Samuel Rees

Samuel Rees (October 3, 1846 – October 24, 1914) was a pioneer businessman and property developer in Los Angeles, California, where he was a member of the City Council and of the Board of Public Works in 1891–92.

Personal

Rees was born on October 3, 1846, in Staffordshire, England, the son of William Rees and Jane Stanton. He received left school early in order to go to work, and at age 21 he emigrated to America. He was married to Lydia Dangerfield of Staffordshire in 1869, and they had seven children, Lillie (Mrs. E.A. Guest), Rosa F. (Mrs. A.I. Smith), Minnie E. (Mrs. F.C. Elliott), Ethel R. (Mrs. Searle), Harry S., Walter N. and Samuel C. His wife was treasurer of a Boyle Heights women's suffrage club in 1896.

Vocation

Rees began work in America as a clerk for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for seven years before settling in Los Angeles, where he was a bookkeeper for a firm of blacksmiths and wheelwrights. He then entered into business with Robert E. Wirsching: They did general blacksmithing and built wagons "in a large shop on Aliso Street." The firm sustained losses of $15,000 in the floods of 1884, but it rebounded and became successful, moving to larger quarters on Los Angeles Street, where it sold "modern agricultural implements."