Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JACOB PFEIFFER
That independence is guaranteed the man who has
mastered a useful trade, and who is willing to back its application with vigor
and practical common sense, is a fact too assured to furnish material for
argument. A conspicuous instance is found in the career of Jacob Pfeiffer, a
stone cutter by trade, and, since the fall of 1875, operator of what was
formerly the Goodrich quarry, but is now the Gray Stone quarry. Mr. Pfeiffer
needs no introduction to the people of California, for his efforts have been of
too substantial a nature, and are too monumental and abiding in their character
to permit of his being forgotten or even temporarily overlooked. When his own
work of furnishing stone for buildings is finished, he has the satisfaction of
knowing that his mission will be maintained by hands no less skilled than his
own, for his three sons have been trained by as perfect a master of stone
cutting as ever wielded a chisel or gauged a proportion.
Mr. Pfeiffer learned his trade in
Alsace-Lorraine, now Germany, where he was born in March, 1827. He came to the
United States about 1847, and subsequently worked at his trade in Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois, in which latter state he married in Chicago, Agatha Meier, a
native of Switzerland. In time he removed with his family to Kansas, and in
1858 located at Eudora, Douglas county, where he
operated a stone quarry, having his office in Lawrence. In the spring of 1875
he came to California and engaged in stone cutting for Brooks of San Jose, at
the Goodrich quarry, which he leased for a number of years, and in 1901 renewed
his lease up to and including 1906. Among the many buildings for which he has
supplied stone are the following: The Salinas court house, which was one of his
earliest contracts; the Masonic Temple of Oakland, erected in 1878; the Normal
School of San Jose; the Pioneer building of San Francisco; the Insane Asylum;
Agnew new Asylum; Stockton Asylum; the history building; Star King buildings,
of San Francisco; the Lick baths; Omnibus car house; Carson Mint in Nevada, and
the Hall of Records at Oakland. He ships stone all over the Pacific coast, as
far north as Sacramento and as far south at Redlands. Mr. Pfeiffer has built up
a splendid and paying business and deserves all possible credit for recognizing
and taking advantage of his opportunities.
Since coming to the county Mr.
Pfeiffer has made his home at Gray Stone Station, in which neighborhood he
exerts an influence independent of that connected with his business. He is a
broad minded and liberal citizen, taking a keen interest in his county and its
multiplicity of resources. He has the Teuton’s
perseverance and determination, which factors have materially shaped his
career, and placed him in the prominent position he now occupies. Of his three
sons and four daughters, one daughter is deceased. The children in the order of
their birth are: Matilda, John, Mary, Celestine, Peter, Francis, Minnie and
Frank Nicholas. Frank Nicholas, who inherits his father’s trade and business
ability, and is one of the most promising and well known men of his
neighborhood, was born in Eudora, Kans., and accompanied the family to
California in 1875. He lives with his father, and is an earnest and competent
assistant manager.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 921. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.