Placer
County
Biographies
FRANCIS J. LOCHER
Francis Joseph Locher, of the firm
of Burt & Locher, wholesale and retail grocery and provision dealers at
Auburn, California, is one of the prominent and enterprising businessmen of the
town. For a period of thirty-five years
he has been a resident of California, and since 1875 he has maintained his home
in Auburn. A brief sketch of his life is
herewith presented.
Francis J. Locher was born in Grass
Lake, Jackson County, Michigan, on the 22nd of December, 1841, of
Swiss descent. His parents, Francis J.
and Martha (Holderum) Locher, were born in Switzerland and New Jersey,
respectively, and it was in 1834, when a young man, that his father came to
this country, stopping first in New York.
In 1837 he removed to Michigan and settled at Grass Lake, where he
became a prominent and influential farmer, and where he spent the rest of his
life and died, his death occurring in 1875 at the age of seventy-eight
years. His widow survives him and still
resides at the old homestead where they settled in 1837. They had seven children, all of whom are
living.
The third born in the above family
was Francis J. His boyhood days were
passed on his father’s farm, assisting in the work of the farm in summer and in
winter attending public school. At the
age of twenty-one he started out in life on his own responsibility, and on
leaving the farm went first to the iron and copper mines in Marquette and
Ontonagon, Michigan, where he remained a short time, going thence to
Stillwater, Minnesota. At the first
named place he engaged in the lumber business, and remained there until 1865,
the year he came to California. His trip
to this state was made via the Isthmus route, the Atlantic voyage in the Costa
Rice, the Pacific, in the Golden Age.
From San Francisco he went direct to Sacramento and thence to Bath,
Placer County, where he was engaged in hydraulic and drift mining, working for
three dollars a day. Subsequently he
went to Truckee, where he was employed to haul logs. Thus he was occupied during the summers and
in the winter he went to Silvan in the Sacramento
Valley, where he became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land which
he took from the government. After
several years spent on his farm, he returned to the mines at Bath and again
engaged in mining, this time as part owner of the Greek claim, out of which he
made some money.
In 1875 he came to Auburn and turned
his attention to work at the carpenter’s trade, and from 1875 until 1883 was
engaged in contracting and building. The
last named year he became associated with Mr. Burt in the grocery and provision
business, and from the first has prospered in his enterprise. They do both a wholesale and retail business
in all kinds of groceries and provisions and also handle hay and grain, and
their success may be attributed to their keen business insight, their liberal
and honorable methods and their uniform courtesy.
Mr. Locher was happily married in
1875 to Miss Marian E. Mitchell, a native of New York. Three children came to bless their union,
Albert J., Edward W. and Carroll D., and for nearly twenty-five years the home
circle was unbroken. October 18, 1899,
death claimed the beloved wife and mother.
Of Mrs. Locher it is said by those who knew her best that she was a most
estimable woman, kind and amiable and devoted to her family.
Mr. Locher has been a member of the
Masonic fraternity since 1867.
Politically he is what is called an independent. He is thoroughly posted
in regard to public matters and casts his vote where he thinks it will serve
the best purpose, choosing for his candidate the best man, or the one he believes
best fitted for the office, regardless of party affiliation. A man of strictest integrity and enjoying a
just deserved business success, Francis J. Locher stands high in the esteem of
his fellow citizens.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 124-126. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.