An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, Part 98

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 786

USA > California > Sonoma County > An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time > Part 98

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

· RESIDENCE OF · STAMER & FELDMEYER ·

WINERY OF · STAMER & FELDMEYER ·

· VINEYARD OF · STAMER & FELDMEYER -

UINTERIOR VIEW OF ONE OF THE FLOORS OF WINERY STAMER & FELDMEYER

RESIDENCE AND WINERY OF STAMER & FELDMEYER.

665

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

linian families, and can trace his ancestry back in honorable line beyond the early history of America. On his mother's side he is of French Huguenot descent. Ilis maternal great- grandfather took a prominent part in the war of Independence on the side of justice and freedom. Another was adjutant to General Francis Ma- rion, while a third, who held the rank of Lieu- tenant General, was killed at Fort Moultrie. Dr. Smith has been married twice; the first time in South Carolina, to Miss N. C. Dubose. They had one boy-Edwin, who is now studying law in San Francisco. Ile was again married in 1872 to Miss Nellie M. Temple, of Santa Rosa. They have seven children, all small and living at home, three boys and four girls.

TAMER & FELDMEYER, proprietors of the Geyserville winery, established their present business in 1884. The firm is composed of Julius C. Stamer and B. W. Feld- meyer. Their winery is well appointed and has a storage capacity of 75,000 gallons, though the vintage of 1888 exceeded that quantity. They find a ready market for their wines in San Fran- cisco. They manufacture nothing but elarets and dry white wines, and these have an excellent reputation. They have sixty-five acres of land on Dry Creek and at Geyserville, and abont thirty acres planted to Zinfandel, Riesling, Mataro, Carignan and Grenache grapes, the vines ranging in age from four to eight years.

JULIUS C. STAMER, of the firm of Stamer & Feldmeyer, is a native of Hamburg, Germany, born January 4, 1837, and son of C. H. and Christina Stamer, the father a wine dealer. Julius C. was reared at Hamburg, where he was educated, attending school from the age of six to fourteen years, and on attaining a suitable age, entered the commission business, and after- ward banking. In 1859 he came to the United States, and for three years was engaged in the grocery business in New York City. In the latter part of 1861 he departed from that city

destined for California, via Panama, and landed at San Francisco, January 5, 1862. Ile soon en- gaged in the grocery trade, and so continued until 1880, when he located in Napa County and devoted his time to the manufacture of wine below St. Helena, in connection with his brother, G. A. Stamer. IIe is a thorough master in this business and his skill is shown in the high class of wines turned out from this winery.

B. W. FELDMEYER, of the firm of Stamer & Feldmeyer, is a native of Oldenburg, Germany, born September 1, 1846, and son of Ahrend and Catherine Feldmeyer, the father a seaman. The subject of this sketch was reared in his native country, and attended school between the ages of six and fourteen years. In 1867 he came to America, landing at New York. Two years later he came to California, located at St. Helena, and engaged in the business of carpentering and contracting. His own skill as a workman brought him a fine class of work, and he received contracts for building several of the wine cellars in that vieinity, and continued to reside there until coming to Geyserville. Mr. Feldmeyer was married in California to Miss Wilhelmina Baute, a native of Hanover, Germany. They have four children: Clemens, Arthur, Willie, and Gustav. Mr. Feldmeyer is a fine business man, and ranks high among those interested in the wine industry.

ISHER & KINSLOW. The Santa Rosa marble works were started in 1871 by Hartwig & Fisher, the firm being Theo- dore Hartwig and A. L. Fisher. The works were then located on Hlinton avenue opposite the plaza on which the court-house now stands. From the beginning they had a stock consisting of both marble and granite, but the business being comparatively a new one on this coast, they necessarily began on a small scale and the busi- ness grew as the people were educated up to the value of it. Two years after engaging in this enterprise Mr. Hartwig died and was succeeded

