Butte County
Biographies
LOUIS DREXLER CHOISSER
LOUIS DREXLER CHOISSER.—A man of rare enterprise and business qualifications, who has made his influence felt in various circles in Butte County, is Louis Drexler Choisser, of Chico. He was born near McLeansboro, Ill., May 26, 1867. His grandfather, John Choisser, came from France to Canada, and from there he migrated to Kaskaskia, Ill., where he was one of the first white settlers in that Indian-infested country. He carried on farming operations, and with his wife, who was of Scotch descent, raised a family of twelve sons and one daughter, of whom Edmund D. Choisser, the father of Louis D., was the seventh son. He served as a lieutenant in the Mexican War, and when the Civil War broke out he enlisted and served as a captain of an Illinois regiment and as a quartermaster in that struggle. After the war was ended Captain Choisser studied medicine and practiced his profession in Eldorado, Ill., until his death in 1881. He had married Mary Loiuse Drexler, a native Virginian, whose father, Daniel William Drexler, was a planter. Mrs. Choisser and her sister, Fannie Virginia, with their brother, Louis P., came to St. Louis. The latter was one of the pioneers of the coast region, having brought a load of merchandise to Salt Lake City in the early days. He later moved to Nevada and still later to San Francisco, where he became prominently identified with business and mining interests. Fannie Virginia Drexler became Mrs. Hubbard and died in San Francisco. Mrs. Choisser died in Illinois, three months after her son, Louis D., was born.
Louis Drexler Choisser lived in Illinois until his father’s death, when the boy was thirteen years old. In 1881, he came to San Francisco to join his uncle and to attend school. From San Francisco he went to Denver, Colo., where he went to school and later was employed in a furniture store for seven years. In 1890, he came back to the Golden State and for three years was employed by the Hamburger Company, in what was known as the Maze Department Store in San Francisco. He next was transferred to the Hamburger People’s Store, on Spring Street, in Los Angeles. After some time spent at this location he became a buyer for Crandall, Aylesworth and Haskell, department store proprietors of the same city, and for two years remained in their employ, after which he traveled through New Mexico and Arizona as a salesman for Parmelee-Dohrmann Company for one year. He then became the owner of a prune orchard near Chico, where he at once located and has since given his time to horticultural pursuits.
Upon locating in Butte County, Mr. Choisser at once began to make improvements upon his place by erecting a comfortable residence, building dry yards, a prune-dipping plant, a fruit-storage, packing and grading house, and an artificial fruit-dryer. He platted and place on the market, Fruitvale Subdivision No. 1, in 1904, and two years later Subdivision No. 2. In 1907, he purchased thirty acres in the Seventh Subdivision of the Bidwell Tract, which he planted to alfalfa. Four years later he set the tract to prunes, almonds and Barlett pears, which are now in bearing. In 1910, he added to his holdings a seventeen-acre prune orchard, a part of the old Lou McIntosh orchard. He gives his personal time and attention to the care of his orchards and crops, and is well satisfied with his investments in Butte County.
Mr. Choisser was united in marriage with Miss Grace L. Powers, a native daughter, born in San Francisco, and six children have been born to them: Louise, Helene, Hazel, Ralph, Marcus, and Antoinette. Mr. Choisser is well posted on horticulture, and is a liberal and progressive citizen of whom any community might well be proud.
Transcribed
by Sharon Walford Yost.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1155-1156, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Sharon
Walford Yost.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies