Alameda County Biographies

Edwin Wesley Maslin

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


 
        Through the greater part of his life Edwin Wesley Maslin has been in the 
public service and since the 1st of March, 1894, has occupied the position of 
deputy naval officer through appointment of Colonel J. P. Irish. He has passed 
the eightieth milestone on life's journey, but is still active and energetic, 
displaying those qualities in a degree not often seen in a man of his years. He 
was born in Baltimore, Maryland, April 1, 1834, his parents being Philip Thomas 
and Harriet Maslin. In tracing the ancestral history it is learned that William 
and Jane Maslin came from England in 1690 and settled on the eastern shore of 
Maryland, where they and their descendants were well known as prominent farming 
people. Representatives of the family have since been found in that section of 
the country, but the parents of Edwin W. Maslin removed to Baltimore in 1837.
        Pursuing his education in the public schools of Baltimore, which he 
entered in 1843, he there continued his studies and in August, 1845, became a 
high-school pupil, but did not graduate. On the 7th of November, 1852, he left 
Baltimore on the ship Hermann and made the trip around the Horn. On the 15th of 
May, 1853, he arrived at Grass Valley, California, and at once engaged in 
mining, devoting his efforts to that work until September 5, 1855, when he 
entered upon the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1857 
and opened an office in Grass Valley, where he continued in private practice 
until his election to the position of district attorney of Nevada county in the 
fall of 1859. He acceptably served in that capacity until October, 1861, after 
which he resumed private practice and so continued until July, 1870. He was then 
again called to public office, being elected secretary of the state board of 
equalization, in which connection he made an excellent record. Upon his 
retirement from that position in April, 1872, he removed to Santa Rosa, 
California, where he engaged in private practice for about three and a half 
years, or until December, 1875, when he was selected by Governor William Irwin 
as his private secretary, serving until the retirement of the governor at the 
close of his term, in January, 1880. At that date he was again elected secretary 
of the state board of equalization and filled the position with notable 
acceptability for eleven years. Upon his retirement in April, 1891, he was at 
once appointed manager of the state board of trade and so continued until March 
1, 1894, when he was appointed by Colonel J. P. Irish as deputy naval officer, 
and has since continued in this position, covering a period of two decades. His 
record needs little comment, for it speaks for itself. That he has again and 
again been called to positions of public honor and trust is an indication of the 
recognition of his ability and the trust reposed in him. On the l0th of 
December, 1897, he was appointed one of the trustees of the Alameda Free Library 
and is still acting as a member of the board.
        Mr. Maslin has been married twice. On the 26th of December, 1859, at 
Grass Valley, he wedded Mary A. Underwood, who passed away about fifteen years 
later, on the 7th of May, 1874. He did not again marry until October, 1885, 
when, in Sacramento, he wedded Mary A. Way, a native of Illinois. By the first 
marriage there were two sons: Thomas Paul, who married Stella Wyllie and is a 
minister of the Episcopal church, now in China; and Prentiss, who married Grace 
Parker and is residing in Sacramento. The only child of the second marriage is a 
son, Francis I., now an electrical engineer.
        Mr. Maslin has been deeply interested in horticulture and stands as a 
prominent representative of fruit-growing interests in California. He has 
watched experiments and has been a leader in the movement which has brought 
about many improvements in the methods and manner of cultivating fruit on the 
Pacific coast. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He belongs 
to the Unitarian Club of Alameda and to the Friendly Club of San Francisco. In 
politics he is primarily an old-fashioned democrat, but frequently votes for 
candidates of the republican party. In a word, he is a broad-minded man, who 
looks at every vital and significant question from a liberal standpoint, and he 
keeps in touch with the trend of thought and interests of the day. Old age need 
not suggest as a matter of course idleness nor want of occupation; on the 
contrary, there is an old age that grows stronger and brighter mentally and 
physically as the years go on and gives out of its rich stores of wisdom and 
experience for the benefit of others. Such is the career of Edwin Wesley Maslin, 
who at the age of eighty years is still an active factor in the world's work.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 520