Sacramento County
Biographies
HANS NOPPER
HANS
NOPPER.--An experienced, progressive poultryman
who has something to show for his hard work and liberal investments, is Hans Nopper, of the Don Ray Colony, situated southeast of
Dillard Station. He is a native of Alsace-Lorraine, and was born there, in the
city of Strasbourg, on March 7, 1887, the son of Joseph and Bertha (Sebenmann) Nopper, the former a manufacturer , who owned a cotton factory, and died in the
Fatherland at the age of forty-two. Mrs. Nopper is
still living, at the age of sixty-three, enjoying the hospitality of her son’s
home in the Colony, the center of a circle of devoted friends. Four children
have grown up to call her blessed; Carl, Bertha, Ann and Hans.
Hans Nopper
attended both the grammar and high schools of Switerland,
and when sixteen years old went to sea and spent five years before the mast,
sailing throughout the world on English and Norwegian vessels. In 1907, he
reached California and Oakland, and there, as a journeyman, he followed the
carpenter’s trade. At the end of ten years, however, he moved into the Don Ray
Colony, in Sacramento County, and there purchased twenty acres of land. He
built brooder and chicken houses, set himself up in
the poultry business, and with such success that he now aims to have at least
1,500 laying hens, which he cares for in the most scientific manner.
In 1907, Mr Nopper became an American citizen, and as a patriot, he
served in the late war. He enlisted in the American army on February 19, 1918,
and was sent to the Department Brigade at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he
remained for only six days. He was then transferred to Camp Meade, Md., and
joined the 304th Field Signal Battalion, and there trained in Company C for six
months, and he was next transferred to the six-inch Heavy Field Artillery, at
Camp Meade. He was there for the balance of his enlistment, or five months, and
after the war returned to his ranch in the Don Ray Colony.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 897.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.