Shasta
County
Biographies
JOHN W. LUTZ
John
W. Lutz, who for nearly a quarter of a century has been engaged in ranching
near Redding, Shasta County, has been successful because he has worked hard and
continuously along well directed lines, and today he is numbered among the
substantial and prosperous men of this locality. He was born near Dubuque, Iowa, on the 11th
of May, 1853, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary Jane (Postal) Lutz. The mother was a second cousin of General U.
S. Grant and Mr. Lutz recalls having seen the latter when he was at Fort
Klamath, Oregon, and that when the General went east in 1860 he made it a point
to stop at old Shasta, near Redding, to see Mother Lutz. Benjamin Lutz was born in Germany and was
about ten years of age when brought to the United States. He became a farmer and in 1859 crossed the
country with ox team and covered wagon, following the northern route to
California, through Salt Lake City. They
had no trouble with the Indians en route, and on his arrival in this state he
located at old Shasta, where he engaged in mining. He died in 1861, at a comparatively early
age. To him and his wife were born the
following children: Catherine, who died
young; Mary, who died in Missouri; Benjamin, who died at the age of forty-five
years; Eliza Ann, who died at Oakland, California, in 1929; Kate, deceased;
John W., and Henry, deceased. After the
death of Benjamin Lutz his widow became the wife of Joseph Wall and they had
two children, Mary, deceased, and Mrs. Martha Annette Eagles, of Dunsmuir.
John
W. Lutz had only meager education opportunities as were afforded by the schools
of that period. During his early years
he mined, teamed and drove stage, doing anything which would enable him to earn
an honest dollar, the fields of his activities being northern California and
southern Oregon. He then entered the
livestock business, raising, shipping and selling Shorthorn and Devonshire
cattle and some sheep, which business he carried on for about twenty-five years. During that period he also did some
butchering for the local markets, but as a usual thing sold his stock to local
buyers. He is now the owner of thirteen
hundred and sixty acres of good land, about four hundred acres being under
cultivation. He is also conducting a
dairy farm, milking about fourteen cows, which number will be increased later,
and he ships the cream to the East Bay market at Oakland. Mr. Lutz does not take a very active part in
the work of the ranch, but gives general oversight to his business affairs,
with the able assistance of his wife. He
has made all of the improvements on his place and he and his wife now have an
attractive and comfortable home, located about ten miles from Redding.
In
1882 Mr. Lutz was united in marriage to Miss Leullah Calfurnia, a daughter of William B. Stone and Elizabeth
(Bowen) Califurnia.
Her father was a farmer and carpenter, who came from Colorado to
California in 1867. Mr. Lutz has always
supported the republican party and has long been
regarded as a representative man of his community. He has been repeatedly requested to run for
the office of supervisor, but has declined, as he has no taste for political
affairs. He is well informed on the
early local history of this region and has an unusually good memory, so that he
is a veritable encyclopedia as to the principal events in the annals of Shasta county. He has lived
an honest and consistent life and well merits the success which has attended
him and the respect which is accorded him throughout the community.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 184-185. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Shasta County Biographies