An illustrated history of Sacramento County, California : containing a history of Sacramento County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future portraits of some of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also prominent citizens of today, Part 64

Author: Davis, Winfield J., 1851- 4n
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 916

USA > California > Sacramento County > An illustrated history of Sacramento County, California : containing a history of Sacramento County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future portraits of some of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also prominent citizens of today > Part 64

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per, and was a carpenter by trade, which busi- ness he learned in Germany. He also came to America in 1848, landing at Baltimore. The first five years in this country he spent at St. Louis, working at his trade. April 6, 1854, he started across the plains for California, and reached Sacramento October 1. As there was but little demand for work in his line in the city at that time, he went to the mines at State's Flat, and followed mining eighteen months, except- ing four months, when he was in Sacramento. September 16, 1857, he purchased 160 acres, where he now resides and where he has built a house and made all the improvements there are on the premises, and added eighty acres to his real estate by purchase from the railroad com- pany. June 29, 1885, he was burned out with great loss; but he soon afterward rebuilt. The place is sixteen miles from Sacramento and three Iniles from Roseville. Mr. Schaper died Janu- ary 31, 1889, at the age of sixty-eight years, two months and six days, leaving a wife and four daughters to mourn his loss, which indeed is a severe one, for he was a kind husband and father. He was a member of Roseville Grange, No. 161; also a member of the United Ancient Order of Druids, No. 6. The children are: Augusta Louie, and Willie, deceased; Caroline, wife of William Harms, of Yolo County; Will- helmina, wife of Edward Palm, of Yolo County; Doretta and Lutzina. The two latter are twins, and are at home to lighten the burdens and sor- rows of their mother. The farm, which is in a good state of cultivation, is devoted to grain and hay.

M ICHAEL O'MEARA, Chief of the Fire Department of Sacramento city, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, October 10, 1850. Two years later his father, Michael M., Sr., left home and came to California, where the family joined him two years afterward. Early in life, "Mike," as he was called, began to make his own way in the world, selling papers on the

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

streets of Sacramento, ontside of school hours. During this time he took special interest in all that pertained to Confidence Hose, No. 1, of the old volunteer fire department, of which his father was at that time steward. For this he acted as "torchi boy" when only twelve years old. At eighteen he became "extra man" for that company, and afterward treasurer and fore- man. At the age of twenty-one he became a full member of the engine company. This was before the organization of the paid department, in March, 1873. But Mr. O'Meara had some- thing else to do besides running to the fires with the boys, for under the superintendence of Joseph Bailey he was learning the trade of bricklayer, working upon the Capitol building, which was in process of construction at that time. In this occupation he was employed until 1881. Upon the formation of the paid fire department he was appointed Assistant Chief Engineer, which position he held. until July, 1887, when he was made Chief of the de- partment. Mr. O'Meara is one of the self-made men of the city. To his native sense and energy are due the self-reliance and prompt decision so peremptorily necessary in the trying position which he ocenpies. Notwithstanding his busy life, he has found time to devote to several fra- ternal and benevolent societies, among which may be mentioned Capital Lodge, No. 87, I. O. O. F .; Columbia Lodge, No. 42, K. of P .; Red Cloud Tribe, No. 41, I. O. R. M., and the Coven- ant Mutnal. He was married in May, 1874, to Miss Margaret, daughter of T. Foley, of this city.

ILLIAM GUTENBERGER, prominent among the enterprising manufacturers of Sacramento, was born August 25, 1828, on the river Rhine, in Western Prussia. He is a descendant of the celebrated Johann Gutenberg, who invented the art of printing in 1438. His father's name was Philip. IIis mother, whose maiden name was Catherin

Klump, was a native of the town of Ellern Kohlener, Germany. When fourteen years old, William was sent to Coblentz, where he served his time learning the trade of molder in one of the factorics on Stephane Strasse, one of the principal streets of the city. Here he was em- ployed for seven years, and then took a contract for manufacturing stoves; afterward he went to Bremen and engaged in the same business. In 1852 a party of five young men from the Bre- men shops, among whom was our subject and William Klump, a relative, embarked on the German ship Republic for America, the land of opportunity. Storm- tossed and nearly wrecked for forty-five days on the ocean, they landed in New York November 1, 1852. Soon afterward Mr. Gutenberger was engaged by Mr. D. D. Reid, of Hampton, Connecticut, and began working in the malleable-iron shops, and con- tinued there two years, receiving as wages the first year $1 a day, boarding himself, and the next year did contract work. Subsequently he was employed at Waterbury, Meriden and IIart- ford, until the spring of 1855, when he embarked for California, on the Northern Light from New York to the Isthmus, and thence by the steamer Sierra Nevada for San Francisco, arriving May 28. His first employment in the Golden State was in Shasta County, on what is known as the Middletown Diteh; then he came to Sacramento and for seventeen consecutive years was em- ployed in the Sacramento Iron Works, and now in the G. & N. Foundry. Commencing here as a journeyman, in less than two years he was promoted as foreman, which position he held during all the fifteen years following. Then he started in business for himself, in company with Julius Leeman, a " Switzer," in the old Wigwam on Front street, between L and M, and was there two years and nine months, and then the boiler was blown up by an Italian named Garibaldi. He then bought out his partners and started alone; after that he bought the property where now located, and since then carried on the business alone. Within three years he had bought the entire business, and

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

also the property, 85 x 180 feet on Front street, for which he paid $8,000; and in 1871-'72 he erected on this the buildings which were burned July 17, 1882, by which he lost $60,000, and thirty men were thrown out of employment. He rebuilt and was burnt out again, October 7, 1887; he again rebuilt during the succeeding winter. Mr. Gutenberger was elected City Trustee in 1881, when, although a Democrat, he received the support of many Republican friends. He was married in 1857 to Catharine Schweit- zer, a Bavarian lady who came to California in 1856. She was a niece of George Nuhss. Mr. and Mrs. Gutenberger have two children, viz .: Julia, now Mrs. Runken, and Wilhelmina. Mr. Gutenberger is a member of El Dorado Lodge, No. 8, I. O. O. F., in which order he has held all the offices except that of Noble Grand; he is also a prominent member of the orders of Knights of Pythias and Knights of Honor.

NTON MENKE, hop-raiser, Brighton Township, was born in Dalhausen, prov. ince of Westphalia, Prussia, now in the empire of Germany, May 22, 1822, a son of Carl and Mary Menke. His mother died in 1844, at the age of sixty-four years, and his father in 1854, at the age of seventy-two. They had one son, Anton, and one daughter Christine, who was married and died in the old country, the mother of several children. Mary Menke, how- ever, by a former husband, Dierkes, had two sons: Frank, who died in New Orleans in 1852, after living there one year; and Charles, who died in Europe. Mr. Menke, the subject of this sketch, was brought up on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age, when, with the consent of his father, he went to work for Anton Dierkes, from whom he learned the trade ot basket-making, remaining with him a year; then he was salesman a year for Carl Roecker; the next year he spent with Harry Spindler, and then, in September, 1843, he sailed for America on the ship Agnes from Bremen, commanded by

Captain Bosso. After a voyage of fifty-two days he landed in New Orleans, June 12, 1844. There he worked at his trade for different parties until May, 1846, when he enlisted in the Mexi- can War, in the Fourth Louisiana Regiment. with the six-months men. They were stationed at Matamoras until their time expired. Mr. Menke then followed his trade at the Crescent City. May 18, 1848, he married Mary Wolker, a native of Oldenburg. In September, 1851, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, with three children, one of whom was born on the way. He worked at his trade in St. Louis for a short time, with a man named Taylor, and in 1852 he started out in the furniture business for him- self. April 6, 1854, he left for California, over- land, with a party consisting of eighty-two men, women and children, arriving in Sacramento October 2. Here he commenced work at his trade, making baskets, cutting his willows on the American River. In the spring of 1855 he opened a fruit and confectionery store in a rented building on the Plaza, meanwhile continuing the manufacture of baskets. In 1856 he sold out, rented a farm five miles north of Sacra- mento on the road to Marysville, where he fol- lowed agriculture and the rearing of live-stock until 1860. Returning then to Sacramento, he purchased a lot on J street between Ninth and Tenth, erected upon it the two-story building now occupied by Martin's hardware store, and lived there a short time. Then he followed farming again until the fall of 1862, on the outskirts of Sacramento, on the Nevada road. Returning again to the city, he opened a store on J street, between Fifth and Sixth, and dealt in music and fancy goods until the fall of 1876, when he sold to John F. Cooper. In the spring of 1875 he rented a farm near Rontier Station for the purpose of raising hogs, in which busi . ness he has ever since been engaged. In 1880 he purchased the place, consisting of 114 acres. In 1883 he bought the place where he resides, comprising 113 acres, and a short time previ- ously 215 acres. All these places are in Brighton Township, on the American River. One sea-

