 After a year in the China shipping trade as a young man, he came to California in 1866.He worked for the Savings and Loan Society in San Francisco, then founded a stock brokerage firm in partnership with Van Dyke Hubbard in about 1880.He subsequently organized several insurance and investment firms before founding the Oakland-based Realty Syndicate in 1895 with F. M. ("Borax") Smith.