Amador
County
Biographies
GEORGE WILLIAM GEBHARDT
George
W. Gebhardt is a native son of Amador County, having been born in String Bean
Alley, on the 6th of April, 1876, a son of Theodore and Genevieve
(Bonham) Gebhardt. His father was born
in Calaveras County, California, and the grandfather was one of the soldiers
who helped to fight the Mexicans in this state.
Practically all of the Gebhardt’s in this state followed the meat
business and Theodore Gebhardt, who owned a butcher shop, worked at that
business in San Jose for twenty years.
He also worked at Hanford and had a sheep ranch in Calaveras County. He died suddenly in the hall of the Native
Sons of the Golden West in 1917. His
wife passed away in Oakland, California, in 1922. Her father, R. H. Bonham, came to Amador
County in 1853 and here built the first lime kiln and burned the first lime
made in this section of the state. All
of the early brick buildings erected in this part of the country used lime from
his kiln. Theodore and Genevieve Gebhardt
were the parents of ten children, all of whom are living. George W. Gebhardt received his
educational training in the parochial schools of San Jose, after which he was
connected with commercial affairs for several years in San Jose, Ione and
Fresno. He then went to Vancouver,
British Columbia, where he formed the First Field Company, of the First Canadian
Division, at the outbreak of the World War.
He spent two years and eight months in the service in France, during
which he took part in many of the most important engagements of the great
conflict. On receiving his honorable
discharge from the service he came back to Fresno, thence to Ione, where he
managed the Commercial Hotel, until it was destroyed by fire in July, 1930.
Mr.
Gebhardt was united in marriage to Miss Pauline Merkle, a native of
Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of six children, Alvin C., who served in
the United States Army in France; Marjorie; Walter; Evelyn; George W., Jr.; and
Myrtle Alice. There are also five
grandchildren. Mr. Gebhardt gives his
political support to the Democratic Party, and is a member of the Knights of
Pythias, of which he is a past chancellor commander. Hunting, fishing and baseball are his
favorite sports. He is a man of high
ideals, is loyal and true in every relation of life and is well worthy of the
high regard in which he is uniformly held by those who know him.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 447-448. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Amador County Biographies