Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
NameAmy Estelle WALTER 
Birth22 Jul 1872, Vallejo, Solano, California190, p 3
MemoState file #55-48764
Burial1 Jun 1955, Cypress Lawn Cemetery, Colma, San Mateo, California29
Memourn buried
EducationSan Jose Normal School (later San Jose State)
FlagsLegatee in Will
FatherFrederick WALTER (1826-1908)
MotherMary O’BRIEN (1829-1901)
Individual Notes
• Mr. Amy named me Amy Estelle. The loveliest doll and toys I ever had he gave me.36, p 1, line 32
• Mrs. Willis Lawrence and Miss Maud Martin of Oakland are visiting in Vallejo, the guests of the Misses Walter.193
• Young San Franciscan To Wed A Vallejo Girl
Vallejo, June 5.–The wedding of William R. Eckart, Jr. of San Francisco and Miss Estelle Walter of this city will be solemnized to-morrow afternoon at the handsome home of the bride’s parents on Virginia street. It will be one of the most brilliant social affairs of the season, both from the standing of the young people in the communities in which they have lived and the esteem in which they are personally held by all who know them. The groom is son of W. R. Eckart, consulting engineer of the Union Iron Works and other large corporations. Eckart, Jr. is also a mechanical engineer, having graduated from Cornell University with the degree of M. E. He is associated with his father, and bids fair to follow in his footsteps as one of the leading men of his profession in the United States.
The bride is a well-known native daughter, both popular and talented. She is the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Walter, who are numbered among Vallejo’s oldest and most esteemed residents. She has been a teacher in the Vallejo public schools, and besides enjoying the reputation of a capable and efficient educator, has always won the love and confidence of her pupils, showing qualities of the head and heart that deserve the esteem in which she is held by all.
After a brief honeymoon Mr. and Mrs. Eckart will make their home in San Francisco.166
• The bride is one of the most widely known and popular young ladies in Vallejo. She is a graduate of the Vallejo High School and of the San Jose Normal School, and is a universal favorite. She has been one of the most successful teachers in our schools.167
• Of all the overestimated countries it is Japan, I think. I was there in the best season; saw the cherry festival, azaleas, wisteria, and iris - and these are cultivated. How any Californian can rave about Japan’s flowers is a mystery to me.
The cities are dirty. The artistic places are the villages from a distance in a field of cultivated rice or grain, for the roofs are grass and occasionally a straggly pine adds to the landscape. To see men and women working in these fields is interesting of course. And mind. you, I found lots to interest me. But one trip to Japan will satisfy me.
You, too, would feel as I do. You would be filled with indignation at what one hears about these brownies waiting to get to war with the USA - that like myself, you would feel you were in enemies’ ground.
One educated Japanese said to a fellow passenger on the way to Manila, "Oh, of course, we want the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands but we will wait until we can hold Calif. and the Pacific Coast." Another said, "We have the men and Navy but we lack the money so we must sack the banks of S F first." Imagine! These things are enough to show which way the wind is blowing. In Manila, they feel sure the Japs are planning mischief.
How I did enjoy our visit to Manila! It would make you proud of your flag to see the conditions there compared with other colonies we had visited. We awoke those little brown men about 50 years ago. And I guess it is up to us to put them to sleep again. But when you know their Navy and Army outnumbers us by 7 times, you can see what the danger is. They can take the Pacific Coast when they please. Our resources would win in the end. But think of the sacrifice. Our best men would answer the call to arms and our dear old Calif. be in the hands of those swell-headed monkeys for a good many months if not years.
One sees with regret how few ships we have. One realizes how handicapped we are. Our shipping amounts to nothing on the Pacific today. This is the only line flying the stars and stripes. Others sail under the "Union Jack" for convenience. While the Japanese have any amount of ships they would turn into transports. Oh, I just get so worked up over this I have to write my thoughts even though you may not be in sympathy. But the trouble is, we at home don’t realize the danger. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance expires in 1913, so if trouble comes, it will be before then, I suppose. Though I suppose Germany would help us, except you remember Dewey thought for awhile we would have to whip Germany too when we were annoyed by their interference at the time he took the Philippines.
Japan and Germany must spread out. They must have room to colonize. One can see how crowded they are. Every foot of ground is cultivated. But we don’t want the Japs to spill over our way, do we? Australia is just as anxious about the Japs. They fear Japan has an eye on their territory. I have heard a great deal of this coming from Manila. My companion had been a guest of the Commander General for five months, and she told me a few things that opened my eyes. So it wouldn’t surprise me if we were plunged into the deepest trouble by these deceitful brownies. I despise them for I feel every one on this boat is a spy.
If I had money to give to missions in Japan, I’d keep it for our Red Cross.194
[While on this trip, my mother, Harriet Louise Eckart, was conceived. DWM, 20 Apr 1999.]
• At 1921 Thanksgiving dinner, 3014 Clay Street, San Francisco.33
• I will send you a few letters, some you can keep – others return please – I hope Harriet Louise will care someday.
How strange it seems for me to find in you, my niece, a nearness I cannot get from own dear child. I am sure when I am gone it will be you that Harriet Louise will turn to. When her family is raised, when the demand on her time is less, she will have time to think and it may be that she will be interested in all these little events I am writing you.36, p 6, lines 227-233
• Finally, Amy Estelle was "Aunt Estelle" in this family. I recall her as a great hugger in the 1930's. My mother had a very unique relationship with her which is another story that will have to wait another day.195
• The last time I saw Mr. Amy, Anne, Alice and I were in S.F. (I was not married); we met on the street. He asked where we were going and as we were going to lunch, and he to his breakfast we went as his guest to Marchand’s – and such a meal – ordered all in French. One thing, I remember and cooked after I was married was French fried onions in olive oil.
Another year has gone, and my darling baby, Miriam – will celebrate another anniversary. I do hope you are well and that God will bring you his choicest blessings – what a joy you have always been to me.
I do love you so! I always see this “dear Mary” bathing you in the kitchen by the oven and I can hear her exclaiming “Did you ever see such a baby” to the doctor who said “If you don’t stop kissing it and dress it, you’ll kill it.”36, p 6, lines 244-255
• Grandmother was always a woman of strong opinions and firm determination. She had an indomitable spirit. Her death was premature. While walking from her apartment on Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena, and crossing Colorado Boulevard (legally, in the crosswalk with a green signal), she was struck by a Navajo Indian firefighter making a left turn. This driver had no license and no insurance. The force of the impact sent her flying for upwards of fifty feet, where she came to rest against the curb.
She lingered in the Huntington Hospital and a rest home for a month. I visited her with Mom and Dad, and it was a very sad sight. She had a will to survive but the injuries were too much for her.
Source: Personal knowledge of David W. Mills, written November 27, 1992, at Lake Arrowhead.192
• ECKART – Mrs. Amy Estelle Eckart, 176 S. Orange Grove, passed away May 24, 1955. A native of Vallejo, Calif., she had been a resident of Pasadena 28 years. She is survived by her husband, William R. Eckart; her daughter, Mrs. Nelson Mills of San Marino; three grandchildren, Nelson, David and Donald Mills; and her brother, Frederick J. Walter of Vallejo. Services 11:30 a.m. Friday at All Saints Episcopal Chapel, 132 No. Euclid ave., the Rev. Reynold B. Boden officiating. Turner & Stevens Co., directors. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Stanford Convalescent Home.191
• Mrs. Willis Lawrence and Miss Maud Martin of Oakland are visiting in Vallejo, the guests of the Misses Walter.193
• Young San Franciscan To Wed A Vallejo Girl
Vallejo, June 5.–The wedding of William R. Eckart, Jr. of San Francisco and Miss Estelle Walter of this city will be solemnized to-morrow afternoon at the handsome home of the bride’s parents on Virginia street. It will be one of the most brilliant social affairs of the season, both from the standing of the young people in the communities in which they have lived and the esteem in which they are personally held by all who know them. The groom is son of W. R. Eckart, consulting engineer of the Union Iron Works and other large corporations. Eckart, Jr. is also a mechanical engineer, having graduated from Cornell University with the degree of M. E. He is associated with his father, and bids fair to follow in his footsteps as one of the leading men of his profession in the United States.
The bride is a well-known native daughter, both popular and talented. She is the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Walter, who are numbered among Vallejo’s oldest and most esteemed residents. She has been a teacher in the Vallejo public schools, and besides enjoying the reputation of a capable and efficient educator, has always won the love and confidence of her pupils, showing qualities of the head and heart that deserve the esteem in which she is held by all.
After a brief honeymoon Mr. and Mrs. Eckart will make their home in San Francisco.166
• The bride is one of the most widely known and popular young ladies in Vallejo. She is a graduate of the Vallejo High School and of the San Jose Normal School, and is a universal favorite. She has been one of the most successful teachers in our schools.167
• Of all the overestimated countries it is Japan, I think. I was there in the best season; saw the cherry festival, azaleas, wisteria, and iris - and these are cultivated. How any Californian can rave about Japan’s flowers is a mystery to me.
The cities are dirty. The artistic places are the villages from a distance in a field of cultivated rice or grain, for the roofs are grass and occasionally a straggly pine adds to the landscape. To see men and women working in these fields is interesting of course. And mind. you, I found lots to interest me. But one trip to Japan will satisfy me.
You, too, would feel as I do. You would be filled with indignation at what one hears about these brownies waiting to get to war with the USA - that like myself, you would feel you were in enemies’ ground.
One educated Japanese said to a fellow passenger on the way to Manila, "Oh, of course, we want the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands but we will wait until we can hold Calif. and the Pacific Coast." Another said, "We have the men and Navy but we lack the money so we must sack the banks of S F first." Imagine! These things are enough to show which way the wind is blowing. In Manila, they feel sure the Japs are planning mischief.
How I did enjoy our visit to Manila! It would make you proud of your flag to see the conditions there compared with other colonies we had visited. We awoke those little brown men about 50 years ago. And I guess it is up to us to put them to sleep again. But when you know their Navy and Army outnumbers us by 7 times, you can see what the danger is. They can take the Pacific Coast when they please. Our resources would win in the end. But think of the sacrifice. Our best men would answer the call to arms and our dear old Calif. be in the hands of those swell-headed monkeys for a good many months if not years.
One sees with regret how few ships we have. One realizes how handicapped we are. Our shipping amounts to nothing on the Pacific today. This is the only line flying the stars and stripes. Others sail under the "Union Jack" for convenience. While the Japanese have any amount of ships they would turn into transports. Oh, I just get so worked up over this I have to write my thoughts even though you may not be in sympathy. But the trouble is, we at home don’t realize the danger. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance expires in 1913, so if trouble comes, it will be before then, I suppose. Though I suppose Germany would help us, except you remember Dewey thought for awhile we would have to whip Germany too when we were annoyed by their interference at the time he took the Philippines.
Japan and Germany must spread out. They must have room to colonize. One can see how crowded they are. Every foot of ground is cultivated. But we don’t want the Japs to spill over our way, do we? Australia is just as anxious about the Japs. They fear Japan has an eye on their territory. I have heard a great deal of this coming from Manila. My companion had been a guest of the Commander General for five months, and she told me a few things that opened my eyes. So it wouldn’t surprise me if we were plunged into the deepest trouble by these deceitful brownies. I despise them for I feel every one on this boat is a spy.
If I had money to give to missions in Japan, I’d keep it for our Red Cross.194
[While on this trip, my mother, Harriet Louise Eckart, was conceived. DWM, 20 Apr 1999.]
• At 1921 Thanksgiving dinner, 3014 Clay Street, San Francisco.33
• I will send you a few letters, some you can keep – others return please – I hope Harriet Louise will care someday.
How strange it seems for me to find in you, my niece, a nearness I cannot get from own dear child. I am sure when I am gone it will be you that Harriet Louise will turn to. When her family is raised, when the demand on her time is less, she will have time to think and it may be that she will be interested in all these little events I am writing you.36, p 6, lines 227-233
• Finally, Amy Estelle was "Aunt Estelle" in this family. I recall her as a great hugger in the 1930's. My mother had a very unique relationship with her which is another story that will have to wait another day.195
• The last time I saw Mr. Amy, Anne, Alice and I were in S.F. (I was not married); we met on the street. He asked where we were going and as we were going to lunch, and he to his breakfast we went as his guest to Marchand’s – and such a meal – ordered all in French. One thing, I remember and cooked after I was married was French fried onions in olive oil.
Another year has gone, and my darling baby, Miriam – will celebrate another anniversary. I do hope you are well and that God will bring you his choicest blessings – what a joy you have always been to me.
I do love you so! I always see this “dear Mary” bathing you in the kitchen by the oven and I can hear her exclaiming “Did you ever see such a baby” to the doctor who said “If you don’t stop kissing it and dress it, you’ll kill it.”36, p 6, lines 244-255
• Grandmother was always a woman of strong opinions and firm determination. She had an indomitable spirit. Her death was premature. While walking from her apartment on Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena, and crossing Colorado Boulevard (legally, in the crosswalk with a green signal), she was struck by a Navajo Indian firefighter making a left turn. This driver had no license and no insurance. The force of the impact sent her flying for upwards of fifty feet, where she came to rest against the curb.
She lingered in the Huntington Hospital and a rest home for a month. I visited her with Mom and Dad, and it was a very sad sight. She had a will to survive but the injuries were too much for her.
