Contra Costa-Lassen County CA Archives Biographies.....Blum, Simon 1834 - 
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Author: W. A. & Slocum & Co. (1882)

SIMON BLUM.—The reminiscences of the early pioneers and adventurers of the
Pacific coast must ever possess a peculiar interest for the Californian. Green
in their memory will ever remain the trials and incidents of early life in this
land of golden promise. These pioneers form no ordinary class. Resolute,
ambitions and enduring, looking into the great and possible future of this
western slope, and possessing the sagacious mind to grasp true conclusions, and
the indomitable will to execute just means to attain desired ends, these heroic
pioneers, by their subsequent career, have proven that they were equal to the
great mission assigned them—that of carrying the arts, institutions and real
essence of American civilization from their homes in a remote country, and
implanting them upon the shores of another hemisphere. Among the many who have
shown their fitness for the important tasks assigned them, none merit this
tribute to their characteristics and peculiar worth more fully than the subject
of this sketch, whose portrait will be found in this work. Mr. Blum is a native
of the northern portion of La Belle, France, where he was born May 22, 1834, and
there received his education, and resided until he attained the age of sixteen
years. In 1850 he sailed from Europe for the United States, and landing in New
York, was there for two years employed in a wholesale mercantile establishment.
At the end of this term he sailed for California, proceeding in the steamer
Uncle Sam to Aspinwall, and from the opposite side of the Isthmus in the Sierra
Nevada to San Francisco, in which harbor he arrived February 20, 1853. Here he
engaged in merchandizing, and thus continued until the Fall of the following
year, 1854, when he transferred his locale to Contra Costa county, and
purchasing the business of Captain Fogg in Martinez, there established himself.
This emporium was successfully carried on until the Spring of 1856, when the
establishment was consumed by fire, and left little remaining of their large
stock of goods. But Mr. Blum's motto was, and still is, to be "up and doing."
The smoldering ashes of their store had scarcely cooled, when a new and more
imposing edifice rose, Phoenix-like, from its expiring embers. From the old ruin
sprang prosperity. As business increased, so came the necessity for more
commodious premises—a want which culminated in the present elegant iron-front
store of S. Blum & Brother. As an instance of what may be done when the
unswerving confidence of the public is gained, we may mention, casually, that
the firm has sold, since 1877—the year of the erection of the present store—over
one million dollars' worth of goods in retail alone. In the mart of S. Blum &
Brother may be found anything and everything that may be required in a country
of farmers—general merchandise, hardware, etc., while their stock of
agricultural implements is as limitless as it is excellent. Our subject is also
connected with the well-known grain firm of Fish & Blum, in Martinez, while he
has also an extensive store in Susanville and Buntingville, Lassen county,
California, doing business under the style of Blum & Alexandre. Thus have we
outlined the history of a man of sterling worth, admired by all for his
integrity, and loved by his fellow-citizens for his justness and goodness of
heart. He married, in San Francisco, June, 1861, Leontine Alexandre, a native of
France, by whom he has Myrthine, Albert, Edmund, Rosa and Hermine.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.


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