[1] California Governor James Rolph Jr. said at the time of his death, "Robert Dollar has done more in his lifetime to spread the American flag on the high seas than any man in this country."

His mother died in 1853, and Robert dropped out of school and worked in a machine shop and then as an errand boy for a lumber shipping company to help support the family.

In 1866, Robert began to keep a diary, which he continued until 1918; thus, he was able to write his memoirs in later years and tell the vivid tales of logging in Canada.

Commenting on his constant search for new challenges, Margaret said, "Sometimes I think in the modern world of marvels, he will never be satisfied until he is the skipper of a round trip to Mars.The Dollars had four children: Alexander Melville and Robert Stanley were born in Bracebridge.

The timber was playing out, so in 1885 the family moved to Marquette, Michigan, where Mary Grace and John Harold were born.

In 1888, the family moved to San Rafael, California, and Robert bought timberland and logging camps in Sonoma, a mill and lumber business at Usal in Mendocino county, and other places such as Oregon and as far north as British Columbia.

In 1906, Robert bought a Victorian style home in San Rafael and named it "Falkirk," after his birthplace in Scotland.

[9] In 1895, he acquired his first vessel, a single steam schooner called Newsboy, to move his lumber from the Pacific Northwest to markets down the coast.

[10] During the inter-war years, his freighters plied the Pacific and were a common sight from Canada to Canton, San Francisco to Shanghai, and Tacoma to Tokyo.

[11] In 1923, the purchase of seven "president" ships owned by the U.S. Government allowed Dollar, at the age of 80, to pioneer his successful round-the-world passenger service.

[12][13] The death of the founder in 1932, coupled with the Great Depression and the Pacific War, headed the company into bankruptcy.

The Dollar family were prominent Republicans, in 1930 they had named one of their newest liners the President Hoover, and thus drew the ire of incoming administration.

Back taxes could not be paid and in an agreement, forced by the Roosevelt administration, Stanley Dollar turned 93% of the voting common stock over to the Maritime Commission.

Incorporated as the San Francisco Orphanage and Farm the name was changed to Sunny Hills Services in 2005.

[36] Robert Dollar and his wife were active in the orphanage and he provided funding to purchase land and dedication ceremonies were held on 10 February 1900.

In 1919 Lynn T. White, the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in San Rafael gave a sermon titled, "The Christian Attitude Toward the Organized Labor Movement in America".

White was astounded when Robert endowed the Margaret S. Dollar Chair of Christian Social Ethics and requested Rev.

In 1923 he donated 11 more acres and other funding The Robert Dollar Scenic Drive was constructed from Boyd Park to the summit of San Rafael Hill.

He provided money that bought Dollar Park and Arnotdale House, which he gave to the town, in person.

A new Robert Dollar Commemorative Association was formed in April 2013 with a view to replicating something similar to the Andrew Carnegie Centre in Dunfermline.

I was eighty years old when I thought out the practicability of starting a passenger steamship line of eight steamers to run around the world in one direction ...

The community of Dollarville, Michigan, where Dollar once worked as general manager of the logging camp, is named for him.

Although he was not feeling well, he insisted in walking in the academic procession and as President of the Board of Trustees gave a congratulatory message to the graduating class.

Shipping board, became the president of the United States Line that was formed by Roosevelt SS Co., R. Stanley Dollar and Kenneth D.