Source: Personal knowledge of David W. Mills, written November 27, 1992, at Lake Arrowhead.192
• ECKART – Mrs. Amy Estelle Eckart, 176 S. Orange Grove, passed away May 24, 1955. A native of Vallejo, Calif., she had been a resident of Pasadena 28 years. She is survived by her husband, William R. Eckart; her daughter, Mrs. Nelson Mills of San Marino; three grandchildren, Nelson, David and Donald Mills; and her brother, Frederick J. Walter of Vallejo. Services 11:30 a.m. Friday at All Saints Episcopal Chapel, 132 No. Euclid ave., the Rev. Reynold B. Boden officiating. Turner & Stevens Co., directors. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Stanford Convalescent Home.191
Census
• 1880 Census: Vallejo, Solano, California. Age 8, b CA. Listed as Annie.196
• 1900 Census: Vallejo, Solano, California. Age 27, b Jul 1872, CA. School teacher.197
• 1910 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 32, b CA. Father b OH; mother b IL.186
• 1920 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 48, b CA. Father b OH; mother b Ireland.38
• 1930 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 58, b CA. Father b OH; mother b Ireland.39
• 1940 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 67, b CA.187
• 1950 Census: Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. Age 77, b CA.188
• 1900 Census: Vallejo, Solano, California. Age 27, b Jul 1872, CA. School teacher.197
• 1910 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 32, b CA. Father b OH; mother b IL.186
• 1920 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 48, b CA. Father b OH; mother b Ireland.38
• 1930 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 58, b CA. Father b OH; mother b Ireland.39
• 1940 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 67, b CA.187
• 1950 Census: Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. Age 77, b CA.188
Directories
• Palo Alto, CA, 1917/18
p 82: Eckart, Mrs. A. Estelle, 1145 Bryant47, p 3
• Pasadena, CA, 1936
Eckart, Wm R. (A Estelle) consulting eng.
h 1525 Oak Grove Ave (SM)47, P 3
p 82: Eckart, Mrs. A. Estelle, 1145 Bryant47, p 3
• Pasadena, CA, 1936
Eckart, Wm R. (A Estelle) consulting eng.
h 1525 Oak Grove Ave (SM)47, P 3
Spouses
Birth25 May 1873, Marysville, Yuba, California23, p G30 & p 3,161, p 157,162, date only,163,25, p 4
Burial28 Jul 1958, Cypress Lawn Cemetery, Colma, San Mateo, California29
Memoashes
OccupationEngineering Professor, Stanford University, 1903-1927169
OccupationC. F. Braun & Co., Alhambra, California, 1927+
NicknameBill29, letter
ResidencePalo Alto, California; San Marino, California; Pasadena, CA (So. Madison Ave. & So. Orange Grove Blvd.)47, pp 2 & 3,170, p 2
FlagsMayflower Descendant
FatherWilliam Roberts ECKART Jr. (1841-1914)
MotherHarriet Louise GORHAM (1854-1924)
Individual Notes
• And my grandfather on my mother’s side went to high school [sic] in Virginia City, Nevada, and later was a professor who taught engineering at Stanford. Gunfire he said was a common occurrence at any time!171
• His signature in book, “Tom Brown’s School-Days,” dated 1888, Boys High School; address given is: 2906 California Street, San Francisco.172
• On my way to Cornell in summer of 1891, I stopped off at South Bend, Indiana to visit Charlie Carlisle at Tippecanoe, the home of the Studebakers. Found they were at French Lick Springs on a Tally-ho trip but would be back before dinner. I was showed to a bed room to wait. A valet wanted to get out my dress suit, of which I had none...Nothing but the light suit I was traveling in. Anyway when they came everybody was very pleasant & put themselves out to be nice. Charlie Carlisle afterwards visited me in Palo Alto one day.173
• M. E., Cornell University, 1895. Mechanical Engineer, Siemens Halske Electric Co., Chicago, 1895-96; Construction Engineer, Allison Branch Mine, Grass Valley (Cal.), 1896-98; Testing Work for Fraser & Chalmers, in Hawaii and Mexico, 1898-99; with W. R. Eckart, Consulting Engineer, Hydraulic Power Plants and Mining Work, 1899-1903; Consulting Engineer, Geary St. P. & O. R. R., San Francisco, 1902-04.168
• LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
Department of Chemistry
Stanford University, California, Sept. 24, 1903.
MR. BILL Eckart,
Dear BILL!!
The engineering people here request me to write you asking if you would be interested in talking over the possibility of your accepting a position as assistant professor of mechanical engineering here, taking charge of the work in the mechanical laboratory. The position pays 1800 plunks, and you would be allowed to maintain consulting relationships outside, only that the work here would be expected to be primary, and that outside to be secondary. I lied like hell to the engineers here, and told them that you were a good fellow, and the funny thing is that they believed me.
I do not suppose that there is much possibility of your wanting to take up this business, but I heartily wish that you would. The salary will be better in a year or two. If you are interested enough to want to talk with the men here, please let me know.
Fraternally Yours
[sig] Stewart W. Young23
• Palo Alto, Calif.
Sept. 24, 1903
My dear William:
Prof. A. W. Smith is in need of a teacher of Experimental Engineering, and he says he wants you. I do not know anything about the salary or the rank which he has to offer, but I want to use my influence to get you to accept when the offer is made, provided it requires influence.
In the first place, you couldn’t find a place where official relations are pleasanter; and
In the second place, you couldn’t find a place where personal relations are pleasanter; and
In the third place, you couldn’t find a place where the social relations are pleasanter.
If the work appeals to you, and you can afford to change from practice to teaching, I believe you will do well to think favorably of this offer.
Of course I want you to come for your company.
I know where there is a good cottage for rent on the next block. I believe the work begins in January.
Ethelwyn starts for Honolulu on Saturday to be gone till Christmas, — for rest and recreation.
Give my regards to your Father and Mother and Mrs. W. R. Jr.
Fraternally yours,
J. C. Fish
Box 20, Palo Alto
When in Palo Alto put up at La Casa del Pescado.
Kept by your Uncle Jim.23, pages 4 & 5
• LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
------------------------
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Stanford University, California, Sep. 28, 1903
Dear Mr. Eckart:–
I enclose herewith Dr. Jordan’s offer to you of the position in charge of the Mechanical Laboratory here at Stanford. Personally I wish to say that it would be a great satisfaction to me if you should accept and come down to live and work with us.
From something Young said I got the impression that you thought that you were suggested to me by him or by Fish. It didn’t happen that way. I asked Young to look up Charles Barr’s address in the fraternity catalogue and he happened to read your name; that set me thinking. You may be assured therefore that you were considered because of your merits and not because of your friends.
If you have any thought (as Young suggested) of not being able to do the work, I want you to discard it at once. I know you can do the work.
Yours sincerely
Albert W. Smith
Please give my kind regards to Mrs. Eckart.23
• LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Stanford University, Cal.,
Sept. 29, 1903.
Mr. W. R. Eckart, Jr.,
3014 Clay St.,
San Francisco, Cal.
Dear Sir:
On the recommendation of Prof. A. W. Smith and subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees I hereby offer you the assistant professorship of Mechanical Engineering in the Leland Stanford University at an annual salary of $1800. The date of beginning your work and other details would be subject to arrangement by Professor Smith, head of the department.
Very truly yours,
[sig] David S. Jordan
President23,169
• Dear Sir:
Your letter of September 30th is duly received and I am glad that you are able to consider and accept the offer of our assistant professorship in Mechanical Engineering. I have at once brought the matter to the attention of the University Committee of the Board of Trustees and will notify you as soon as I hear from the Committee. who will undoubtedly approve. [handwritten]
Very truly yours,
[sig] David S. Jordan174
• Continuation from autobiography; previous part missing:
“...engineering work on the diverting dam, ditches, flumes and trestles, regulating reservoir, pipelines (wooden stave, cast iron, riveted and welded steel), buildings, plant design including special design of water wheel units, nozzles, etc., towers on the transmission lines. All under supervision of W. R. Eckart, Sr.
1902 to Sept., 1906 consulting engineer for Geary St. Park and Ocean R.R. Worked on old cable system, installation of oil burning equipment in power house, estimates and reports on cost of converting road to conduit electric system made for Horace G. Platt, Pres. Supervision of repair to power house equipment after 1906 earthquake.
Nov., 1903 Became Asst. Prof. of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.
March, 1909 Became Assoc. Prof. Mech. Engrg. at Stanford
March, 1912 Became Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford until Sept., 1927
Was in full charge of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratories, giving courses in experimental Steam and Hydraulic laboratories. Designed and supervised the construction of both laboratories, for Fluid Flow and hydraulic machinery for the CE department. Organized the Civil Engineering course in the Fluid Flow Laboratory and gave the course for the first year.
During the absence of Prof. Durand during World War, I gave his course in Hydraulic Power Plants and continued same after his retirement.
During spare time and summers continued to assist W. R. Eckart Sr. with his consulting engineering practice. Among other things worked up experimental methods to be used in connection with test of 5400 H.P. gas engine of S.F. Gas & Electric Co. (P.G.&E.). – Hydraulic power plant of Snow Mt. Water and Power Co. Test 225 H.P. gas engine, Cypress Lawn Cemetery. Test of Deer Creek Power Plant (P.G.&E.) using pitot tube for measuring quantity of water. Based on these tests pre-pared a paper which was presented and published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers of Great Britain.
This paper entitled The Application of the Pitot Tube to Testing Impulse Water Wheels175 was awarded the “Water Arbitration Prize for 1910” by the Inst. of Mech. Engrs. The award was for the best original paper treating with any branch of mechanics of the supply or distribution of water, etc. for the previous two year period.
August, 1915 to May, 1925: Consulting Engineer, Columbia Steel Company
Made monthly inspection and reports on the maintenance of the plant at Pittsburg, Calif. Prepared reports on depreciation of buildings and equipment, etc. for setting up reserves and tax purposes. Work performed for W. E. Creed, Pres. and the Board of Directors.23
• Author of article on The Hydraulic Laboratories in The Stanford Alumnus, December, 1913.176
• Letter from W. R. Eckart, Jr., Mechanical Engineer, 1125 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, Cal., on the occasion of the SF earthquake:
Apr. 18, 1906
My dear Mother–
We are alright. Our place is a wreck but things might be worse. Our chimney fell through the roof in places & the bric-a-brac is broke-a-brac now & we have two plates left.
The University is a ruin so they say. I hope everything is alright with you. We can not get telephone or telegraphic communication – or you would have heard from us.
It was a fright. Estelle stood it pretty well.
We are going out [to] the University & see the ruin. The Memorial Church is down, the top off the memorial arch. Some of the arcades are down. The big stack is down & the new library a ruin. I see where we take things as best we can. With love –
Your loving son
Will23, p 6
• Letter from W. R. Eckart, Jr., Mechanical Engineer, 1125 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, Cal.:
Sunday Morning, Apr. 22, 1906
My dear Father:–
I am sending the medicine & a few eggs & loaves of bread by Fuji our Japanese boy, also the morning paper.
I don’t think I will come up again until conditions are a little more settled here, as the town is filling up with bad trash as well as the good people and I don’t like to leave Estelle alone under the circumstances as naturally Mrs. [Torp?] is rather excitable.
We had a scare last night as Fuji got up about 1.30 AM to fix his [unclear] & then a little later went to the bath room & then found the cellar light burning so he went into the kitchen & turned it off. I thought it was him, but called him & made sure & as he didn’t answer, the folks got badly frightened.
Had no trouble coming out. You must take every precaution against sickness over there. I met Dr. Martin. He is on the Red Cross & told me to get you all out of town. He is sending his folks out & is going to turn his house into a hospital. Of course there is great danger of sickness at a time like this especially with the sewers all broken, & the rumor of danger may be to get the people to move out to the country faster. However take no chances with water etc.
Send Clara Tickner down here if you can find her. If she gets to the Valencia St. depot alright she will have no trouble. We could take care of Mrs. Tickner also.
With love
Your affectionate son
Will23, pp 7 & 8
• Prof. Eckart agreed with Prof. Durand. He felt opposed to fees unless put on equally throughout the University. Spoke of students who could barely pay present laboratory fees and said from his own experience with students who had wished to take laboratory work but refrained because of lack of means to pay present fees that any further tuition expense would certainly bar out good men from our courses.177, pp 8-9
Prof. Eckart: It might be legitimate to call attention to the necessarily expensive text books, drawing instruments, supplies, etc., of expensive nature which engineering students were required to purchase.177, p 18
• [excerpts] In answer to your request for a statement of my views on the subject of the proposed tuition fees in the engineering courses, I would say,
That I do not believe that a tuition fee should be charged in the engineering courses, unless a similar fee is imposed upon all students of the University irrespective of the course they are taking. My reasons for such a view are as follows:-
First:- This university was founded with the aim “to qualify students for personal success and direct usefulness in life.”
Second:- The engineering students are surely not any better able to pay tuition fees, than the students in the other courses.
Third:- The engineering students are already paying by means of laboratory fees, etc.
Fourth:- They are however under heavier personal expenses than the men in the other courses, owing to the higher cost of engineering text-books, drawing instruments, etc.
Fifth:- That unless the work offered at Stanford can be proved conclusively to be so far superior to that in other institutions not charging tuition, there is nothing that will prevent the number of engineering students from dwindling away at Stanford.178, pp 1-2
• Dear Doctor Jordan:-
Knowing the interest you take in any of the work we have done, which may in any way reflect credit upon us or the University, I enclose for your perusal a letter which I just received from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
I would state that the paper was not written for or presented to them to be entered in any prize competition, as in fact, I did not know that such a thing was going on.
Kindly return the letter when you are thru with it and oblige.
Yours respectfully,
W. R. Eckart, Jr.179
• August 24, 1913
My dear Sir,
I am indebted for much of the information in the enclosed sheet to Mr. William H. Gorham of Seattle, who was addressed in connection with our search for Mayflower descendants now living on the Pacific Coast. Your grandfather often attended our meetings in San Francisco but I never troubled him to make out a record of his family. I hope I shall not trespass too much upon your good nature in asking you to complete the blank at generations 8, 9, 10 after which you can return it. The earlier generations I can get in New York (................) Prof. Gayley very much (......) member on the faculty of the Leland Stanford Jr. University, and you may consider this a candid invitation to enter the Society, if so minded. The expense would be $5 and no dues until the next year. Extra blank is enclosed, if you care to retain a copy.
