Driscoll, Thomas

Biography

Much of the following information is drawn from the June 1972 issue of Soundings, a UCSB Libraries publication.

Alice Lawrason Bacon [Mrs. Thomas Driscoll] was born on Nov. 19, 1885, in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Bacon. A. W. Bacon was Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. As a young man he fought for the Union in the Civil War, serving on Farragut's flagship. Later he became a career officer in the Navy, stationed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1873, then Nice, France, and Mare Island in San Francisco Bay.

During the Spanish-American War, as his last sea duty, A. W. served on Admiral Dewey's flagship in the Pacific. At that time Mrs. Bacon and Alice returned to Washington, D.C. and Alice renewed her friendship with the Theodore Roosevelt family. She had met Roosevelt earlier when he was a young Congressman. A. W. had visited Santa Barbara with the fleet in 1898 and decided he would like to settle there after he retired. In 1901 the family moved to Santa Barbara.

Thomas Driscoll was from San Francisco. He and Alice Bacon met at a Santa Barbara polo match and were married at the Santa Barbara Mission in 1905. They moved to San Francisco, were caught in the 1906 earthquake, and then moved to Burlingame. Thomas served in World War I as Lt. Colonel and Division Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army's 91st Division. After the war he was involved in business, but died suddenly in 1937 while playing tennis. Alice stayed in San Francisco for a while, then moved back to Santa Barbara where she remained for most of the rest of her life. She died in Dec. 1985.

From the guide to the Thomas Driscoll Collection, 1836-1953, (bulk 1890-1918), (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections)