Grier of San Francisco

Biography and family history of William Milton Grier (1878-1935), a San Francisco-born entrepreneur in engineering and construction work, whose professional life was chiefly along the Pacific rim (from the Philippines to Japan to western Canada to Pacific coastal states). James Grier (1818-1892), of Scottish lineage and William's paternal grandfather, married Eliza Anne Patterson, and in the 1830s emigrated from Ireland to Pakenham, Ontario. In 1851 the family moved to Matilda Township (later Iroqois), Ontario, from where some sons immigrated to Colorado, Utah and California. Descendants and relatives lived in California, Nevada and elsewhere.