James Wein

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

son, 1885, he made an exhibition of hops at New Orleans and Louisville, Kentucky, receiv- ing a diploma at each place. He has 200 acres devoted to this crop. For the last five years he has raised more hops than any other man in the world. During the years 1887-'88 he raised 2,200 bales each year. In 1883, when hops were searce, he sold his crop of over 78,000 bales at a net profit of $60,000, which would have been still larger if he had held on a little while! In fruit he has eighty acres, -20,000 trees. Mr. and Mrs. Menke have four children : Josie, born July 13, 1853, in St. Louis, Mis- souri, and now the wife of John J. Glocken, of Sacramento; A. R., born April 7, 1855, in Sac- ramento; Henry George, born April 28, 1861; and F. W., February 13, 1863. They have lost four daughters and three sons, all dying yonng. What remains to be told is the credit, so cheer- fully accorded by him to Sarah, his wife, the co- builder of his fortune, the companion of his years; for to her industry, her foresight, the ever vigilant, constant care of every detail, to her ac- tivity, business enterprise and what is called thrift, is due to a great extent the remarkable snecess which has been attained. Her name and her fame has gone abroad, and wherever in all this broad land the raising of hops is known, there the name of " Mary Menke, the hop-wo- man of Sacramento " has become a household word. She has stood well by her husband in his life-work, and, possessed of a diseriminating mind, has ever been a ready counselor and a helping hand. Not content with the ordinary methods in vogue, they have sought out and adopted new methods and new appliances. Their buildings, kiln-dryers, presses and appnr- tenances are marvels of completeness, and mod- els of their kind. They spend large sums of money every year in these improvements. The Menkes find their chief market for their pro- duct in the great cities of the East, and with characteristic attention to detail they give also to this matter their personal attention, making frequent journeys to the Eastern markets, so that in all the great business centers not only 27

are their names but their faces are known. Only fourteen years ago (1875) they " rented a small farm for the purpose of raising hops." That was the beginning; to-day they are known in every business center of the United States and Europe as the most extensive growers and deal- ers in the world. A few short years ago they were making baskets with their own hands, from willows ent from beside the softly flowing river; to-day they stand foremost among the most highly respected and honored of Sacra- mento.

AMES WEIR, deceased, was born Novem- ber 21, 1827, in Shieldmains, Ayrshire, Scotland, his parents being John and Eliza- beth Weir, who were farmers in Scotland, where they lived and died. They had a family of five children: Elizabeth, Jane, Jolın, Jeanette and James. James was raised in Scotland. He had access to the public school, and received a good education in the higher branches. He was em- ployed as clerk in a grocery store, learned the trade, and followed it till he grew tired of it, and determined to come to America and try his fortune in this country. In 1853 he left Scot- land and landed in Canada, where he remained a short time, then went to Ohio and was there engaged a year at farming. In 1854 he started for California, coming via New York and Pana- ma. While erossing the Isthmus he was robbed of his baggage, consisting of his clothes and some valuable books which he prized highly, so that on landing in San Francisco he had noth- ing but the elothing on his back. He came immediately to Sacramento and went to the mines at Coloma, where he remained a year, but was not very successful. Abandoning it at last, he came to Sacramento Connty and ob- tained employment with John B. Taylor and Mr. Crites, but remained with neither very long. He then took up some land in Brighton Township, at that time a part of the Folsom grant, and had to pay the price of it several

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

times over before the grant was confirmed. In 1862 he sold that place, which is now owned by C. M. Boyce. He had an intention of return- ing to Scotland, but changed his mind and bought a place from Robert Patterson, on which he lived until 1875, when he bought the place adjoining, from Newell Kane. It contains 700 acres of fine land, and has all the best improve- ments. Mr. Weir was married to Mrs. Ellen Sullivan, widow of Cornelius Sullivan, by whom she had one child, in April, 1863. Her maiden name was Kennelly. She was born in Ireland, and emigrated to this country in 1853, settling in Ontario County, New York. She was there married to her first husband, who died in 1858, and came to California by water in September, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Weir had five children, all of whom are living. Mr. Weir died De- cember 12, 1888, after an illness of about three weeks. He was a man of strong convictions, and once forming an opinion generally abided by it. He took an active interest in farming, at which he was very successful, and gave most of his attention to it. To his family he was kind and good, taking pleasure in supplying all the wants of his children. He was a highly respected citizen in the community in which he lived, and his death caused the loss of a much honored neighbor and friend as well as a good husband and father. He was raised a Presby- terian froin childhood, and lived up to the doc- trines of his religion to within a week of his death, when he embraced the Catholic faith. He left five children: Mary Elizabeth, Catharine Jane, Jeannette, Margaret Ellen and James M.