Yours sincerely,
Herbert Folger
Prof. Wm. Rankine Eckart
Palo Alto
Letter from Herbert Folger, Historian of the California Mayflower Society23
• At 1921 Thanksgiving dinner, 3014 Clay Street, San Francisco.33
• [excerpts] It is the desire of my mother, Harriet Louise Eckart of Palo Alto, my brothers Charles F. Eckart of Honolulu, and Nelson A. Eckart of San Francisco, and my sister Mrs. Charles E. Hume of Oakland to donate to the Mechanical Engineering Department of Stanford University the engineering tools and instruments left by my father, William Roberts Eckart.
It is our further desire to establish as a memorial to my father, and to foster and encourage experimental research in mechanical engineering, to which work his whole life was devoted; and especially to interest, assist and inspire young men who have shown an ability to conduct such work, a research fund to be known as
THE WILLIAM ROBERTS ECKART RESEARCH FUND FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.180
• In reply to your request for information as to my research activities, I would state that I am still engaged upon the study of:
“Heat exchange thru metal walls between liquids, vapors and gases”, with especial reference to the problems of the oil industry.
“Atmospheric Cooling of Water.”
“Absorption, Distillation and Fractionation Problems.”
This work has, to a large extent, to be carried out in the field.
No financial aid is necessary.
Very sincerely,
[sig] W. R. Eckart181
• William Rankine Eckart: Absent on Sabbatical leave with resignation to take effect September 1, 1927.182
• Professor William Rankine Eckart, absent on Sabbatical leave 1926-27, resigned to become affiliated with the staff of C. F. Braun & Company at Alhambra, California.183, p 1
• When Estelle and I with Vic Harrier made the trip by Str Santa Rosa thru the Panama Canal to South America & New York, we stopped in Chicago and Eleanor Carlisle Campbell & her husband entertain[ed] us and showed us around. We have always kept in touch at Xmas time & each year she has sent us a picture of Betsy. He was Naval Attaché to the American Embassy in London for about 3 years & Eleanor and Betsy were invited to one of the Queen’s receptions.173
• May 20th 1957
My dear Lester:-
Your letter of May 13th was very much appreciated. It is a long time since I have written at any length. At Xmas I mailed cards to you & Mary and also the boys & their wives. At the start I tried to write notes on each of the cards but had to give it up, as I will explain later.
About the Palo Alto store and the decline in the business of the Woolworth 1956 sales. However, I appreciated what had caused it. do not know just when in 1956 the new business section & Woolworth store there opened for business. However, I was very thankful that Estelle had the benefit of all the very prosperous years as all that income was set aside for her own use to do as she pleased with it.
What you have written about all the things Palo Alto itself is doing in trying to bring some of the [business back] is very encouraging and was all news to me. They sure are on their toes. The parking problem is a big one everywhere, especially in Pasadena.
I was much interested in what they did about the Emerson St. property. If I recollect the bank on the corner of University Ave. & Emerson were always trying to buy it from Vic but he would have none of it.
I believe the project to put the new street lights on University Ave. to be a good one, and presume whenever it is done we will be assessed for our share. It will not worry me.
Now about the state of my health. I do not know when you last got a report on that. I know that Harriet & Nelson have stopped in Seattle to see you on some of their vacation trips north. Well it has had its ups & downs. Last year during July I discovered that I had glaucoma in both eyes and not cataracts as they told me when I was in the hospital & confirmed by [my] own oculist when I went to see him about it. My left eye had very little sight left, while the right eye had a pressure of 32, when a normal eye has 23 or more generally 25. So my new oculist started treatments with eye drops in both 4 times daily. Very shortly after this I was taken suddenly with chills & fever when I got up to go to bed. I managed to phone a neighbor to come over & undress me & get me to bed, while his wife phoned my doctor (Harriet was out for the evening somewhere). Well, it seems I had a virus infection & was in bed for quite & altogether had a trained nurse for two months. When I let the nurse go, the following day my left eye began to pain so I had to make an emergency visit to my oculist. He said I would have to go into the hospital for an operation. No room was available so he came to my house that night to operate. Fortunately I could get my trained nurse back. Well to operate he had to kill the nerve between the eye & brain which made me totally blind in that eye. My right eye is now 27 1/2 as to its pressure. However it is very hard for me to read or to write. As I look at this page I only see 3/4 of the last line & 1/2 of the line above. I get most of my news from TV. I live on baby & junior foods, 6 feedings a day, but am all free from that regurgitation I used to have. I get up at 5.45 AM & in bed at 11.30 PM. Sleep well, but the routine day is a hectic one. The doctor says I am [a] wonder. My blood pressure is OK, pulse fine, lungs fine. I still have a chronic infection which he can’t locate in spite of all X-rays etc. However I am content and in good spirits. Now away from me and something more pleasant.
Harriet & Nelson and their family are fine. The day before Easter David got word from Stanford that he has been fortunate enough to be able to enter there this coming fall. He has very high grades. All A’s last year and 3 A’s, a B+, & B so far this year. He passed the Stanford Intelligence test, and the Calif. Scholarship Federation and been honored with life membership a semester ahead of the usual time. He has played guard on the San Marino High School team 2 years. They won all games in their league last year & lost only one game this year. He is a good shot putter & yesterday qualified for the finals in all Southern Calif. Leagues. However he will not go into the finals as their are too many men who have superior records in some of the leagues with whom he did not compete.
Barney is a Junior at USC, and is evidently doing very well for him. He is pledged Beta. Harriet was here yesterday and sends her love. Donald they held back this year as he had not learned to read with the system they teach here. However, they just found out that one reason he is very nearsighted & could not see the blackboard even from the front row. Now he has proper glasses & is doing very well.
Well, Lester, I hope I haven’t bored you with what I went thru last year. I will be 84 on May 25th. We have one lady living in an apt here who will be 103 in June. Dr. Durand is 98 & Fred (Estelle’s brother) 93 on May 24th. (Estelle died on his birthday 2 years ago.)
Love to all the Lewis’s,
Uncle Will Eckart184
• ECKART – William Rankine Eckart passed away July 14, 1958 at his home, 176 S. Orange Grove Ave. A native of Marysville, Calif., he had been a resident of this vicinity 31 years. A graduate of Cornell in 1895, he was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and of Sigma Xi. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Nelson Mills and three grandchildren, Nelson, David and Donald Mills, all of San Marino. Services 10 a.m. Thursday at the chapel of Turner and Stevens Co., 95 N. Marengo Ave., the Rev. Sidney E. Sweet, D.D., officiating.46
• His signature in book, “Tom Brown’s School-Days,” dated 1888, Boys High School; address given is: 2906 California Street, San Francisco.172
• On my way to Cornell in summer of 1891, I stopped off at South Bend, Indiana to visit Charlie Carlisle at Tippecanoe, the home of the Studebakers. Found they were at French Lick Springs on a Tally-ho trip but would be back before dinner. I was showed to a bed room to wait. A valet wanted to get out my dress suit, of which I had none...Nothing but the light suit I was traveling in. Anyway when they came everybody was very pleasant & put themselves out to be nice. Charlie Carlisle afterwards visited me in Palo Alto one day.173
• M. E., Cornell University, 1895. Mechanical Engineer, Siemens Halske Electric Co., Chicago, 1895-96; Construction Engineer, Allison Branch Mine, Grass Valley (Cal.), 1896-98; Testing Work for Fraser & Chalmers, in Hawaii and Mexico, 1898-99; with W. R. Eckart, Consulting Engineer, Hydraulic Power Plants and Mining Work, 1899-1903; Consulting Engineer, Geary St. P. & O. R. R., San Francisco, 1902-04.168
• LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
Department of Chemistry
Stanford University, California, Sept. 24, 1903.
