HON. JOHN WEIL

Sacramento County

Biographies

HON. JOHN WEIL

HON. JOHN WEIL.--Among the well known Californians resident and doing business in Sacramento, is the gentleman whose name this sketch commences. He is a native of Germany, born in the Duchy of Nassau, near Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the small town of Hattersheim, on the 12th day of April, 1834. His parents were John Adam and Margaretha Weil, the father a miller. The mother died when the subject of this sketch was but two years of age. He received his education in the public schools between the ages of six and fourteen years, and after that was thrown upon his own resources. He obtained employment as an errand boy at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and was thus engaged for a year and a half. He then became a merchant’s apprentice at Mayence, and was thus employed until nineteen years of age. In 1853 he came to America, sailing from Liverpool on the clipper ship Hussar. He had engaged passage on a steamer, but it sank, and he came by the clipper in preference to waiting for another steamer. He arrived at New York in April after a voyage of twenty-seven days. He then proceeded to St. Louis, and thence to Belleville, Illinois, where he remained until the following year. In 1854 he came to California with his sister, taking a steamer to Havana, thence to Aspinwall, then across the Isthmus, and on the John L. Stephens to San Francisco, where he landed, and soon came to Sacramento. His brother, Mr. C. Weil, had come to Sacramento in 1852, and was in business on the corner of Eleventh and J streets, and has a vinegar factory on L street, and our subject was employed in the business. A year later he became a partner in the vinegar factory, and so continued until 1857, when he sold out and went to Monte Christo, Sierra County, to engage in mining. He bought an interest in a mine, and a year later started a store. One day in the fall of 1859, while he was in Sacramento purchasing goods, he received word that his store had burned down. He went back at once, but as the mines were giving out and the town going down, he concluded to leave there. He went down to Downieville, and there carried on business until 1876. While there, in February, 1865, he was again burned out, losing $15,000, with no insurance, and then offered to sell everything he had left for $1,000. But he persevered and prospered. In the fall of 1876 he closed out his business there, and came to Sacramento to rest up. He had always been an active factor in the organization of the Republican party, and in 1879, much to his surprise, he was nominated for the office of State Treasurer by the Republican convention of that year, and was chosen to that important position by the suffrages of the citizens of the State at the ensuing election. At the expiration of his term of office in 1882, he lived retired from active pursuits for some time, but in 1884 the real estate firm of Weil & Johnson was formed. In 1886 he was instrumental in the organization of the Sacramento Glass & Crockery Company, and was elected its president. He became more and more interested in the business financially, and now gives his principal attention to the business, and is the heaviest stockholder. He has lately disposed of his interest in the firm of Weil & Johnson. Mr. Weil was married in Sacramento (while a resident of Downieville) on the 6th of June, 1866, to Miss Anna M. Hickman. They have three children, all born in Downieville, viz: Louis J., Robert and Marguerite. Mr. Weil has been a Republican since the organization of the party. In the fall of 1869 he was elected a supervisor of Sierra County, and served two terms of three years each. He declined a re-election, urged upon him by both Republicans and Democrats. He has taken an active interest in the public affairs in Sacramento, and is now one of the Board of Fire Commissioners. He has been offered the Republican nomination for mayor upon one occasion, feeling compelled to refuse it, when the convention took a recess to wait upon him with the tender of the first place on the city ticket. He is a member of Sierra Lodge, No. 24, I. O. O. F., and has passed its chairs, as also those of the encampment at Downieville, Blue Range, No. 8. He is a member of the Canton at Sacramento, and is a charter member of the Veteran Odd Fellows of Sacramento. He is a member of Mountain Shade Lodge, No. 18, Downieville, and holds membership in the Sacramento Turn-Verein. Mr. Weil is looked upon as one of the foremost citizens of the State, and in his public and private career has won the respect and confidence of the entire community.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 744-745. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.