History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1923, Part 61

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1923 > Part 61

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On February 5, 1890, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Wilhelmina Gutenberger, the ceremony taking place at Sacramento. Mrs. Smith was a native of Sacramento, and the daughter of William and Kath- erine (Schweitzer) Gutenberger. William Guten- berger was a descendant of the inventor of printing by movable types, and Mrs. Smith's maternal great- grandfather was a commissary-general of Napoleon. Mr. Gutenberger lived to be sixty-eight, and his de-

your very Truly

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

voted wife, seventy-eight; she died in Sacramento. They had four children: William, George, Julia (now Mrs. Caspar, of Sacramento), and Wilhelmina, now Mrs. Smith. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Cathryn W. and George W. The daughter is now the wife of Morris Myers, of Grand Island. Mr. Smith belongs to the Courtland Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West, in which he is a past president, and to the Franklin Lodge No. 143, F. & A. M., in Courtland, where he is a past master. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith belong to the Eastern Star, and Mrs. Smith is a past worthy matron; and Mr. Smith is also a member of Sacra- mento Lodge No. 6, B. P. O. E. Mr. Smith's sympa- thies and interests are many and varied. He was trustee of the Grand Island Reclamation District No. 3 for twenty-three years, and at present he is a trustee of Reclamation District No. 551, on the east bank of the Sacramento River, across from Grand Island. He is president of the board of trustees of the Court- land union high school and the Bates joint union grammar school. He has been intensely interested in the cause of education, and has given freely of his time towards obtaining the highest standard for the schools of his district. Politically, Mr. Smith is a Progressive Republican, and he was always a stanch admirer of Roosevelt.

DR. G. V. EWING .- Among those who were ac- tively associated with the profession of medicine in Sacramento for a decade was Dr. G. V. Ewing and during that period of time he reached a commanding position in the ranks of the medical fraternity. He was a physician and surgeon of great power and ability, of comprehensive knowledge and wide prac- tical experience, and these qualities he brought to the performance of his responsible duties. He won the success and prominence which always follow con- spicuous attainment. His birth occurred in Hayes- ville, Ohio, February 12, 1831, and his preliminary education was obtained in the public schools of his native state; in 1852 he was graduated from the West- ern Reserve Medical College in Cleveland, Ohio.

On March 22, 1853, Dr. Ewing was united in mar- riage with Miss Martha S. Coon, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who came to Ohio the previous year. Her father, Prof. Jacob Coon, was a prominent minister of the Presbyterian Church and also a professor of mathematics at Vermilion Institute; later he estab- eslished a private school at Freeport, III., which he conducted for two years until he re-entered the min- istry. While in his pulpit at Albany, Ill., he passed away. Dr. and Mrs. Ewing settled in Rock Run, Ill., fourteen miles from Freeport, where Dr. Ewing be- came well and favorably known as a physician and surgeon. Mrs. Ewing passed away in 1867 survived by her husband and five children; Mary V. is the wife of Edgar Hoffner, whose sketch appears else- where in this work; Frank C. resides in Ogden, Utah; Walter G. R. is deceased; Florence E. is now Mrs. Jackson and resides in Bloomington, Ill .; Nora J. is deceased. Subsequently Dr. Ewing was married to Miss Elizabeth Wilson, a native of Lexington, Ohio, and in 1884 they removed to Sacramento, Cal., where he was active in his profession. In 1887 he purchased ten acres of land in Orangevale colony and later added another ten acres, which is now the home of his daughter, Mrs. Hoffner. Dr. Ewing was a prom- inent Mason and in politics was a stanch Republican

who had the honor of having voted for Abraham Lincoln. He was an active and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church and was liberal in the support of same. He passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Hoffner, in Ogden, Utah, in 1894, aged sixty-three.

SIMON J. LUBIN .- Well-known among the suc- cessful men of affairs in Sacramento, and one of the best informed citizens concerning mercantile inter- ests as well as the resources and housing conditions of this great commonwealth, is Simon J. Lubin, a native son of the Golden State. He was born in Sac- ramento, in 1876, and was reared and educated in the excellent schools of that city. In 1895 he grad- uated from the Sacramento high school and in 1903 he received the A. B. degree from Harvard Univer- sity. He engaged in college settlement work, his field of action being principally in New York and Boston. In 1906 he returned to Sacramento and be- came an active member of the firm of Weinstock, Lubin & Company, the oldest department store in the Valley. Year by year he steadily worked his way upward, until he is now the president of this corpo- ration and also chairman of the board of managers. Intensely interested in the cause of education, he has served as a member of the Sacramento board of edu- cation. Mr. Lubin has given much time and thought to the study of immigration and kindred problems. On August 20, 1912, Governor Hiram Johnson ap- pointed him as a member of the temporary immigra- tion commission; and on the formation of the state commission of immigration and housing, on Sep- tember 16, 1913, Governor Johnson appointed Mr. Lubin a member of that commission and he was elected its president, a position he has filled with credit and entire satisfaction all these years. He spent a great deal of time and effort organizing the commission and they now have offices in the princi- pal cities of the state. Desiring to get a further grasp of this overwhelming problem, Mr. Lubin made two of his four trips abroad solely for the study of immi- gration and housing conditions in other countries.

In 1905, in New York City, occurred the marriage of Simon J. Lubin and Miss Rebecca Cohen. She was born in Moscow, Russia, but was reared and edu- cated in New York City. Their union has been blessed with three children: David, Ruth and Miri- am. Mr. Lubin is very active and enthusiastic in his support of the various civic organizations in Sacra- mento and gives generously of his time and means toward the movements that have for their aim the improvement and upbuilding of the city and com- munity. He is a member of the Harvard Club of New York and of San Francisco, the American Asso- ciation of Labor Legislation, the Academy of Politi- cal Science, and the Taylor Society. Locally, he is a member of both the Sutter and Del Paso Country Clubs.

WEINSTOCK, LUBIN & COMPANY .- It will be of interest to record in this history an account of the early history and policy of one of the oldest and most favorably known retail business houses in north- ern California, dating back, as it does, over a period of fifty years in the capital city.

On October 8, 1874, Harris Weinstock and David Lubin established a retail store on the corner of Fourth and K Streets, doing business under the name of "Mechanics' Store, Weinstock and Lubin, Propri-

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etors." The space occupied was about 10 by 12 feet. Within two years, this space was enlarged to about 700 square feet, while the present space is over 150,000 square feet.

In 1888, the firm was incorporated under the name of Weinstock, Lubin & Company. At the time the business was originally established, trade practices in Sacramento were not unlike those prevalent through- out the country. The morals of trade measured by our standards of today were at a low ebb. The rule of the game was to grab all that the traffic would bear. Prices were marked in code. The salesman was not permitted to go below the marked price unless in exceptional instances, but he was permitted to take from his customer all that he could get. Part of his compensation came out of the amount that he could take over and above the code price. This led to constant haggling, the cleverest salesman getting the highest price and the cleverest customer getting the lowest. Favoritism and skill were dominant features in determining the selling price.

Of course, misrepresentation went hand in hand with this practice. Necessarily a salesman had to overstate the value of his wares in order to justify a price higher than the justifiable price.

From the day when their business was opened to the public, Weinstock and Lubin resolved that in their establishment there should be only one price to all on each article, and that that price should be clearly marked. They also established the policy that under no consideration should there be any misrepresenta- tion in any form whatsoever. It is a curious thing to note how their early competitors combated these two policies openly in their advertisements. But it is also interesting to note that most of the competitors first gave way by at least alleging that they, too, had adopted these practices and then by politely going out of business.

In the matter of higher trade morals, Weinstock and Lubin were pioneers on the Pacific Coast, and there were but few who had preceded them in this matter anywhere in America. One of the boasts of the present management is that in no instance has it departed from the principles and policies laid down by the founders.

HENRY L. EHRHARDT .- A representative citi- zen of Elk Grove who has always been ready to do everything in his power to advertise the many advan- tages the little town has to offer the home-seeker, and who has taken advantage of the many oppor- tunities in this motor age and secured the local agency for the Ford car, is Henry L. Ehrhardt, one of the most progressive citizens of Elk Grove.

A native son, Mr. Ehrhardt was born at Cedarville, Modoc County, on July 25, 1872, the son of John and Caroline (Holman) Ehrhardt, who were early pio- neers. John Ehrhardt came to California in 1852, crossing the plain with a band of sheep. Afterwards, he went into dairying, and raised cattle, and he is still alive and in that field, although eighty-six years of age. Mrs. Ehrhardt came to Sacramento in early days. traveling north from Chile in 1849, and her father had the first flour mill in San Francisco, a very interesting circumstance from the standpoint of history. She died in 1921, aged seventy-four.

Henry Ehrhardt went to the public schools, and then farmed with his father, who had a ranch in Mo- doc, and one in Sacramento County, about four miles west of Elk Grove, and with his father he also em-

barked in raising cattle. In 1907 the Ford agency company was formed at Elk Grove, and Messrs. Ehrhardt and Rhoades have continued to manage it ever since. The company really first started to do a plumbing business, and to handle gas engines; and from that they drifted into the automobile field. In 1920, they built their modern brick garage, where they carry a full line of anto supplies, representing a little capital in itself; and as a man of affairs, Mr. Ehrhardt is a director of the Elk Grove Bank. In 1916 he was appointed a member of the board of education. He was made president and was reelected twice; and under his administration, the new high school, cost- ing $125,000, was built.

On November 12, 1901, Mr. Ehrhardt was married to Miss Catherine Mahon, a native daughter of Sac- ramento County, and they have two children: Olive, a graduate of the Elk Grove high school, class of 1923, and Henrietta. He has been through all the Odd Fellow chairs, belongs to the Elks, and he is a Mason of the third degree. He is fond of hunting and fishing, and is enthusiastic about this favored portion of the commonwealth.

EDWARD H. LAWSON .- Folsom City owes much to such enterprising, broad-minded and experi- enced merchants as Edward H. Lawson, who is widely known as an up-to-date confectioner and dealer in uotions and sundry supplies.

Edward H. Lawson is the only son of Peter and Harriett (Norman) Lawson, deceased pioneers whose life records are written in the hearts of their fellow- men and have become an inspiration to those follow- ing after. His father was born at Copenhagen on September 13, 1828, where he went to school; and at the early age of fifteen he left home to follow the sailor's life. He joined a merchant sailing ves- sel; and after coursing the seven seas, he arrived at the Golden Gate early in 1849, after which he never returned to sea life. He went direct to the mines at Middletown, in Amador County, and he was one of the first to placer mine there; but he soon gave up misong to work at his trade, and sewed by hand the canvas hose used in bringing water to the mines trom streams nearby. The hos was made in fifty and one hundred foot lengths, and sid at a good profit. He also later took up painting, which occu- pied him in his decheng years.

In 1866 Peter Lawson was married at Fiddletown to Miss Harriett E. Norman, a native of Chicago, and the daughter of Dr. W. A. Norman, a promi- nent surgeon in Illinois, who had migrated to the gold fields in 1849, and returned East again in 1850, to find that his family-the mother and eight chil- dren-had already started for the Golden State by way of Panama; and they arrived in Fiddletown in 1851. After their arrival Dr. Norman returned to join his family. Dr. Norman was a man of small physique, but a wonder in medical aid; and through- out all the Mother Lode section, he administered to the Indians as well as to the whites. He died at the age of sixty, mourned by everyone who knew him. He has luckily been succeeded by his son, Dr. W. A. Norman, who has become prominent in the profession at Plymouth, Cal., in which town our subject was born on September 1, 1887.

Edward Lawson attended the public schools until he was fifteen, although while in his fourteenth year, he started to work in a general store. In 1903 he

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left home to clerk in San Francisco, where he added materially to his experience. He returned home, for- tunately, in 1906, just prior to the earthquake and fire. Three years later, he came to Folsom and en- tered the employ of the Earl Fruit Company, and there and in that field he remained at work until 1914. In that year, he bought a small business in Sutter Street, and three months later this was com- pletely destroyed by a fire that swept away the en- tire .block in which he was located. He secured a temporary location, however, just across the street from the old stand, and on July 1, 1915, he moved to his present location where he has added, from time to time, to his store equipment. He has a large stock, and the most modern fixtures. He also does an extensive trade, selling soft drinks and ice cream of every kind, and handling only the best available. He also sells bakery goods, notions and sundry supplies.

Mr. Lawson also owns his residence at Folsom, and there, during the declining years of his parents. he cared for them, moving his father from Ply- mouth, where he had resided for thirty-three years. Peter Lawson was an honored pioneer and a mem- ber of the Plymouth Pioneer Association. Hc breathed his last at Folsom, in 1916, at the age of eighty-eight. Mr. Lawson owns the outfit used by his father in the fifties to sew the canvas hose, now a priceless heirloom.

In the year 192], at Sacramento, occurred the marriage of Edward H. Lawson and Miss Rose K. Zangerle, a native of Sacramento, and the daughter of Mrs. Louise Zangerle, who is still residing in that city. A child blessed this union on November 25, 1921, and has been named Anita Louise. Mr. Law- son is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden WVest, and he belongs to Granite Lodge, No. 62. I. O. O. F., and also to the Encampment and to the Rebekahs.

