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 244

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 244

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

AAlma Switzenberg also resides in Morristown; Jacob, Albert and Lena are deceased.

John K. Weber attended the grammar school at Morristown, Minn., and spent twenty-seven years of his life on his father's farm, assisting his father with the farm work from the time he was large enough to guide a plow. In January, 1909, at Morristown, Minn., he was married to Miss Bertha Schmidtke, also a native of Morristown and a schoolmate of her hus- band. She is the daughter of Herman and Amelia (Reiske) Schmidtke, farmers in Minnesota, and the parents of nine children. After his marriage Mr. Weber leased 360 acres in the vicinity of Morristown where he farmed until 1920, when he sold his farming equipment and came to California, locating on his present ranch. His ranch consists of ten acres of producing vineyard, well irrigated. Mr. Mrs Weber have six children: Alvin, Edwin, Lucile, Leona, Leslie and Edna, the two youngest being twins. The family are identified with the Lutheran Church of Lodi. Mr. Weber is a Republican.

PAUL WENCEL .- A native of Hungary who has profited greatly by coming to America and adopting this as his land, is Paul Wencel, who was born in that region now known as Czecho-Slovakia, in a pic- turesque town called Ratzesdorf, where he first saw the light on February 24, 1871, the son of Paul and Susana (Lechner) Wencel. His father was a farmer, and in such comfortable circumstances that he was considered well-to-do, and he was over eighty years old when he died, during the first year of the World War. His mother was also over eighty years of age when she passed away in 1918. Five children were born to this worthy couple, all of whom, in turn, were given superior and most attractive home sur- roundings. Matt lives at Lyons, Colo .; Mrs. Susana Gschweng has remained in Hungary; Paul is the sub- ject of our story; Rosina is also in the old country; and Ludwig is a farmer in Brighton, Colo.

Owing to local economic conditions, Paul was able to attend school only in the winter time, for during the summer he was compelled to work hard on the farm; and he continued to help his father on his large farm until he was twenty-four years of age, when he married. On February 18, 1895, at the home of the bride, in Hungary, he was joined in matrimony with Miss Christina Gschweng, a native of the same district in which Mr. Wencel was born. Her folks were also agriculturists, and she was one of a family of six children: Michael, Ludwig and Paul are still living in the Old World; and Mrs. Paulina Praschak of Acampo, and Susana, now Mrs. Weng, in Lyons, Colo .; and Christina is Mrs. Wencel. The latter enjoyed the same limited educational advantages as her husband. On marrying, Mr. and Mrs. Wencel acquired about twelve acres of land and a spacious homestead; and there they lived from 1895 to 1908. In the meantime, in 1904, Mr. Wencel crossed the ocean to America, arriving in March, and returning to Europe in September, availing himself of the op- portunity to visit his brother in Colorado. In the spring of 1908 he removed with his wife and three children to the Centennial State and also brought his father and mother; but the latter eventually returned to their native country, and there ended their days.

In 1910 Mr. Wencel came to California and settled and bought his present ranch of twenty acres, about two miles to the northwest of Acampo. The ranch

was set out to Tokay, Zinfandel and Berger grapes, all excellent stock, and Mr. Wencel was not long in putting in a four-inch pumping plant, with a ten- horsepower electric motor, by which he has developed an adequate supply of good water. He has had the satisfaction of seeing his five children comfortably provided for. Paul, Christina, Fred, Daniel and Es- ther all'have attended the Houston school; and Fred attends the Lodi high school, while Paul is assisting his father on the ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Wencel have prospered greatly in California, and the best feature of their story is that all who know them are always glad to learn of their good fortune.

G. WEYAND .- A very industrious, progressive and successful vineyardist, who well deserves his prosperity, is G. Weyand, who lives south of Youngs- town. He was born in Hesse-Nassau, November 20, 1874, the son of William and Caroline (Kessler) Wey- and, the former a shoemaker, who lived to be eighty- six years of age, while Mrs. Weyand passed away in her fifty-second year. The worthy couple had ten children: Emma was the oldest, then came August, Henry, Sophie, Lena, Henrietta, Caroline, and the subject of our review; and after him were Ferdinand and William.

The lad attended the grammar schools of Germany, and after that he set out to make his own way in the world. He worked in the iron mines. In 1891 he came to the United States and settled at Hillsboro, Kans., and there he worked on a farm; later he clerked in a general merchandise store for a few years, and then went into business for himself in Hillsboro. After ten years of steady success there, he came out to California and settled at Lerdo, in Kern County. He rented 107 acres from the Lerdo Land Company, and the second year there he bought forty acres, renting 300 besides; but failing to get water he let his Lerdo ranch go and came to Lodi.

He first rented a twenty-acre vineyard on Kettle- man Lane, but the second year he bought a part of the Fuqua ranch, northeast of Lodi, making the pur- chase of Mr. Lorenz. He is at present the owner of 110 acres, in two pieces, namely: fifty acres of the Fuqua ranch and sixty acres of the ranch which he purchased from Mr. F. R. Hamsher, in March, 1921, he having sold off seven and one-half acres from the fifty-seven and one-half-acre ranch to his father-in- law, Mr. B. J. Unruh, who now resides upon it. He also sold off twenty acres from the land bought from Mr. Hamsher. Mr. Weyand is at present engaged in improving and planting his sixty acres upon which he and his family are happily domiciled.

At Hillsboro, Kans., on October 14, 1900, Mr. Weyand was married to Miss Julia Unruh, a native of Hillsboro and the daughter of B. J. and Eva (Johnson) Unruh. Her father came to Kansas a young man, as one of the first settlers in that part of the country, and homesteaded a ranch. He is now seventy-six years old, and his good wife just three years younger; and they are both still living. They had eleven children: Sarah, the eldest, is in Kansas; Minnie, Peter and David died in Russia; Eva is also in Kansas; Julia is the devoted wife of our subject; Benjamin is in Kern County, California; August in Kansas; Bena in Kern County; Samuel is at Chinook, Mont .; while Jonathan is deceased, having passed away in Colorado. Mrs. Weyand's parents came from Warsaw, Russia, to Kansas, after they had been mar-

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ried in Russia, and Mr. Unruh had put in hard work as a grain farmer. Mrs. Weyand attended the Hills- boro schools, as Mr. Weyand had also attended the schools in Kansas. Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Unruh came out to California, in 1920, and settled on a part of Mr. Weyand's fifty-seven and one-half acres. Six children have been born to our subject and his worthy wife: Edna, their eldest, died in February, 1920; the others are Wallace, Clarence, Rosaline, Howard, and Grace.

Mr. Weyand took out his citizenship papers in Marion County, Kansas, and later, in Kern County, he served on the local school board.

E. T. WISNER .- An alert, energetic business man of Lodi, E. T. Wisner has been engaged in the con- tracting and building business since 1905. He is a native of Vicksburg, Mich., where he was born on September 21, 1877, and when a small lad his family removed to Council Grove, Kans., where he was reared and educated until he was twenty years old. His first work in construction was for the Santa Fe Railroad building bridges; he then removed to Bellingham, Wash., and worked as a carpenter and millwright and - in October, 1905, arrived in San Francisco, where he was employed by the C. C. Moore Company, and was sent to Tonopah, Nev., to erect a cyanide plant and stamp mill. He returned to San Francisco during the year of the great fire and helped in the rebuilding of the city, remaining there for seven years, when he came to Lodi to work on the Union high school building, and during the eleven years of his residence he has erected hundreds of houses all over the northern part of the county, making a specialty of medium priced bungalows, although he has built garages and stores.

Mr. Wisner married Miss Sarah Handley, a native of Santa Cruz County, Cal., and they are the parents of four children, Clarence, Arthur, Lucile, and Roy. The family reside on Woodbridge Avenue, where they have a three-acre Tokay vineyard of thirteen- year-old vines. Fraternally Mr. Wisner is a member of the Woodmen of the World.

WILLIAM EARL WHEELER .- Coming to

Stockton with a wide experience in construction work, William Earl Wheeler has established a name for himself for his ability in this line and is now foreman for Daniels & Green, well-known building contract- ors of Stockton. Mr. Wheeler was born at Toledo. Ore., February 3, 1883, but has been a resident of California since his eleventh year, coming with his parents to Oakland, where he completed his educa- tion. He began work as a carpenter with the South- ern Pacific Railroad and later held a clerical position with the Contra Costa Water Company. He then became associated with the Dinwiddie Construction Company of San Francisco and worked in the erec- tion of school buildings at Oakland as foreman of construction, for a period of six years. In 1917 he became foreman of construction on the cantonment buildings at Fort Scott and Fort McDonald, and participated in the erection of 180 buildings at North Vallejo for the U. S. Government Housing Corpora- tion, and the laying of streets there; also in the exten- sion of the Sperry Flour Mills at South Vallejo.