MR. BILL Eckart,
Dear BILL!!
The engineering people here request me to write you asking if you would be interested in talking over the possibility of your accepting a position as assistant professor of mechanical engineering here, taking charge of the work in the mechanical laboratory. The position pays 1800 plunks, and you would be allowed to maintain consulting relationships outside, only that the work here would be expected to be primary, and that outside to be secondary. I lied like hell to the engineers here, and told them that you were a good fellow, and the funny thing is that they believed me.
I do not suppose that there is much possibility of your wanting to take up this business, but I heartily wish that you would. The salary will be better in a year or two. If you are interested enough to want to talk with the men here, please let me know.
Fraternally Yours
[sig] Stewart W. Young23
• Palo Alto, Calif.
Sept. 24, 1903
My dear William:
Prof. A. W. Smith is in need of a teacher of Experimental Engineering, and he says he wants you. I do not know anything about the salary or the rank which he has to offer, but I want to use my influence to get you to accept when the offer is made, provided it requires influence.
In the first place, you couldn’t find a place where official relations are pleasanter; and
In the second place, you couldn’t find a place where personal relations are pleasanter; and
In the third place, you couldn’t find a place where the social relations are pleasanter.
If the work appeals to you, and you can afford to change from practice to teaching, I believe you will do well to think favorably of this offer.
Of course I want you to come for your company.
I know where there is a good cottage for rent on the next block. I believe the work begins in January.
Ethelwyn starts for Honolulu on Saturday to be gone till Christmas, — for rest and recreation.
Give my regards to your Father and Mother and Mrs. W. R. Jr.
Fraternally yours,
J. C. Fish
Box 20, Palo Alto
When in Palo Alto put up at La Casa del Pescado.
Kept by your Uncle Jim.23, pages 4 & 5
• LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
------------------------
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Stanford University, California, Sep. 28, 1903
Dear Mr. Eckart:–
I enclose herewith Dr. Jordan’s offer to you of the position in charge of the Mechanical Laboratory here at Stanford. Personally I wish to say that it would be a great satisfaction to me if you should accept and come down to live and work with us.
From something Young said I got the impression that you thought that you were suggested to me by him or by Fish. It didn’t happen that way. I asked Young to look up Charles Barr’s address in the fraternity catalogue and he happened to read your name; that set me thinking. You may be assured therefore that you were considered because of your merits and not because of your friends.
If you have any thought (as Young suggested) of not being able to do the work, I want you to discard it at once. I know you can do the work.
Yours sincerely
Albert W. Smith
Please give my kind regards to Mrs. Eckart.23
• LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Stanford University, Cal.,
Sept. 29, 1903.
Mr. W. R. Eckart, Jr.,
3014 Clay St.,
San Francisco, Cal.
Dear Sir:
On the recommendation of Prof. A. W. Smith and subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees I hereby offer you the assistant professorship of Mechanical Engineering in the Leland Stanford University at an annual salary of $1800. The date of beginning your work and other details would be subject to arrangement by Professor Smith, head of the department.
Very truly yours,
[sig] David S. Jordan
President23,169
• Dear Sir:
Your letter of September 30th is duly received and I am glad that you are able to consider and accept the offer of our assistant professorship in Mechanical Engineering. I have at once brought the matter to the attention of the University Committee of the Board of Trustees and will notify you as soon as I hear from the Committee. who will undoubtedly approve. [handwritten]
Very truly yours,
[sig] David S. Jordan174
• Continuation from autobiography; previous part missing:
“...engineering work on the diverting dam, ditches, flumes and trestles, regulating reservoir, pipelines (wooden stave, cast iron, riveted and welded steel), buildings, plant design including special design of water wheel units, nozzles, etc., towers on the transmission lines. All under supervision of W. R. Eckart, Sr.
1902 to Sept., 1906 consulting engineer for Geary St. Park and Ocean R.R. Worked on old cable system, installation of oil burning equipment in power house, estimates and reports on cost of converting road to conduit electric system made for Horace G. Platt, Pres. Supervision of repair to power house equipment after 1906 earthquake.
Nov., 1903 Became Asst. Prof. of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.
March, 1909 Became Assoc. Prof. Mech. Engrg. at Stanford
March, 1912 Became Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford until Sept., 1927
Was in full charge of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratories, giving courses in experimental Steam and Hydraulic laboratories. Designed and supervised the construction of both laboratories, for Fluid Flow and hydraulic machinery for the CE department. Organized the Civil Engineering course in the Fluid Flow Laboratory and gave the course for the first year.
During the absence of Prof. Durand during World War, I gave his course in Hydraulic Power Plants and continued same after his retirement.
During spare time and summers continued to assist W. R. Eckart Sr. with his consulting engineering practice. Among other things worked up experimental methods to be used in connection with test of 5400 H.P. gas engine of S.F. Gas & Electric Co. (P.G.&E.). – Hydraulic power plant of Snow Mt. Water and Power Co. Test 225 H.P. gas engine, Cypress Lawn Cemetery. Test of Deer Creek Power Plant (P.G.&E.) using pitot tube for measuring quantity of water. Based on these tests pre-pared a paper which was presented and published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers of Great Britain.
This paper entitled The Application of the Pitot Tube to Testing Impulse Water Wheels175 was awarded the “Water Arbitration Prize for 1910” by the Inst. of Mech. Engrs. The award was for the best original paper treating with any branch of mechanics of the supply or distribution of water, etc. for the previous two year period.
August, 1915 to May, 1925: Consulting Engineer, Columbia Steel Company
Made monthly inspection and reports on the maintenance of the plant at Pittsburg, Calif. Prepared reports on depreciation of buildings and equipment, etc. for setting up reserves and tax purposes. Work performed for W. E. Creed, Pres. and the Board of Directors.23
• Author of article on The Hydraulic Laboratories in The Stanford Alumnus, December, 1913.176
• Letter from W. R. Eckart, Jr., Mechanical Engineer, 1125 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, Cal., on the occasion of the SF earthquake:
Apr. 18, 1906
My dear Mother–
We are alright. Our place is a wreck but things might be worse. Our chimney fell through the roof in places & the bric-a-brac is broke-a-brac now & we have two plates left.
The University is a ruin so they say. I hope everything is alright with you. We can not get telephone or telegraphic communication – or you would have heard from us.
It was a fright. Estelle stood it pretty well.
