Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES POPERT
JAMES POPERT. The development of
Sacramento is due in no small degree to the efforts of Mr. Popert,
whose energy, judgment and ability have been devoted to the enlargement of its
resources from the earliest period of his residence here to the present
time. Opening a retail grocery on the
corner of Fourth and P streets as early as 1878, he carried on a flourishing
business for two years, when, being obliged to seek larger quarters, he removed
to the corner of Twenty-first and H streets, erecting his present building in
1880, his building being the only one in that section of the city, which was
then undeveloped. During the quarter
century that he has been established in this location he has become well and
favorably known to the citizens of Sacramento, who appreciate the honesty and
square dealing which they receive at his hands, and as a result Mr. Popert has not only gained a host of friends, but is
enjoying a business prosperity which his many years of effort richly deserve.
Mr.
Popert is of German birth, his earliest recollections
taking him back to Hamburg, where
his birth occurred March 17, 1839. From
the age of seven until fourteen his boyhood was spent in the public schools of
that city, but at the latter age, as is the custom in Germany,
he was apprenticed to a trade to fit him for his life work. Choosing the cabinet-maker’s trade as the
line best suited to his tastes and inclinations, he served the required four
years in learning its details, after which he followed the trade on land for
one year, and for ten years was on ship board, as he had made a specialty of
ship carpentry. At the age of thirty
years he set out for America, and in
March, 1869, arrived in Sacramento,
a city which has since felt the force of his progressive spirit and upright
business methods. Being a good workman
and one who thoroughly understood his calling he had no difficulty I finding
employment at once, and for two years was employed on the state capitol, which
was then in course of erection. Continuing
to follow the trade to which he had given so many years until 1878, he then
relinquished it to engage in the grocery business, a change which he had no
cause to regret, for success has attended his efforts from the beginning, and
he has the satisfaction of knowing that his enterprise takes rank with the
first-class business houses in Sacramento.
In
1875 Mr. Popert was united in marriage with Miss
Grace Hopf, a native of Philadelphia
where her girlhood days were spent. Her
early education was received in the schools of the later city, and she
afterward took a higher course in a school in Jersey City,
N. J. Mrs. Popert
is a woman possessed of many accomplishments, presiding over her household with
dignity and thorough capability. Three
children have blessed this happy union, all of whom,
are sons. William, the eldest, a
graduate of the Sacramento high school and also of the State University, has
for the past three years been in the employ of the American Bridge Company,
having advanced in the meantime from a humble position until today he is one of
the company’s most trusted employes. The other sons, James and George, are still
students in the high school. Politically
Mr. Popert is a stanch Republican, upon the ticket of
which party he was elected, in November, 1903, as trustee from the Eighth ward,
his term expiring in 1907. He has served
as chairman of various important committees.
His fraternal associations bring him in contact with
the Odd Fellows, holding membership in Capitol Lodge No. 88, I. O. O. F., at
present filling the position of president of the Veteran Odd Fellows
Association; and is also a member of the Encampment and Patriarch
Militant in Odd Fellowship. He is also
identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in which he has served
twice as grand master, as well as on the board of arbitration, and the Red
Men. For thirty-five years he has been a
member, an active worker and an elder of the German Lutheran church.
Transcribed by Priscilla Delventhal.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by
J. M. Guinn. Page 953.
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Priscilla Delventhal.