San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CHARLES HAAS
One of Stockton’s honored pioneers;
the late Charles Haas was a leading merchant of this city. He died July 21, 1911, in his eighty-fourth
year, having spent fifty-three years of his life in this city, with whose
progress and development he was prominently identified. He was born in Germany on January 12, 1827,
in the town of Waldurn, Baden, and was one of that group of high thinking and
liberty loving men which came out of Germany by reason of the Revolution of
1848—that movement which Morse Stephens, the historian, often referred to as
having brought to this country the very highest type of men. His early life was spent in his native town,
where he had his early education, and at the age of fourteen he served for a
time as copy clerk in the Probate Court.
In 1842 at the age of fifteen, he
started out on foot to tour the country and learn his trade, as was the custom
of the times. From 1842 to 1845 he lived
in Vienna and served his apprenticeship as a watchmaker. The training was most exacting and
accentuated in him that thoroughness and integrity which were characteristic of
his whole life. The stories he used to
tell of this period of his life were very interesting, such as earning his
passage by helping to row a boat down the Danube to Vienna, evading the customs
officials that he might go to Trieste to look at the sea for the first time,
carrying home offerings to be made at the Cathedral in his native town, where
certain sacred relics were worshipped.
On his return to Waldurn, at the age
of eighteen, he remained for about a year, but the wanderlust caused him to
make a second trip lasting about two years, this time across the Alps, by way
of the Simplon Pass into Italy, with stops in Switzerland. Returning home at the age of twenty-one he
was drafted into the army, according to the custom of all continental
countries. During this time the
revolutionary movement for greater freedom and against militarism and Prussian
aggressiveness was permeating Germany, as were similar movements in France and
Italy against their over-lords. Mr. Haas
joined in this movement for greater liberty, and when the revolt came and was
crushed, he fled to Switzerland, and from there, by means of funds sent to him
by his family, he came to New York, arriving in 1849 to start in the new
world. Later on his parents, brothers
and sisters all came to America and lived to ripe old ages. One brother died recently in Portland,
Oregon, at the age of ninety-six, while one sister is living and active at the
age of ninety-three.
From New York Charles Haas went to
Poughkeepsie on the Hudson, where he was employed and for a time managed the
business of John Morgan of that city. In
1852 the desire to move on with the new country led him to set sail for
California. Traveling by way of Panama
he walked across the Isthmus and embarked for San Francisco. He often joked about his first experience in
California. When he came ashore he had
just twenty-five cents left. He went to
the address of a friend, who had preceded him to San Francisco, only to find
him moved. Walking into a nearby store
he asked for a cigar, for which the clerk accepted his twenty-five cents in a
condescending manner, the price being “two bits,” of which he had never
heard. On inquiring about his friend,
the clerk said he had never heard of him.
He was therefore without friends or money, but he had a smoke and,
incidentally, it may be said that this was characteristic, because he loved his
cigar and always had one close at hand.
The day of his arrival was not over before he had employment and inside
of a month he had established his own business on Commercial Street, which was
then built out over the water and known as Long Wharf.
In 1853 Mr. Haas bought an interest
in the firm of Lortzendorf & Company, wholesale
jewelry manufacturers, whose place of business was on Jackson Street near
Montgomery. His association in the
wholesale business caused him to travel through the interior and he made regular
trips through the northern and southern mines along the mother lode. These
trips took him by steamer to Sacramento and Stockton. Realizing the possibilities of a location in
Stockton, Mr. Haas arranged in June, 1858, for the purchase by his firm of the
jewelry business of J. & C. Ling, which was established in 1850. Old newspaper clippings of these times speak
of the first location of this store as being on “Levee Street, opposite the
Bridge,” which is today Weber Avenue between Main and El Dorado streets. In September, 1853, the store was moved to a
one-story wooden building on El Dorado Street.
The fire of February 21, 1855, swept out this store, and the rest of the
block, but the business was re-established in the same location.
The business district of Stockton
began to shift from El Dorado Street, and in November, 1875, Charles Haas
established a second store on Main Street, with his son, Charles J., in charge,
under the firm name of Charles Haas & Son.
Three years later the El Dorado Street business was given up and the two
stores combined at 204 Main Street, one door west of their present
location. This firm name held for
twenty-five years, or until the business was incorporated in 1902, with Charles
Haas and his four sons as partners, and the firm became Charles Haas &
Sons, as it is today. On May 3, 1903, a
second fire occurred and the entire building was demolished. Though suffering a considerable loss, the
firm saved the contents of the vaults, among them the many watches left for
repair. Since 1850 over 100,000
chronometers had passed through the repair department and a systematic record
had been kept of them.
Charles Haas was active in the
management of the business until his demise, being widely recognized as an
expert in his field, a genuine artist as well as an able business man. In 1868, while on a trip to the east, he
selected the town clock which was formerly on the old courthouse and is now on
the Eureka Engine House. This clock was
paid for by popular subscription and the original list of subscribers, now in
possession of Robert M. Haas, is an interesting one, and may be considered as
the “Blue Book” of its day.
Throughout the long period of his
residence in Stockton Mr. Haas never failed to take an active and helpful part in
the work of public progress. He was one
of the founders and charter members of the Stockton Savings and Loan Society,
and served continuously as a director of that institution until his death. In 1872 he was chosen City Treasurer of
Stockton, in which capacity he served one term.
He was a charter member of the Turnverein Societies in both Poughkeepsie
and San Francisco, and was one of the founders of the local society. In 1876 he was instrumental in the building
of the society hall, and as one of the oldest members of this society it was
his custom to lead the celebration on each New Year’s Eve. For more than half a century, with but one
exception, he brought in the punch bowl at the stroke of twelve.
On June 20, 1854, Mr. Haas was
married in San Francisco to Miss Elizabeth Kuhn, a native of Germany. They became the parents of three sons,
Charles J., Herman O., and Robert M.
Charles J. Haas was married in Stockton in 1875 to Miss Hattie M.
Baldwin, of that city. Herman O. Haas is
a resident of San Francisco. Robert M.
Haas was married in 1887 to Miss Mary Fann, a native
of Missouri, and they have a son, R. Raymond Haas, who is now treasurer of
Charles Haas & Sons. Robert M. Haas
is now president and manager of the firm of Charles Haas & Sons. In 1874 he became his father’s business
associate, and he has since been actively identified with the establishment and
its various enterprises.
In 1866 Charles Haas suffered the
loss of his wife, who died in Stockton on May 30, of that year. On June 15, 1869, he was again married, in
Poughkeepsie, New York, to Miss Charlotte Merk, a
native of that state. One son was born
to them, Edward F. Haas, a civil engineer, residing in San Francisco; he was
married in Stockton, on October 18, 1906, to Miss Mabel Thompson of that city,
and they have to children: Edward
Thompson and Alice Charlotte.
In every relation of life Charles
Haas was true to high and honorable principles.
His integrity in business affairs, his loyalty in matters of
citizenship, his fidelity to the ties of friendship, and his devotion to home
and family, were characteristics which won for him the high and enduring regard
of all with whom he was associated.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1092-1095. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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