We are going out [to] the University & see the ruin. The Memorial Church is down, the top off the memorial arch. Some of the arcades are down. The big stack is down & the new library a ruin. I see where we take things as best we can. With love –
Your loving son
Will23, p 6
• Letter from W. R. Eckart, Jr., Mechanical Engineer, 1125 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, Cal.:
Sunday Morning, Apr. 22, 1906
My dear Father:–
I am sending the medicine & a few eggs & loaves of bread by Fuji our Japanese boy, also the morning paper.
I don’t think I will come up again until conditions are a little more settled here, as the town is filling up with bad trash as well as the good people and I don’t like to leave Estelle alone under the circumstances as naturally Mrs. [Torp?] is rather excitable.
We had a scare last night as Fuji got up about 1.30 AM to fix his [unclear] & then a little later went to the bath room & then found the cellar light burning so he went into the kitchen & turned it off. I thought it was him, but called him & made sure & as he didn’t answer, the folks got badly frightened.
Had no trouble coming out. You must take every precaution against sickness over there. I met Dr. Martin. He is on the Red Cross & told me to get you all out of town. He is sending his folks out & is going to turn his house into a hospital. Of course there is great danger of sickness at a time like this especially with the sewers all broken, & the rumor of danger may be to get the people to move out to the country faster. However take no chances with water etc.
Send Clara Tickner down here if you can find her. If she gets to the Valencia St. depot alright she will have no trouble. We could take care of Mrs. Tickner also.
With love
Your affectionate son
Will23, pp 7 & 8
• Prof. Eckart agreed with Prof. Durand. He felt opposed to fees unless put on equally throughout the University. Spoke of students who could barely pay present laboratory fees and said from his own experience with students who had wished to take laboratory work but refrained because of lack of means to pay present fees that any further tuition expense would certainly bar out good men from our courses.177, pp 8-9
Prof. Eckart: It might be legitimate to call attention to the necessarily expensive text books, drawing instruments, supplies, etc., of expensive nature which engineering students were required to purchase.177, p 18
• [excerpts] In answer to your request for a statement of my views on the subject of the proposed tuition fees in the engineering courses, I would say,
That I do not believe that a tuition fee should be charged in the engineering courses, unless a similar fee is imposed upon all students of the University irrespective of the course they are taking. My reasons for such a view are as follows:-
First:- This university was founded with the aim “to qualify students for personal success and direct usefulness in life.”
Second:- The engineering students are surely not any better able to pay tuition fees, than the students in the other courses.
Third:- The engineering students are already paying by means of laboratory fees, etc.
Fourth:- They are however under heavier personal expenses than the men in the other courses, owing to the higher cost of engineering text-books, drawing instruments, etc.
Fifth:- That unless the work offered at Stanford can be proved conclusively to be so far superior to that in other institutions not charging tuition, there is nothing that will prevent the number of engineering students from dwindling away at Stanford.178, pp 1-2
• Dear Doctor Jordan:-
Knowing the interest you take in any of the work we have done, which may in any way reflect credit upon us or the University, I enclose for your perusal a letter which I just received from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
I would state that the paper was not written for or presented to them to be entered in any prize competition, as in fact, I did not know that such a thing was going on.
Kindly return the letter when you are thru with it and oblige.
Yours respectfully,
W. R. Eckart, Jr.179
• August 24, 1913
My dear Sir,
I am indebted for much of the information in the enclosed sheet to Mr. William H. Gorham of Seattle, who was addressed in connection with our search for Mayflower descendants now living on the Pacific Coast. Your grandfather often attended our meetings in San Francisco but I never troubled him to make out a record of his family. I hope I shall not trespass too much upon your good nature in asking you to complete the blank at generations 8, 9, 10 after which you can return it. The earlier generations I can get in New York (................) Prof. Gayley very much (......) member on the faculty of the Leland Stanford Jr. University, and you may consider this a candid invitation to enter the Society, if so minded. The expense would be $5 and no dues until the next year. Extra blank is enclosed, if you care to retain a copy.
Yours sincerely,
Herbert Folger
Prof. Wm. Rankine Eckart
Palo Alto
Letter from Herbert Folger, Historian of the California Mayflower Society23
• At 1921 Thanksgiving dinner, 3014 Clay Street, San Francisco.33
• [excerpts] It is the desire of my mother, Harriet Louise Eckart of Palo Alto, my brothers Charles F. Eckart of Honolulu, and Nelson A. Eckart of San Francisco, and my sister Mrs. Charles E. Hume of Oakland to donate to the Mechanical Engineering Department of Stanford University the engineering tools and instruments left by my father, William Roberts Eckart.
It is our further desire to establish as a memorial to my father, and to foster and encourage experimental research in mechanical engineering, to which work his whole life was devoted; and especially to interest, assist and inspire young men who have shown an ability to conduct such work, a research fund to be known as
THE WILLIAM ROBERTS ECKART RESEARCH FUND FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.180
• In reply to your request for information as to my research activities, I would state that I am still engaged upon the study of:
“Heat exchange thru metal walls between liquids, vapors and gases”, with especial reference to the problems of the oil industry.
“Atmospheric Cooling of Water.”
“Absorption, Distillation and Fractionation Problems.”
This work has, to a large extent, to be carried out in the field.
No financial aid is necessary.
Very sincerely,
[sig] W. R. Eckart181
• William Rankine Eckart: Absent on Sabbatical leave with resignation to take effect September 1, 1927.182
• Professor William Rankine Eckart, absent on Sabbatical leave 1926-27, resigned to become affiliated with the staff of C. F. Braun & Company at Alhambra, California.183, p 1
• When Estelle and I with Vic Harrier made the trip by Str Santa Rosa thru the Panama Canal to South America & New York, we stopped in Chicago and Eleanor Carlisle Campbell & her husband entertain[ed] us and showed us around. We have always kept in touch at Xmas time & each year she has sent us a picture of Betsy. He was Naval Attaché to the American Embassy in London for about 3 years & Eleanor and Betsy were invited to one of the Queen’s receptions.173
• May 20th 1957
My dear Lester:-
Your letter of May 13th was very much appreciated. It is a long time since I have written at any length. At Xmas I mailed cards to you & Mary and also the boys & their wives. At the start I tried to write notes on each of the cards but had to give it up, as I will explain later.
About the Palo Alto store and the decline in the business of the Woolworth 1956 sales. However, I appreciated what had caused it. do not know just when in 1956 the new business section & Woolworth store there opened for business. However, I was very thankful that Estelle had the benefit of all the very prosperous years as all that income was set aside for her own use to do as she pleased with it.
What you have written about all the things Palo Alto itself is doing in trying to bring some of the [business back] is very encouraging and was all news to me. They sure are on their toes. The parking problem is a big one everywhere, especially in Pasadena.
I was much interested in what they did about the Emerson St. property. If I recollect the bank on the corner of University Ave. & Emerson were always trying to buy it from Vic but he would have none of it.
I believe the project to put the new street lights on University Ave. to be a good one, and presume whenever it is done we will be assessed for our share. It will not worry me.