666

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

by W. H. Roagan, who also died a year later. Mr. Fisher then conducted the business for a year alone, then took in his present partner, J. F. Kinslow, who has been a partner about eleven years. They have been at their present location, corner of Fourth and Davis streets, ten years; and the firm does the largest business in their line of any north of San Francisco, in the State. They deal in monuments, grave stones, mantels, and granite building material. For monumental work they import Scotell granite; and they nse chiefly Italian marbles, though some Vermont marbles are used. They furnish employment for an average of seven men, and do most of the marble work in So- noma, Mendocino, Lake, Napa and Marin counties. Their monuments range in price from 8500 to 82,000, and they put up one in the cemetery at Santa Rosa, costing, 82,700. Their business runs from $25,000 to 840,000 a year, the latter sum in 1887. The coping work around the court-house plaza, amounting to $20,000 for coping, fencing and flagging, was done by this firm. Mr. Fisher was born in Vermont in 1840, and remained there twenty- six years of his life. Ile enlisted in the Thirteenth Vermont Infantry, in 1862, and remained in the service nine months. He was a non-commissioned officer, and he fought in the battle of Gettysburg, it being his hardest en- gagement. He is a member of the G. A. R., and commander of Ellsworth Post, No. 20, of Santa Rosa, which has about ninety members. He learned the stone-cutter's trade in Vermont. On coming to California in 1866, he visited British Columbia during the mining excite- ment of the Big Bond mining interests, spending a year there chiefly in prospecting. He then came down to San Mateo County, California, and remained there until he came to Santa Rosa in 1871. He was married in Vermont to Miss Rebecca Thompkins, a native of Fall River, Massachusetts. They came to California by way of the Isthmus. Mr. Fisher is a member of the Masonie order, and past high priest of the chapter, and a member of the commandery.

Mr. Fisher's father died in 1872 and his mother in 1581, both natives of Vermont and both buried there. They were the parents of thirteen children, ten of whom grew to adult age. It may be further stated that neither of Mr. Fish- er's parents ever left their native State until after they were sixty years of age. Mr. John Kinslow was born in Ilaydenville, Massachu- setts, learned his trade in Waterbury, the same State, and was in business there a short time before coming to California in 1875. He spent a year in San Francisco, and then came to Santa Rosa. In July, 1883, he was united in marriage with Miss Casey, a native Californian, daughter of Jeremiah Casey, a pioneer of Lakeville, So- noma County, where he still resides with his family. Mr. Kinslow is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is past chancellor of Santa Rosa Lodge, No. 87.

ARLYLE SMITH MILLER was born in Chautauqua County, New York, February 10, 1828. 1Tis father, Elisha Miller, was of Dutch descent and was born in the same locality. The elder gentleman was reared to manhood in Pennsylvania, learned the black- smith's trade, and worked at it there until he emigrated from that State. He married Sarah Adams, who was reared in her native country, Ireland. About 1833 or '34 he moved to Michigan where he engaged in farming. This was before Michigan became a State, and was a wild and almost unbroken country. The native red men outnumbered in great proportion the few pioneers who had taken foot-hold there. They traded with the Indians, giving them potatoes and other things in exchange for ma- ple syrup, etc. Their nearest little town. a French trading post, was called Centerville. After a residence there of about four years the family moved to Iowa, soon after the Black Hawk war, and thence to Illinois. From there they continued their migration westward and finally, in 1847, located in Oregon, about twen

667

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

ty-five miles from Portland. In 1849 they came to California and stopped at the head of the Sacramento River, near Redding, where they stayed about three weeks and then came down into Sonoma County. Mr. Miller afterward returned to Oregon, and then again to this county, where he died in 1859. C. S. Miller remained with his parents until after he was twenty-one years old, when he went to the mines at Nevada City; from there to the mines at South Yuba, and followed this occupation for about nineteen months IIe then came to So- noma County and purchased a farm near Sebastopol, where he farmed a while and then sold out and went to dealing in cattle, driving them to the mines. After this he engaged in the logging business in Mendocino County, hauling logs from the mountains down to the saw mills. In 1860 he moved to Marin County and bought a farm of 400 acres. He has since made additions to it and has at the present time 600 acres. In October, 1873, he purchased his present place, consisting of 156 aeres near Pet- aluma, in Vallejo Township, and came here for the purpose of educating his children. In 1882 or 1883 he bought a ranch in Napa County of 412 acres. In 1857 he returned to the East and was married in Illinois to Sarah Fairley, coming back to California the same year, inaking what might be called their wedding trip overland, being five months on the way. They have seven children, four sons and three daughters.

