Historical California Stone Carvers, Stone Cutters, & Monument Dealers

Cemetery Stones Signed “I. Luce & Co.” (and other variations that include the Luce name)
(Includes biography and chronological entries relating to Israel Luce.)
Compiled by Peggy B. Perazzo.
(For further information on Israel Luce, see “Leanna Rossi's biography/research notes regarding Israel Luce’s personal and work life” & “Citation List of Leeanna Rossi’s Research Notes.”)

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Israel LUCE, Stone Carver & Monument Company Owner & Stone Quarrier.

The following biography for Israel Luce is from An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California, Hon. Win. J. Davis, Lewis Publishing Company, 1890, pp. 470-471.

Israel Luce

“Israel Luce was born in the village of Newfield, near Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, the son of James and Mary (Barber) Luce, both natives of New Jersey. Grandmother Barber was a sister to John Abbott, a scion of the Tompkins County family of that name. The Luce family is a numerous one throughout New England, and the family traditions show them to have been of English ancestry. Three brothers emigrated to America in the colonial days; one settled in New Jersey, one in Massachusetts, and one in Kentucky. When Israel was nine years old his family moved to Elmira, where he grew to manhood. At the age of twenty he went to West Troy, New York, to learn the marble-cutters’ trade; monumental work he learned at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and was employed at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he carried on the marble business for three years. Returning to Pittsfield, he went into partnership with Charles Rule. From Pittsfield, he went to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he caught the gold fever and started for California, sailing on the John Castner for the mouth of the Rio Grande. He left New York January 29, and arrived at San Francisco on the 25th of May, 1849. He came directly to Sacramento, on his way to the Coloma mining districts. In September he returned to Sacramento, clerked in a store till March 1850, when he went up the American River nine miles and built the Nine-Mile House, of which he was part proprietor for a time; but as selling rum was not agreeable to his conscience, he sold out and came again to Sacramento; mined at Cape Horn, beyond Colfax, in 1851. In December 1850 he bought a lot of marble on the wharf at San Francisco, brought it to Sacramento, and established the first marble yard, February 1851, on the east side of Seventh, between J and K Streets. In 1853 he formed a co-partnership with Mr. A. (Andrew) Aitken, and they established themselves on K Street, near the Golden Eagle Hotel. For twenty-five years this firm carried on the business, dissolving in 1878. During the following year Mr. Luce again started business near the old stand, where his son is at present located. For eighteen of the twenty-five years, Luce & Aitken worked the quarry at Indians’ Diggings, El Dorado County. In 1872 Mr. Luce prospected on the McLeod River, and spent six months at Tehachapi in 1877. In September 1885 he located the Inyo marble quarries, of which so much as been said of late, and of which he is the superintendent. This stone is of pure white dolomite, susceptible of a high degree of polish, very beautiful, and more durable than granite. Mr. Luce is one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the State, having been initiated into the order at Berkshire Lodge, No. 57, Massachusetts, in May 1848, and joined Eureka, No. 4, by card. In the early days he was especially devoted to politics, was a Democrat up to the time of the late war, and since then a Republican. Business cares and advancing years have made it impossible for him to take an active part in matters political, but he takes an interest in all public matters, especially those pertaining to the welfare of Sacramento. Mr. Luce has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was married in 1848, was Mary Adeline Nichols of Worcester, Massachusetts. She died in 1861, leaving two sons and one daughter, as follows: Mary R. Marsh, John C. (Luce) and G. W. (Luce), the former in business here in the Capital City, and the latter in San Francisco. In 1863 he was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza Elliott, by whom he has had two children, viz.: Fannie (Luce), now Mrs. W. W. Clary, and Charles S. (Luce), who is employed in the money order department of the Sacramento post office. The Luce homestead on M Street is one of the old-time landmarks, the abiding place of generous, old-time hospitality.”

1865 - Israel Luce - “MORTALITY REPORT. For the week ending June 24, 1865, made by Israel LUCE, Superintendent of City Cemetery; office of Aitken & Co.’s, 181 K street, where all the old records from 1849 to 1857 may be found….” (list not provided here) (From Sacramento Daily Union, Monday, June 26, 1865, transcribed by Betty Loose.)

1868 - Israel Luce - “MORTALITY REPORT.” For the week ending Feb. 9th, made by Israel LUCE, Superintendent of the City Cemetery. Office at Aitken & Co’s, 131 K street, where all the records may be examined....” (From Sacramento Union, Monday, February 10,1868, transcribed by Betty Loose.)

1880-1881 - Israel Luce & Co. (Marble Works), Sacramento, Sacramento County, California - The following excerpt is from Pacific Coast Directory, for 1880-81...of California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and British Columbia, L. M. McKenney & Co., Publishers, San Francisco, Cal., presented on the Golden Nugget Library web site, by Nancy Pratt Melton.

(pp. 732) “Luce, Israel & Co, marble works - 611 K.”

late 1800s - (Advertisement) “A. Aitken and Israel Luce - Aitken & Luce, Pioneer Marble Works, Premium, 177 K Street, Bet. 6th and 7th, Sacramento. Monuments, Tombs and Grave Stones, Mantles, Table Tops, Wash Stands, Etc. All kinds of work done in Indian Diggings, Italian and Vermont Marble. Marble at Wholesale and Retail.”

1898 (Death information for Israel Luce) - The following excerpt is from Stone Magazine, November 1898, Vol. XVII, No. 6, pp. 454.

“Sacramento, Cal. - Israel Luce, a pioneer California, who was for nearly twenty-five years, engaged in the marble business in this city, dropped dead from heart disease. He was a native of Ithaca, N. Y., aged 73 years. Luce arrived in California in May, 1849.”

Below are photographs of a selection of cemetery stones that are signed with Israel Luce’s name as: “I. Luce & Co. Sac.”  

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