San Joaquin County
Biographies
CARL AUGUST BACHMANN
C. A. BACHMANN, of the firm
of Bachmann & Brandt, proprietors of the chicory factory, near Stockton, is
an old resident of San Joaquin County, and a native of Magdeburg, Prussia, his
parents being Henry and Teresa (Kunz) Bachmann. His father was a government
officer in the military department. He received his education in his native
town, and after completing same served an apprenticeship at the upholstering
trade, then traveled throughout Germany, Russia, Austria, Hungary, France, and
indeed all over the continent. He then entered the military service of his
country, joining the Twelfth Hussah Regiment, and took part in the wars of
Baden and Holstein.
Leaving the army in 1853 he emigrated to
America, going to St. Anthony’s Falls, Minnesota, where he established a
furniture factory. In 1859 he gave up business and started for California,
landing on the 24th of October, 1859; remained in San Francisco
until the spring of 1860, when he started to the mines of Washington Territory;
not being successful as a miner, he returned to San Francisco, where he
obtained employment in a carpet store. In 1871 he came to San Joaquin County
and purchased a ranch of several hundred acres and commenced farming. Having
some knowledge of the chicory business, and thinking the same would prove
profitable, he turned his attention to the cultivation and manufacture of the
article. With his partner, he now has the largest chicory factory in the United
States, with a trade extending throughout the Pacific coast and Central States
of the Union. In 1889 they worked up 6,000 tons of roots, producing one-fourth
that weight of the finished product ready for market. Mr. Bachmann was in
Europe in 1884, visiting relatives and friends; while there he looked over the
field of manufacture in his business, and, selecting the most improved
machinery, purchased the same for his factory.
Mr. Bachmann is a prominent and active
member of the Masonic order, belonging to Stockton Chapter, No. 28, R. A. M.;
also Stockton Commandery, No. 8, Knights Templar, and has taken the
Thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite; he attended the Triennial Conclave at San
Francisco in 1883, and again at St. Louis in 1886. In politics he is a
Republican. Mr. Bachmann is one of the substantial men of San Joaquin County,
and also among the most active.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 525. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago,
Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases