He married Emily Corinne Nicholson in 1881; they had two sons, one of them being educated at the Annapolis Naval Academy,[2] the other becoming a businessman in California.

Metcalf's legislation for reclamation of arid lands put him in touch with President Theodore Roosevelt.

A compromise was reached where the students would be permitted into the public schools while Japan would stop issuing passports to laborers.

[5] As President Roosevelt's personal representative, Secretary Metcalf traveled to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire to survey the damage.

After leaving Roosevelt's Cabinet he returned to Oakland and resumed his practice of law, and engaged in the banking business.