Biographies
JOHN
EHRHARDT
JOHN EHRHARDT—It
is interesting to chronicle the life history of the pioneer, the man who in his
prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as his heritage, and
did not hesitate to endure great hardships and privations that the coming
generations might enjoy the present-day civilization. Such as man is the
venerable old pioneer John Ehrhardt, who was born in Hesse-Kassel, Germany, on October 8, 1837, a son of John
and Dorothy (Gerhardt) Ehrhardt. His father was a shepherd;
and one fall, while thus employed with a neighbor, he discovered a fox in a
tree, which they caught. It proved to be a silver-tail fox, and Mr. Ehrhardt, as an honest man, paid his friend a liberal half
for his share in the hide, intending to use it for comfort and wear. But his
friend unwittingly had told of the capture; and as the laws of the country
compelled anyone obtaining a fox-pelt to deliver it to the custom-house and
saved himself a term of imprisonment for violating a law preventing people from
enjoying the fruit of their labor. Although he was paid a pittance of about
$1.75 for the fur, the thought of the injustice rankled in his mind; and he
stated to his son that he would take him to a country where he could be a free
man. So this incident undoubtedly changed the whole course of young John’s
future life. The mother having passed away in Germany in 1848, in 1850 the
father brought his sons John, Henry, and George, and a daughter, Mary, to
Baltimore, Md., and soon afterwards to Missouri; and in 1852, with his son
John, he crossed the plains, driving a band of 7,000 sheep. After wintering
them in Ogden, Utah, he brought them on through to Sheldon, Sacramento
County, where he sold them. He returned again to Missouri, but young
John chose to remain in California, where he made his own way by herding sheep.
He had had much experience in this line of work, for as a boy of only fifteen
years he had done a man’s work while crossing the plains, assisting in bringing
a large band of sheep into the Sacramento Valley. While making this trip he was
fortunate in meeting the famous scout and hunter Kit Carson on the Platte
River, and in 1853 he met him again in Slough House, whither he had come with a
band of sheep from Mexico. This fortunate meeting in 1853 took place soon after
they had arrived from the East and while they were making their headquarters at
Slough House. Kit Carson gave young John two Mexican sheep dogs, which he
afterwards possessed for many years, and which proved very valuable dogs.
John Ehrhardt had received a good elementary education in
Germany, and after his arrival in America he studied by himself and by
diligence soon learned to read, write, and speak English; and this private
reading he has continued, so that today he is a well-informed and well-posted
man. On being thrown on his own resources in California, he lost no time, but
worked steadily; and saving his money, he was soon able to engage in
sheep-raising on his own account, succeeding so well that by 1860 he sold his
flocks and started raising cattle, making his headquarters on Union Mound, in
the tules, eight miles south of Franklin. He
purchased land and continued in business there for twenty years, and then sold
and purchased an 800-acre ranch from John Whitcomb, at Twelve-Mile House, where
he has had his headquarters ever since. As early as 1871, Mr. Ehrhardt drove his cattle to Modoc County. He purchased a
section of land in Surprise Valley, an ideal place, where he ran cattle for
many years, engaging in raising, buying and driving cattle to the Sacramento
and San Francisco markets, mostly to the latter place. His years of experience
and his good judgment of cattle stood him in good stead, and he was very
successful, his brand (JE, connected or separate) being well known all over the
state. In early days he ran a dairy, when it required much time and labor to
care for the milk. In those days the milk had to be panned and skimmed and the
pans washed and scalded; the cream was churned by hand, and the butter, after
being thoroughly worked by and made into rolls, only brought from ten to
fifteen cents a pound. In spite of this, he persevered, until in time his herds
of cattle had grown to such an extent that he gave up dairying and devoted his
time to cattle-raising the farming, raising Durham cattle and grain on his
800-acre ranch. At one time he owned 2,000 acres in the tules,
but after many years he disposed of his holdings. In 1907 he sold his Modoc
County ranch, and soon afterwards gave his sons each a portion of the home
ranch, retaining 375 acres, which, as he says, he keeps as a “nest egg.” This
he still superintends and farms, raising grain and cattle.
In Stockton, in
1865, Mr. Ehrhardt was married to Miss Caroline
Holman, who was born in Chile, South America, and a daughter of William Holman,
born in Peekskill, N.Y., a miller and millwright by trade. Going to Chile, he
built a mill, and later purchased it, and ran it till 1849, when he came to
California on account of the discovery of gold. His wife was Ellen McCary, born in Scotland; and they had four children when
they arrived in San Francisco in 1849. There he started to build a mill on
property he had purchased; but he died six months after his arrival, a sad blow
to the family. Some years later the widow married Marcus Lowell,
and the family came to Sacramento; so it happened that Mrs. Ehrhardt
was educated in the schools of San Francisco and Sacramento. Obtaining a
teacher’s certificate, she taught school until her marriage. The union proved a
happy one. A lady of culture and refinement, she presided competently over her
household; and she exerted a wide influence for good and was much loved by all
who knew her. She was called by death in March 1920, at the age of seventy-two
years. The union of Mrs. and Mrs. Ehrhardt was
blessed with eight children: George Edward, deceased; Frederick William, who
reclaimed 7,000 acres of tule land, now a
garden-spot, and now lives retired in Sacramento; Henry Lester, living in Elk
Grove; William Gardner, a rancher at Franklin; John Amos, a rancher near Elk
Grove; Elvesta, familiarly called Bessie by all who
know her, now the wife of John A. Jamieson, residing in Sacramento; Newton
Julius, a rancher near the capital city; and Nellie, the wife of Dr. Edward
King, of Detroit, Mich.
Mr. Ehrhardt, while still superintending his ranch, makes his
home with his daughter, Mrs. Jamieson, who ministers to his comfort. He is
wonderfully well preserved and has a keen and retentive memory; and it is
interesting to hear him relate incidents of the early days. He tells how,
during the days of the Civil War, he and his brother and neighbors, all Union
men, kept a flag floating over Union Island, from 1860 to 1865, which gave the
place its name; and how he and his comrades, headed by Mr. Boyd, placed the
Stars and Stripes over the door leading to the election room in 1860, and saw
that it remained there in spite of threats that it would be torn down. He knew
the early pioneers, many of whom afterwards became prominent in railroad
construction and in the business and political life of the state. He knew Terry
and Broderick, and other celebrated men of that day. He went through the
various floods, and has made the journey from Union Mound to the Central House
on Eighth Street, Sacramento, all the way rowing in a skiff, and landing in the
top story of the hotel. In 1860 he took a trip East via the Isthmus of Panama,
and it was then that his enthusiasm for the preservation of the Union was
renewed and strengthened so that when he returned he saw what was coming and
realized the necessity for loyal men to stand together; and casting his first
vote for Lincoln, he stood nobly for the Union and was glad to back up a leader
in the community like Mr. Boyd, and has since never wavered in his support of
the politics of Washington and Lincoln. Mr. Ehrhardt
is a member of Elk Grove Lodge, No. 274, I.O.O.F.
Transcribed by Gloria Wiegner
Lane.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 404-407. Historic Record Company,
© 2007 Gloria
Wiegner Lane.