Frederick William Mahl, who has filled the position of mechanical engineer for the Southern Pacific Company since the 15th of February, 1895, and makes his headquarters in Sacramento, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, July 21, 1866. His father, William Mahl, was a native of Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, and in the year 1850 came to America, settling in Louisville, Kentucky. He is now comptroller of the Southern Pacific Company, Union Pacific Railroad, Chicago & Alton Railroad, Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, and the Oregon Shortline Railway, with headquarters in New York. He was originally with the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington Railroad Company, and in 1882 he went to New York as comptroller and assistant to the president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company.
He married Miss Mary Ann Skidmore, who was born in Crewe, England, and is now residing in New York. They lost one son, J. T. Mahl, who was engineer of the maintenance of way of the Atlantic system of the Southern Pacific Company up to the time of his death, which occurred March 30, 1901. The only daughter, Edith, is now the wife of Walter C. Barnes, a resident of New York. Another daughter is deceased.
Frederick William Mahl received his early mental training as a public school student in Louisville, Kentucky, and he attended the Stevens High School at Hoboken, New Jersey. Subsequently he served his apprenticeship as a machinist in the shops of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company and later took a special course in Cornell University, from which he graduated with the class of 1889. He then accepted a position as draftsman in the Schenectady Locomotive Works, Schenectady, New York, where he remained until the 1st of December, 1890. He was made inspector and engineer of tests of the works, occupying that position until the 1st of August, 1894. On that date he was appointed inspector of work of the Southern Pacific Company and has since acted in that capacity.
On the 18th of July, 1888, Mr. Mahl married in New York City to Miss Virginia Elizabeth Stoddard, who was born in California and is a daughter of William Moses and Virginia Stoddard. Her father, a representative of the name, contributed to the cause of the colonists in the War of the Revolution. The family was established in Connecticut at a very early day. For a number of years Mr. Stoddard was engaged in merchandising in Sacramento, but is now living retired. To Mr. and Mrs. Mahl have been born three children: Virginia Skidmore and Felicia Wilson, who are in school; and Frederick William Mahl, Jr.
As a representative of the Masonic fraternity, Mr. Mahl has attained the Knight Templar degree. He also belongs to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Phi Delta Theta college fraternity. His political support is given to the Republican party, but he has never sought or desired office, preferring to win advancement along the line of his chosen business interests. He has now for about nine years occupied a very important position with the Southern Pacific Company, and his course has been such as to win for him the unqualified confidence of those whom he represents.
Source: Leigh H. Irvine; A History of the New California Its Resources and People, 2 Volumes; New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903.