Sacramento County
Biographies
GEORGE SCHROTH
GEORGE SCHROTH, of the Phoenix Mills, is one of the most
active business men of Sacramento. He
purchased the Phoenix Mill property in 1880, and at once set about rebuilding
on a far more extensive scale. About the same time F. Kohler and J. H.
Arnold came into the firm, which then assumed the present name—George Schroth & Co. The Phoenix Mills are unexcelled in
equipment, and in the quality of their manufactured product enjoys a reputation
at once creditable to the city and lucrative to the proprietors. George Schroth, the head of the firm, is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany,
born July 22, 1829, his parents being John and Regina
(Miller) Schroth, the father a farmer. He was
educated in the Government schools from the age of six to fourteen years, after
which he served an apprenticeship to the baker’s trade with a man named Schwimb. In May, 1846, he came to America,
sailing from Havre to New York. He
went to Newark, New Jersey,
and went to work for a man named Liebhauser, by whom
he was employed until 1849. In that year he went to Texas,
and engaged as teamster between Port La Vaca and El
Paso, hauling supplies for the soldiers. He afterward
engaged as baker for the troops at El Paso,
being thus employed until 1851. In February of that year he started for California
in company with six others. The route chosen by them was that via Tucson,
and it was this party which rescued those left from the Oatman
family massacre, and escorted them safely to Fort
Yuma, a deed which won for them an
honorable and a lasting place in the history of the region. Their way was
beset by the greatest danger from the hostile and murderous savages. At San
Diego he waited for a train before continuing his
journey to the northward, and while there engaged in driving an ox team,
hauling wood, and in the work of boring an artesian well. At length,
resuming the journey, he proceeded up to Stockton,
following the coast route much of the way, and driving horses. The journey
to Sacramento was accomplished
afoot, Mr. Schroth carrying his blanket on his
shoulders to this city, where he arrived in June. He obtained employment
at the Pioneer Bakery (then known as Henry Winkel’s
Bakery), on K street,
between Front and Second. After the big
fire of 1852, in which the building was destroyed, business was resumed in the
alley bounded by J and K, Front and Second streets. In 1853 Winkel sold
out to J. W. Lehman and Louis Elmer. In January, 1854, Mr. Schroth
bought Elmer’s interest in the business, and in 1855 the firm bought property
on J street, between Fron and Second, and put up a
building, the lower floor of which was utilized by the Pioneer Bakery, and the
second story by the Pioneer Hall. In 1869 Mr. Lehman died and his widow
retained an interest in the business two or three years, after which Mr. Schroth carried on the business alone until 1882, when he
sold out the bakery business, though he still retains the ownership of the
property, and has since given his attention to his large milling
interests. On the 18th of August, 1857, Mr. Schroth
was married to Miss Amelia Fuchs, a native of Germany,
who came to Sacramento in
1856. She crossed Nicaragua
during the time Walker held
possession, and was detained on the Isthmus for four weeks. Mr. and Mrs. Schroth have five children, viz.: John George, William
D., Carrie, Emily and Clara. Mr. Schroth joined
the Sacramento Hussars in 1861, being with the organization while it was in the
State militia, and held the post of standard-bearer three or four
years. He is the only charter member of the Sacramento Turn-Verein who has remained with that body since its
organization in 1854, and was the fifth member to sign the roll. He is one
of the original members of Schiller Lodge, No. 105, I. O. O. F. He has
been a director in the Germania Building
and Loan Association since its organization. In the days of the volunteer
fire department he “ran with the machine,” having been one of the organizers of
“Knickerbocker No. 5.” Mr. Schroth’s
record is one of which any man might be proud. He made his start in Sacramento
by his own labor; by the great fire of 1852 he lost $1,300 of accumulated
wages; during the flood of 1853 he remained at his post, working in the water,
which reached the ovens before the bread was got in. He has borne his
share of the brunt of all public disasters, as well as of all public
improvements, yet to-day ranks among the solid business men of Sacramento,
as well as among the most enterprising.
Transcribed
by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 568-569. Lewis Publishing
Company. 1890.
© 2006 Karen Pratt.