Calaveras
County
Biographies
CHARLES A. WERLE
The fact that honesty, industry, and
perseverance will triumph over formidable obstacles has been many times proven;
but the story of the struggles and successes of self-made men is always
interesting. Any truthful biography of
Charles A. Werle, ice manufacturer and the proprietor of the bottling works at
Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, must of necessity be
an endorsement of the value of the priceless qualities to which reference has
been made.
Charles A. Werle was born at
Buffalo, New York, May 21, 1849, and is descended from German ancestry. Michael Werle, his father, was born of German
parents at Paris, France, and his great-grandfather and his sons were the
owners of a flouring mill in the fatherland.
Michael Werle was only six months old when his parents brought him to
America. They located at Buffalo, New
York, and there he was reared and educated and married Miss Rosilia
Baumgarten. He
came to California in 1852, and mined at Mokelumne Hill with satisfactory
success until 1858, when he went back to Buffalo, New York, and brought his
family to California. Locating at
Mokelumne Hill, he engaged in freighting between Mokelumne Hill and Stockton
and between Stockton and Bakersfield, Kern County. He died in 1875, at the age of forty-seven
years, of pneumonia, which resulted from a cold caused by his getting wet in
Kern River, where he met with an accident in the prosecution of his
business. His wife survives him and is
now seventy-two years of age. Three
children were born to them after they came to California. William died at the age of five years;
Estella when in her twenty-first year; and Mary is in charge of the telephone
office at Mokelumne Hill.
Mr.
Werle was nine years old when he was brought to Mokelumne Hill by his parents
in 1858. He attended the public schools
there and finished his education at St. Mary’s College, at San Francisco. He was engaged in prospecting and mining
until 1874, when he established at Mokelumne Hill his present business of bottling
all kinds of temperance drinks, with which he combines the manufacture of
ice. He has built bottling works and an
ice factory and keeps several teams busy distributing
his goods throughout the surrounding country.
In politics he is a Democrat, and he
was appointed postmaster at Mokelumne Hill by President Cleveland and held the
office during that national executive’s administration; and his sister, Miss
Mary Werle, was his deputy. His success
in life has been well earned, and he is widely and deservedly popular.
In 1871 Mr. Werle married Miss Emma
Fray, a native of Calaveras County, and they have five children, all of whom
were born at Mokelumne Hill: Charles
William, Frank W., Lee, Herbert and Rosalia.
The latter is the wife of Victor S. Lagarmarsino and lives at Mokelumne
Hill. Mr. Werle’s residence is near his
bottling works and most of the members of his family assist him more or less in
his business. Mr. Werle is a progressive
and capable businessman who has material gains to show for his labor, and his
public spirit is such that he is regarded as a patriotic and helpful member of
the community.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 368-369. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies