Levy Brothers Built a Small Empire of General Stores (6)

Joe Levy was 30 years-old, with a dozen years experience as a merchant. Now he and his brothers were Pescadero’s leading businessmen. The folks who could, came to the general store in the village; those who lived further out in the rural districts received visits from Joe Levy who arrived on horseback, leading a couple of saddled mules carrying dry goods for sale. Women, especially, loved shopping from home.

One of the Levy brothers’ most popular employees was J.C. Williamson. “J.C.” worked all day long, with the public as their druggist, telegraph operator and postmaster. He knew he could run his own place, and that’s what Williamson did a couple of years later. He opened “Williamson’s” on the main street in town, competing directly with Levy Brothers General Store.

Josephine, Fernand’s wife, felt lonely in a place where she knew no one. To remedy the situation, she wrote sister Emma back home in France, encouraging her to come visit her on the craggy cliffs south of San Francisco. There was also another Levy brother, Adrien, who had never left home, and now he, too, was sailing for California at the same time. According to local lore, this is how Adrien and Emma Levy met and fell in love.

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