History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 215

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660

USA > California > San Joaquin County > History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 215

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FRANCIS H. SAUNDERS, D. V. M .- A young man of energy and enterprise, who has made a place for himself in the professional circles of Stockton is Francis H. Saunders, D. V. M., who is conducting a hospital at 336 East Lafayette Street with pronounced success. He was born on his father's ranch on Rob- erts Island, San Joaquin County, Cal., June 3, 1897, a son of Ira E. and Elizabeth (Watson) Saunders, natives of Rhode Island and California, respectively.

Ira Saunders was born at Central Falls, R. I., in 1848, his parents being Moses and Eliza (Sprague) Saunders, also natives of that state, and in the mater- nal line Ira Saunders was of Scotch descent. In the year 1851, Moses Saunders, the grandfather of our subject, came to California via Panama. He engaged in gold mining in Calaveras County, where he died in 1877. In 1857, when a mere boy, Ira Saunders came with his mother and other members of the family to California, also via Panama; they made their way direct to Calaveras County where they joined the husband and father. There Ira grew to manhood and attended the public schools of that county. He en- gaged in mining and sheep raising in the early days, but in 1886 he settled on the San Joaquin River, the portion of the county known as Roberts Island, where he purchased 230 acres of farming land; he drained the swamp land and otherwise improved the ranch with farm buildings, dairy barns, etc. On December 24, 1882, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Watson, a daughter of David Watson, and seven children were born to them: Addie V., Elizabeth A., Ira E., David G., Moses R., Francis H., and Lolita. Fraternally he was a member of Mineral Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Cop- peropolis, Cal., and in politics was a Republican; he also served as clerk of the board of trustees of the Fairchild school district. He passed away in 1912, his wife surviving him until 1917, when she too passed away. The home ranch on Roberts Island is still in the possession of the family, and is operated by the older brothers of our subject.

Francis H. Saunders began his education in the grammar school of Stockton, then attended the Stock- ton high school for three years, at the end of which time he entered the San Francisco Veterinary Col- lege where he remained one year, then entered the Washington State College, from which he was gradu- ated in 1921. He enlisted and remained in service three months during the World War. In 1922 he 93

formed a partnership with C. L. Wrinkle and they conduct a veterinary hospital at 336 East Lafayette Street, Stockton. He is a member of the San Joaquin County Veterinary Association, the Stockton Kiwanis Club, the Whitman Lodge, No. 49, F. & A. M., at Pullman, Wash., and Pacific Parlor No. 10, N. S. G. W., of San Francisco. He is honorary member of the Veterinary College Fraternity, Alpha Psi.

LOUIS F. SANGUINETTI .- A public-spirited cit- izen of the Peters district of San Joaquin County is Louis F. Sanguinetti, who devotes his energies to stock and grain farming, his ranch being two miles east of Peters. He was born near Stockton, August 7, 1882, the youngest son of Angelo and Giovanna (Zignego) Sanguinetti, and was only one year old when his parents settled on the ranch, a portion of which he now owns and on which he makes his home. He received his education at the Everett district school in the neighborhood of his home, and as is usual with farm-reared boys, at an early age was taught to work. When his father passed away in 1916, he was fitted to continue the extensive farming activities. Angelo Sanguinetti was a man of sterling worth to his community and his death caused sincere regret, for he was an advocate of all progressive movements; two years later, in July, 1918, the mother passed away. Louis F. received 640 acres as his por- tion of the home place, which he has continued to farm to grain and on which he also raises fine stock.

On September 1, 1911, at Stockton, Mr. Sanguinetti was united in marriage with Miss Louisa K. Deluc- chi, a native of San Francisco, Cal., a daughter of Antone Delucchi, a California pioneer. Two brothers of Mrs. Sanguinetti, Joseph and Antone, reside in Stockton. In 1917 Mr. Sanguinetti entered into part- nership with Emilio Barrera, a native of Piedmonte. Italy, born May 18, 1893. He came to California in 1910 and has continuously followed ranching since. Mr. Barrera entered the service of the U. S. Army on November 2, 1917, and served in the A. E. F. as a first class private in the 1st Division, 2nd Signal Corps; he was sent to France and saw active service in ten battles, and also served with the Army of Occupation at Coblenz; he returned to the United States and was honorably discharged in August, 1919. The partnership of Mr. Sanguinetti and Mr. Barrera has been productive of mutual benefit and the exten- sive and successful grain and stock operations carried on have been proof of the richness of the soil and ideal climatic conditions of the Peters district. Mr. Sanguinetti is a member of the N. S. G. W. and the B. P. O. Elks, No. 218, of Stockton.

H. B. O. SCHEFFEL .- A representative farmer of the Peters section of San Joaquin County, is H. B. O. Scheffel, whose residence in the county dates from 1883, and since 1891 he has resided on his present home place of fifty acres eleven miles cast of Stock- ton on the Copperopolis Road. He was born in the province of Saxony, Germany, September 14, 1857, and received a good public school education; in 1881. he left Germany for America, and upon his arrival spent a few months at St. Louis, Mo .; then he began to work his way westward, stopping in Utah, where he rode the range until 1883, when he came to Stock- ton, Cal.

At Stockton, in 1891, occurred the marriage of Mr. Schoffel and Mrs. Sarah Ellen . Wally I, onhand.

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widow of C. H. Leonhardt. . Mrs. Scheffel is a native daughter of California, born near Linden, March 28, 1859, a daughter of William Golden Webb, who came across the plains to California in 1854, where he located near Bellota, then called Fisher's Bridge. and. engaged in farming until his death on March 24, 1871, survived by fifteen children, of whom Mrs. Scheffel is the fifth. Mrs. Scheffel's mother passed away in 1907, aged seventy-two years. By her first marriage, Mrs. Scheffel had three children: Louena died at the age of sixteen years; Frances Mabel is the widow of W. C. Waite and she has one son resid- ing at Richmond, Cal .; she is a past noble grand in the Rebekah Lodge; Glen E. has a wife and three children, and they reside near Peters.

Mr. and Mrs. Scheffel are the parents of six chil- dren: Richard O. died in infancy; Walter Vernon owns a twenty-acre ranch near Peters and is associ- ated with his brother in farming; Amelia Violet is a graduate of the Western Normal School and at the present time is in training at the Merritt Hospital in Oakland; Lewis G. has a wife and one child and they reside in Stockton; Hugo William enlisted and served three months in the Merchant Marine during the World War and is now a rancher on fifteen acres near Peters; Archie Lester is a machinist for the Holt Manufacturing Company at Stockton. The same year that Mr. Scheffel was married, he purchased fifty acres near Peters and eleven miles east of Stockton, where he has since engaged in farming. Thirty-one years ago Mr. Scheffel became a member of the I. O. O. F. Lodge at Linden, and Mrs. Scheffel is prominent in the Rebekahs there. Mr. Scheffel has given his loyal support to the school system of the county and for four years served as trustee of the Everett school district. Mr. and Mrs. Scheffel have many warm personal friends in the community where they have spent so many years.

JOHN B. SEELMEIER .- A merchant whose pro- gressive ideals and enterprising moves make him well deserve the success attending his various undertakings is John B. Seelmeier, the proprietor of the Brandt Ferry Store on Roberts Island, and owner of five choice acres not far away. He was born in Holstein, Germany, on September 22, 1846, and in 1869 came out to America, sailing from Hamburg on the steamer Broser, arriving in New York City after twenty-one days on the Atlantic on the fourteenth of March. For a while he worked in the coal-fields of New Jersey, and then he went to Kansas and took up farm-labor at one dollar per day. In 1884 he arrived in San Francisco, where he worked in the construction of the great sea-wall, laboring at that job for a couple of years. His brother-in-law, Captain Tanck, owned two bay schooners, and used them for hauling freight, and joining him in the business, he was in that field of activity for the next six years.

In 1890, he came to Roberts Island and bought five acres at Brandt's Ferry, on the San Joaquin River, and entered the employ of C. H. W. Brandt as ferry- man, and for ten years he managed the ferry at the point; and when the bridge was completed in 1900, he bought the store and lumber business at the pres- ent site, and as a proprietor enjoying the good-will of everyone, he has continued to live there and pros- per ever since. He was made a citizen of the United States by Judge Budd, at Stockton.

At Hoboken, N. J., in 1871, Mr. Seelmeier was mar-

ried to Miss Augusta Brandt, a native of Germany, where she was born in 1849, and who had come to America in 1870; and this good woman passed away at her home on March 26, 1919, leaving behind an enviable name for cooperation in whatever was worthy of support.

KORNELIUS H. SIEMEN .- A vineyardist who realizes exceptionally good results through progres- sive enterprise and untiring industry, is Kornelius H. Siemen, a native of Osil Kiel, Siberia, where he was born on October 22, 1875, the son of Heinrich and Maria (Johnson) Siemen. His father was a farmer, and there were eight children in the family: Heinrich, Jr., was the eldest; and then came John, Jacob, Maria, Katherina, Anna, while the youngest was Kornelius, of our review. Another child, who died, was also called Anna.

Kornelius Siemen attended the grammar school, but when he was fourteen years of age, he had the great misfortune to lose his parents, and since that time he has made his own way. He went to work in a dry- goods store, and also worked on farms, and at all kinds of hard work, gradually getting ahead, and by November 11, 1902, was in a position to set up his own household. He married Kathrina Dick, born in southern Russia, and their union has been blessed with the birth of four children: Henry, Kornelius, John and Katie.

On August 2, 1913, Mr. Siemen landed in New York. He came on directly to California, and at Berenda farmed for one and a half years. Coming then to Lodi, he took a job for Beckman, Welch & Thompson, as floor-walker, which he kept for three years. After that he opened the Siemen Grocerteria in Lodi, which he ran successfully for a year and a half. Selling out, he bought the ranch of fifteen acres upon which he now lives. He had ten acres of Zin- fandel grapes, and five acres of Tokay grapes, and he obtains excellent irrigation by means of electric motor power and a four-inch pump. He moved onto this ranch in December, 1921, and since then has rapidly developed the land. He now has one of the best tracts of productive acreage in the vicinity, operated accord- ing to the latest methods.

CHARLES H. SHEPHERD .- A popular and use- ful official in San Joaquin County is Charles H. Shep- herd, bridge tender on the Grant Line Canal, about seven miles north of Tracy .. Mr. Shepherd is the brother of George W. Shepherd, the county jailer at Stockton. He was born on November 14, 1858, in San Joaquin County, twelve miles from Stockton, at the old Shepherd Ferry, now known as Mossdale, in memory of Captain Moss. His father was Major James Albert Shepherd, who settled in this state in 1850, and soon after established the Shepherd's Ferry on the San Joaquin River-an enterprise that soon proved most profitable, as there were no other ferries this side of tidewater, and bridges were unheard of for many years, and many Argonauts found there a comfortable and safe crossing on their way to the southern mines. James A. Shepherd was born in Kentucky of Scotch-Irish parentage. When a young man only nineteen years old he crossed the great plains with an ox team and located in this county, where he owned at one time thousands of acres of land in the environs of his ferry.

When Charles H. Shepherd was nine years old the family removed to Elkgrove, Nev .; and on their re-

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

turn to this county, in 1876, Mr. Shepherd founded the railroad hotel at Lathrop, and Charles worked there for nearly thirty years, finally becoming mana- ger. In 1886, Major Shepherd was elected supervisor; and in that important office he served for sixteen con- secutive years, until his death in 1902. He was always a good judge of horse-flesh, and the family became widely known as owners of fine saddle and harness horses. He had married Miss Martha Isbel, who crossed the plains from Kentucky with her parents in 1849, and located at Beliside, her father being Levy Isbel, who established the Eagle Hotel at Stockton, the first American house in that city.

The eldest of nine children born to Major and Mrs. Shepherd, both of whom are now deceased, Charles Shepherd received a good common-school education at Lathrop, and then spent some six years on the range in Nevada, and engaged in stockraising. He was married at Lathrop to Miss Alice Lampson, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lampson of Sonora, and to them were born two children, Roy L. Shepherd and Gladys, who is now Mrs. Wicks, of Los Angeles, and the mother of two sons. Mr. Shepherd was mar- ried a second time at San Jose, Cal., to Miss Florence McIntyre, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. McIntyre, both prominent pioneers of the county. Her father, formerly exalted ruler of the Elks, passed away in September, 1921. Mrs. Shepherd was born at Sutter Creek and was reared in Stockton. She is now the sole survivor of that family. Her maternal grand- father, Hicks by name, was a partner of Kit Carson, and roamed the West before the day of Fremont. In May, 1914, Mr. Shepherd was appointed tender of the large drawbridge at the Grant Line Canal, seven miles north of Tracy; and here, in a comfortable home by the canal, he and his wife have resided ever since.

