San Francisco-Alameda County CA Archives Biographies.....McMenomy, John Henry May 22, 1841 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 31, 2010, 6:04 pm

Source: California and Californians, Vol. IV, Published 1932, Pages  102 - 103
Author: The Lewis Publishing Company

     JOHN HENRY McMENOMY was a Californian seventy years. Life brought him an 
extraordinary range of experience, and more important than the business 
success that attended his various enterprises was his genial personality and 
strong character which made him, an outstanding man among men.

     He was born in Troy, New York, May 22, 1841, son of Daniel and Esther 
(Keenan) McMenomy. He first attended school at Troy. The family then moved 
west to Wisconsin, but after a brief stay returned to Troy. This was the home 
of the family until 1858, when all of them came to California. In California, 
John Henry McMenomy worked in the mines of the Calaveras district. Later Mr. 
McMenomy returned to San Francisco, where his cousin, John McGlynn, was 
superintendent of construction, and Mr. McMenomy, himself, worked with McGlynn 
in the contracting business. One of the important contracts handled by them 
was the construction of the road along the cliff to the Cliff House. Later he 
worked in meat business for Stephen Story.

     The business which brought Mr. McMenomy most prominently before the 
public was as a meat dealer. He first established himself in the old 
Washington market, and later was the first to open in the California market. 
He kept his establishment there until the earthquake and fire of 1906. After 
that calamity he reopened business and continued active until his retirement 
in 1924. He also had a business in Oakland, and his home was in the latter 
city for a number of years before his death, which occurred when he was in his 
eighty-ninth year. For many years he was president of the San Francisco 
Butchers' Board of Trade, and was prominent in Republican politics.

     A newspaper correspondent understood and depicted many of the picturesque 
phases of his career in writing a feature story which was given a leading 
column the day after his death. This venerable pioneer, gold miner, adventurer 
and business man was known to thousands as "Captain John." "It was Captain 
John who ran the old California market stall in San Francisco and catered to 
the illustrious families whose names make California early history. It was 
Captain John who elevated the business of selling meat as an art by his 
personality. Captain John was at his door to greet every patron with a smile 
and a handclasp each day for years in the first flush of the gold rush boom. 
In recent years, upon his retirement from active business, Captain John had 
been a familiar figure along Broadway and other downtown Oakland streets. Of 
the famous original San Francisco Volunteer Fire Department of 1,500 recruits 
Captain McMenomy was one of the five surviving members. He joined the 'Fire 
Exempts,' who did not have to serve as trial jurors — a difficult, thankless 
task in those early days. He was also captain in the California National 
Guard. Captain McMenomy bought large land holdings at Sixty-second Street and 
San Pablo Avenue many years ago, and his wife, the late Lydia McMenomy, 
designed the family home there." Captain McMenomy had joined the old McMahan 
Guards upon their organization in 1874 and was captain for twenty years.

     Captain McMenomy married in July, 1866, Lydia Harrison Story, daughter of 
a pioneer California family. Her father, Stephen Story, came to California 
from New York in 1846, and her mother, Katherine (Garvey) Story, arrived on 
the Pacific Coast in 1853. Mrs. McMenomy died in 1910. They were the parents 
of nine children, three of whom died in infancy. All were born in San 
Francisco. Five of the children are:  John W., of Oakland; Lydia, who died in 
1899; George S., of Oakland;  Walter F., who died in 1916; and Thomas H., who 
died in 1900.

     Esther C. McMenomy was married to the late John J. O'Rourke, who died in 
April, 1908. Mrs. O'Rourke, whose home is at 1825 Leavenworth Avenue in San 
Francisco, was the mother of three children: Edith; Esther, deceased; and Mrs. 
Irene Starrett, of San Francisco.

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