Under the head of “The Press” comes the name of Paul Pinckney, one of the foremost newspaper men of the county, and editor and proprietor of the San Mateo Times.
Mr. Pinckney was born in South Carolina on March 24, 1869. His early education was accomplished in the common-schools and supplemented by a course under private tutors. At fifteen, instead of going to college he decided to see the world as both his parents had passed away.
Ever since this he has “been seeing the world” through the eyes of a newspaper man, serving in the capacity of both reporter and editor. He was the editor for two years of the Southern Home Journal, a literary magazine of Jackson, Mississippi;, whence it was moved to Memphis, Tennessee.
He served three years in the Spanish American War in the Philippines as steward in the medical department, being called upon to act in many responsible capacities.
After the war he was reporter on the San Francisco Chronicle, going from this position to San Mateo, where on September 12, 1903 he acquired a half interest in the San Mateo Times and made that sheet a prosperous one. In 1910 he purchased Mr. Henry Thiel’s interest, and became sole owner.
Mr. Pinckney helped to organize the San Mateo Board of Trade In 1905, now the Chamber of Commerce, and has been Its secretary ever since. In 1906 he helped organize the San Mateo Hotel Company, operating the Peninsula Hotel, the enterprise being capitalized at $600,000. He became the secretary, and later, one of the directors.