 While his father was a wealthy merchant, he found himself to become restless and at the age of 13 years, he left home and travelled by steamship to San Francisco.While here he found employment in a local hotel (where he received $125 a month, including board) and also took on work at an auctioneers helping sell goods every evening (where he received $200 a month).He continued with this work until he had saved enough to open his own grocery business, he remained here for 4 years, until he decided to return to New York, where he went into business with his father.