PETER BOHL

Sacramento County

Biographies

PETER BOHL

PETER BOHL, real estate and insurance agent, 325 J street, Sacramento, is one of the most substantial citizens of the State, inheriting as he does the highest qualities of the German-American character. His father, George Bohl, was a Bavarian by nativity, and came with his family to this country in the early days, settling first in Pennsylvania and afterward in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the subject of this sketch was born, October 23, 1830, the fourth of five sons and the first American born in the family. Subsequently the father moved to Brown County, near Georgetown, on a farm, where he reared his family, and finally to Covington, Kentucky, where he died at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. It is a conspicuous fact that a large proportion--perhaps the largest proportion--of men who achieve success in life are born and reared upon the farm, spending their early life only amid rural scenes. Mr. Bohl was twenty years of age when he left the farm and started out in commercial life for himself, engaging in Peoria, Illinois, as a clerk in a mercantile house. An older brother having come to California in 1851, and located in Sacramento as a baker, and afterward as a merchant. Mr. Bohl followed his example in 1853. Embarking on the Oregon, he had a narrow escape from the yellow fever, which prevailed on board. Arriving in San Francisco on February 6, he came at once to Sacramento, clerked a few months for his brother, and then bought an interest in a stable and hay yard on J street, between Tenth and Eleventh streets, known as the Central Hay Yard. Shortly after he purchased his brother’s interest in the bakery, and was engaged there for a period of eight years. For the next five years he was a dealer in groceries and grain. Early in 1873 he embarked in the real estate and insurance business, associated with the house of W. P. Coleman, the banker, and in this relation he has operated up to the present time. His connections with the Methodist Episcopal Church began twenty-three years ago, since which time he has occupied many positions of trust and responsibility in the society, leading in all local measures of the church for the advancement of Christianity. First, in 1867, he was elected steward and trustee. Subsequently, in 1876, he was a delegate to the General Conference of his church, held in Baltimore, Maryland, during which season he also visited the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia; and he was an alternate to the General Conference of May, 1888, held in New York city. He was active in the establishment of the Y. M. C. A., in Sacramento. For fifteen years he has been a trustee of the University of the Pacific in Santa Clara County, being re-elected every four years. This institution of learning has grown to large proportions, so that it now contains between 500 and 600 students, and has magnificent buildings, including an observatory with all its appliances. The money used for the erection of all these magnificent buildings was donated by liberal and generous-hearted men and women. It is now the most extensive institution of Christian education on this coast. Mr. Bohl’s residence on N street, opposite the State Capitol, is one of the most commodious and tasteful in the city, and here he is spending the golden years of his life.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 712-713. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.