Bourn, William Bowers, 1857-1936

Background

William Bowers Bourn I, (1813-1874 ) a wealthy merchant born in Massachusetts, came to San Francisco in 1850 with his new bride Sarah Esther Bourn (1829-1919). Bourn founded the Empire Mine in Grass Valley, California, which was in financial straits at the time of his death at the family home in San Francisco on July 24, 1874. He was survived by his wife Sarah and their children Mary (Maye), William II, Sarah (Zaidee), Ida, and Maud. Another son, Frank, died at the age of 11 in 1872 from a fall off a wall at the family's home.

Under the guidance of William Bowers Bourn II (1857-1936) the family fortune grew enormously. WBBII and his mother revitalized the struggling Empire Mine and developed the family's vineyards in St. Helena (which were purchased by Christian Brothers in 1950). WBBII also founded and was president of the San Francisco Gas Company which developed into PG&E, and founded the Spring Valley Water Company which served all of San Francisco's water needs until the city purchased it in 1930 .

WBBII was also an important civic leader. He was president of the Pacific Union Club and the San Francisco Music Association for many years and contributed a great deal of money and time to the planning of the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1914 and 1915. During World War I, he was president of an organization called Friends of France. He also organized the American League of California with Professor Charles Mills Gayley of the University of California whose objective was to assist the Allies in Europe both financially and with manpower. On July 30, 1920, L'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur was conferred on Bourn for his service to France during the war.

One of Bourn's lifelong friends was architect Willis Polk . The two began their association in 1894 when Polk designed an English townhouse at 2550 Webster Street in San Francisco for Bourn. After this venture the two continued to work together with impressive results:

Once becoming allied ... Bourn and Polk lost no time in complementing each other's creativity and originality. First, at Bourn's Empire Mine in Grass Valley, Polk was commissioned to build the Empire Cottage (1896), the owner's private residence. This was followed by the Mine Office Building (burnt down in the 1930's), the Ophir Cottage, for Bourn's cousin, Superintendent George Starr, and the Empire Club (c. 1905), a social club to be used by the Mine's management personnel. Surrounding the Empire Cottage was a twelve-acre park with pools and an artificial lake. And in 1907, the post-earthquake year, Bourn as president of the Pacific Union Club, was influential in having the club buy the ravaged shell of the James Flood mansion and commission Polk to rebuild what is today one of the monumental buildings on California Street. It is still occupied by the Pacific Union Club.

Ringler, Donald P. and Rossi, George. Filoli The Builder—the Architect—the Mansion—the Gardens. Private Printing. Hillsborough, Ca. 1978, pp. 8-9.

All of this work was a prelude to the building of Bourn's massive estate Filoli in San Mateo County during the years 1916 and 1917. The name of the estate is derived from the first two letters of each word from Bourn's motto, Fight, Love, Live. The estate was planned similar to the 11,000 acre Muckross estate outside Kilarney, Ireland, which Bourn purchased for his daughter Maud Bourn Vincent and son-in-law Arthur Rose Vincent as a wedding gift in 1910. In 1975, Filoli was deeded to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and opened to the public as a historic landmark.

In 1922, Bourn suffered a stroke at the Empire Cottage which confined him to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. His daughter Maud died of pneumonia contracted while crossing the Atlantic on her way to New York on February 12, 1929. Early in 1936 Bourn's wife, Agnes Moody Bourn, died at Filoli after a long illness. On July 5 of that same year he died, leaving a large fortune to his surviving sisters Maye, Ida, and Maud.

