Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....Bane, Ralph 1879 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 22, 2005, 1:37 am Author: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908) RALPH BANE. A sketch of Santa Monica's first Treasurer, under the Freeholders Charter may be read with interest by those not intimately acquainted with him, because of the responsible public position he holds and by any who may have misgivings as to what a young man of metal and earnest endeavor can accomplish in our sun-kissed land of material promise. Mr. Bane was a native of Ohio and was born at Newark, February 22nd, 1879. His father, Frank Bane, a merchant tailor of Newark, died in 1886, when his only son was but seven years of age. Mr. Bane, at the very tender age of two years, suffered the irreparable loss of his mother in 1881, when he was practically adopted by his great aunt, Mrs. C. B. Buckingham, of Newark, a noble woman of great benevolence and christian fortitude, he being the last and youngest of her fourteen adopted children. She passed to her final reward at her life-long home in Newark on July 1st, 1907, at eighty-three years of age. Young Bane grew up under the tender care of his foster mother, passed through the excellent graded public schools and took a course of study at the Newark High School. From his seventeenth to his twenty-first years he engaged in various local business ventures, in which he succeeded. In the year 1900 he went to Zanesville, Ohio, and with J. H. Stephen embarked in general merchandising. The new enterprise suffered unforseen business reverses and closed out. In 1902, Mr. Bane, somewhat impaired in health, came to California and soon after reaching Los Angeles, came to Santa Monica. He soon obtained employment as conductor for the Los Angeles-Pacific Ry. and remained with the company two years. He resigned his position and for a period of about nine months acted as inspector of street work for the City of Santa Monica. He then went to Sacramento and acted as clerk of the legislative committee on public buildings and grounds, Thirty-sixth Session of the California Legislature, 1905. Upon returning, he accepted a position as Deputy County Tax Collector under W. O. Welch and served until March 1st, 1907. This position he resigned and became a candidate for the office he now holds under the Freeholders Charter. In the performance of the duties of the positions he has held Mr. Bane made a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and his fitness for the office of City Treasurer was not questioned, but became a factor in according him victory. Mr. Bane married, in 1899, Miss Edith, a daughter of Elkanah T. Perry, and a niece of the late lamented W. H. Perry, a widely known and eminently successful pioneer of Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Mrs. Bane is a native of Newark, Ohio, and they were youth-day acquaintances. They have one daughter, Ethel Lillian, born in Newark. Mr. Bane is a Republican in politics, and a charter member of the B. P. O. E. of Santa Monica, and a member of the Woodmen of America, Los Angeles. Mr. Bane is a courteous and unassuming gentleman, an ideal public official who is thoroughly wedded to a faithful performance of the manifold duties of his office. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities: prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542 to 1908: supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and embellished with views of historic landmarks and portraits of representative people. Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/losangeles/bios/bane220bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb