San Joaquin County
Biographies
GUSTAVE GUMPERTZ
GUSTAVE GUMPERTZ, a merchant
of Stockton, of the firm of Arndt & Gumpertz, proprietors of the well-known
“181 El Dorado Street Store,” was born in Bavaria, in 1852, a son of Herman and
Letta (Stock) Gumpertz. The family came to America while the subject of this
sketch was but three years of age, and settled in Alexandria, Virginia, where
the father became engaged in the clothing business. They came to California in
1875, and settled in San Francisco, the father continuing in the same line of
business. The mother died in San Francisco, aged fifty-four, but both her
parents lived to an advanced age, being over eighty when they died. The father,
H. Gumpertz, is living in San Francisco, in 1890, aged sixty-four. Uncle Rufus
Gumpertz, M. D., born about 1820, is a physician of the regular school, long
established in Paris, France. Another uncle, born about 1822, is a manufacturer
of high-art pottery in Cologne, where he has been established in that line
about forty years. A third uncle, Gustave Gumpertz, came to America before the
civil war, and served in the Union army in a New York regiment during the war.
The subject of this sketch, arriving in
America in his childhood, is an American in everything but the accident of his
birth. He received a good education, including the junior course in the
University of Virginia. Among his unpleasant reminiscences of the war period
are the murder of Colonel Ellsworth in Alexandria, in 1861, and the
assassination of President Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre, Washington, in 1865, at
both of which typical illustrations of the blind violence of human passion he happened
to be present. On leaving college he served as a clerk in his father’s store
for some years, but, his ambition urging him to higher pursuits, he engaged in
the study of law for three years under United States Senator Henderson, of St.
Louis, and was admitted to the bar of the State of Missouri in 1873. He
practiced his profession one year in St. Louis, only to find that to reach the
eminence that would alone satisfy his aspirations involved such intense and
persistent study as would endanger health and therefore be no real gain. He
decided to enter a business career, and in furtherance of that design came with
his parents to California in 1875. In San Francisco he engaged with H.
Weinstock, of Weinstocks & Lubin, Sacramento, and was chiefly instrumental
in building up that famous commercial house.
Mr. Gustave Gumpertz was married in San
Francisco, February 3, 1878, to Miss Julia Arndt, a native of Stockton,
California, then in her eighteenth year, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Solomon
Arndt. Mr. Gumpertz went into the clothing business in San Rafael in 1878, and
in 1879 opened a branch store in this city, closing up his business in San
Rafael in 1878. Mr. Gumpertz, with his father-in-law as partner, under the
style of Arndt & Gumpertz, gave undivided attention to their business here,
at No. 181 El Dorado street, as clothiers, merchant tailors, boot and shoe
dealers, and men’s outfitters in all departments. Through the excellent tact,
liberal education and advertising talent of Mr. Gumpertz, the location and
business have become household words throughout the San Joaquin valley, and
synonyms for fair dealing and superior goods. Mr. Arndt died in 1885, aged
fifty-six, but the family interests and style of the firm remain unchanged. Mr.
Gumpertz is a life trustee of the Stockton Free Library, and is interested in
all movements for the advancement of this city.
Mr. and Mrs. Gumpertz have five children:
Sidney A., born in San Rafael, in 1879; Milton G., born in Stockton in 1880;
Zetta, in 1882; Selma Muriel, in 1884, and Ruby in 1886.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 487-488. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
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