One of these sisters, Maye Bourn Tucker (1855-1947), married into a family with a remarkable history. Her husband James Ellis Tucker (1845-1924 ) had many extraordinary adventures in his youth, as the following excerpt from his obituary in The Pacific Churchman (Carton 2, Folder 29) demonstrates:

A thrilling book of boy adventure could be written of his experiences before he was out of his teens. Born in Richmond, Va., October 25, 1845, a scholar at the English Rugby while his father, Nathan Beverly Tucker, was Consul-General at Liverpool, he also attended school at Vevey, Switzerland, when his father was Minster to Spain. At sixteen he entered the Confederate service in the Civil War and was commissioned by Mason and Slidell in Paris to bear dispatches to the Confederacy. In running the blockade the ship on which he had sailed was wrecked but he was saved by swimming and duly delivered the dispatches to President Jefferson Davis. A member of the Second Virginia Cavalry under General Stuart, he went through the war, was wounded more than once and witnessed the surrender at Appotomax. After the war he joined his father in Canada and attended the University of Toronto. All this for a youth hardly twenty would make in itself a record of his early days as enthralling as any California tales of our young mining life. But there was more. As a young soldier of fortune his ardent spirit led him to allay himself with that tragic Mexican Empire of Maxmilian and he was in charge of a guard of honor which escorted poor Empress Carlotta from the City of Mexico, he escaping from the country when Maxmilian was shot. All this happened before he came to Califronia in 1869, having corossed the Mexican border at Brownsville Texas. The first twenty-five years of his life were thus abundant in strenuous action in the tented field. Then came his more normal California occupations. Five years in the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, that having its own memorabilia including a shipwreck of the Costa Rica. He was also connected with mining interests in Lake County and for twelve years at the United States Custom House served as Chief Appraiser under Presidents Harrison and Cleveland.

Other prominent members of the Tucker family include James' brother Dr. Beverley D. Tucker and nephew Dr. Henry St. George Tucker, both bishops with the Episcopal Church. Other related family groups represented in the collection are: Augustus O. Bourn, cousin of William Bowers Bourn I and governor of Rhode Island from 1883-1885; the Hayne family, including the architect Francis Bourn Hayne ; the Ingalls family, including the aviatrix Laura Ingalls ; and the Vincent family, including the artist Elizabeth Vincent. For further information about the Bourn family history, see the following chronology prepared by Francis Bourn Hayne.

Biography

WILLIAM BOWERS BOURN, II Former Owner and Builder of FILOLI San Mateo County, California FI = Fight LO=Love LI = Live by F. Bourn Hayne ----------41 Diablo Drive, Kentfield ----------June 7, 1958 California

May 31, 1857, William Bowers Bourn, II, born at the home of his parents located at the corner of Third and Brannan Streets, San Francisco, California.

SON OF

William Bowers Bourn, I, who was born in Somerset, Mass., June 21, 1813, came to San Francisco as a wealthy merchant in 1850, and died in San Francisco July 24, 1874. He was of the 6th generation descended from Jared Bourn who probably came to this country in the fleet with Governor Winthrop in 1630. Jared Bourn moved from Boston to Rhode Island in 1655.

AND

Sarah Ester Chase who was born in Boston, Mass., September 3, 1829, married W. B. Bourn, I, in Brooklyn, N.Y., July 25, 1849 and followed her husband to California, arriving in San Francisco May 4, 1854. She died at her home, 2030 Broadway, San Francisco (still standing) April 9, 1919. She was of the 7th generation descended from Thomas Chase who was born in England and came to this country in about 1640 and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire, where he died in 1652.

CHILDREN OF WM. B. BOURN, I, AND SARAH ESTHER CHASE were:

Wm. B. Bourn, II, grew up in and around San Francisco. As a youth he attended the College of St. Augustine (an Episcopal Military Academy) at Benicia, California and Bates School.

Dates in Photograph Album end here, but pictures show growth and development which must have been from 1921 to about 1924.

Mr. and Mrs. Bourn are buried on top of a small knoll west of Filoli House. In this private cemetery plot are also buried the remains of their infant son and their daughter Maud Bourn Vincent.

Mr. and Mrs. Bourn are survived by two grandchildren, Arthur William Bourn Vincent, married Elizabeth Tourne but to date no issue, living at 2404 Broadway, San Francisco, and Elizabeth Rose Gardner, divorced, one son by first husband who was Lord Burgh of Northcourt. The son was born March 23, 1935 and christened Alexander Peter Willoughby on August 3, 1935 on the Isle of Wight. Mrs. Gardner (one daughter, Sandra Gardner) now lives in France.