Santa Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE
W. THEUERKAUF
GEORGE W. THEUERKAUF.
Prominent among the substantial and well-to-do residents of San Jose is George
W. Theuerkauf, who by persistent industry, judicious
management and wise forethought has attained signal success as a farmer and
stock-raiser, becoming an extensive landholder, and a man of much wealth. For
more than half a century a resident of the state, he has been a potent factor
in developing its agricultural interests, and as a breeder of fine horses has
acquired a wide reputation. For a number of years he owned the famous dam
“Sister,” by Eugene Cassidy, by General Taylor, and now owns two
exceptionally fine brood mares from Sister by Dictatus.
Among the many noted horses that he has raised are “Lee,” which he trained
several years ago, and which made a record of 2:16, then a very high speed, and
he now has in his stud “Funston,” which he raised and trained, and which in
1903, won second place in a race, pacing in 2:08˝. Coming from honored German
ancestry, Mr. Theuerkauf was born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, September 10, 1846, a son of Frederick Theuerkauf.
Born and reared in
Germany, Frederick Theuerkauf left the fatherland
when nineteen years old, emigrating to the United States, and locating in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was employed in mercantile pursuits for a number of
years. In 1852, with his wife and two children, he came by way of the Isthmus
to California, sailing from Panama to San Francisco on the “Golden Gate.”
Settling in San Jose, he took up a tract of what he thought was government
land, on the Bollinger road, but which he afterward found to be part of a
grant, and which he subsequently bought, paying twenty-five dollars an acre for
the piece, which contained three hundred and one acres. He was there engaged in
farming and stock-raising until 1875, when he sold out, and removed to East San
Jose. In 1878 he bought the old Ouibey ranch of two
hundred acres, which he carried on until his retirement from active business.
Returning then to San Jose, he built a residence on Villa avenue, where he
lived retired until his death, in March, 1898, at the advanced age of
seventy-six years. He was a man of fine business ability, honored and esteemed
throughout the community, and was a valued member of the German Methodist
Episcopal Church, which he assisted in organizing, and of which he was for many
years a trustee. In politics he was a straight-forward Republican. His twin
brother, George Theuerkauf, came to California
in 1852, and now resides in San Francisco. Frederick Theuerkauf
married Catherine Weigh, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, of German
ancestry, and died in San Jose in 1894. Her father attained a remarkable age,
dying at the age of ninety-three years. She bore her husband two children,
namely: Caroline, wife of George W. Henning, a prosperous orchardist
of Santa Clara county, and George W., the subject of this sketch.
A lad of six years
when he came to San Jose with his parents, George W. Theuerkauf obtained his early education in the public
schools, afterward attending the University of the Pacific. After the home farm
was sold, in 1875, he bought five hundred and seventy-eight acres of land in
Gonzales, Monterey county, and continued in the independent occupation to which
he had been reared. Erecting good buildings, including a commodious residence,
he was there profitably employed in grain and stock-raising for nearly twenty
years, and still owns the ranch, which is very valuable, having not a waste
acre, all being devoted to grain or pasture. In 1893 Mr. Theuerkauf settled in San Jose, and has since resided on
Villa avenue, where he has a pleasant and most attractive home. He is a large
landholder, owning considerable land in Santa Clara county, including a farm of
one hundred and eighty-two acres in the foothills east of San Jose, about three
miles from Alum Rock, and eight miles from the city, where he has a fine
orchard, a good dairy, and keeps choice stock; and on Foxworthy avenue, four
miles south from San Jose, he has a prune orchard of fourteen acres.
At Dutch Flat, Placer
county, Mr. Theuerkauf married Anna Mary Hertell, who was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. Her father,
Rev. C. A. Hertell, M. D.,
was for some years actively engaged in the practice of medicine, but
subsequently became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and came to
California as a pioneer of that denomination, residing here until his death, in
Santa Clara county, in 1903. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Theuerkauf six children were born, namely: Bertie, wife of
John Hendy, of San Francisco; Minnie B., wife of John Christianson,
of San Francisco; Mrs. Lottie Evelyn Stevens, of San Jose;
Frederick, manager of his father’s farm; Florence, living at home, and Lester,
traveling salesman for a San Francisco firm. Politically Mr. Theuerkauf is a stanch advocate
of the principles of the Republican party, and for four years served as
supervisor of Monterey county. He is much interested in the early history of
the state, and is a member of the Santa Clara County Pioneers’ Society.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 21 April 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 469-470. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.