Now about the state of my health. I do not know when you last got a report on that. I know that Harriet & Nelson have stopped in Seattle to see you on some of their vacation trips north. Well it has had its ups & downs. Last year during July I discovered that I had glaucoma in both eyes and not cataracts as they told me when I was in the hospital & confirmed by [my] own oculist when I went to see him about it. My left eye had very little sight left, while the right eye had a pressure of 32, when a normal eye has 23 or more generally 25. So my new oculist started treatments with eye drops in both 4 times daily. Very shortly after this I was taken suddenly with chills & fever when I got up to go to bed. I managed to phone a neighbor to come over & undress me & get me to bed, while his wife phoned my doctor (Harriet was out for the evening somewhere). Well, it seems I had a virus infection & was in bed for quite & altogether had a trained nurse for two months. When I let the nurse go, the following day my left eye began to pain so I had to make an emergency visit to my oculist. He said I would have to go into the hospital for an operation. No room was available so he came to my house that night to operate. Fortunately I could get my trained nurse back. Well to operate he had to kill the nerve between the eye & brain which made me totally blind in that eye. My right eye is now 27 1/2 as to its pressure. However it is very hard for me to read or to write. As I look at this page I only see 3/4 of the last line & 1/2 of the line above. I get most of my news from TV. I live on baby & junior foods, 6 feedings a day, but am all free from that regurgitation I used to have. I get up at 5.45 AM & in bed at 11.30 PM. Sleep well, but the routine day is a hectic one. The doctor says I am [a] wonder. My blood pressure is OK, pulse fine, lungs fine. I still have a chronic infection which he can’t locate in spite of all X-rays etc. However I am content and in good spirits. Now away from me and something more pleasant.
Harriet & Nelson and their family are fine. The day before Easter David got word from Stanford that he has been fortunate enough to be able to enter there this coming fall. He has very high grades. All A’s last year and 3 A’s, a B+, & B so far this year. He passed the Stanford Intelligence test, and the Calif. Scholarship Federation and been honored with life membership a semester ahead of the usual time. He has played guard on the San Marino High School team 2 years. They won all games in their league last year & lost only one game this year. He is a good shot putter & yesterday qualified for the finals in all Southern Calif. Leagues. However he will not go into the finals as their are too many men who have superior records in some of the leagues with whom he did not compete.
Barney is a Junior at USC, and is evidently doing very well for him. He is pledged Beta. Harriet was here yesterday and sends her love. Donald they held back this year as he had not learned to read with the system they teach here. However, they just found out that one reason he is very nearsighted & could not see the blackboard even from the front row. Now he has proper glasses & is doing very well.
Well, Lester, I hope I haven’t bored you with what I went thru last year. I will be 84 on May 25th. We have one lady living in an apt here who will be 103 in June. Dr. Durand is 98 & Fred (Estelle’s brother) 93 on May 24th. (Estelle died on his birthday 2 years ago.)
Love to all the Lewis’s,
Uncle Will Eckart184
• ECKART – William Rankine Eckart passed away July 14, 1958 at his home, 176 S. Orange Grove Ave. A native of Marysville, Calif., he had been a resident of this vicinity 31 years. A graduate of Cornell in 1895, he was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and of Sigma Xi. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Nelson Mills and three grandchildren, Nelson, David and Donald Mills, all of San Marino. Services 10 a.m. Thursday at the chapel of Turner and Stevens Co., 95 N. Marengo Ave., the Rev. Sidney E. Sweet, D.D., officiating.46
Census
• 1900 Census: San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Age 27, b May 1873, CA. Mechanical engineer. Father b OH; mother b CT.185
• 1910 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 36?, b CA. Professor/University. Father b OH; mother b CT.186
• 1920 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 46, b CA. Teacher/University. Father b OH; mother b CT.38
• 1930 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 56, b CA. Consulting Engineer, Machinery Company. Father b OH; mother b CT.39
• 1940 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 66, b CA. Mechanical Engineer, Oil Field Equipment Mfgr.187
• 1950 Census: Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. Age 76, b CA. Father b OH; mother b CT.188
• 1910 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 36?, b CA. Professor/University. Father b OH; mother b CT.186
• 1920 Census: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California. Age 46, b CA. Teacher/University. Father b OH; mother b CT.38
• 1930 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 56, b CA. Consulting Engineer, Machinery Company. Father b OH; mother b CT.39
• 1940 Census: San Marino, Los Angeles, California. Age 66, b CA. Mechanical Engineer, Oil Field Equipment Mfgr.187
• 1950 Census: Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. Age 76, b CA. Father b OH; mother b CT.188
Research
• Could not find in 1880 Census; 20 Mar 2012
Marriage6 Jun 1900, Vallejo, Solano, California36, p 3, line 128; place only,23, p G30,161, p 157,25, p 5
Marr Memoat the family home
Marriage Notes
• The wedding was one of the most fashionable that have taken place in this city. The residence was elegantly decorated for the occasion. In the double parlors, where the nuptials were celebrated, pink was the prevailing color.167
• VALLEJO, June 6.––One of the prettiest society weddings Vallejo has ever seen was celebrated at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Walter this afternoon, when William R. Eckart Jr. and Miss A. Estelle Walter were married midst veritable bower of floral beauty. Miss Waiter was attended by Miss Eleanor Eckart as bridesmaid and Miss Josephine Rider of Napa as maid of honor. The bride wore a wedding gown of crepe de chine over white satin, made en train. Her only ornament was a pearl and diamond brooch, a gift of the groom.
The groom was attended by his brother, Henry [sic] Eckart, as best man. The honeymoon will be spent at Congress Springs, after which Mr. and Mrs. Eckart will take up their residence in San Francisco
The wedding was the ending of a pretty romance which began a year a year ago in Yosemite Valley, when the couple first met.198
• Married ten years in 1910 Census.186
• Married in Vallejo, Cal. June 6th 1900 – by Rev. Bollard. William R. Eckart Jr. – eldest son of William R. and Harriet L. Eckart – to Amy Estelle – youngest daughter of Mr. Frederick Walter.25, p 5
• VALLEJO, June 6.––One of the prettiest society weddings Vallejo has ever seen was celebrated at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Walter this afternoon, when William R. Eckart Jr. and Miss A. Estelle Walter were married midst veritable bower of floral beauty. Miss Waiter was attended by Miss Eleanor Eckart as bridesmaid and Miss Josephine Rider of Napa as maid of honor. The bride wore a wedding gown of crepe de chine over white satin, made en train. Her only ornament was a pearl and diamond brooch, a gift of the groom.
The groom was attended by his brother, Henry [sic] Eckart, as best man. The honeymoon will be spent at Congress Springs, after which Mr. and Mrs. Eckart will take up their residence in San Francisco
The wedding was the ending of a pretty romance which began a year a year ago in Yosemite Valley, when the couple first met.198
• Married ten years in 1910 Census.186
• Married in Vallejo, Cal. June 6th 1900 – by Rev. Bollard. William R. Eckart Jr. – eldest son of William R. and Harriet L. Eckart – to Amy Estelle – youngest daughter of Mr. Frederick Walter.25, p 5
ChildrenHarriet Louise (1911-1966)