RAYMOND E. BRODER

Sacramento County

Biographies

RAYMOND E. BRODER

RAYMOND E. BRODER.--A California free-holder whose enviable position affords him an inestimable and far-reaching influence, which he never fails to exert for the public good, is Raymond E. Broder, one of the representative citizens of Folsom City. He is half-owner of the old Jacob Broder homestead on the Natoma Valley road to Coloma, about twenty-six miles east of Sacramento City, where he was born on December 2, 1895, the youngest child of Jacob and Mary (Studarus) Broder. The father was born in Sargas, Switzerland, on February 22, 1833, and died at Hayward on December 9, 1917. The mother first saw light in West Virginia on July 31, 1851, and was brought by her parents across the great plains to California when she was a little girl only two years old. She died on May 3, 1922, at Krull Hospital, Sacramento, survived by seven children. May, who was born on November 3, 1870, is now Mrs. Quinn of Oakland; Frances, who entered the family on October 31, 1873, is at home in San Jose, where she is now Mrs. Hopkins; Joseph, who was born on December 17, 1877, lives in San Francisco; Irene is Mrs. Medau of San Lorenzo and she was born on September 3, 1880; Walter was born on June 7, 1883, and lives in Oakland; Edith, who was born on September 20, 1885, is Mrs. Meininger of Hayward; and Raymond E. is the subject of our review. A brother, Jacob, Jr., who was born on July 9, 1875, was accidentally killed at the railroad crossing at Folsom City on January 16, 1908.

The senior Jacob Broder followed to California his brother, Oswald, who had come out here as a gold hunter, in 1849, and had built one of the first cabins at Mormon Island, in Sacramento County. Later, disposing of this by sale, he bought land in the Natoma Valley, where, in 1864, he erected the first house, since destroyed by fire. Jacob came into California and started in a small way as a placer miner; then he began to buy land, and he added to his original purchase, from time to time, until his estate consisted in part of 1,080 acres of choice farm area, in what was known as Natoma Valley, together with a desirable ranch of 140 acres near Mills Station, at the Kinney schoolhouse. His life was a very active and busy one, and many stories were connected with it. The Studarus family, on the other hand, arrived in California in 1853, having crossed the great plains with ox-teams, and for a few months they conducted a public house at Mud Springs. Later, they settled near Perkins, where they took up farming.

Mr. and Mrs. Broder reared their family at Natoma Valley, where Oswald Broder had one of the earliest vineyards in the state and made choice California wines which were sent to the mines and sold at high prices; and the father, Jacob Broder, served as a trustee of Mormon Island school, to which our subject was sent, preparatory to his going to the public school at Oakland. Up to 1908, Raymond had not embarked upon farming; but the death of his father in that year led him to take up the work where the old gentleman had left off. Since then he has made the ranch-house his home, caring for his aged mother in her declining years until her death May 3, 1922. The valuable estate has passed into his hands and in to his brother's, share and share alike. Jacob, Jr., was for a short time a retail merchant of meats at Folsom City, and had established his well-appointed shop about a year and a half before his death; he was a very likable young man, and had a host of friends who mourned his passing.

In 1922, Mr. Broder began to develop an orchard, of forty-five acres of pear trees and vineyard. The balance of the ranch is farmed to stock and grain and hay. Irrigation is carried on in the orchard by water leading from the Natoma ditch which traverses the ranch. The spacious home on the Broder hill is remarkable from the fact that the stone work was laid over forty years ago, and recently, in 1917, a complete remodeling of the interior has taken place, making the home place a most comfortable residence. Mr. Broder is popular in social and fraternal circles, and is a live wire in the Natoma lodge of Masons.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 621. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.