Alameda County
Biographies
ERNST HENRY FRICK
Throughout the entire period of his residence in California, covering more than forty years, Ernst Henry Frick has been a resident of Alameda county and has followed farm pursuits. Since 1884 he has made his home on a ranch of one hundred and seventy acres at Verona Station, near Pleasanton, overlooking the Livermore valley. At the time of its purchase the property was in the primeval condition of nature, no attempt having been made to clear it of a dense growth of poison oak. Only after the most arduous effort on his part was the land brought into condition for profitable cultivation, but as a result of his energy and untiring industry it has been converted into an attractive homestead and furnishes an excellent example of what may be accomplished with rolling and hilly land. A considerable portion of the farm is in hay. A vineyard of eight acres is a profitable adjunct, while the small dairy has also proved a source of revenue to the owner.
The Frick family is of Prussian origin and was founded in America in 1828 by Henry Frick, who in that year crossed the ocean and settled in Illinois. Accompanying him were seven sons and a daughter. Three of his children are still living, all of them now more than four score years of age, while he attained the age of eighty-eight. Throughout the period of his residence in this country he engaged in farm pursuits, supplemented by frequent work at the butcher's trade. Among his children was a son, George, who was twelve years of age when he accompanied the family from his native land of Prussia to the new home across the ocean. As a boy he assisted in bringing under cultivation a tract of land in Monroe county, Ill., and there in early manhood he followed farming and stock-raising. Somewhat later he was interested in the building of a flour mill, of which he became the owner and proprietor. While for some years success followed his efforts, later he was the victim of many losses from fire and unfortunate investments. An added misfortune came in the failure of the house with which he transacted business and which owed him a large amount. At the opening of the Civil war he raised a company of volunteers, which became known as Company F, Forty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry. As captain of his men he served in the army during the early part of the Rebellion. Later he was chosen provost-marshal and secured men from his district for service at the front, resigning this position after a time in order to resume the supervision of his business interests which had suffered by his absence. He continued to make his home in Illinois until he died, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, who was Katherine Ensinger, a native of Prussia, died in Illinois which fifty-six years of age. In religion she was a member of the Lutheran Church.
On the home farm in Monroe county, Ill., Ernst Henry Frick was born May 7, 1841, and there he grew to manhood, alternating attendance at the local schools with work as an assistant to his father. When the war began he was anxious to enlist, but his parents opposed his wish and frustrated his plans. Thereupon he left home, in April, 1862, and came to California via the Isthmus of Panama, the voyage being made memorable as the vessel was pursued by a pirate ship. On his arrival in San Francisco he had only $3.65 left, but was fortunate in securing work without delay. For a year he was employed at Centerville, Alameda county, and then began to operate rented land. Year by year his savings grew until finally he had accumulated sufficient capital to enable him to purchase his present property. His possessions represent his unaided exertions and prove him to be a man of enterprise and patient perseverance. For years after coming west he remained a bachelor, but May 25, 1895, he established domestic ties through his marriage to Mrs. Rebecca K. Brommer, a native of Germany, who has one son, Adolph Brommer. Reared in the Lutheran faith, he has been a lifelong adherent of that religion. Fraternally he holds membership with the Druids. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party in national problems. In 1864, at the second election of Abraham Lincoln, he cast his first presidential ballot, it being one of thirteen Republican ballots cast that year in Murray township. For about eleven years altogether he has served as road overseer, in which position it has been his aim to improve the roads of the district. Other matters affecting the welfare of the locality have received his support, and he has always been relied upon to promote public-spirited plans and projects.
Transcribed
7-4-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1232-1233. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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