ADAME ALMA VON TILLOW. The lady whose name appears at the head of this biographical notice is one who has endeared herself to the hearts and homes of the people of Sacramento, and we offer no apology in according to her this space in the historical work of the county, believing that too much cannot be said in praise of the work that she

has set herself to do, or of the results which are being accomplished by her now popular method. A brief mention of her career cannot but be in- teresting to the hundreds of people whose little ones will some time need the fostering care of just snch a teacher to guide their youthful foot- steps along the rugged pathway to knowledge. The Madame is a native of the State of New York; was brought up amid the refinements of the most highly cultured society in the Empire State. When by the death of her husband in 1879, in Wadsworth, Nevada, the duty of pro- viding for her boy devolved upon her unaided efforts, she bravely but quietly proceeded to make the most of whatever opportunities lay nearest at hand. She at once began teaching vocal and instrumental music, traveling from Reno to Battle Mountain each week, to reach her.pupils, who resided in all the larger towns between the above mentioned places. This proving too arduous, in the spring of 1881 she accepted an engagement with a conservatory of music in San Francisco. Always a lover of little children, and peculiarly fitted by nature to have the care of them, she became interested in the study of the system of kindergarten as taught by Miss Emma Marwedel, of San Fran- cisco; and very soon became an assistant at the pioneer kindergarten of that city. In March, 1883, she came to Sacramento and started a small class ou G street, beginning with bnt five pupils; but she was thoronglily imbued with the spirit of her work, and accomplished re- sults which eventually brought the patronage

and the support of the leading people of the

Capital City: She advocates principles for all

departments of school life, and claims for this application the fact that her school so much re- sembles a large, busy family affectionately in- terested in each other's work and play, though widely separated as to age. The day pupils, numbering over forty, are conveyed to and from the school in a handsome wagonette, being

always accompanied by a teacher. Among them may have been noticed the children of the Governor of the State, Secretary of State Hen-

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

dricks, Chief Justice Beatty, Judges Van Fleet and Blanchard, Prof. E. C. Atkinson, A. L. Hart, L. L. Lewis, Frank Miller, Prentis Smith, and most of the leading professional and business men of the city. The system of kindergarten and object-teaching for younger children, and the oral method for more advanced scholars, is becoming more and more popular wherever it is properly introduced; and it is to the lasting credit of Sacramento that such schools are receiving the patronage of her best citizens. Nor can too much credit be given to Madame von Tillow, through whose instru- mentality this system of teaching was first made a success:

OHN EHRHARDT was born in Germany, October 8, 1837, his parents being John and Theresa Dorothy (Gelirholdt) Ehr- hardt. The mother died in 1847, aged forty- seven; the father survived her forty years. The subject of this sketch received about five years' schooling, and then became a helper to his father in his occupation of shepherd. The father, stepmother, and five children came to America in 1850, landing in Baltimore, Mary- land, Angust 20. Thence they proceeded to Missouri, by railroad for about two hours from Baltimore to the canal, then by the canal to Pittsburg, by the Ohio to Cairo, by the Mis- sissippi to the mouth of the Missouri, and by the Missouri toward their destination in Chariton County, Missouri, where three brothers of the elder Ehrhardt were already settled. It took abont two months to make the trip, owing chiefly to low water in the Ohio and Missouri. Arrived at the farm of one of his uncles, who owned about a section of land, Jolin went to work as a shepherd. In 1852 his father and he were hired to drive 7,000 sheep across the plains. They wintered near Salt Lake, and the herd was reduced to 2,400 when they reached Placerville, California. They arrived on the

