San
Joaquin County
Biographies
LOUIS GERLACH
How unremitting, intelligent
industry inevitably brings its own reward is well illustrated in the career of
the late Louis Gerlach, pioneer cattleman of Stockton, who passed away at his
home at 231 East Flora Street on June 6, 1921.
He was one of Stockton’s best known citizens and known throughout the
west as one of the richest and most extensive operators in cattle and grazing
lands in the country, his death bringing great sorrow to a large circle of
friends in San Joaquin County and in Nevada, where his land holdings were very
large. He was born in Prussia, Germany,
April 25, 1836, and when only a young lad was apprenticed to learn the
butcher’s trade. Early in life he formed
a determination to seek a land of greater opportunities and when seventeen
years old left for America. He first
settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and worked at his trade for two years;
then removed to Stockton, arriving in 1855, and for five years worked in the
pioneer butcher shop of Henry Hodgkin; then for six years he ran his own shop
at the corner of Hunter and Weber avenues; then sold out and engaged in stock
trading. He then entered into
partnership with Jacob Wagner, the founder of the Wagner Meat Company, and was
thus occupied for about twenty years. He
retired from the retail business in 1898, selling out to his partner, and
devoted himself exclusively to stockraising in Nevada. Mr. Gerlach owned thousands of acres of land
in Nevada when the Western Pacific Railroad was built and as the road traversed
his lands their value was enhanced greatly.
Previous to the coming of the railroad his cattle were driven 100 miles
to Reno for shipment. With the
completion of the railroad a station named Gerlach in his honor was established
on his property and this shipping point became a prominent one. Mr. Gerlach employed a small army of men and
to provide them with all the necessities and comforts he established a trading
store there. Later the station became a
division point from which railroad operations have since been directed. Until his health became impaired Mr. Gerlach
directed his vast estate and its affairs personally, making frequent trips to
Nevada for this purpose. He knew every
foot of his holdings, arranged all details for the management of his business
and was an executive of rare ability. He
was held in affection by all the men employed by him and the suggestion of the
humblest was given an attentive ear by the great operator, who had the faculty
of winning the confidence and respect of his men. Mr. Gerlach was intensely loyal to a friend
or faithful worker. Generous,
big-hearted, loyal and true, much of his business was transacted without
written contracts. His word was accepted
and his gesture concluded deals as finally as written documents. At one time he owned 5,000 acres of grain and
grazing land on the San Joaquin River; this he later sold. His largest holdings are 30,000 acres of
grazing land in Washoe County, Nevada, and northern Modoc and Lassen counties,
California. He has run as high as 12,000
head of cattle on this range. At the
present time there are 15,000 head of sheep and 5,000 head of cattle on this
large range, which he has owned since 1884.
The present holdings in San Joaquin County are 1,500 acres on the Lower
Sacramento Road, which is fine grazing land partly under irrigation. In partnership with a son-in-law, A. B. Lang,
he owned 700 acres of grazing land on Cherokee Lane near Stockton. Showing the low price of land in Stockton in
pioneer days, he purchased from Captain Weber 400 acres of land at $4 per acre,
now a part of the residence portion of Stockton. Some four years ago, with his daughter, Mrs.
Baldwin, his son-in-law A. B. Lang, and Mrs. Smith, he bought the Hale Block at
the corner of Main and San Joaquin streets; they later purchased the old
Presbyterian Church adjoining the building on the south and an addition has
been built to the block. He helped to
organize two banks in Stockton, one being the First National, serving on the
board of directors until his death, and was its vice-president. For nearly a half century Mr. Gerlach was one
of the heaviest stockholders and a director of the Stockton Savings Bank, now
the City Bank.
Political life did not appeal to
him, but he was once persuaded to run for office of supervisor, serving from
1880 to 1884; then was elected county treasurer of San Joaquin County by an
immense majority on the Democratic ticket in a strong Republican county,
serving from 1884 to 1888.
Mr. Gerlach was married in Stockton,
September 18, 1862, to Miss Amelia P. Mersfelder, a native of Baltimore,
Maryland, who survives him. She is the
daughter of Louis and Amelia (Haupt) Mersfelder, who were born in Germany and
came to Baltimore where they met and married.
In 1853 they came to California via Panama, landing in San Francisco
from the steamer John L. Stevens. They
located in Stockton, where he opened the Eureka Bakery on Weber Avenue between
El Dorado and Hunter. Later he bought
property on Channel Street between Hunter and San Joaquin and moved his bakery
there, continuing there until he sold out and retired. The bakery is still being operated under the
same name, the Eureka Bakery.
The father died here at eighty-two
years and his wife died five months before him, aged seventy-two years. Three of their children are living; besides
Mrs. Gerlach there are Mrs. Louise Liegenger of San
Francisco, and Mrs. Laura Hahn of Stockton.
Amelia Mersfelder as a child came with her parents via Panama and she attended
the public schools in Stockton. The
young couple first resided on Channel and Hunter streets for nine years; then
moved into the present home at 231 East Flora Street. Their union was blessed with eight
children: Emma is the wife of Herbert
Baldwin of Stockton; Clara, Mrs. John Kearns of Oakland; Rose, the wife of L.
E. Doan, died in Los Angeles; Nellie is the wife of T. V. Morris of San
Francisco; Louis F. died at two years of age; Fred C., manager of the Gerlach
Livestock Company in Nevada; Laura F. passed away in 1908; Ethel is the wife of
A. B. Lang of Stockton. Mr. Gerlach had
four grandchildren: Harold Kearns, L. E.
Doan, Jr., Louis G. Baldwin and Dorothy B. Lang. Mr. Gerlach was eight-five years old when he
passed away. He was an expert fireman
and was always a Democrat in national politics but independent in local
matters. As early as 1895 he
incorporated his holdings in Nevada as the Gerlach Livestock Company of which
he was president until he died. This
corporation is still held by the family and the business being managed by his
son, Fred C. His widow is now the
president and since this death she continues to occupy the old home surrounded
by her children, who assist her in every way to manage the offices left by her
husband.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
633. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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