell Hale. He was born on September 20, 
1831, at Milford, Union County, Ohio. His father was a farmer and settled in 
that locality in the very early days and assisted in settling the country. 
William M. Hale was reared on a farm, receiving a common-school education, after 
which he attended an academy for boys. Finishing his schooling, he worked at the 
mercantile business in Columbus, Ohio, and in 1853, he came to California and 
located in Placerville, where he was prominently identified with the business 
interests of that flourishing town during the boom days. Mr. Hale and N. C. 
Fasset operated a mercantile store for some time, when they removed to Pacheco 
in 1858 and opened a store here under the firm name of Hale & Fasset. Later Mr. 
Fasset resigned from the business and Henry M. Hale, a brother of William M., 
came on from Ohio, secured an interest in the business, and the firm then became 
Hale Brothers. They were potent factors in the upbuilding and promotion of 
Pacheco. Hale Brothers started a bank at Pacheco, which was operated in 
connection with the general mercantile store for a long time. Eventually they 
disposed of their holdings and removed to Martinez, and in connection with 
Lafayette I. and Charles Fish and others, started the Bank of Martinez, William 
H. Hale becoming cashier. Mr. Hale was married to Mary Lyon, a native of 
Detroit, Michigan, in 1863. She was reared in Illinois. There were four children 
to this union, two of whom died in infancy. Ida May died at the age of nineteen, 
and William A. succeeded his father in the bank as cashier. In politics William 
M. Hale was a Republican, but never aspired to public office. He served as 
chairman of the Republican Central Committee at different times and was a school 
trustee many years in Martinez. His death occurred on January 6, 1899. Hale 
Brothers were men of unswerving integrity and of high general standing in Contra 
Costa County, and their noble aims in life secured the confidence and respect of 
all who knew them.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
p. 613.