IIOMAS M. WARD .- Among the pio- neers of the State and Sonoma County special mention should be made of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. Hle is descended from a race of pioneers. His grandfather, a native of Scotland, emigrated to the United States and settled in North Carolina in the colonial times. IIis father. David Ward, was born in that State, but was among the early settlers in Cook County, Tennessee, where the

subjeet of this sketeli was born May 23, 1815. Ilis mother, Naney (Mitehell) Ward, was a na- tive of Virginia. Her grandfather was an offi- cer in the Revolutionary war. Shortly after Thomas M. was born his parents moved to Mis- souri, and after a short residence in several places in that State they removed, in 1820, to Lafayette County. Here Mr. Ward was reared, and his early youth and young manhood was spent on his father's farm, where he became inured to the hard labors and privations attend- ing pioneer life. He was naturally of an ingen- ious mind, and he became quite an expert as a carpenter and cabinet-maker. At the age of nineteen years, in 1834, he married Miss Glaph- gra Bowman, the daughter of John Mitehell and Elizabeth (Horn) Bowman. In that year he engaged in farming and stock-raising, and four years after he moved to Andrew County. In 1845 he located in Buchanan County, where he remained until 1847, when he returned to Andrew County, his occupation during all these years being that of a farmer and stock-raiser. Of a restless disposition and ever a pioneer, in 1849 Mr. Ward started with his family, with ox teams, across the plains for the Golden State of California. This journey was performed unaccompanied with any startling incidents, and after the usual hardships they arrived in Yolo County in August of that year. There he had the misfortune to lose his wife, who died September 3, 1849. After the death of his wife Mr. Ward eame to Sonoma County, and in July, 1851, in connection with his brother, Nathaniel Ward, opened a blacksmith and carpenter shop in Sebastopol. This was the first shop estab- lished in that now thriving village. He con- tinned his business in Sebastopol until February, 1853, when he came to Green Valley and pur- chased land upon which he took up his residence and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. At the early date in which Mr. Ward took up his residence in Green Valley it was sparsely settled and the lands were in their wild state. Hle at once set about clearing the land and ereeting his home. His career as a farmer and

668

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

horticulturist is well known. Of his original land he is now the owner of 108 acres. This land is situated on the east side of the valley, near the Sebastopol and Forestville road, in the Oak Grove school district, four miles northwest of Sebastopol and two miles south of Forest- ville. The greater portion of his land is de. voted to hay. grain and stock-raising, but he also has a fine orchard of ten acres, containing peaches, apples, pears, plums, etc. The peaches are the (Crawford, orange cling and lemon cling varieties. In addition to a family vineyard containing a large variety of table grapes, he has also six acres of the Mission wine grapes. Mr. Ward has some fine stock. his cattle being improved with both Durham and Jersey stock, and his horses with Norman and Goldfinder breeds. On this farm is a substantial and com- fortable residence surrounded by sliade trees, situated upon high ground from which he has one of the finest views of the beautiful Green Valley imaginable. Commodions barns and other out-buildings attest the success that has attended his efforts in building up a home. His knowledge of building and earpentering has enabled him to construct nearly all his build- ings without the aid of other than common labor. It should be mentioned that Mr. Ward, as carly as 1554, planted his first fruit trees, and in the first fruit exhibits from Green Valley in the county fairs, prodnets from his orchard were among those that took the first premiums. Mr. Ward has long been identified with the growth and prosperity of his section of the county, and is a firm believer in its glorious future. Ile has for years served as a school trustee in the Oak Grove district. In politics he is a life-long Democrat, and is consistent in his views. He takes a deep and intelligent interest in all the political questions of the day. Mr. Ward's second wife was Miss Elizabeth Janes, to whom he was married in 1850. She is the daughter of Henry F. and Kesialı (Talbot) Janes. Her fath was oneer in every sense of the word. He went to Wisconsin at a very early period and settled where the city of Janesville now stands,

building the first house in that place, that now bears his name. He was also a pioneer of the State of California, coming to this State in 1849, and finally taking up his residence in Humboldt County. To Mr. Ward's first mar- riage there were born seven children, only one of whom is now living David M., a resident of Colorado. By his second marriage he has eight children living: William H., residing near the old homestead; John L., who married Miss Frances Fordalie, living in Forestville: Charles M., who married Miss Lydia Branscom, resid- ing in Mendocino County; Edward L., married Miss Ella Carey, and is living in Green Valley; James 1., married Miss Minnie Ross, and is living near the old homestead: Benjamin F., married Ethel Perry, and resides in Green Val- ley; Julia A., the wife of T. J. Janes; and George S. The two last named are living nnder the parental roof.

