James B. (James Burgess) Stetson

Born in the early 1830s and active in California during the Gold Rush era, James B. Stetson became a prominent San Francisco merchant. Records connect him with the hardware and metals trade, including the firm Holbrook, Merrill & Stetson, which grew into an important wholesale business in the city.

He also played a notable role in San Francisco transportation. Contemporary archival descriptions identify him as president of the California Street Cable Railroad Company, linking his name to one of the systems that helped define the city in the late nineteenth century.

Stetson is best remembered by many readers for San Francisco During the Eventful Days of April, 1906, a personal recollection written soon after the earthquake and fire. Because it was set down while events were still fresh, the book remains an immediate, eyewitness record of catastrophe, endurance, and daily life in a city under extreme strain.