Sacramento County
Biographies
CAROLINE M. TOTMAN
CAROLINE M. TOTMAN.---An
excellent example of the successful woman in the field of agriculture is
afforded by Caroline M. Totman, who owns some 236
choice acres of land on Sherman Island.
She was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, the daughter of Fred and Caroline (Burmeister) Ehlers, the former a cabinet-maker and a native
of Germany, who came to the United States when a young man and lived for a
while at Cincinnati, Ohio. He moved on
to Oskaloosa in pioneer days, when it was necessary to live in a log cabin; and
after laboring hard to help open up the country, having accomplished much of
real benefit to future generations, he passed away, when our subject was only
three years old. His good wife lived to
be fifty-three years of age, and at her death was mourned by all who knew her,
and had found in her a woman worthy of her day and generation. There were four children in the family. Louisa became Mrs. William L. Atchinson, of Seattle; Amelia is deceased; Matilda, Mr. A.
A. Bailey, lives in Portland; while the youngest is now Caroline Totman.
Our subject attended the Oskaloosa grammar
and high schools, passed the teacher’s examination, received a county
certificate, and taught school for a short time before her marriage. She became the wife of William Totman at Oskaloosa, on April 13, 1891. William Totman was
born near Oskaloosa. His parents were
Simon and Christina (Oldham) Totman, the latter a
native of England. By 1886, about the
time of the great boom in realty in southern California, he had come to
California. He settled on the West Side
of San Joaquin Valley, near Crow’s Landing, in Stanislaus County, and there
farmed; and on returning East, he married, and brought his bride out to
California. They settled at Crow’s
Landing, and for three years farmed 1,000 acres to grain. They then moved to
Sherman Island, and bought 100 acres, to which he added until he had 236 acres
devoted to beans and grain. About twenty
years ago, Mr. Totman built a comfortable and
attractive dwelling upon the ranch, which Mrs. Totman
soon made ready for a cosy home. Here they lived and worked together,
and here their family was reared; but during the scourge of influenza, Mr. Totman was stricken down, and breathed his last in
1918. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge,
at Rio Vista. In politics he was a
Republican.
Since Mr. Totman’s
lamented death, Mrs. Totman, with the assistance of
her son, has managed the rancho, and recently is putting the land into
asparagus, beets and alfalfa. In
midsummer, the ranch is irrigated by means of a siphon. Mrs. Totman has two
children. Clifford, a lad when his
father died, took over the practical part of the running of the ranch in his
youth, and continued to make a success of the enterprise. Mildred is teaching school at Rio Vista. Mrs. Totman is a
member of the board of trustees of the Sherman Island school district. She is a member of the Eastern Star at Rio
Vista, as is also her daughter, while her son is a Mason.
Transcribed by Suzanne Wood.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 433. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Suzanne Wood.