JOSEPH HASMAN
Joseph Hasman was
born March 19, 1950, in Bohemia, son of Joseph and Kate (Ulch) Hasman, both
natives of Bohemia. The family emigrated to the United States in 1854, locating
in Tama County, Iowa, in 1858. The old gentleman followed farming till his
death, which occurred in 1865. The widow is still living, and makes her home
most of the time in Belle Plain, that State. There were four daughters and two
sons, as follows: Blazek, Mrs. Mary Weaver, Joseph, Mrs. Kate Kilberger, Mrs.
Josie Kilberger, Mrs. Anna Ulch. All but the subject of this sketch reside in
Iowa. Joseph remained with his parents until he was about eighteen years of
age. At the age of twelve years he commenced to learn the harness-making trade,
at which he worked about seven years; he then abandoned that and went into the
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad shops in order to learn the machinist’s
trade. While working for this company, he met with a seriocomical accident.
Undertaking to wheel loose rocks and dirt out upon a plank track and dumping
the material into a whirlpool where the Iowa River sinks to pass under a bluff,
he did not think to notice that the further end of the last plank was
unsupported, and both he and his load went down into the raging waters; and it was
by the hardest swimming that he saved his life, which he accomplished with the
loss of hat and wheelbarrow! During the total eclipse of the sun August 7,
1869, he was thrown thirty feet by a locomotive and knocked senseless, but not
seriously injured. In 1870 he was employed as a brakeman on the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific Railroad, and while thus engaged was caught in a railroad
accident east of Des Moines, when the engine struck a bridge, telescoping some
cars and killing one man and mashing Mr. Hasman’s fingers. The next year he was
obliged to obtain other work. Hoeing broom-corn one hot Fourth of July, three
miles south of St. Joseph, he suffered sunstroke. After recovery he was next
employed by the St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad Company, as an
apprentice in the machine shops. After the expiration of his time, he began as
fireman for the company on a locomotive, and while serving in that capacity his
engine fled the track upon an embankment, precipitating him into a pond of
water, near Marysville, Missouri. For eighteen months he was under the doctor’s
care. He had been promoted engineer. In 1874 he was employed in the shops of
the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad Company. After a time
he resigned, and January 19, 1876, he went with a party to the Black Hills,
having a very tedious time getting through the snow. After prospecting in that
region for a while, amid many difficulties and privations, having a fight with
the Indians and losing a man, he at length reached Cheyenne; and he came thence
to Nevada, and at Reno and other points in that State he had various
responsible positions in engineering, superintending large mechanical jobs,
etc. In October 1884, he came to California, and bought out the harness shop of
J.A. Lowe, at Elk Grove, this county, where he is now doing a profitable
business. He is a member of Rebekah Lodge, No. 136, I.O.O.F. at Elk Grove, and
No. 274 of the subordinate lodge at the same place. He was married in St.
Joseph, Missouri, in 1872, to Mary Nowork, a native of Bohemia, and brought up
in this country. They have three children – Joseph Louis, Charles Joseph and
George Joseph.
Transcribed
by Debbie Walke Gramlick.
An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California.
By Hon. Win. J. Davis. Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 396-397.
© 2004 Debbie Walke Gramlick.