San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. LENA S. FAKE
A highly-esteemed resident of San
Joaquin County, who has an interesting life story to tell, is Mrs. Lena S.
Fake, the widow of the late and highly-honored Captain George J. Fake, residing
at Tracy. She was born near Ingeln, in the Province of Hanover, Germany, on August 18,
1853, the daughter of Henry and Hannah (Dohrs) Seegers, and accompanied them to America in 1868, along
with an uncle, Christoph Dohrs,
a mining man of prominence and wealth in San Francisco, who had been visiting
his relatives in Germany during that year.
Fourteen days were required to cross the Atlantic, after which they left
New York, aboard the steamship California, bound for Aspinwall. They then crossed the Isthmus on the railroad
up from Panama and came on the steamship George Law, arriving at San Francisco
on October 1, 1868.
Henry Seegers was a farmer and
shepherd by occupation, and soon after his arrival in the Golden State, he made
his way into the San Joaquin Valley, where he formed a partnership for
agricultural pursuits with Harry Fisk, near what was known in those early days
as San Joaquin City. He took up Section
No. 28 of land, and the dwelling and farm buildings were erected from lumber
and materials hauled across the arid plains from Stockton, a distance of
thirty-three miles. Fire destroyed the
buildings, however, in 1898, and thus a well-known landmark of the sixties was
removed. Mr. Seegers passed away on
August 15, 1900, at the age of eighty-two and his faithful widow followed him
on May 4, 1906, having attained her eighty-first year. Both of these highly intelligent and
progressive pioneers left behind an enviable record for their useful lives, and
made a substantial contribution toward the California of today.
The second daughter and oldest
living of a family of six children, Lena Seegers received a good common-school
education; and in 1872 she was married to Captain G. J. Fake, a native of
England, who was born at Bury St. Edmund’s on November 25, 1824. He was educated at Thetford Academy, and on
reaching his eighteenth year, went to sea.
Six years later, such were the rapid strides of his advancement; he was
made captain of a merchant marine service.
In 1853 he sailed his first vessel through the Golden Gate, after a
hazardous voyage around Cape Horn, and from that year he maintained a home at
San Francisco. He not only became master
of his own private vessel, but he engaged in shipbuilding, as well, and constructed
such well-known vessels as the schooner “Superior,” used in powder and
ammunition freighting between Santa Cruz and South America. In this enterprise, he was associated with a
brother, William Fake. Several famous
vessels came under the captain’s ownership, but none are now in service. In 1886 Captain Fake made his last deep-sea
voyage on a tour of the Orient, and Mrs. Fake accompanied her husband, as she
had on all of the voyages he made after they were married.
On retiring from active sea-life,
Captain Fake removed inland to San Joaquin County and in 1889 acquired a
productive ranch of 320 acres, near Vernalis, where he built his home and where
he and his good wife lived until 1914, when, on account of failing health, he
disposed of his ranch. At Tracy, on
September 11, 1914, he passed away, thus rounding out an exceptionally useful
life as one of the bravest sea captains who ever stood before the mast. A daughter, now the wife of W. H. Cuthell, resides near Duncans
Mills, on the Russian River, in California.
Captain Fake was a member of various Masonic lodges; a stand-pat
Republican and a sincere believer in the goodness of God and who could have had
better reason for entertaining such faith than one who had, for years, coursed
the stormy main, sailing through peril after peril into sunshiny open. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Fake lived
for a short time at Oakland, but in 1919 she erected a comfortable residence at
Tracy, deeding the property to the Lutheran Church; with the proviso that she
may continue to reside there during her natural life. This is only one of the numerous things she
has found pleasure in doing, being active in all church work, charitable
pursuits, etc., quietly and modestly pursuing her way, content that virtue and
Christian large-heartedness are their own reward.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
831. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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