CHARLES R. SMITH .- On the list of agricultur- ists in the Escalon section of San Joaquin County ap- pears the name of Charles R. Smith, who resides on his home place of 136 acres situated about eighteen miles southeast of Stockton, being a portion of the 500-acre tract of land purchased by his father in 1874. He was born at Scottsville, Cal., April 18, 1859, the youngest son of the late Charles Edward and Isabelle (Robertson) Smith, the former a native of Maine and the latter of Canada. The mother of our subject accompanied her parents to California via Panama in 1853 and settled in Amador County. Charles Edward Smith crossed the plains in 1853 to California in search of gold. Arriving in California he, too, settled in Amador County, and there he met and married Miss Robertson; then he moved to Washington, Cal., where he worked as a miner and also engaged in stockraising. Later the family removed to San Joa- quin County, where the father bought the property of Captain McQuien, consisting of eighty acres located near Woodbridge on which is a natural lake known as Smith Lake. In 1874 he acquired 500 acres of land about eighteen miles southeast of Stockton, which he farmed to grain, but the family always made their home on the ranch near Woodbridge. The father passed away at the age of seventy-two years.

On September 28, 1898, at Woodbridge, Charles R. Smith was married to Miss Caroline Matthews, born at Pine Grove, Cal., September 26, 1875, a daughter of Dan S. Matthews, a native of Indiana who later moved to Illinois and from there came to California in 1874. Mr. Matthews was a freighter from Whit-

more's Mill, Amador County, to Sacramento for many years; later he removed to San Joaquin County and engaged in farming on Roberts Island for a number of years. He passed away at Sacramento in 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of eight chil- dren: Helen M. is a graduate of the Western Normal School in Stockton and the Stockton Commercial College, and during the World War served for eighteen months in the office of the War Risk Bureau in Washington, D. C .; she is now holding a fine position in Stockton; Isabelle C .; Charles H .; Albert M .; Cyril W .; Philip E .; Estella N .; and Janice. Helen and Isabelle Smith are members of Stockton Parlor, N. D. G. W., and Charles H. is a member of the De Molay Order in Stockton. Mr. Smith is a Mason and Mrs. Smith and two of their daughters are members of the Eastern Star Lodge. Mr. Smith has devoted much of his time to the advancement of educational matters and is now serving as a director of the Esca- lon Union high school. His political support is given to the Republican party and he has always taken an active part in community interests.

DAVID H. SMITH .- For the past two years David H. Smith has occupied the position of principal of the Weber school in Stockton and has demon- strated his ability to advance the standard of educa- tion in a marked degree. He is a native son of Cali- fornia, born at Los Banos, Merced County, June 8, 1896, a son of Oscar and Amy (Hunt) Smith, the former a native of Iowa and the latter of Minnesota. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Samuel Smith, crossed the plains to California via the Salt Lake route in 1851, unmolested by the Indians, al- though the party in advance and the one following had been cruelly massacred by them. Grandfather Smith settled near Merced and farmed there, and resided there until his death, January 5, 1923, at the advanced age of nearly ninety.

Oscar Smith, the father of our subject, is living retired on his ranch in Merced County. Eight chil- dren were born to them: Clarence is a contractor in San Jose, Cal .; Letha, now Mrs. D. A. Allen of New- man; Ruth is Mrs. Carroll of Merced; Jesse resides in Los Banos; during the World War he entered the aviation corps and was a flyer at Kelly Field, then was transferred to England, and later to France, serv- ing as a sergeant; David H., the subject of this sketch; Wesley was an aviation student at the Uni- versity of California and at the time of his examina- tion he was the third highest among 500 men; he was sent to Rockwell Field where he became a flyer and was commissioned second lieutenant, but was held in the United States as an aviation instructor; he drove the De Haviland mail plane across the United States and is now inspector of mail planes in New York City; he is also a student of music in that city; Blythe is Mrs. Hancock of Los Banos; Lyle resides in San Jose and was in the infantry during the World War. David H. Smith began his education at the Los Banos grammar school then was graduated from the high school of that place in 1912, and then entered San Jose State Normal where he was graduated in 1914; he then spent one year at the University of Cali- fornia, after which he went to Fallon, Nev., where he taught for one year.

On November 3, 1917, at Fallon, Nev., Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Iva Drumm, a native of Santa Cruz, Cal. daughter of

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Andrew D. and Luella ( Kirkbride ) Drumm, natives of Indiana and Illinois, respectively. Andrew D. Drumm came to California in 1894 and followed con- tracting and carpentering at Redwood City; at the time of the gold excitement in Nevada he removed to Tonopah where he conducted a large dairy ranch. Four children were born to them: Margaret, Andrew, Mrs. Gertrude Smith, and Herman. Returning to California in 1917 Mr. Smith became the vice princi- pal of the Jackson school in Stockton where he re- mained for six months, then entered upon his duties as vice principal of the Weber school, and in 1921 was appointed principal. Four years ago he purchased his home at 1203 North East Street, where he resides with his wife and two children, David H., Jr., and Randolph K.