MRS. MINNIE BARTON SHOWERS. - Mrs. Minnie Barton Showers, of Folsom City, was born on May 23, 1865, in Eldorado County, on a ranch five miles west of Latrobe. Her father, Timothy Guy Barton, was born in New York on February 25, 1830, and he was nineteen years old when he arrived at Hangtown, in August, 1849, having had little dif- ficulty in journeying across the great plains. He went into the placer mines, but soon took up land. raising stock and farming, as a sturdy pioneer, and sending provisions into the mines from his ranch. He also engaged in teaming, transporting freight from Sacramento to Virginia City, Nev.

In 1858 Mr. Barton was married to Miss Jane McLevy, a native of Liverpool, who arrived in Cali- fornia the year before, accompanying her sister; and their happy union was blessed with the birth of five children, among whom our subject was next to the youngest. H. D. Barton of Sacramento was the first-born; then came James T. of El Dorado, and after them Albert R., Minnie, and Emma Dun- lap, now of Clarksville. Mr. Barton passed away in 1893, at the age of sixty-three; while Mrs. Barton lived to be seventy, and breathed her last in Eldorado County in 1906.

Minnie Barton attended the Carson Creek Joint school, where her father served for years as a trus- tee; and on January 1, 1888, she was married to Silas Showers; a native of . Nine Mile House, in. Eldorado ..

County, whose parents crossed the plains with ox- teams in the early fifties. Both Silas Showers and Minnie Barton had been schoolmates together, and in their married life they were to prove an ideal couple. In June, 1891, the Showers moved to Fol- som City, and in April, 1901. they purchased the present residence of Mrs. Showers. For many years Mr. Showers was in the employ of P. C. Cohn, the dealer in general merchandise, and he proved a faith- ful and trusted employee.

In 1904 Mr. Showers established himself in busi- ness, selling confectionery and sundry supplies, and he conducted the first telephone exchange in con- nection with his store. In 1912, due to failing health, he sold out and retired from business, and on Feb- ruary 26, 1914, he passed away, one of the highly honored merchants and pioneers, a member of Gran- ite Lodge, I. O. O. F. He had served his community well in various capacities, and particularly as a school trustee and as an influential citizen of democratic political views; and he is survived by five sons of excellent character. The eldest is James H. Show- ers, of Marysville, and the second-born is Frank S. Showers, who lives at home, an employee of the Natomas Company of California, and prominent in the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Odd Fellows. Harold H. served in the World War as a member of the American Expeditionary Forces abroad and died October 16, 1920, as a result of sickness contracted in France. Fred S. served in the Aviation Section, A.E. F. Ted B. is a student at the University of California, class of 1924. Mrs. Showers has been an active member of the Rebekah Lodge, and is a past noble grand.

With exceptional foresight, Mrs. Showers handles her business affairs successfully, and directs the operation of her 200 acres of land in Eldorado Coun- ty. As a mother she is kind and generous-hearted, and it is not surprising that she is highly esteemed by the many who know her, and especially beloved by her devoted sons.

MRS. KELSEY HOBDAY .- Among the clever American women in Sacramento County who have demonstrated exceptional ability in the management of their estates may well be named Mrs. Kelsey Hobday, who resides about eleven miles northeast of Galt. She was born at Perry, Ohio, on December 29, 1855, the daughter of John and Charlotte (Tecce) Child and was christened Emily. Her father and mother were natives of Birmingham, England, where they were married, and they came to the United States when a young couple, and made their way to what was then regarded as decidedly "West", and settled at Perry. In England, Mr. Child had been a miller; but in the country of his adoption he com- menced to farm. Nine children were granted this worthy couple. Ann and Elizabeth, the elder two. are both deceased; then came George, Thomas, Emily. Sarah, Henry, John and William. Mr. Child died at the age of eighty-five, while his good wife lived to see her seventy-seventh year.

One of the annals of the family pertains to the accidental causes of Mrs. Hlobday's parents' settling in Ohio. A sister of our subject's father, Mrs. Wal- ker, was living at St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. and Mrs. Child were on their way there to settle: and at Painesville, Ohio, they were compelled to tarry, be- cause the railway bridge was burned out. A Mr.

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Parmalee extended to them the hospitality of his home, and they thus became interested in the Buck- eye State; and after remaining with the Parmalees for a year, they settled in Perry, on the bank of Lake Erie. In 1887, they made their daughter a visit in California, spent one winter, then went back to their home.