Mr. Wheeler next entered the employ of the Foun- dation Company of San Francisco and was foreman of construction on three large cement buildings, the

largest, 100 by 260 feet, being for the Standard Oil Company at Point Richmond. He has especial rea- son for pride in the construction of the latter as he received a fine letter from the Standard Oil Company complimenting him on the excellence of his work. In 1921 Mr. Wheeler came to Stockton to superintend the construction of the beautiful new Masonic Tem- ple, erected by McDonald and Kahn of San Fran- cisco, the finest building completed in Stockton for several years. Recognizing his experience and ability in heavy construction work, Daniels and Green of Stockton secured his services as foreman on the new Presbyterian Church recently completed on North El Dorado Street, a splendid piece of work which Mr. Wheeler handled to the satisfaction of all con- cerned.

Mr. Wheeler's marriage, which occurred in 1905, united him with Miss Viola D. McCoon, a native of Jervis, Ore., and they have become the parents of three children: Elizabeth, Donald and Robert. The family are making their home at 1125 North Ophir Street, Stockton. In fraternal life, Mr. Wheeler is a member of Fruitvale Camp No. 483, Woodmen of the World.

HANS MADSEN .- The proprietor of the leading automobile business at Ripon, Cal., Hans Madsen is a mechanical engineer of exceptional ability, having received a most thorough training in this line in his native land of Denmark, where he was born at Stryno on December 22, 1885, a son of Claus M. and Marie (Anderson) Madsen, who still make their home at Stryno, where the father is the owner and proprietor of a flour mill. They are the parents of seven chil- dren: John, a contractor and builder at Ripon, is now on a visit to his old home in Denmark; Karen is the wife of Captain Jorgensen, a sea captain of Aarhus, Denmark; Prof. Anders Madsen is principal of the high school at Rudkjobing, Denmark; Hans, of this sketch; Bodil resides at Los Angeles; Rasmus is a grain dealer and owner of a flour mill at Fyen, Denmark; Jorgen runs the mill at home.

Hans Madsen attended the schools at Stryno and at the age of fifteen he was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. While a mere boy he worked around his father's mill and early became acquainted with the principles and actual working of complicated machin- ery and then entered upon a four years' apprentice- ship as a machinist at Wester Aaby, and it was after this that he finished his high school and tech- nical training, the latter at the technical school at Randis, Denmark. He was twenty-five years old when he passed his final examination as mechanical engineer, a very strict examination under government supervision, requiring approximately eight hours a day for three weeks. He also successfully passed the examination for steam engineer in the Danish Navy. Shortly after this he received a stipend from the Danish government for the purpose of foreign travel to further perfect his education, so he came to the United States in 1911, visiting leading manufacturing centers from New York to San Francisco. After about a year's travel he entered the employ of the Link-Belt Company at Chicago, Ill., as an expert loco- motive crane engineer, and was with them until 1917, when he came to Ripon, Cal., where his brother, John Madsen, was located; he had visited Ripon in 1912 and being favorably impressed with the surroundings he determined then to locate here. He soon started

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in the garage business as an automobile repair man, and in 1919-1920 his brother, John Madsen, erected the building where the Madsen Garage has since been located. Here Mr. Madsen deals in Stude- baker, Overland and Willys-Knight automobiles, be- sides tires, tubes, and all other auto accessories. He also maintains an up-to-date repair shop, which is at present leased and operated by I. A. Goodwin, and is the leading machine shop of Ripon.

In 1916 Mr. Madsen was married at Chicago to Miss Kristine Frederickson, a native of Denmark, and they are the parents of two children, Ella and Paul Madsen. In fraternal circles Mr. Madsen is a member of Mt. Horeb Lodge, No. 58, I. O. O. F., of Ripon, and he takes a public-spirited interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community.

FRED C. MAIER .- A successful contractor of Lodi who has prospered ever since locating here in 1908, is Fred C. Maier, a native of Russia, born in that far-off land December 31, 1869. When he was fifteen years old he came to the United States, locat- ing in South Dakota, where for the next ten years he worked out on farms. He then filed on a home- stead claim of 160 acres near Eureka, S. D., farming this for seven years before he sold it, and then bought another 160 acres near by for which he paid $925. After farming this place for four years he disposed of the land for $3,200, and the farm buildings and equip- ment for $2,400, a very profitable transaction.

Mr. Maier then located at Ashley, S. D., where he took up the trade of carpenter, remaining there until 1908, when he came to Lodi, and he has been busily engaged since that time as a building contractor. He has done some fine work in this vicinity, erecting houses costing from $5,000 to $20,000, among them the ranch residences of John V. Bare, Mrs. Phillips, Ed Pope and the Woock Bros., the homes of G. Krowell, John Powers, Fred Frey, Gottlieb Mettler, D. D. Mettler, John Bender, and Mr. Peete in Lodi, the Pioneer Fuel & Feed Company building and the packing house for the Farmers' Fruit Exchange in Lodi, besides a number of other fruit packing houses. His gross business in 1920 was about $100,000, leading all other contractors in Lodi in building operations for that period. On coming to Lodi he bought a two- acre tract and erected a house on it which he later sold for $3,100; the family now make their home in an attractive residence at 533 East Walnut Street.

Mr. Maier's marriage, in 1902, united him with Miss Katie Presler, like himself a native of Russia, and they have a daughter, Bertha, the wife of Theo- dore Eichler of Lodi. The family are members of the German Baptist Church and Mr. Maier contrib- uted generously to the building fund for the erection of their new church edifice.

PAUL MADONNA .- A prosperous dairyman of San Joaquin County is Paul Madonna, part owner of a forty-acre dairy ranch three miles southeast of Lodi on Hogan Lane. A native Californian, he was born at Half Moon Bay on February 3, 1890, a son of Paul and Theresa (Pezzoni) Madonna. The father was a native of Canton Ticino, Switzerland, and in young manhood came to California and settled at Half Moon Bay, where he owned and operated a dairy ranch; later he removed to Suisun, Solano County, and rented an 1,800-acre ranch on which he maintained about 300 head of cattle. Our subject is the second oldest in a

family of seven children: Fred resides in Lodi; Mary is Mrs. Cords of Woodbridge; Emesta, Mrs. P. Sargenti of Galt; Paul; Joseph; Mrs. Ida DeCarli and Mrs. Ella Anis are both deceased. The father lived to be seventy-one years old and the mother re- sides on the Lodi ranch. Joseph Madonna, Paul's brother, entered the service of his country as a pri- vate on June 26, 1918, and was sent to Camp Lewis; then transferred to Camp Fremont and placed in Company F of the 62nd Infantry, 8th Division. From August to October of 1918 he remained at Camp Fremont, then was sent to Camp Mills, N. Y., and later to Camp Lee, Va., where he remained until sent back to California, where he was discharged at the Presidio, San Francisco, in 1919. He was an excel- lent shot and qualified as a sharpshooter.

Paul Madonna attended school in Solano County until the time of his father's death, when he and his brothers conducted the dairy. In 1915 the family removed to Lodi and purchased forty acres on Hogan Lane, which is devoted to the raising of alfalfa and a dairy of thirty-five cows is maintained, being of the Holstein and Durham breeds. Mr. Madonna was married at Suisun on September 8, 1915, to Miss Mary Baccala, a native of Birds Landing, Cal., and a daughter of Charles and Olivia Baccala, and she was educated at Benicia. Her only brother, Joseph Baccala, entered the U. S. Army as a private in June of 1918, and went into training in Arizona, where he served on an ammunition train and was sent to France where he remained for one year, then was returned to the United States and was discharged at the Presidio, San Francisco. In politics, Mr. Madonna is a Re- publican, and fraternally is a member of the Eagles of Lodi.

G. LORENCE MANGINI .- Ten years ago G. Lo- rence Mangini came to California for his permanent residence and for the past three years has been iden- tified with agricultural pursuits in San Joaquin County. He is the owner of a thirty-acre tract of land five and a half miles from Stockton on the Upper Sacramento Road, which is entirely devoted to fruit and garden truck raising. He was born in Genoa, Italy, November 30, 1894, a son of Antonio and Louisa Mangini, both natives of Italy. Antonio Mangini came to California in an early day and went to the gold mines at Jackson, and there he passed away. When G. Lorence Mangini was seventeen years of age he came to the United States alone and worked for two years in New York, when he came on to Cali- fornia and worked as night watchman in Oakland for a year; he then went to Crocker, Cal., and was em- ployed in the sugar factory until his enlistment in the U. S. Army in 1918, in Company B, of the 143rd Field Artillery, which was later transferred to the 91st Division in France and was in the reserves at the St. Mihiel drive; then they took part in the Meuse-Ar- gonne drive, where he went over the top three differ- ent times and was twice wounded; later he was with the Allies in Belgium. Mr. Mangini was No. 1 on the cannon squad. He then returned to the United States and on June 19, 1919, was honorably discharged at the Presidio as a private, first class. Returning to Stockton he worked for the Sperry Flour Company for four months; then he rented twenty acres in the Oak Park tract where he engaged in raising vegeta- bles. When he sold his interest he bought a home at 1437 East Oak Street, Stockton, where he worked

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for wages until he purchased his present place in 1922. With a partner he bought thirty acres on the Upper Sacramento Road, a few miles out from Stock- ton, and later, when his partner retired, he assumed his share and now is the sole owner.