HARRY SIGELKOFF .- Among the dairies of San Joaquin County supplying pure and wholesome milk to the residents of Lodi is that owned and con- ducted by Harry Sigelkoff. A native of New Jersey he was born at Woodbridge on December 15, 1876, a son of John Henry and Anna Louise Sigelkoff, the former a native of Germany who came to the United States when a young man and engaged in farming. In April, 1889, the family removed to California, set- tling in San Joaquin County, where the father pur- chased five acres three miles southwest of Lodi. Harry Sigelkoff is the third eldest in a family of six chil- dren, the others being Anna, Mrs. George B. Marshall, of Oakland; Ebba, deceased; Frank E., of Escalon; Sigrid, Mrs. W. C. Housken, of Thornton; and Ar- thur A., of Oakland. The father passed away in July, 1909, on the home ranch at the age of sixty-five, while the mother makes her home in Oakland and is about eighty years old.

Harry Sigelkoff attended school in his native state until the family came West to California, and here he attended school in Lodi, meanwhile assisting his father with the ranch work. He now leases the home place from his mother where he conducts his dairy along sanitary and modern lines, the whole ranch being devoted to the raising of alfalfa. Mr. Sigelkoff is a Republican in politics, and a stanch friend of local progress in all directions.

WILLIAM H. SNYDER .- An enterprising, highly progressive and experienced horticulturist, whose efforts to advance husbandry in California along both scientific and eminently practical lines have met with success, is William H. Snyder, who possesses some thirty-two acres of choice San Joaquin County land about five miles from Stockton, on the Waterloo Road. A native of the great Empire State, Mr. Snyder was born just east of Buffalo, in Erie County, on January 18, 1859, the son of Phillip and Katherine (Nature) Snyder, both natives of Germany, the former having been born in 1802 in Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1833 the father crossed the Atlantic on a sailing vessel which was buffeted by storm and several times driven back, taking six months to make the trip; he had served an apprenticeship as wheelwright in the Fa- therland, and knew that trade well when he reached America and was compelled to look out for himself. He made his way "out West," as it was then known, and settled in Wyoming County, N. Y., where he bought Government land; but after a short time, con- vinced that better prospects for settlers were offered in Erie County he sold out and moved thither.

Phillip Snyder bought 100 acres of land, in Wales township, along a creek, on which was a lumber mill, which he ran for two years, when it was burned; and William H. Snyder well remembers the family catastrophe, although he was then only two years of age; he saw it burn to the ground, and the fact that he can now recall it vividly is a good illustration of what is known to be scientifically possible, that one may remember well the details of the earliest years, when the impressions of later times are less real. Mr. Snyder rebuilt the mill and there for several years engaged in the manufacture of lumber.

The first marriage of Phillip Snyder united him with Miss Elizabeth Nature, and she died in Germany the mother of three children: George, Phillip and Eliza- beth. In 1832 he married for his second wife Kather- ine Nature, a sister of his first wife, and the following year with his three children set sail for America. The children born of the second union are: Christ, Kath- erine, Charles, Frank, Lena, John D., Fred, William H. and Louisa. Phillip Snyder was eighty-two years, five months and eleven days old when he died.

When William H. Snyder was sixteen his mother died and at the age of seventeen his father turned over the sawmill to him and he carried on operations for six years with gratifying success. He is a natural mechanic and easily adapts himself to any line of mechanical work. He came to California in 1889 as a tourist, then went back East to get his family, re- turning to the West and locating in Idaho, nine miles east of Moscow. He left there in 1892 and located in San Joaquin County, Cal., bought some land and began development of it, and ever since then has been a resident here. He was married on January 19, 1879, to Miss Katherine Bender, a native of Wyoming County, N. Y., and they had eleven children: Wil- liam P. of Lodi; Mrs. Lillian Mahan of Vallejo; Mrs. Louise Rosell of Stockton; Mrs. Hattie Haywards of Oakland; Mrs. Elsie Kell of San Joaquin County; L. R. Snyder of Sacramento; Mrs. Hazel Foss of San Jose; Mrs. Irene Cole of Stockton; Earl L. and Elmer are running the home ranch; and Margery. After many years of hard and productive labor Mr. Snyder is now living retired to recuperate and enjoy a well earned rest.

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History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 215

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1660

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660