Santa Clara County
Biographies
FRANCIS JOSEPH SCHMITT
A skillful, progressive and capable business man of Santa Clara county, and one eminently worthy of the high regard in which he is so universally held, Francis Joseph Schmitt has for many years been actively associated with the mercantile prosperity of Evergreen, and since 1870 has rendered efficient and satisfactory service as postmaster. He is also an important factor in promoting the manufacturing interests of this part of the county, being proprietor of a large and productive vineyard. A native of Germany, he was born January 28, 1843, in Hesse-Darmstadt, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, Christian Schmitt.
A farmer and a machinist, Christian Schmitt was a man of some note in his native town, and obtained a fine military record while serving as an officer in the German army at the Battle of Waterloo. He lived and died in Hesse-Darmstadt, his death occurring in 1867, at the age of eighty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Schmuck, spent her entire eighty-six years of life in the same town, dying there in 1886. She bore her husband twelve children, eleven sons and one daughter, and of these the daughter and three of the sons grew to years of maturity.
The eleventh child of the parental household, Francis Joseph Schmitt was reared and educated in Germany. Emigrating to America in 1861, he located in Waterloo, Seneca county, N. Y., where he learned the cooper’s trade. Subsequently, when the oil excitement in Pennsylvania was running high, he made his way to Titusville, that state, where he worked at his trade a year, and then embarked in the grocery business. In 1867 he migrated to Erie, Pa., but not being particularly pleased with the place he remained there only six months. Coming from there to California, Mr. Schmitt took up his residence in Evergreen, which was then in its infancy, and embarked in mercantile pursuits, opening the first store established in the place, and stocking with groceries, and a good line of general merchandise. On August 24, 1870, he received his commission as postmaster, and has since held the position. His health becoming impaired, Mr. Schmitt, in 1872, returned to Pennsylvania, and for a while was engaged in business with his father-in-law, Valentine Schiely, dealer in wallpaper, oils and paints. Not satisfied, however, he returned to Evergreen in 1873, and at once resumed the charge of his former business, which he had retained. In its management he has been exceedingly prosperous, having built up a large and lucrative patronage in this and surrounding towns. In 1900 he purchased a vineyard of thirty acres, adjoining Evergreen, and now owns a large winery, crushing his own grapes, and manufacturing about ten thousand gallons of wine per annum.
In 1865, in Titusville, Pa., Mr. Schmitt married Catherine Schiely, who was born in Germany, a daughter of Valentine Schiely and Elizabeth Alberstadt. Emigrating with his family from Germany to the United States, Valentine Schiely located first in Erie, Pa., as a furniture dealer, and afterward opened the first furniture store in Corry, Pa., where he carried on a very large and successful business until his death, at the age of sixty years. Mr. and Mrs. Schmitt are parents of five children, namely: Lizzie, wife of H. S. Fitterre; Katie R., a teacher; Joseph V., deceased; Francis G., a jeweler in San Jose; and Clara Augusta, living at home. Mr. Schmitt is a man of good financial and executive ability and is treasurer and general manager of the Evergreen Hall Association, of which he was one of the incorporators. Politically he is independent, voting irrespective of party restrictions, and fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he united in 1872.
Transcribed
Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 566. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Joyce Rugeroni.