WILLIAM J. HUNGER

Sacramento County

Biographies

WILLIAM J. HUNGER

WILLIAM J. HUNGER—Prominent among the most experienced and enterprising of California merchants must be numbered William J. Hunger, the sole proprietor of the retail shoe store of Messrs. Caselli & Hunger, at 527 K Street, Sacramento and decidedly one o the most successful business men of the city. A native son, he was born at Placerville, in El Dorado County on April 2, 1878, the son of Fred and Caroline (Wertz) Hunger, both natives of Cincinnati, the former now deceased and the latter still living at the age of eighty-one. The father crossed the Great Plains in the early fifties and located at Placerville, in El Dorado County, where he engaged in the butcher business. The old butcher shop is still standing, and is now the City Butcher Shop. He owned 300 acres of land, on which stood his slaughterhouse, and one-half of the land occupied by the racetrack was donated to the town of Placerville by him. He helped to build up the town, and was one of the community’s most esteemed pioneers. He was a member of St. James Lodge, No. 16; F. & A. M. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hunger, of whom eight are still living.

William Hunger attended school at Placerville and Sacramento, having come to the latter place at the age of twelve with his mother, who had been a widow for six or seven years. He started in the shoe business at the age of sixteen, entering the employ of Messrs. Geiser & Kaufman, at 603 J Street. Later, he was with the Lavenson Shoe Company, and then with Charles P. Nathan & Sons.

Some seventeen years ago, Mr. Hunger entered the employ of A. Caselli, the shoe merchant, and in 1919 he became a partner in the business. Three years later, in October, he purchased the establishment. At one time, Mr. Hunger owned a poultry farm near Brighton; but he sold this and invested his money in Sacramento real estate.

In 1904, Mr. Hunger was married to Laura Renschler, a native of Sacramento, whose father was a sturdy and esteemed pioneer of early-settler days. Four children have blessed this union: William F. L., Loraine Clayton, Leavitt, and James, all natives of Sacramento. Mr. Hunger belongs to he Knights of Pythias and to Sunset Parlor, No. 6, Native Sons of the Golden West, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Transcribed by Gloria Wiegner Lane.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 649-650. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.