San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JULIUS J. GAEDTKE
One of the few venerable and honored
pioneers of California who yet enjoy life and its blessings in the state with
which they so early cast their lot in the days of gold, is Julius J. Gaedtke,
who has passed the age of fourscore. He
was born in Konigsberg, Prussia, March 23, 1838, and was brought up in the
Lutheran Church and educated in the schools of his native land. His father was Johan Gaedtke, a carpenter who
married Louis Klos, both natives of Konigsberg, and
they were the parents of six children of whom our subject is the fourth. Julius J. Gaedtke served an apprenticeship of
four years in Germany and learned the trade of coppersmith becoming an expert
in making ornamental flowers of tin, these being used for wedding and table
decorations. When twenty-eight years
old, then he sailed from Hamburg and landed at Castle Garden in February,
1886. He worked at his trade of tinsmith
in New York City and vicinity for one year, and then in 1867 he removed to
California coming via Panama and arrived in San Francisco in February of that
year, where he plied his trade for two years when he removed to Stockton. He brought his tools for making tin ornaments
with him into Stockton and made many kinds of decorations in the early days
here and he was the only man in the state as far as it is known, to do this
work.
Mr. Gaedtke then returned to his
native land for a visit, remaining for eleven months, during which time on
August 22, 1870, at Hamburg, he was married to Miss Maria Kuhlbrun,
and they immediately sailed for America and settled in Stockton, where Mr.
Gaedtke resumed his trade and has worked for different firms in Stockton doing
tinsmithing and work on pumps, pipes, windmills, etc. Mr. and Mrs. Gaedtke became the parents of
three children: Otto is engaged as a
clerk in a cigar store in Stockton; Julius is chief clerk of the Western
Pacific Railroad Company, and Lottie died at the age of forty-five. Mrs. Gaedtke passed away in 1919. Mr. Gaedtke is a naturalized American citizen
and fraternally he is a member of the Druids.
At the age of eighty-four he still takes a keen delight in living and
doing. He has been an eyewitness of the
wondrous development of San Joaquin County and his mind is stored with many
interesting reminiscences of the early days.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
716-719. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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