On May 26, 1918, in Stockton, Mr. Mangini was married to Miss Lena Garrozola, also a native of Genoa, Italy, and a daughter of Giacomo and Mary Garrozola. Mrs. Mangini was two years old when her parents removed to California and settled near Stockton in the Fair Oaks district and she received her education in the Fair Oaks grammar school. There are seven children in the family, Mrs. Mangini being the eldest; Tony, Albina, Mary, Rosie, James and Lilly, all residing in Stockton. The parents still live in the Fair Oaks district near Stockton. Mr. and Mrs. Mangini had one daughter, Louise, who died in infancy. Mr. Mangini is a member of Karl Ross Post No. 16, American Legion.

MANTECA CREAM AND BUTTER COM- PANY .- Among the enterprising business concerns of San Joaquin County is the Manteca Cream and Butter Company, owned by Chris Christiansen, Floyd Richards, Peter-Christiansen, and Theodore Larsen, who, by their intelligent industry, have contributed largely to the development of this section. Even before they located at Manteca the four partners had long years of valuable experience in the same field, so that their subsequent success and present pros- perity are not at all surprising.

The original plant was organized in 1896 by a group of local farmers, and was conducted as a kind of skimming station, to which the neighboring ranch- ers were accustomed to bring their milk. For about fifteen years the station was known as Cowell's Switch, and this plant was the chief source of revenue to the ranchers, who conducted dairies and sold the cream. Following this, a small butter business was gradually being developed, and after 1918, manufac- turing was carried on extensively. As a result of both natural growth and the excellent management afforded by the gentlemen named above, the well- equipped plant is now turning out seven times the volume it produced in 1918. To better facilitate the work, the company has recently added new and mod- ern machines, and will soon be compelled to enlarge again. Manteca Butter, the copyrighted trademark, is known far and wide in the central part of the state. The company employ four men and two women, and are turning out 18,000 pounds of butter per week, necessitating a fast fleet of four trucks, continually on the go, collecting milk twice a day from the ranchers.

The two Christiansen brothers were born in the village of Fjeldso, Denmark, where they received an excellent common schooling, and in the middle of their teens took up the butter-making trade. Chris Christiansen came out to America in 1912, and located at first at San Jose; but three weeks later he estab- lished himself in the creamery trade at Bakersfield, where he remained for three years, and to that town, in 1914, his brother Peter followed. Chris is married, and has a wife and two children; and he maintains a residence in Manteca. Floyd Richards was born at Rivana, Kans., and came West to California as a young man, in 1896. He has been identified with the butter trade of this county as an expert, operating also in Kern County for over seven years; and he 100

was associated with the Christiansen brothers prior to their removing to this county. Mr. Richards also lived in San Diego County still earlier-before mi- grating to San Joaquin and Kern counties; he is mar- ried and lives at Manteca. Mr. Larsen is a native of Denmark, and came to America in 1890, when he was twenty-five years old. He went to Phillips, S. D., where he became prominent as an extensive stock- breeder. In 1918 he came to Manteca and he has recently associated himself with the company.

SALVADOR MAURO .- Identified with the busi- ness interests of the town of Mossdale, San Joaquin County, Salvador Mauro, in partnership with Charles Abersold, owns and operates a garage and store on the Lincoln Highway, both young men being expert machinists and in consequence doing a successful business in their line. Salvador Mauro was born in the province of Cosenza, Italy, June 25, 1893, a son of Charles and Teresa Mauro, both natives of Italy. The father, Charles Mauro, was a shoemaker in his native country who came to Lathrop, San Joaquin County, in 1894, where he followed his trade success- fully and also owned profitable vegetable gardens near Lathrop. In 1901 Salvador Mauro came to America with his mother and joined the husband and father at Lathrop. When the father passed away in 1908 the vegetable gardens were sold. The mother married again, and is now Mrs. Esposito, living at Lathrop.

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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 244

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