California Genealogy and History Archives
Biographies
of
Sacramento County
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WILLIAM
H. QUAAS It
has been the fortunate experience of Sacramento to attract to and retain
in its citizenship a large number of men possessing in eminent degree
the qualities that promote the prosperity of a municipality. Not the
least conspicuous among these citizens is William H.
Quaas, who as a jiiuior partner in the Kane & Trainor Ice
Company maintains an association with one of the leading firms of the
city and by formulating plans for its growth at the same time advances
the general civic welfare. Although still on the sunny side of life 's
prime, he has gained a thorough knowledge of many districts of
California through business relations therein, and in addition he had
the ad- vantage of travels abroad and study in the educational
institutions of Germany. It is his opinion, the result of close
observation in various localities, that Sacramento offers to men of
energy advantages unsurpassed by regions whose attractions are more
widely heralded. With
some degree of pride Mr. Quaas claims to belong to a pioneer family of
California. His maternal grandfather, Adolph Heilbron, came from Germany
in 1850, and after a brief sojourn in St. Louis proceeded to the west
during the era of mining activities. William H. was born in Sacramento
September 6, 1884, and is a son of Henry and Carrie (Heilbron) Quaas,
the former born in Germany and the latter in Sacramento, her death
occurring in San Diego. The father now makes his home in Sacramento,
where the grandfather, Adolph Heilbron, also resides. On the conclusion
of the preliminary course of study in the California schools, Mr. Quaas
was sent to the ancestral home in Dresden, Germany, where he attended
school for two and one-half years, finding in the educational
institutions of that country a degree of thoroughness and discipline
most helpful to the formation of desirable traits in the students. Upon
his return to California he spent six months in Fresno county on a ranch
owned by the family, and from there went to Napa county, where he
engaged in the growing of fruit and in general ranching for five years. As
an employe of the surveying corps connected with the Southern Pacific
railroad in 1906 Mr. Quaas was sent to the Imperial valley on the border
of Mexico and continued to work there until the San Francisco disaster,
when he was transferred to the surveying department of the road at Santa
Cruz. When he severed his connection with the road he formed an alliance
with the Shattuck & Desmond Company, contractors, in whose interests
he engaged in construction work on the coast road, meanwhile gaining
much helpful information concerning the region in which he worked.
During June of 1907 he secured a position as bookkeeper with the Buffalo
Brewing Company of Sacramento, and continued in that capacity for three
years, eventually resigning to enter upon his present business
relations. The death of Mr. Kane and the necessity of the settlement of
his estate led Mr. Quaas to purchase his one-half interest in the Kane
& Trainor Ice Company, an influential and prosperous concern that
acts as distributors for the Buffalo Brewing Company, the Union Ice
Company and the National Ice & Cold Storage Company. The personal tastes of Mr. Quaas are not such as to lead him into public affairs or partisan activities. Aside from voting the Republican ticket be takes no part in politics and at no time bas be been willing to consider official honors for himself. A broad-minded sympathy with all efforts for tbe upbuilding of humanity leads him to maintain an interest in all denominations and creeds, but be is especially generous in his contributions to the Methodist Episcopal church, with which his wife is actively associated. Both are identified with the Saturday club, one of the leading social organizations of the city, and both are likewise solicitous to promote all measures for the permanent advancement of the community. Prior to their marriage, which occurred September 28, 1909, Mrs. Quaas was Miss Abbie McKay, ber family being among the well-known residents of Sacramento. The only child of the union, Abbie Capitola, was born in this city April 29, 1911. Friends won by years of earnest helpfulness maintain a deep interest in the success of Mr. Quaas and predict for him years of steady and growing prosperity. |
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Source: Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011 |