Sacramento County
Biographies
FRANZ
HENRICUS LUDWIG WEBER
FRANZ HENRICUS LUDWIG WEBER, grocer, 1217 and 1219 L street, Sacramento, was born in Hamburg, Germany, May 14, 1835. His father, August Christian Carl Weber, was a manufacturer in that city, and his mother’s maiden name was Johanna Christina Elizabeth Wagenlinger. He was only eleven years old when he crossed the ocean alone to join his adopted sister and her husband in New York, where some time before they had established a drug store. After remaining with them about two years he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and worked on a farm on Sunk Prairie until April, 1859, when with a party of young men he started overland with ox teams, for California, via Lander’s cut-off. Arriving late in October that year, at Honey Lake, he left the company and struck across to Indian Valley, Plumas County, where he engaged in ranching for two years. November 30, 1861, he joined the Fifth California Infantry as a volunteer. The command was ordered to Fort Yuma, and thence to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and was some months on the Rio Grande. On December 1, 1864, he re-enlisted and served until January 5, 1867, when he was honorably discharged. After spending some months in traveling over this State in order to select the best location for business, he came to Sacramento, in April, 1867, and started in the grocery business near his present location. After two years he bought property and erected a store building on what is now part of the Capitol grounds; and when, in 1865, the Capitol was erected, he bought the lot directly opposite, on L street, Nos. 1217 to 1219, and erected the building which he now occupies, at a cost of $8,000, dedicating it the “Capitol Grocery.” His business rapidly increasing, he associated with himself L. E. Smith, who was previously with W. R. Strong & Co., on Front street. The firm name was then Weber & Smith. Mr. Weber was a stanch Republican until 1880, when he became identified with the Prohibition movement, and was the first Sacramento candidate for office in the new party. In 1867 he was married to Miss Lizzie M. Webber, daughter of Luther Webber, of Maine, where she was born. She was a child when her parents removed her to Boston, Massachussetts (sic), where she was educated. Mr. and Mrs. Weber have two children living, namely; Luther, who is an assistant of his father in the store, and Lizzie Etta.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Pages 594-595. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.