California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 HIRAM F. BREY. Liberal and enterprising, Hiram F. Brey has contributed no little to the successful upbuilding of Portersville and vicinity, making his personal efforts lie parallel with those for the material welfare of the section in which he has made his home since 1889. A native of Napoleon, Ohio, he was born November 10, 1848. His father, Gideon Brey, was a a native of Pennsylvania, who became a farmer in Ohio, marrying Hannah Frease in Stark county, of which she was a native. Her father, John Frease, was also a native of Pennsylvania and an early settler of Stark county, Ohio, where he was engaged as a farmer. Mr. Brey was lo- cated as a farmer in Henry county, Ohio, until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy- five years, his wife having died in 1853. They were the parents of five children, all of whom are living. Hiram F. Brey was reared to the age of sixteen years on the paternal farm in Ohio, receiv- ing his education through the medium of the district school in the vicinity of his home. At sixteen he entered the store of an uncle and followed clerking for the ensuing four years. In 1869 he decided to cast in his lot with the pioneer element "of a more remote west, and accordingly came as far west as Laramie, Wyo., where he engaged as a clerk for one year. Fol- lowing this he became fireman on the Union Pacific Railroad, which position he retained until January, 1873, when he became conductor for the same company. In December of that year he went to Nevada, and was employed as a conductor until 1876, his run being between Toana and Winnemucca. Following his work in Nevada he accepted a position as conductor with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, running out of Vallejo, Solano county, for four years, when he went to Oregon and was employed by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company between The Dalles and Walla Walla, Wash. After one year he came back to Cali- fornia and was again employed as a conductor on the Southern Pacific Railroad, his run being from Oakland to Sacramento. Resigning from this position in 1884, he accepted the position of bookkeeper with the West Valley Lumber Company, at Dixon, Solano county, and later was manager of a lumber yard at Reno, Nev.. for two years. He then returned to California and in the spring of 1889 located in Portersville, where he became yard manager of the San Joaquin Lumber Company. After four years this company sold out to the Puget Sound Lum- ber Company, with whom he continued in the same capacity until 1895. In that year Mr. Brey organized the Portersville Lumber Company, which bought out the interests of the Puget Sound Company at Portersville, and this he conducted until 1903, in the fall of the year pre- vious having assisted materially in the organization of the Central California Redwood Com- pany, which bought out the interests of the Portersville Lumber Company, the Enterprise Lum- ber Company and mill, and West Pacific Lumber Company and mill, the three consolidating and forming one of the most extensive lumber firms in this section. They at once rebuilt the mill at Dillonwood site, which has a capacity of forty thousand feet per day, their product being shipped principally to the eastern states. The large redwood trees above twelve feet have to be blasted, while upon trees up to that size the Mulay saw, which forms a part of their equip- ment, is used. During the summer they run sixteen ten-horse teams and employ a large num- ber of men, this enterprise adding no little to the industrial supremacy of this section. Mr. Brey was elected secretary of the new company and is also manager of the company business, his extensive knowledge, the result of long experience in this line of work, making his services of great value to the firm. In addition to his business interests Mr. Brey has also been identi- fied to some extent with the horticultural life of the community since 1890, when lie set out an orange orchard of twelve acres one mile from Portersville, and at the present time he is setting out sixteen acres additional. He has been identified with the Portersville Water Development and Improvement Company since its organization in 1898, this being the first company to pump water for irrigating purposes in the vicinity of Portersville. In Virginia City, Nev., Mr. Brey married Ada Lackey, a native of that place, and the daugh- ter of Albert Lackey, a pioneer miner of Nevada. They have two children, Alberta and Marie. Mr. Brey is a director of the Board of Trade, with which he has been connected since its organization, and is also a stockholder in the First National Bank of Portersville. Frater- nally he was made a Mason in Winnemucca, Nev., and in 1890 became a charter member of Portersville Lodge No. 303, F. & A. M., of which he was its second master. He became a Royal Arch Mason in 1903, in Portersville Chapter No. 85, R. A. M., and belongs to Visalia Com- mandery No. 26, K. T., and Islam Temple, N. M. S., of San Francisco. His wife is a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church. Politically he is a Republican in national politics, while locally he reserves the right to support the man whom he considers best qualified for public office. He is a member of the San Joaquin Valley Retail Lumber Dealers' Association, after its organiza- tion becoming its second secretary, which office he held for eight years.