Thomas Rickard (original) (raw)

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American politician

Thomas Rickard (1866–1911) was a mining engineer,[1] an early resident of Berkeley, California,[_citation needed_] and served as the last President of the Town Board of Trustees from 1903 to 1909,[2] before the new city charter went into effect, creating the office of Mayor.[_citation needed_]

Rickard was born in France on August 28, 1866, to Reuben Rickard and Mary E Humphreys.[2] Both of his parents were English-born.[3] He immigrated to the United States with his family in the 1875.[2] In 1889 he married his wife Alice Whitmore.[2] They had four children: Leontine (b. May 1889), Helen (b. June 1891), Donald (b. August 1894), and Thomas, Jr. (b. January 1899).[2][3]

Rickard had a cousin whose name was also Thomas,[1] but regularly used his middle initial "A" (for Arthur).[_citation needed_] Thomas A. Rickard was a prominent writer on the subject of mining,[4]who, in 1896, was appointed by the Governor to the position of State Geologist of Colorado. He served in that position until 1901.[5]

Rickard graduated from the University of California in 1887,[1] with a degree in mining engineering.[2] From 1901 until his death, he served as vice president of the San Francisco mining firm of Harron, Rickard and McCone.[2] He also served as a trustee of the California Institute for the Deaf and Blind,[2] located in Berkeley.[_citation needed_]

Rickard's father Reuben Rickard[1] also served as President of the Town Board of Trustees in Berkeley from 1891 to 1893[_citation needed_] and again for about a month in 1895.[6] He was also a mining engineer, having worked throughout the western United States.[2] Thomas' brother Edgar Rickard[1] was the editor of a mining newspaper in London and a close acquaintance of Herbert Hoover.[7]

Thomas Rickard died on March 25, 1911.[1][8]

1. ^ a b c d e f "Obituary Thomas Rickard". Mining and Scientific Press. Vol. 102, no. 13. San Francisco, California: Dewey Publishing Company. 1 April 1911. p. 483. Archived from the original on 2019-12-11. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Irvine, Leigh H., ed. (1905). A history of the new California, its resources and people. New York, Chicago: The Lewis publishing company. pp. 789–790. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
3. ^ a b U.S. Census, Alameda County, California, 1900 and 1910
4. ^ Kirshenbaum, Noel W. (April 1, 1999). "T.A. Rickard and his California Connections". Samuel Knight Chapter - SIA, Newsletter. No. 8. Samuel Knight Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology. pp. 20–21. Archived from the original on 2007-08-12.
5. ^ "T. A. Rickard (Deceased 1953)". American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers. AIME. Archived from the original on 2019-10-31. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
6. ^ "In Memorium". Berkeley Gazette. Berkeley, California. Feb 29, 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
7. ^ "Edgar Rickard biographical sketch". Hoover & Truman. National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on 2007-05-19. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
8. ^ Berkeley Gazette, March 25, 1911