Butte County
Biographies
LEWIS SLISSMAN
LEWIS SLISSMAN.—A native son whose father was a prominent and honored old settler and who himself enjoys a deserved popularity among all classes as the passenger and freight agent at Oroville for the Southern Pacific Railroad, is Lewis Slissman, a native of Cherokee, Butte County, where he first saw the light on April 10, 1870. His father, John M. Slissman, was born at Frankfort on-the-Main, Germany, and when twelve years old ran away from home to come to the United States. He worked as a shoemaker at Hartford, Conn., and when the gold excitement was still a mighty attraction to many, he sailed for the Isthmus, about 1858, and came north to San Francisco. Two years later he reached Cherokee, and there worked as a miner, owning his mines and operating them with the usual ups and downs, making and losing money. Later, he retired and died at San Francisco.
The history of Mrs. Slissman’s family is of equal interest. She was Margaret Lewis before her marriage, the daughter of Captain John Lewis, a native of Maine, who came to New Orleans and for a time was engaged in the island trade as master of a vessel, and from there he came to California as a pioneer by way of Cape Horn, and left the sea to follow mining. He had married in New Orleans, and his wife, Henrietta, after they had stopped for a while in Butte County, rode from Marysville to Cherokee on a mule. They later removed to Eldorado County, where Captain Lewis established stage lines and soon built up an extensive business. Mrs. Lewis died there. The Captain returned to Butte County and here he died. Mrs. Slissman was born in New Orleans and died at Cherokee; she was a mother of three sons: George I., a musician in San Francisco; Lewis, the subject of our sketch; and Elmer H., the musician and leader of the Oroville Band for years and now located at Rio Vista.
Having attended the public schools at Cherokee, Lewis Slissman in 1890 entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Oroville, learned telegraphy and became assistant agent and then agent at different stations in the Sacramento division, between Sacramento and Red Bluff, and Davis and Sparks, Nev. In that varying line of work he remained until 1903, when he returned to Oroville, here to serve ever since as the company’s agent, and now having been in the company’s employ for twenty-seven years.
With Mr. Goodenow, Mr. Slissman became interested in building, about 1906, the Rex Theater, a moving picture house, with a seating capacity of five hundred, which offered the choicest productions of the leading studios.
At Oroville, March 5, 1894, Mr. Slissman was married to Miss Tillie Sturmer, a native of Cherokee and the daughter of the pioneer, Jacob Sturmer; and by her he has had three children: Myra, now Mrs. R. M. French, of Portola; and Sturmer and May, who reside at home. Mr. Slissman is a Past President of Colfax parlor, N. W. G. W., now disbanded; and he also belongs to the Order of Railroad Telegraphers and the Order of Railroad Employees.
Transcribed 5-13-08
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 952-953, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies