This Native son was born in the city of Santa Cruz on the 3rd of October, 1860. He received his education in the public schools of the place, graduating from the Santa Cruz High School in 1879.
In 1877 Mr. Haslam lost his father by death, and for a long time the support of his widowed mother and only sister fell in a great measure upon him. For many years there was a struggle against straitened circumstances, and the boy's mental and moral muscles were rendered staunch and true by that best of all discipline, the effort to aid those we love. Possibly this very exertion kept his soul compass true to the star of rectitude, and, in the very best sense of the word, "made a man of him." During this struggle the boy sold papers in Santa Cruz on a salary of fifty cents a week. He also worked at odd times in Cooper & Co.'s store, during the illness of his father and afterward.
Immediately after graduating, the young man, then nineteen years of age, accepted, a position as clerk in the grocery store of William C. Mason, of East Oakland, where he remained three years. He left Oakland to fill the duties of private secretary to the superintendent of the Standard Consolidated Mining Company at Bodie, serving in this capacity for two years. He then returned to Santa Cruz to take the position of bookkeeper in the City Bank and City Savings Bank. In this institution he was advanced first to cashier and then to cashier and secretary.
Mr. Haslam obtained his position in Bodie through the friendship and influence of William Willis, a mining secretary, to whose excellent business example he feels that he is indebted for the great measure of his own business success. This gentleman bridged for the young man the chasm between success and failure, at the turning-point of a struggling youth's experience, for he was in Mr. Willis' employ for a short time before coming to Santa Cruz. He says of this staunch mentor: "His example, instruction, and influence were invaluable; and his business methods I have never seen excelled. Many times daily matters come up now in my business to which his principles and methods are applied."
Mr. Haslam was one of the incorporators and directors and the first secretary of the East Santa Cruz Railway Company. He is yet a director, but was compelled to resign the position of secretary on account of his banking business. He is president of Santa Cruz Parlor, No. 90, N.S.G.W. Building Association.
He is a prominent and loyal member of the Masonic order, and a member of the Native Sons' organization. He is also fond of social life.
Mr. Haslam's father, David J. Haslam, was for eight years county clerk of Santa Cruz County. His mother married John L. Cooper, and is again a widow, residing in Santa Cruz. The only sister, Bessie G. Haslam, graduated from the State Normal School in the class of 1890.
A very marked characteristic of William D. Haslam is his deep affection for his mother and sister. As a business man he has few equals and as a young man of integrity and staunch moral principles he has no superior.
History of Santa Cruz County, California
by E.S. Harrison
Published by Pacific Press Publishing Company
San Francisco, Cal., 1892
Transcribed by Yvonne Valentine
Santa Cruz County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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