Thomas Albert Work

Thomas Albert Work
T. A. Work (1930)
BornNovember 2, 1870
Shetland Islands, Scotland
Died17 April 1963(1963-04-17) (aged 92)
Monterey County, California, US
OccupationBanker
Spouse(s)Maude Elise Porter
2nd spouse
Children6

Thomas Albert Work (November 21, 1870 – April 17, 1963) was an American businessman and banker of Pacific Grove, California, known around Monterey as T. A. Work. He was owner of the T. A. Work company. He owned several banks, including the First National Bank of Monterey, Bank of Pacific Grove, Salinas, and the Bank of Carmel.[1][better source needed]

Early life

[edit]

T. A. Work was born in Shetland Islands, off the coast of Scotland, on November 21, 1870. He was the son of Thomas Albert Work (1833-1894), a minister. In 1883, his brother, already living in Monterey, John Robertson Work (1860-1940), arranged to have T. A. Work live with a family in Monterey[2][3][4] He worked for a while delivering milk.[4]

Career

[edit]

In 1889, T. A. Work was a wholesale and retail dealer in stove wood, hay, grain, ground barley, bran, and flour. He also contracted for street work and furnished gravel in Pacific Grove.[5]

In 1895, Work started the T. A. Work Company, a lumber yard; he had been in the lumber and milling business for 15 years, building sheds and other structures.[6] He built several of the buildings in Monterey County.[4][1]: p87-88  [better source needed][3] In 1904, he built a commercial block for the local businesses.[1]: p87 [better source needed] By 1909, the T. A. Work Company furnished lumber for most of the buildings in Monterey, and built many of the homes in Pacific Grove.[7]

In 1900, Work purchased the First National Bank of Monterey, acquiring it in 1906.[clarification needed] He was president of the bank for more than twenty years.[4] He started banks in Carmel, Hollister, Pebble Beach, Seaside, and Salinas.[8][4] In May 1923, T. A. Work, organized and was elected president of the Bank of Carmel. The Bank of Carmel began with capital stock of $25,000 and with capitalization of $100,000.[9][10][better source needed]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Work married Maude E. Porter, a teacher, on August 14, 1895.[11]

Later, T. A. Work remarried to Elinore Coe, an Army colonel's widow, and relocated to Pebble Beach.[8][3]

Work died on April 17, 1963, at the age of 92, in Monterey, California.[3][12] A painting titled Portrait of T. A. Work, is in the Monterey Museum of Art, which was a gift of Virginia and Thomas A. Work III.[13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Seavey, Kent (2005). Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove, California: Arcadia Press. p. 86. ISBN 9780738529646. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  2. ^ Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow; Haydon, John H. (1917). "John Work". History of San Luis Obispo County and Environs, California. Wisconsin. p. 821. Retrieved 2022-05-23. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b c d "T. A Work Laird of Monterey". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. 20 Apr 1963. p. 37. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  4. ^ a b c d e "T. A. Work Starts Life As Driver Of Milk Wagon". Salinas Morning Post. Salinas, California. 19 Dec 1930. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  5. ^ "T.A. Work". The Californian. Salinas, California. August 23, 1891. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  6. ^ "Building Operations Active". Monterey Daily Cypress and Monterey American. Monterey, California. 1 Mar 1907. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  7. ^ "T.A. Work Company. Largest and Most Successful commercial Concern on the Peninsula". Monterey Daily Cypress and Monterey American. Monterey, California. 30 Oct 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  8. ^ a b "Monterey's La Mirada Adobe". mchsmuseum.com/. 1996. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  9. ^ "Ground to Be Broken For Bank at Carmel". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. 22 May 1923. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  10. ^ Hale, Sharron Lee (1980). A tribute to yesterday: The history of Carmel, Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Carmelite Monastery, and Los Burros. Santa Cruz, California: Valley Publishers. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-913548-73-8. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  11. ^ "Marriage of Chestnut / Alexon - der". Pacific Grove Review. 1895-08-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  12. ^ "T. A Work Gives Life Estate To Four Sons and his Wife". The Californian. Salinas, California. 25 Apr 1963. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  13. ^ "Portrait of T.A." Monterey Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Albert Work.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Albert_Work&oldid=1241818625"