HRISTOPHER D. NEAR, who owns and occupies the well known " Root Home- stead," on the Healdsburg road, two miles north of Santa Rosa, was from eight years of age reared at his present home. The estate con- sists of ninety aeres, and was for many years the home of Jeremiah Root, who crossed the plains with his family from Iowa, in 1553, and after a short residence in Alameda County commenced the improvement of the homestead above men- tioned. Mr. Root now lives in San Benito County, where his wife died in Mareh, 1888, at the advanced age of ninety years. Christopher D. Near was born in Fremont County, Iowa. December 19, 1848, his parents being Christo- pher D. and Sophronia A. (Culp) Near. In 1850 his father was killed by lightning in Iowa, and in 1851 his mother married Jeremiah Root. The subject of this sketeh was in his fifth year when his step-father and mother crossed the plains to this State. Among his early recollec- tions are incidents that occurred on the long journey. Reared from eight years of age at his

669

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

present home, its ownership passed to him not long ago. Ile has one brother, John Henry Near, who also lives in Santa Rosa Township. Two children were born to his mother by her second marriage, of whom only one, Mrs. Ella Range, a resident of Los Angeles County, is now living. November 3, 1872, Mr. Near married Miss" Nancy Van Winkle, daughter of Thomas and Nancy (Faught) Van Winkle. She was born in Sonoma County, February 26, 1855. Her father is now deceased, and her mother is a resident of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Near are the parents of five children, viz .: James, Franklin, Willie, Fannie and Washington. Mr. Near is a member of the Santa Rosa lodge of Masons. In politics he is identified with the Democratic party.

ABAN ANDREW HARDIN. The father of the subject of this sketch, Will- iam Jefferson Hardin, is a native of Ken- tucky, where he was born in 1820. When he was a boy his parents moved to Missouri, where he lived for a number of years, and was there married to Rebecca Smith, whose parents were from Tennessee, and moved from that State to Missouri. In 1852 Mr. Hardin, with his wife and three children, emigrated to California. Leaving Missouri on the Ist day of May, they made the trip overland, and, after a journey of six months, landed in Sonoma County. The first year he lived on the Laguna Creek, near Sebastopol, and from there moved into Vallejo Township, and, in the fall of 1855, to the Ketch eside ranch in the hills, now owned by John Lynch. In the fall of 1856 he bonght the Har- din property direct fromn General Vallejo. It then consisted of 400 acres. and the following year he purchased from the same party 200 acres more. Mr. Hardin made this his home until 1877, since which time he has lived in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, and is now residing in Cloverdale. The family consisted of seven children, as follows: William

Henry, James Taylor (who died in May, 1878), Laban Andrew, Mary Francis, Thomas Jeffer- son (who died in 1870). John Marens and Lester Bond. Laban Andrew Hardin was born in Johnson County, Missouri, May 21, 1848. IFe was four years old when his father came to this State, and with them he made his home until he was twenty-three years of age. He then went to Nevada, where he was engaged in driving horses and cattle for market. Two years later he made another trip to the same place, taking with him a band of cattle, and remaining here about two years, dealing in and raising stock. Ile then returned to this county, where he has since made his home, living on part of the homestead. Mr. Hardin was united in mar- riage, October 1, 1877, to Mrs. Sallie Wise. a native of Johnson County, Missouri. They have three children: James Taylor, Lurena and William Graves. Mr. Hardin is a successful farmer and stock-man, having on the place a large herd of cattle and a number of horses, some of which are particularly fine. The soil of the ranch is very fertile, well watered, and is adapted to the raising of all kinds of both fruit and grain. Ilay grows in abundance, withont sowing any seed.

S. MERCHANT. - The Magnolia and Healdsburg Fruit Cannery stands in the

O front rank of the industrial concerns of Sonoma County, though it was only established in 1888. The plant is located on what was the property of the Grangers' warehouse, purchased by Mr. Merchant early in 1888. The warehouse building, which was 50 x 150 feet in ground area, has been utilized, and an addition made 40x75 feet, and another in the rear, 40 x 70. The tin shop is 28 x 32 feet in ground dimensions, and two sheds added make the building in which it is located 50x50 feet on the ground. In this department the cans are made " m th , tin plates and wooden boxes from the " shook." The fruit is principally obtained from the territo

