Sacramento County
Biographies
HERMAN
KLATTKE
HERMAN KLATTKE.--A prominent citizen of Sacramento County, and one whose efforts have been used for the good of the community, is Herman Klattke, the founder of the present firm of Klattke and Wahl, sheet metal workers in North Sacramento. He was born on July 27, 1876, in Germany, and knew very little of a father’s care, as he died when the child was but two years old; his mother is still living in Germany. Herman was educated in the schools of Germany and there he learned his trade of sheet metal worker, beginning when a lad of fourteen and working for his board, putting in from five in the morning until nine at night in summers, but in the winter worked from seven until bedtime. He spent four years at this hardest kind of labor, then for a time he was in business for himself in Berlin. In 1906 he came to the United States and worked first in Louisville, Ky., then went to Chicago, and while there he attended night school to learn the English language, at the same time he worked at his trade. He then came west to Spokane, Wash., and from there to San Francisco. In June, 1913, he came to Sacramento and worked as a journeyman, at the same time that he bought some land and developed a chicken ranch. In 1921, he sold his country property and in March, 1922, he bought the property and erected the building where he is now doing business. Later he took in a partner in the person of C. H. Wahl, a native of Humboldt County. They specialize in sheet metal work of every description and have a large country trade. The firm are members of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce and the Builders’ Exchange.
On July 12, 1911, Mr. Klattke was united in marriage with Miss Amelia Foul, also a native of Germany, and they are deservedly popular in their locality and deeply interested in all progressive movements. He is a member of the Sacramento Turnverein, one of the oldest organizations in Sacramento, and in politics he is independent.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 980.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.