Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOSEPH
H. FLICKINGER
JOSEPH
H. FLICKINGER. The unbounded faith,
industry and good management of Joseph Henry Flickinger,
carried from a small beginning to enormous proportions the fruit industry which
has since made his name famous and which has sent his canned products into
every quarter of the world where excellence of quality and preservation are
sought and appreciated. Probably his
early dreams of success in this line would have been regarded as exaggerated,
the prospect of agencies being established for his products in England, Japan
and Australia, yet such is the case to-day, and the brand of J. H. F.
insures acceptance in larger quantities than the capacity of the cannery either
encourages or desires. The death of this
extensive horticulturist in 1897 cut short a career still rich in promise,
notwithstanding the fact that seventy-one years had passed over his head since
his birth in Elbesheim, Germany, in 1826.
The
youth of Mr. Flickinger was not singled out for
special favors on the part of good fortune, and he was essentially a self-made
man, depending always upon the natural and acquired gifts which aided his
ambition. He was reared to habits of
extreme thrift by his parents, Adam and Catherine (Hechtman)
Flickinger, and when eight years old came to America
in a sailing vessel, settling with the rest of the family on a farm upon a part
of which Erie, Pa., has since sprung into existence. His parents both died in Erie county, his mother in 1862, and at the age of twenty-three,
in 1849, he accompanied his uncle, John Hechtman, to
New York, and embarked in the Clyde, which set sail April 24 for the long
journey around the Horn to San Francisco.
This voyage always stood out with strange vividness in the memory of
Mr. Flickinger, for it was attended with many
dangers, owing to a terrific snow storm which the craft encountered off the
Cape, and which incrusted sails, cordage and rudder in ice, weighting the boat
down and causing it to helplessly float toward the south pole
for twenty days. During this enforced
southern migration the passengers suffered intensely from cold, terror of
floating icebergs and exhaustion from rations consisting of one hard-tack
cracker and one cup of water a day. The
wind finally changing in their favor, they turned toward the promised land,
reaching Valparaiso on August 1 the same year, and arriving in San
Francisco the following November.
After
fair success in the mines around Marysville, Yuba county, Mr. Flickinger came to San Jose about 1852, the “legislature of
a thousand drinks” being then in session.
The times were favorable to the opening of a small meat shop in San
Jose, which he operated with fair success, and which resulted in his
interesting himself in an extensive stock-raising, buying and selling business,
continued uninterruptedly until about 1888.
At one time he added a stock of merchandise to his store, but finding it
unprofitable disposed of the same at the end of two years. In the meantime, April 21, 1858, he had
established a home of his own, marrying Miss Mary Smith, daughter of
Dr. China and Parnell (Hall) Smith, the former of whom came to California
from Rochester, N.Y., in 1850.
Dr. Smith was born in Maine and was a son of Ebenezer Smith, for
many years engaged in the eastern coasting trade, and the owner of three or
four vessels appropriated by the French, suit for the recovery of the value of
which is still pending with the government.
Dr. Smith graduated in medicine from a New York college, and
thereafter practiced his profession in Mendon, Monroe county,
N. Y., for several years, making his first trip to California by way of Panama
in 1850. He made quite a success of
mining in different parts of the state and in 1855 returned to the east for his
family, coming back by way of Nicaragua and settling in San Jose, where he
inaugurated the pioneer nursery business in East San Jose. For some years his business was conducted
under the firm name of Smith & Winchell, and he set out the first orchard
in the Santa Clara valley, increasing his enterprise to large proportions and
managing the same until disposing of his ranch to his son-in-law. In early life he married Miss Hall, a
native of Connecticut, and member of an old New England family, who bore him
two daughters, both of whom accompanied their parents to the coast in
1855. Mrs. Smith died in 1876, and
was survived by her husband until 1883.
After
purchasing the China Smith orchard of seventy-five acres, Mr. Flickinger began in earnest to develop an industry in which
he saw no possibility of failure. Soil,
climate and water supply seemed to point to the ideal conditions required by
the successful horticulturist, and subsequent success proved the wisdom of his
predictions. More than five hundred
acres of trees were eventually set out by him, including one thousand cherry
trees, eight thousand apricots, ten thousand peaches and six thousand
prunes. Besides his main ranch he owned
an orchard of one hundred acres at San Martin, and another the same size near
Lawrence station. The hard work involved
in producing these orchards may be better understood when it is known that the
greater part of his land was in pasture, grain and mustard and was honeycombed
by squirrels and gophers, which had to be exterminated at great expense. About twelve years ago he incorporated the
firm of J. H. Flickinger &
Company, of which he was president, and under which name he built up as
complete and modern a canning enterprise as exists anywhere in the world
to-day. The plan of erecting the cannery
right in the orchard was originated by him, and its practicability was
demonstrated almost from the start, doing away with excessive handling of
fruit, and insuring always the fresh products.
He spared no expense in availing himself of all modern improvements, and
by 1887 had so far advanced his business that in his canning and drying
establishments he employed more than four hundred hands, turning out of the
orchards goods that sold for over $100,000.
In all he spent more than $20,000 for his canning and drying plants, and
improvements have since been made to the extent of many hundreds of
dollars. He was the first to dry or can
his own fruits in the Berryessa district, and
established a precedent which has been followed to the extent that the district
to-day has no superior as a fruit raising center in the world.
Mr. Flickinger possessed unbounded enterprise and public spirit
and as an inducement to settlers in San Jose laid out the Flickinger
sub-division of one hundred acres on Coyote street. He was a member of the California Pioneers of
San Francisco, and in political affiliation was a Republican. He was a stanch[sic]
believer in good schools and churches, regardless of denomination, and he
assisted in the erection of almost every church in San Jose. He could always be depended on to further
with time and money any worthy and improving enterprise, and was ever ready to
lend a helping hand to those of his friends who were temporarily less fortunate
than himself. His wife, who still lives
in San Jose, and who is a member of the Presbyterian Church, is the mother of
five children: Charles S., manager
of the Lawrence orchard of J. H. Flickinger &
Company, residing at Lawrence Station; Catherine, wife of
L. F. Graham, president of the Flickinger
Company; Henry Allen, engaged in mining in northern California (the latter made
the trip to Alaska on the Portland, which was ice bound on the way to Nome,
where he owns valuable claims); Parnell, the wife of J. R. Patton of
Berkeley; and Sarah, who resides with her mother. The standard established by Mr. Flickinger is being maintained and improved upon by those
of his children and relatives who have succeeded to his business, and the
cannery, dry house and orchards stand in no danger of losing the prestige which
will forever associate the name of their founder with one of the great and
increasingly valuable resources of the west.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 496-499. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.