670

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

ry naturally tributary to Healdsburg, but owing to the newness of the canning industry here, it is as yet difficult to obtain all the early fruit desired from the surrounding country, and it has been necessary to procure some of the apricots, cher- ries and currants packed from more distant points. Soon, however, with the encourage- ment to fruit raising offered by the develop- ment of fruit packing, all these fruits will be raised in sufficient quantities in this vicinity. During the packing season the number on the pay-roll ranges from 400 to 500, and all the work is done by white labor. While the pref- erence is given to the neighborhood in the mat- ter of employing help, many hands are engaged who come from distant points, and many camp near the cannery during the packing scason. There is a waiting market for the product of this establishment, and every case of fruit has a place to go to as soon as it is ready for the market, the entire out-put being taken by the Territories of Montana, Idaho, Utah and Wyom- ing, and the State of Nevada. Every kind of large and small fruit raised in this portion of California is here put up, besides corn, toma- toes, string beans, etc., four car-loads of the last mentioned article having been packed in 1888. The cannery is located in the best corn district of California, thus having a great advantage in that regard. One of the noteworthy features of the establishment is the jelly department, where all kinds of fine jellies and jams are prepared in tempting form by expert jelly makers. These jellies and jams have taken the first premium over all competitors at every fair where they have been exhibited. When it is considered that the weekly pay for labor alone runs as high as 82,500, exclusive of all fruits and mate- rials, the immense advantages of the great hive of industry to this community may be some- what appreciated. Mr. Thomas S. Merchant, the founder and proprietor of the Magnolia and Healdsburg Fruit Cannery, is a native of Aus- tralia, born August 18, 1841, and is a son of Thomas and Mary Jane (Lasson) Merchant. When he had reached the age of thirteen years

his parents removed to the United States, loca- ting at San Francisco, where the subject of this sketch was reared to manhood. He engaged in the butcher business at an early age, but in 1866 commenced the life of a commercial trav- eler, representing a San Francisco house. ITis success as a salesman was almost at once estab- lished, and his services came to be in demand by many houses of the coast metropolis. In 1867 he became the representative of the coffee and spice house of G. Venard, and soon after- ward of Nichols & Brown and Rochschild & Ehrenford, with whom he yet retains his con- nection. Among the other large wholesale firms whose goods he handles over a large scope of territory may be mentioned Macondary & Co., teas; California Cracker Co. (with whom he has been associated for seventeen years); Martin Fusseir, F. G. Conkling & Co., gloves; Napa Valley Wine Co .; Horn & Co. ; and Leegan & Mills, successors to G. Venard. The great trade which he has built up for these firms in California and the Territories has grown to pro- portions much beyond the ability of any one man to handle, yet it remains under his control, and he employs his own assistants, giving ent- ployment to two additional men in this capacity. Mr. Merchant has made his home in So- noma County since 1880, and has a ranch worthy of particular mention, on the road be- tween Healdsburg and Guerneville. He com- menced improvement on this ranch in earnest in the spring of 1881, and now has about 110 acres of vineyard, planted in choice varieties of wine grapes, and about 14,000 trees, mostly peaches, pears and plums. He has uniform success with both vines and trees, and all pre- sent a perfectly healthy appearance. The ranch is supplied with every building and implement which could be suggested as useful, and pre- sents the appearance of a village at first sight. Mrs. Merchant was formerly Miss Mary Hob- son. Mr. Merchant has been twice married, his first wife's maiden name having been May Cohlan. He has three children, Thomas Charles, Fred, and May. Politically he is a Republican,

671

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

and is a member of Abou Ben Adhem Lodge, I. O. O. F., San Francisco. Mr. Merchant has the reputation of being one of the most pushing business men on the Pacific coast.

PUMPHREY. - The subject of this sketch was born in Belmont County, Ohio, October 15, 1828, but was reared on a farm in Licking County, receiving such an education as the public schools of Ohio in those days afforded. In his twenty. third year he left his native State, leaving in June, 1851. The following winter was spent near Boonville, Missouri, and the next spring the overland journey was made to this State. He first located in Salina County, but soon he became engaged in placer mining in Placer, Sierra, Klamath, and Amador counties. This occupa tion and farm labor in Salina and Yolo counties was followed about eleven years with varying snceess. Mr. Pomphrey became one of a party that opened the mines at Kenon City, Hum- boldt County, eastern Oregon, in 1862. Later he built a saw-mill. Full of energy and capable of conducting almost any enterprise that prom- ised profit, Mr. Pumphrey became, in 1864, engaged in quite extensive dealings in stock, buying and driving from Humboldt County to other points, and selling at a profit, hundreds of cattle. The following year he drove stock to Montana. Buying and selling stock constituted a large part of his business and was continued for a number of years, and he also opened a meat market at Diamond City, Confederate Gulch. In October, 1868, he changed his busi- ness to Colorado, for a time making Denver his headquarters. In June, 1869, le drore 700 head of cattle into Denver from New Mexico. The same year he wintered near Denver cattle bronght and driven by him from southern Colorado. February 8, 1870, at Denver, Mr. Pumphrey married Miss Ellen Tawlor. Some- time afterward they made their home in San Lnis Valley, 200 miles west of Denver. There

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, Part 98

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 786

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 786