Santa Cruz County Biographies

HENRY F. KRON

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        This gentleman is manager of one of the leading manufacturing 
institutions in this county, the Kron Tannery of Santa Cruz, of which specific 
reference is made in that part of this volume devoted to manufactories. He is 
the eldest of a family of four children, three of whom are living, and the only 
one not a native son of California. He was born in New Orleans, August 19, 1855, 
and came to California when eighteen months old. His father first engaged in the 
cattle business in Napa County, in one of the new and comparatively inaccessible 
parts of that county. In order to reach the ranch it was necessary to travel 
over a trail for fifteen miles, and Henry's first trip was as an infant strapped 
to the back of his father, who rode on horseback over the trail.
        After a residence here of nearly nine years the family moved to Santa 
Cruz, where the subject of this sketch and his brothers attended the public 
school and acquired their education.
        They arrived in Santa Cruz November 12, 1865, and on June 1, 1866, his 
father purchased Fisher's interest in the Fisher & Matthews Tannery, 
subsequently buying the Matthew's interest and conducting the entire business 
himself. Henry, or Hi, as he is familiarly known, served his time as a tanner's 
apprentice, learning all the details of the business. In 1878 he was installed 
as the manager of the business, and, his father dying on the 22d of April, 1879, 
he has continued in that position ever since.
        In July, 1890, the extensive business conducted by the Krons was 
converted into a joint stock company, with a capital stock of $200,000, with the 
principal place of business in San Francisco. Besides their tannery here, where 
$160,000 worth of leather is made annually, they have a wholesale leather and 
commission house at No. 125 Clay Street, San Francisco, under the management of 
O. J. Kron, and a branch tannery in Sydney, Australia, conducted by F. R. Kron.
        Mr. Kron was a member of the famous Boy Council, when Bob Effey was 
mayor, from 1884 to 1888. He is a Mason of high rank, belonging to the Blue 
Lodge, the Chapter, Knights Templar, and the Ancient Order of Mystic Shriners. 
He is also a member of Pilot Hose Company No, 2, and one of the original members 
of the Bango Club, the membership of which is limited to ten persons,   
        He was married, August 31, 1880, to Miss Flora Woodford, a very 
intelligent lady, of Jamestown, New York. They have three children, Gladys, 
Henry Woodford, and Gertrude Marie. Mr. Kron is a public-spirited and 
enterprising citizen, a man of force, resolution, and methodical business 
habits, who has met with far more than ordinary success in his business 
ventures.
 
HISTORY OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.-  E. S. Harrison, 
Pacific Press Publ. Co., San Francisco, 1891