Emily Child attended the schools in Perry, and in that town, on February 6, 1884, was married to Kelsey Hobday, a native of Mentor, Ohio, and the son of John and Elizabeth Hobday. They were also natives of England, where they had been farmer- folk, and they continued agricultural pursuits in this country. Kelsey was one of eight children, those older than he being Ed, John and Basil, and those younger, Sarah, Fannie, Elizabeth and Mar- garet. He came out to California in 1872, bought a ranch and improved a home, then returned to Ohio in 1884, married, and accompanied by his devoted wife returned to California. They settled in Sacra- mento County, about ten miles north of Galt where he had bought 160 acres of grain-land, which they farmed for a while but which has since been sold. In 1900 he took up eighty acres of government land four miles east of the place where he had originally settled, or twelve miles northeast of Galt, which he also devoted to the raising of grain; and this land he cultivated until he died there, in 1912, the father of five children: Kelsey, Jr .; William; Hiram and Edward; and the youngest is Sarah, now employed in the Krebs paint store, Sacramento. Kelsey Hobday was a stanch Republican and heartily supported the party he believed in as most likely to protect and favor American industries. He was a Mason, and an eminently patriotic citizen; and his two sons, Hiram and Edward, have reflected credit upon his honored name by their service in the United States Army.

Hiram Hobday entered the United States Army in June, 1917, and joined the marine corps, and for eleven months he was at Mare Island. Then he was transferred to the Aviation Detachment, and for six months attended the mechanics' training school, and then he went to Miami, and was at the naval aviation school for a part of the time, and for a part of the time was at the marine flying field, and after five months there was discharged, as a pri- vate, in April, 1919. Edward entered the service in August, 1918, and was sent to Camp Lewis, in Wash- ington, and joined Company B of the 1st U. S. In- fantry, Thirteenth Division, and was eleven months at Camp Lewis; and he was honorably discharged, in July, 1919. Both young men are now loyal members of the American Legion at Galt.

Kelsey Hobday, Jr., was born on February 2, 1885, on the home place in Sacramento County, and at the age of sixteen began to support himself, working out on ranches. He clerked for five seasons in a store at Lake Tahoe, and during the winter seasons he worked at Sacramento, Galt and Clay, thus rounding out five years in a very useful way He then spent about six years in the poultry busi- ness in Sacramento County, in the Whitaker and Ray Colony; and in 1922 he came to the old Quiggle ranch at Herald, dairying on shares. He was mar- ried at Lake Tahoe, in June, 1914, to Miss Jessic E. Perry, who was born at Riverside, Cal., the daugh- ter of H. M. and Nellic M. Perry, Canadians, an only child.

William C. Hobday was born on the Hobday ranch, on December 15, 1893, and attended the Don Ray Colony school, and started for himself at the age of twenty-two. He worked for wages until he was married, at Stockton, on May 20, 1916, when he chose for his wife Miss Phebe Webber, the daugh- ter of Barney Webber. The mother is deceased, but the father resides with Mr. and Mrs. William C. Hobday. After William married, he had a chicken ranch at Lodi for two years, and then moved onto the Webber Ranch, one and one-half miles east of Arno, where he raises turkeys and chickens, and also devotes his attention to grain farming. They have two children, Harold and Donald.

CAPT. ANTONIO SBARBARO .- The clever, artistic Italian-American, genial of temperament and industrious in habits, has an enviable record for "mak- ing good" in the United States; and this characteris- tic is well illustrated by the popular Capt. Antonio Sbarbaro, boot- and shoemaker to the exclusive cir- cles of Sacramento, and to the best of the suburban families. He was born at 444 Washington Street, New York City, on November 29, 1857, the son of Bertolame and Rose (Cordano) Sbarbaro. His father was originally a cattle dealer in Italy, as were many members of his family, who took to commercial pur- suits in their native land. When the father came out to the New World, he chose the American metropo- lis as the best field for his peculiar ability as a con- tractor in the unloading and loading of boats. Having done well in America, he married in 1853, in New York, and was actively engaged in his business until he returned to Italy on June 22, 1869, with his good wife and family; and there they both lived and died. Antonio went back with them, and so is the product, so far as his elementary education is concerned, of both the Italian and the American schools. This acquaintance with the daily life of the two continents has been of great service to him.

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History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1923, Part 61

Author: Reed, G. Walter Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026