Sacramento County
Biographies
PHILIP SCHELD
To
those who but casually observe the mere fact of success the life of Philip Scheld reads like a romance, but the student of human
nature readily detects that there is less romance in his career than tireless
industry and persistent application. It is the testimony of his friends that
his large degree of success came from personal application to the duty in hand.
Step by step with the most laborious energy he rose from a position of
commercial insignificance to a high standing among the business men and the
bankers of Sacramento. It has been his interesting experience to witness the
development of the capital city. Here he first landed during the latter part of
March, 1850; here he spent infrequent intervals of labor during the pioneer
era; and here, still in the pioneer period of the '50s, he identified himself
with the brewery business that by his own industry and sagacity brought him a
fortune. Here later he rose to an influential position among the bankers and in
1901 was elected president of the Sacramento Bank, whose early growth he had
promoted through his wise services as director.
The
town of Giessen in the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, is the native place of Philip Scheld,
and October
13, 1827, the date of his birth
into the home of John and Kate Scheld. For several
successive generations the heads of the Scheld family
had followed the wheelwright's trade and this likewise remained the life
occupation of John Scheld, but in addition he
conducted a small farm. From the age of six until he was fourteen Philip Scheld attended the government school of his home town and
after leaving school he helped his father on the farm. June 4, 1845, he and his brother, Henry, took passage on the sailing
vessel, Neptune, at Bramen and on the 11th of
the next month they landed at Philadelphia, where Henry worked as a cabinet-maker and Philip found
employment in a bakery for several years, later going to Baltimore.
News
of the discovery of gold in California caused Henry Scheld
to join a party of twenty-four young emigrants, who came west via New Orleans,
Monterey, Durango and Mazatlan, thence by sailing
vessel to San Francisco. For years he engaged in mining, but afterward settled
in Eureka and became one of the most successful business men of that
town. Shortly after he landed in the west he sent a letter to his brother,
Philip, in Baltimore, advising him to come immediately and the advice was taken
without delay. To this step Mr. Scheld attributes
much of his good fortune, for the west presented opportunities that were not
possible to residents of the east. February 4, 1850, he left Baltimore on the steamer Philadelphia, and proceeded to Panama. His personal effects were conveyed across the isthmus on
the back of a mule, but he was obliged to walk the greater part of the
distance. On the west coast of the isthmus he took passage on the ship California, which cast anchor in the harbor
of San Francisco on the 24th of March. From that city he paid $16 for the
river trip of one and one-half days on the steamer Hartford to Sacramento, whence he traveled with a team of four oxen to Coloma, Eldorado county. Meanwhile his
brother had left that place and no one knew his whereabouts, but by chance they
met several weeks later at Volcano, where a company was attempting to flume out
Volcano Bar.
With
another young immigrant, Daniel Troy, as a partner, Mr. Scheld
contracted to do the baking for a hotel at Coloma, but they soon found the
proprietor was in an unfortunate financial condition. In the end they were
obliged to take the hotel as their only wages. There they continued business
until the need of larger quarters obliged them to build a larger house. Later
they erected the Sierra Nevada hotel, which is still running. All of the supplies for the
hotel were purchased in Sacramento and hauled to Coloma by wagon. On the day of the great
fire he was buying in Sacramento as usual, but had started on his return trip before the
fire broke out, so that he did not learn of the disaster until the next day.
Shortly afterward he sold his interest in the hotel and removed to Sacramento, where he underwent the hardships incident to the great
flood of 1852. For a time he engaged in teaming between Sacramento and the mines, but finally, in 1853, he bought a brewery
on East M street, rebuilt the plant and developed the
Sacramento Brewery, which is one of the most profitable properties of the kind
in the state. The marriage of Philip Scheld took
place April
7, 1858, and united him with Miss
Margaret Fritz, who had settled in Sacramento during the previous year. She was a native of Germany and was born near Mayence on the
Rhine. The only child of their union, Adolph, is a prominent
citizen of Sacramento and a director in the Sacramento Bank. Since 1857 Philip Scheld has been identified with the Turn Verein. In 1863 he joined Confidence Company No. 2,
Volunteer Fire Department of Sacramento, and when the need of volunteer work no
longer existed he became a member of the Exempt Firemen. Besides his large
interests in and around Sacramento, he invested heavily in Southern California property and still has valuable holdings in Los Angeles county. For thirty-three years or
more he has been a stockholder and director in the Sacramento Bank and when W.
P. Coleman passed away in 1901 he was chosen to succeed to the responsible
office of president. Notwithstanding his advanced years he still maintains an
active interest in the management of the bank, which benefits constantly by his
wise counsel and shrewd insight into affairs.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis, William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 547-549. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sally Kaleta.