Cosumnes, within the borders of this county, June 20, 1853, fourteen months after they had set out from Missouri. The subject of this sketchi soon afterward went to work as a slep- herd for Long Bros., in Vaca Valley, Solano County, at $50 a month, remaining two years, and then for Mr. Rucker about fifteen months. In 1855, in partnership with his brother Henry, he bought $1,750 worth of sheep. Af- ter ten months they were sold at Colusa at $14 a head, and the proceeds invested in another lot, which they sold three years later for $14,500. In 1860, being in poor health, Mr. Ehrhardt went East, being absent from March to Septent- ber, and on his return traveled to various points on the coast for about three years. In 1863 he bought 1,240 acres on the Mokelumne for $4,000. There he raised cattle and horses and hay for feed, and for a time did a dairy bnsi- ness, milking eighty to 100 cows. In 1871 he drove some cattle to Modoc, where he bought a ranch, which he kept ten years. In 1876, find- ing his ranch on the Mokelumne too much sub- ject to overflow he sold it for $10,000; and in May, 1876, he bought his present location, two miles north of Franklin, 805 acres, where he has since made his home. He has settled down to raising wheat mostly, but has not entirely abandoned his life-long interest in the gentle sheep, of which he keeps about 200. He also raises some horses for his own needs, and a few to sell. He tried cattle-raising, but did not find it profitable. He, however, owns a ranch of 440 acres in Modoc, bought in 1887, which is devoted to cattle-raising, under the care of his eldest son. In 1865 Mr. Ehrhardt was married to Miss Caroline Hollinan (see below). They are the parents of six sons and one danglı- ter: George Edward, born February 5, 1867; Frederick William, July 25, 1869; Henry Les- ter, July 25, 1872; William Gardner, January 18, 1876; John Amos, February 23, 1880; EI- vesta, November 19, 1882; - Newton Julian, Oc- tober 9, 1885. Besides the usual district-school education George E. took an academic course in Sacramento, and Frederick W. spent three

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

terms at Washington College, in Irving, Ala- meda County.

Mrs. Caroline (Hollman) Ehrhardt, wife of John Ehrhardt (see above), was born in Chili, July 28, 1847. Her father, William Holl- man, a native of the State of New York, a millwright and miller by trade, had gone to Chili to do some work in his line, and was there married to Miss Ellen Mar McAra, born in Scotland in 1826, daughter of Thomas and Jeanett (Jackson) McAra, who afterward emi- grated to Chili. Mr. McAra was an architect, and was killed by a fall from a building. In 1849 Mr. Hollman left Chili for California with his wife and family, including the aged grandmother, Mrs. McAra, but died soon after his arrival in San Francisco, leaving four chil- dren: Frederick William, born March 12, 1843, was drowned in the overflow of the Mokelumne in 1862; John, born in 1845, now rents 350 acres of the Fay ranch, near the Ehrhardt place. He married Miss Emma Chapman. They are the parents of four daughters and one son; Robert, born in 1877; Caroline, now Mrs. John Ehrhardt; Theresa, born in July, 1848, now Mrs. George W. Fountain, living below Courtland. They are the parents of two daugh- ters and one son. For Mrs. Ellen Mar Hollman, by her second marriage Mrs. Marcus Lowell, see sketeh of Amos M. Lowell. In her child- hood Mrs. Ehrhardt, with her brothers and sis- ter, attended the first Sunday-school in San Francisco, founded by Rev. William Taylor, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1850. Her grandmother, Mrs. McAra, is thought to have been the first white grandmother in San Fran- cisco; she certainly was the first that went to the Sunday-school. The Hollman family has been settled since about 1827 near Peekskill, New York, the present representatives of the homestead being Gardner, Hannah and Caro- line, all well advanced in years and unmarried. The house is a historic landmark, having been the resting place of Major Andre for one night on his way to Albany after his capture. Mrs. Ehrhardt, on a visit there in 1888, accompanied

by her third son, Henry L., slept soundly in the historic chamber, but was much more interested in revisiting the scenes of her father's boyhood. Her grandfather, Frederick William Hollman, a native of Berlin, Germany, was at one time owner of the Croton Mills, which were removed in the construction of the Croton Aqueduct, and it was he who purchased the present home- stead of the family. There are two other sisters: Louisa and Mary ; Louisa was never mar- ried, and makes her home with her married sister. Mary Hollman is the wife of William O'Donnell, a music-dealer in New York city. They are the parents of four children: William, Marens, Gardner and Annie. The two oldest are writers on the metropolitan press; Annie is the wife of Walter Hamilton, a business man of that city, and Gardner is still engaged in per- fecting his education.

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Author: Davis, Winfield J., 1851- 4n Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 916

Author: Davis, Winfield J., 1851- 4n
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 916