Santa
Clara County
Biographies
THEODORE
FELIX HEPLE
THEODORE FELIX HEPLE. Having received a practical training in the
art and science of plastering, Theodore Felix Heple
occupies an assured position among the leading plastering contractors of San
Jose. Enterprising and progressive,
keeping fully abreast of the times in regard to the details of his trade, he is
carrying on a substantial business, employing from twelve to twenty men in the
fulfilling of his numerous large contracts.
A son of the late Conrad J. Heple, he was
born November 12, 1862, in Mobile, Ala., of Swiss and German ancestry.
Born and reared in Zurich, Switzerland,
Conrad J. Heple there learned and worked at the
wagon maker’s trade. Emigrating
to this country, he settled in Mobile, Ala., where he opened a wagon and
blacksmith’s shop, and for a few years carried on an excellent business. During the Civil war he lost all that he had
made, and in the spring of 1868 came to California in search of more favorable
business conditions. Being well pleased
with the future outlook he sent for his family, who joined him in the fall of
1868, coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and they settled in San Jose,
where he established a wagon maker’s shop, which he operated most successfully
until his death, in 1890, at the age of sixty-five years. He married Magdalena Kammerer,
who was born in Germany, and now resides in San Jose. She bore her husband nine children, of whom
three sons and three daughters survive, Theodore F., the subject of this
sketch, being the second child in order of birth.
A lad of three years when he came with
his mother to San Jose, Theodore F. Heple
received excellent educational advantages, being graduated from the city high
school. He subsequently worked with his
father until 1884, when he began learning the plasterer’s trade, at which he
served an apprenticeship of three years.
In 1890 he embarked in business on his own account, and has been
established the longest and is the most extensive plastering contractor in this
section of Santa Clara county. He employs a large force of men, and has
filled contracts for doing the plastering work on some of the most noted public
buildings and private residences in the city and its suburbs, including among
others the following names: The
St. James Hotel, San Jose High School building, the Postoffice
building, the Carnegie Library building, the Rca
building, the Chemistry building belonging to the Leland Stanford, Jr.,
University, the Vendome Annex, and the Booksin,
Lathrop and Hayes-Chynoweth residences.
In San Jose, Cal., October 30,
1889, Mr. Heple married Marguerite Walters, who
was born in this city, the daughter of Joseph Walters, a pioneer settler. Joseph Walters and his brother Samuel crossed
the plains in the winter of 1845, arriving and locating in Eugene City, Ore.,
where Joseph Walters built and operated a mill on the Willamette river. He then sold
the flour to the miners, freighting it by teams to the mines, but lost heavily
by the dishonesty of a freighter. He
later sold his mill and came to California, and during the war settled in
Redwood City, where he operated a mill for some time. He then built the Saratoga mill for Senator
McClay, and operated it for some time.
He married Miss Christine McLane in San Francisco, who was reared and educated
in Philadelphia, and they became the parents of four children. Her father, Charles McLane, was a native of
Scotland, who married Margaret McClosky in the north
of Ireland.
After his marriage Joseph Walters
settled down on a farm on the summit of the Santa Cruz mountains,
where he owned a farm of one-hundred and sixty-five acres. After nine years he sold the ranch and built
a grist mill in The Willows. He now
resides with his daughter, Mrs. Heple. He was the father of two sons and two
daughters. His wife died July 23,
1885, aged forty-five years. He is a
Democrat. Great-grandfather Walters was
of German descent, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He died in Ohio aged ninety years, and the
father of a large family.
Mr. and Mrs. Heple reside at No. 494 Delmos
avenue, where he has erected a fine residence.
They are the parents of two children, Ralph and Clair. Fraternally Mr. Heple
is a member of San Jose Lodge No. 10, F.&A.M.,
and of Garden City Lodge, I.O.O.F.
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 949-950. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Donna Toole.