Sacramento County
Biographies
CHARLES WILKE
CHARLES WILKE--For thirty-two years of his active career Charles Wilke was identified with the jewelry business in Sacramento, where he passed away in 1908, honored and esteemed by all who knew him. His birth occurred in Hoff, Bavaria, Germany, July 31, 1841, a son of John and Elizabeth (Zinn) Wilke, both natives of the same country. John Wilke was a gifted musician, the leader of a military band and a composer of note. Charles Wilke was reared in his native village, where he attended the public school and spent three years as a student in the polytechnic school of that place; then he was apprenticed to learn the jewelers trade and five and a half years were spent in mastering the trade. On September 3, 1863, he boarded a sailing vessel bound for New York, where he landed October 25, 1863. He worked at his trade for a couple of months; then removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he worked for three years. In 1870, he opened his own shop in Pittsburgh and conducted it for five years, when he sold out and came to California, locating in Sacramento. Here he soon commenced business in an upstairs room at Fifth and J. Streets and spent seven successful years at his trade. In January, 1883, he established a jewelry business at Seventh and J Streets, where he remained until his death in 1896. He did much of the diamond setting and ring mounting for the leading jewelers of San Francisco and other cities and was considered an expert judge of stones.
The marriage of Mr. Wilke occurred in December, 1863, which united him with Miss Louisa Dietrich, a native of Bohemia, and six children were born to them: Chris, Emma, Martha, Mrs. Leonard W. Eskridge; George, Nellie, and Charles. Mr. Wilke was a Republican in politics and fraternally was a member of the California Lodge, Knights of Pythias; Harmony Lodge, K. & L. of H.; Walhalla Grove No. 6, A. O. D., and Verein Eintracht; and he belonged to the Luthern Church.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 696. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.