Oakland Underfoot

James Henry Pedgrift (1877-1948) was born in England and came from Surrey to the U.S. in 1883, arriving with his mother and siblings in Los Angeles around 1890. He landed in San Francisco in 1902 as an independent contractor and was active through the 1930s. He married Ina Belle Ormsby in 1903; they had three kids. His offices were downtown at 565 16th Street and he was always closely involved with the city government as a contractor and an industry figure. From 1910 through the 1920s he was a big wheel in the Builders’ Exchange of Alameda County along with J. H. Fitzmaurice. In 1924 he sidelined as an appraiser for Prudential Insurance.

He clearly had energy and a gift for business politicking, but for the last four years of his life he was an invalid. The Pedgrift firm was active as of 1947 but seems not to have survived him. He’s buried at Mountain View, in the Ormsby plot. His last address was 518 Apgar Street.

This mark is on 41st Street at Broadway, the old Anderson Carpet building, and the firm probably did the interior concrete too. The Julia Morgan building at 40th Street and Piedmont Avenue also has one. Few of them have dates, and those are all scrawled by hand. They range from 1930 to 1940.

This entry was posted on 20 October 2008 at 3:51 am and is filed under  Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.