Santa
Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE
SCHERRER
Unfailing good humor and
practical liberality were keynotes to the popularity of George Scherrer,
successor to the brewery business of his father-in-law, Joseph Hartman, and for
many years one of the most successful beer manufacturers in Santa Clara county.
Mr. Scherrer gained his knowledge of brewing in his native city of Strasburg,
Germany, where he was born and reared, and from where he immigrated to America
during the later ‘50s. After considerable travel through the east he came to
California in 1860, working at his trade in different parts of the state, and
he finally became foreman for Joseph Hartman, the largest brewer in San Jose.
After the expiration of nineteen years as foreman he purchased the business of
Mr. Hartman, continuing the same until his death, September 21, 1897. In the
meantime he had inaugurated many important changes in the business, introduced
modern machinery, and at the same time had trained Ludwig Hartman, his
brother-in-law, to be a practical and successful brewer and to succeed him as
manager of the enterprise. Since his death the business has been operated under
the firm name of Scherrer & Hartman, the partners being Mrs. Scherrer and
Ludwig Hartman. Mr. Scherrer was a very public-spirited man, well informed and
genial, and was so well balanced and tactful that he won the love and respect
of a host of friends. No appeal was ever made to him in vain providing the
cause was a worthy one, for he was generosity personified, both in his family
and in the community. He was active and popular in the Sons of Herman
Turnverein.
April 8, 1875, Mr. Scherrer was
united in marriage with Georgana Hartman, daughter of
Joseph and Dorothea (Messing) Hartman. Her birth occurred in San Jose. Joseph
Hartman is entitled to rank with the shrewd and capable business men of San
Jose, for the best interests of which city he labored for many years. He was a
son of Ludwig Hartman, and was born in Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany, eventually learning the brewer’s trade in his native land. In 1852 he
was married in San Jose, Cal., and here he started the pioneer brewery of the
town on Market street. He had little capital but
plenty of determination, and from a small beginning
made his brew of such excellent quality, that it gained him patrons not only in
his adopted town, but in the surrounding towns. His famous old steam beer is
recalled to this day by old residents. By keeping his plant well equipped with
modern machinery and the latest appliances he left an up-to-date enterprise at
the time of his death in 1879, when in his sixty-third year. He was a typical
German-American of the whole-souled, (sic) generous
sort, a thoroughly good man, honorable in all of his dealings, and quick to
make and retain friends. The early pioneer days afforded many opportunities for
the exercise of his liberality, and it is not recalled that he was ever found
wanting, either in generosity or public spirit. Nine weeks after his own death
occurred that of his well-loved wife, who had shared his lesser and greater
fortunes, caring for his home and children as women of the old world are taught
to do from infancy up. Besides Mrs. Scherrer, who is the oldest, there were
four children, of whom Agnes, Mrs. Delvig, resides in
San Francisco; Ludwig makes his headquarters in San Jose; and Laura, Mrs.
Kline, is deceased. All the children were born in San Jose, and all received
the benefit of the finest educational opportunities afforded in the county,
Mrs. Scherrer attending the Convent of Notre Dame. The Eagle Brewery is one of
the finest of its kind in the state, and no expense has been spared to make its
equipment equal to that of the old and reliable institutions for brewing in the
east. As one of the land marks of San Jose it enjoys a deserved prestige, for
its products have always borne the stamp of excellence, and its business
methods have been above reproach.
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 625. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.