San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HENRY BLOHME
The experiences of the pioneers in a
new country are but little appreciated by the younger generations for they know
nothing of the soul-trying experiences encountered nor
the hardships endured by those pathfinders who have blazed the trail for our
present-day prosperity. Henry Blohme has
always done his share towards the building up and the upbuilding of San Joaquin
County ever since becoming a resident here.
He was born at Wulmstorf Amt Verden, in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, on February 15,
1839, a son of Christopher and Dorothea (Meyer) Blohme, farmers in that
country, the father having lived to reach the fine old age of ninety-seven
before he answered the final call in 1893.
His good wife had died many years before.
Henry was educated in the public
schools of his native land and reared to farm life until 1858, when he decided
he would come to the United States to make his own way in the world. He left Germany on a sailing vessel and after
a voyage of sixty days landed in New York City.
In Brooklyn he secured employment in a large grocery store as a clerk
and after a short time he had won the full confidence of his employers who,
when they found he was going west, offered to make him head clerk if he would
stay. He worked there for a year, or
until he had saved enough money to bring him out to California where he had a
number of relatives living and who had written him to come west. They were Mrs. Jacob Brack,
Henry Meyer, Charles Meyer and John Meyer, brothers and sisters of his mother. On his trip to California he was accompanied
by an uncle, Herman Meyer, and they left New York on December 4, 1859, coming
via Aspinwall, where they had to wait a week for a ship, and they reached San
Francisco on January 3, 1860, and proceeded by water direct to Stockton. Arriving here Mr. Blohme found work on
ranches, receiving for his services twenty-five dollars a month; earning every
penny of it by putting in long hours and working very hard. Being young and vigorous the hard work did
not dampen his ardor nor dull the determination to get ahead. By the strictest economy he saved sufficient
money to make a payment on some land consisting of 320 acres on the
Copperopolis Road, about nine miles from Stockton. This was undeveloped land and he paid $10,000
for it and at once planted a crop of grain but only harvested about half a crop
on account of a dry year. In 1871 he got
nothing for his work, but he had a little experience with irrigation that gave
him a good return on about two acres that he was able to flood with water that
ran down the road from the overflow on the ranch adjoining his. He worked by the day helping others to
harvest and with their machine cut his own wheat and found he had about forty
bushels to the acre on the two acres he had put water on. There were no improvements on his ranch
except an adobe house and barn when he bought it, but he later built a modern
and commodious ranch house and this has been his home place ever since.
In 1871 Mr. Blohme made a trip back
to his old home and visited his father, then returned to Stockton and resumed
his ranch work. As he prospered he added
to his holdings another 160 acres in 1882, paying seventy-five dollars per
acre. He has farmed to grain all these
years and has made an average yield of fifteen to eighteen sacks to the
acre. He has also raised considerable
stock with good success. In 1895 Mr.
Blohme bought forty acres near Woodbridge, which he set to Zinfandel and
Mission grapes, for it had been demonstrated that grapes would thrive on that
land. The product was sold to the
winery, and the prices were then ten dollars and up per ton. He is a member of the Woodbridge Vineyard
Association. This vineyard is one of the
oldest as well as one of the best producers in the county. In 1892 Mr. Blohme made a second trip back to
see his father and the girl he had left behind him, and in 1893 journeyed to
New York from California to meet his intended bride, who had come from the same
section of Hanover as had Mr. Blohme.
She was in maidenhood Betty Anna Adelung, born
in Wulmstorf Amt Verden. They were married in New York and their
wedding trip was the journey to California.
In 1894 Mr. Blohme bought three and
one-half lots in Stockton and in September, 1908, the family moved into town in
order that the children could have the advantages of the city schools. This continued to be their home until August,
1922, when they returned to the ranch on Copperopolis Road, having sold the
town property which is to become a part of the site for the auditorium. Mr. and Mrs. Blohme have had three daughters
born to them: Dorothea, the eldest, died
aged sixteen months; Henrietta C. R. and Betty Anna.
The family are
members of the Lutheran Church in Stockton and contributes liberally towards
all progressive movements that have for their object the making of San Joaquin
County a better place in which to live and thrive. For many years Mr. Blohme was a member of the
old Granger’s Union of Stockton; and he also served as a member of the board of
trustees of the Chartville school district.
Take it all in all his has been a busy life and he likes to recount the
stories of the life and living conditions in the early days when he first
became a resident of the county. Mr.
Blohme and his family have always made friends and it with a great deal of
satisfaction that in the latter years of Mr. Blohme’s
life he still retains the esteem and confidence of all who knew him. Today there are but few of the pioneers still
living, but they laid secure the foundation of the commonwealth that those who
come after will be able to enjoy the comforts denied their forefathers and by
so doing are entitled to the best there is in store for the fine old pioneers.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
407-408. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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