Who is Benny Scribner?

Benny Scribner has been referred to as the adopted son of Captain David A Scribner.  There was never a formal adoption, but Benny assumed the name of Benny David Scribner, and David cared for Benny for many years of his life.  Much of what I have discovered about Benny was written in either books or news stories – and his story is an  interesting one. 

Captain Scribner discovered Benny in 1874 on a beach in a South American port.  Captain Scribner was at the time in port on the ship Abner Coburn, and invited Benny to join him as a steward on the ship preparing meals for the crew.  Benny was a Chinese boy about twelve years old at the time and was an orphan making his way on his own. Benny claimed to have never known his parents, and he believed that he was born in Singapore.

David married two years after Benny joined him aboard the ship, and for the next dozen years Benny was regarded as a part of the family by David’s wife, Virginia, and the Scribner children who all also sailed aboard ship with Captain Scribner on his voyages.

Benny sailed as a steward on voyages with Capt David Scribner for the next 26 years until David retired from the sea in 1900.  At the time that Captain Scribner retired, one news story said that he had owned an interest in a ship called the J. B. Walker.  Scribner sold his interest in the ship to a friend, Captain George Wallace of San Francisco who assumed command of the ship.  By agreement of all, Benny joined the Wallace family maritime business which grew to a successful bar pilot business in the San Francisco area.  Bar pilot ships would assist other vessels in safely navigating the waterways of the western coast.  Benny sailed not only with Captain George Wallace as a steward aboard his ships for several years, but also with his son, Captain John Wallace until Benny finally retired in 1932.

Benny served as ship’s steward, and he was also lauded for his skills preparing clam chowder and other foods for ships of the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association.  When he retired, Benny had both a pension and savings from his many years at sea. He lived his final days at the Wallace home in California, and died in 1939. 

Benny’s obituary summarizes his life in this way:

CHARACTER OF WATERFRONT DIES – “Death came yesterday to Benny Scribner, Chinese chef, who for 40 years ruled the galley of the bar pilots’ schooner, Gracie S, and who was one of the most picturesque of all of old San Francisco waterfront characters. Benny who was somewhere around 85 years of age never knew who his parents were. He was found by Capt David Scribner of the old bark Abner Coburn, a deserted orphan, on the beach in a South American port. He grew up with Captain and Mrs Scribner and took their name. When the former retired from the sea, Benny became the ward of Capt George Wallace of the J B Wallace. He served both Captain Wallace and his son, Capt John Wallace, outliving both. When he finally retired as cook in the pilot service in 1932, he went to the Wallace home down the Peninsula to end his last days."

Source:  Newspaper: Oakland Tribune; Oakland, CA; Date: Monday, March 13, 1939; Section: C; Page: 7.

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Key Individuals:

     Captain David Alba Scribner  (1840 – 1911)

          Benny Scribner  (abt 1862 – 1939)

                                   

- Jane Scribner McCrary