Colusa
County
Biographies
PETER
OSSENBRÜGGEN
PETER
OSSENBRÜGGEN. Few of the German-American settlers of the
Sacramento valley have been successful to a greater degree than has Mr. Ossenbrűggen, a long-time farmer of Colusa county and
esteemed for his painstaking industry and tireless energy. Through his unaided exertions he has acquired
a fine farm, embracing three hundred and twenty acres four and one-half miles
southwest of Grimes, and improved with residence and barns of a substantial and
durable nature. One of the most
attractive features of the homestead is the grove of native California trees in
the midst of which the buildings stand.
Besides the home place he owns another half section of land five miles
west of Arbuckle, suited for the raising of stock and grain, to which also his
home ranch is adapted. In the caring for
his crops he uses a Holt combined harvester and has other facilities that are
the product of modern inventions. A fine
grade of stock, including cattle, horses and mules, may be seen in his pastures,
and the annual sale from these materially swells his income. The value of his property and adjacent lands
was greatly enhanced by the work of himself, acting with Messrs. Balsdon, Howell, Monsen and
others in the building of the Balsdon levee that protects
from inundation about two thousand acres of land.
In a family of four children (all
still living), Peter Ossenbrűggen is third in
order of birth and the only one in California, but he has a half-brother,
Matthias Ossenbrűggen, living in Glenn county,
this state. His parents, Matthias and Geschen Ossenbrűggen, were
natives of Germany, where the latter died about 1857. The former, who followed farming until the
infirmities of age compelled the relinquishment of active cares, is still
living at his old homestead and is now nearly ninety years of age. In Holstein, Germany, Peter Ossenbrűggen was born January 4, 1852, and as a boy he
alternated work on the home farm with attendance at common schools. When eighteen years of age, in 1870, he came
via New York City and Panama to San Francisco, thence going to San Mateo county
and working for two months at Half Moon Bay.
September of the same year found him in Colusa county, where for three
years he was employed on the farm owned by Mr. Grimes and then for two years
had a lease for the farm, after which he worked on other ranches. During the fall of 1880 he bought his present
property southwest of Grimes, where since he has made his home, devoting his
attention to the making of suitable improvements that increase the value of the
property. Besides the ownership of his
lands he has an interest in the Grimes-Rochdale
Company.
After settling in Colusa county, Mr. Ossenbrűggen
married Mrs. Louisa (Stothmaear) Keller, who was born
in Germany, and died on their home ranch, leaving two children, namely:
Matthias, who is living near Williams; and Lillie, who married Albert Schaad and resides near Williams. The present wife of Mr. Ossenbrűggen
was Miss Helena Kissling, who was born in Germany,
and by whom he has four children, Peter, Jr., John, Helena and Albert. The family are
adherents of the Lutheran denomination, Mr. Ossenbrűggen
having become a member of that church before leaving Germany. Since taking upon himself the pledge of
citizenship to the United States he has given his allegiance to the Republican party in national politics.
In Meridian Lodge of Odd Fellows he became connected with this order and
later he became a charter member of Grand Island Lodge No. 266, at Grimes, in
which he is past noble grand.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source:
“History of the State of California and
Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California” by J.
M. Guinn. Page
606. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2017 Doralisa Palomares.
Golden Nugget Library's Colusa County Biographies