Santa Clara County
Biographies
JOHN
LEFFLER
JOHN LEFFLER. One of
the most enterprising, active and successful business men of San Jose is
John Leffler, senior member of the firm of
J. Leffler & Son, who have livery, feed and
sale stables at the corner of First and Williams streets, where they do general
blacksmithing and horseshoeing, and also keep horses, wagons, harness and farm
implements either for sale, exchange or rent. A native of New Jersey, he was
born September 6, 1831, in Phillipsburg, Warren county, which was
likewise the birthplace of his father, Jacob Leffler.
His grandfather, John Leffler, was born in
Holland, but when a young man immigrated to New Jersey, where he was engaged in
farming. He served in the Revolutionary war, and the old flintlock gun that he
carried while in the army is now in the possession of his grandson, the John Leffler of whom we write.
Inheriting the
patriotic ardor of his father, Jacob Leffler took an
active part in the war of 1812. Choosing farming for his life occupation, he
removed to Illinois in 1852, settling south of Chicago, where he bought land
and was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a number of years. On retiring
from active business he settled in Frankfort, Ill., where both he and his wife
passed the closing years of their lives. He married Ruth Bassett, a native
of New Jersey, and of the children born of their union seven grew to years of
maturity, and four are now living, John being the second child in order of birth.
He and one of his brothers, Wendell Leffler,
served in the Civil war, Wendell enlisting in the One Hundred and Fifty-first
Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
Living on the New
Jersey homestead until attaining his majority, John Leffler
was educated in the district schools of his native town. Coming with the family
to Illinois in 1852, he assisted in breaking up the prairie land, driving an ox
team. After his marriage he bought wild land in Frankfort township, Will
county, and improved a good stock farm. In 1862, bidding adieu to his wife and
two children, he enlisted, in August of that year, in Company E,
Eighty-eighth Volunteer Infantry, the old Board of Trade Regiment, and was
mustered in at Chicago. Going thence to Tennessee, he took part in the battles
of Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga. Subsequently
joining Sherman’s forces, he participated in the Georgia campaign, which lasted
from June, 1864, until the following September, being present at the
engagements in Resaca; at Rocky-Face Ridge, where the sad news of the death of
his two children reached him; at New Hope Church; Kenesaw
Mountain; Buzzard Roost; Peach Tree Creek; Lovejoy Station, where he was
slightly wounded; Jonesboro; and at the siege and taking of Atlanta. Then,
serving under General Thomas, Mr. Leffler
fought against Hood’s troops at Spring Hill, Franklin, and at Nashville, where
Hood’s army was totally annihilated. Mr. Leffler
was subsequently on detached service as trainmaster, in Tennessee, until the
close of the conflict, when he was honorably discharged at Chicago.
Returning to Will
county, Ill., Mr. Leffler bought from
Mr. Higginbotham one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, which he fenced
and improved, and subsequently purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land
adjoining his first purchase, and was there prosperously employed in
agricultural pursuits for several years, his fine farm of two hundred and
eighty acres lying but twelve miles from the city of Joliet. Selling out in
1872, Mr. Leffler removed to Chicago, where he
established a large milk route, which he managed with success for fifteen
years, running five wagons on the delivery. He also invested in land, buying
eighteen acres on the South Chicago river, inside the city limits. Disposing of
his entire Chicago property in 1887, he bought three sections of land near Page
City, Cass county, N. Dak., where he resided
until 1892, when he traded off that property for twelve hundred acres of timber
land near Lake Tahoe. Coming to California with his family in 1893, Mr. Leffler was engaged in the livery business in San Jose for
a few years. He afterward traded his livery business for a ranch in the Santa
Cruz mountains, near Alma, becoming owner of a vineyard of sixty-eight acres.
In 1900 Mr. Leffler opened livery, feed and sale
stables at the corner of First and Williams streets, San Jose, and
subsequently admitted to partnership his son, James F. Leffler, the firm name becoming J. Leffler
& Son. This firm has built up an extensive and substantial business, occupying
a portion of two blocks, and keeping from six to nine men employed in the shops
and stables.
In Will county, Ill.,
Mr. Leffler married Amelia S. Owen,
who was born in Indiana, of Kentucky parentage, and died in Chicago, Ill. Of
the seven children born of their union, but one, James F., is living.
Politically Mr. Leffler has been a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party,
since he cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in
1856. He is a Master Mason, and is an active member of John A. Dix
Post, G. A. R., which he has served as commander. He has also served
in other positions connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, having been
an officer on the staff of the national commander, Gen. John C. Black.
He is a man of deep religious convictions, and a member of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
04 May 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 552-553. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.