"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903. p. 700. SAMUEL C. CALDERHEAD It is always interesting to take up the life of one who has been devoted to public affairs, whether in those affecting the greater divisions of the country or those of the township or county. The ever increasing importance of America as a center for commercial power, and of late years as a world empire, must cause every true citizen of our republic to assume a prier share of the duties incumbent upon public-spirited citizenship. Mr. Calderhead of Seattle has not only a record of a life spent in honorable activity in private affairs but has devoted time and service to the public matters of his county and state. Mr. Calderhead has a good ancestry, which is a good beginning for anyone and has much to do with the future of the individual. His grandfather Alexander was a native of Scotland and a minister of the Presbyterian church. He was induced to cross the waters to America, and settled in Belmont county, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his days and took up a homestead. In this state Ebenezer B. was born, and he followed in the footsteps of his father and made the ministry his calling in life. He has a record of fifty years spent in this capacity, and twenty-five of these were with one congregation. He is still living, at the advanced age of ninety years, with the page of life remarkably free from the blots of human weakness. His wife was Martha Boyd Wallace, who was also of Scotch origin; she died in her forty-sixth year. Samuel C. was one of eleven children and was born in Ohio in 1856. After a period passed in the public schools he attended Franklin College, but at the age of sixteen set out on his own account to battle with the world. He finally took up railroad work as a settled occupation and was an operator and station agent for a number of years in Kansas with the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf, and later with the Missouri Pacific. But his eyes had been turned for some time to the Puget Sound country, and in 1880 he came to Walla Walla and for seven years was in the employ of the railroad there and in the vicinity. The year 1887 is the date of his coming to Seattle, where for four years he held the position of secretary for the Seattle Terminal Railway and Elevator Company, and then with the Great Northern in different capacities. later he was nominated by his party, the Democratic, to the office of mayor of the city and made the race against Mayor Humes in 1898. His ability as a business manager was recognized in his appointment to receiver of the Guarantee Loan and Trust Company Bank. He gave his exclusive attention to the matters connected with this business until they were all adjusted in the early part of 1902. In 1900 he received the unanimous nomination for county treasurer, but though he ran eighteen hundred votes ahead of the support accorded to the presidential candidate Bryan, and carried the city, the Republican majority in the county was too great to overcome. He has always been interested in the success of the Democratic party, and with the exception of the year 1896 had attended every city, county and state convention since he came here. Mr. Calderhead is active in the fraternal organization. He holds several of the lower degrees of Masonry and belongs to the Seattle Commandery No. 2, of the Knights Templars. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Seattle Camp No. 69, of the Woodmen of the World, and is past counsul; and to the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Calderhead was married in Walla Walla, June 27, 1886, to Mrs. Haselton, and they have two children, Gem O. and Samuel J. The residence in which the family reside was erected in 1891, and is a home of much taste and refinement. * * * * Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in April 2006 by Diana Smith. Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.