San Francisco County
Biographies
EMIL NUSBAUMER
EMIL NUSBAUMER, Deputy District Attorney of Alameda county, was born in San Francisco, February 13, 1856, a
son of Louis and Elizabeth (Roth) Nusbaumer.
The father, born in Carlsruhe, Germany, January 19, 1819, was the son of
Dr. George and Amelia (Gmehli) Nusbaumer.
George Nusbaumer, a native of Switzerland, entered the service of
Napoleon I, in young manhood, obtaining a position in the medical department of
the army. At the close of Napoleon’s
career, he completed his medical studies in the University of Heidelberg, and
after graduation settled in Carlsruhe, where he became one of the most
distinguished physicians and surgeons of his time. His wife, a native of Muhlheim, died in the
third year of their marriage, about a year after the birth of their son
Louis. The latter in due time received a
good education, going through the Lyceum and attending lectures in the
Polytechnic Institute.
At
seventeen Louis Nusbaumer entered a mercantile house in Frankfort, and from nineteen to
twenty-one was occupied in learning agriculture on a model farm. At twenty-one he became bookkeeper in a jewelry house in Pforzheim, and was married in that city,
in 1842. His wife, born
in Mobile, Alabama, September 5, 1824, had been brought up in Germany, her parents
having returned from America in 1829.
After marriage they followed farming on a rented place on Lake
Constance, and five years later emigrated to America,
arriving in New York in June, 1847. Mr.
Nusbaumer soon obtained a situation in a jewelry house in Newark, New Jersey,
but the discovery of gold in 1848 turned his thoughts to California. With about sixty companions, he left New
York, March 20, 1849, by the overland route, across the States, and later across
the plains, arriving, after much tribulation on the way, at Salt Lake, October
1, and five months later, after trials even more severe, reached Southern
California, March 1, 1850. Finally
reaching San Francisco, Mr. Nusbaumer made his way to the mines on Merced river, and engaged in mining. Mrs. Nusbaumer came to California in 1851, by
way of Panama, arriving, April 5, in San Francisco, where she was met by her
husband. There they remained until 1856,
making meanwhile a trip to Oregon. In
1856 Mr. Nusbaumer, in partnership with his friend, Carl Duerr, bought a farm
in Washington township, in this county.
In 1857 they jointly rented the large Kottinger estate in Murray township, adding sheep-raising and a general merchandise
business to general farming. On the
expiration of their lease in 1862, they bought a joint interest in the Rancho
el Valle de San Jose, comprising 3,000 acres, where they made their home. Mrs. Nusbaumer died May 25, 1876, and Mr.
Nusbaumer July 10, 1878, leaving four children—George Louis, now county
Surveyor; Albert, a rancher in this county; Emil, the subject of this sketch,
and Bertha, now Mrs. Wells Whitmore, of this city.
Emil Nusbaumer first attended school six miles from home, in Dublin, afterwards in Pleasanton, when a school was
first established there about 1865, and in Vallecitos from 1868 to 1872.
In
1873 he became a clerk in Sunol, in a general store, which had also the
post-office and express office in its charge.
After two years thus employed, he entered the University of California,
of the class of 1879, but in 1877 entered the law department of the University
of Michigan, at Ann arbor, and, being graduated there
in 1879, was admitted to practice in the courts of that State. Returning to this county, he entered the
office of Hon. E. M. Gibson, at that time District Attorney, now Judge of the
Superior Court, where he remained until his election as Justice of the Peace
for Oakland township
in 1882. From January 1, 1883, to
December 31, 1888, he served as Justice, and in 1889 was appointed Deputy by
George W. Reed, District Attorney of this county, which position he still
occupies.
Mr. Nusbaumer was married May 3, 1883, to Miss Elsie H. King,
born in Monroe county, New York, June 27, 1856, a daughter of Nelson and
Caroline A. (Harmon) King, both natives of New York and residents of California
since 1876, the father being aged about seventy-three and the mother sixty-six
years. Mr. and Mrs. Nusbaumer have two
children—Emil, born December 3, 1884, and Louis, born March 1, 1890.
Transcribed by Donna L.
Becker.
Source: “The Bay of San
Francisco,” Vol. 2, Pages 648-650,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Donna L.
Becker.
California Biography
Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library