San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WALTER HANSEL
A representative of an old pioneer
family, Walter Hansel, under the firm name of Hansel & Ortman, has
established a large business as a distributor of automobiles at 211 Hunter
Street, Stockton. Mr. Hansel is a native
son of California, born at Stockton, February 7, 1878, the son of Joseph and
Emma (Dressman) Hansel, the former a native of New
York and the latter of Berlin, Germany.
Both parents have passed away.
His father came to California around Cape Horn and settled in Stockton
in the early ‘50s and operated a wagon and carriage shop on North Hunter Street,
being a pioneer in that business in Stockton.
He was active in local affairs and was a member of the old volunteer
fire department. They were the parents of seven children, three are living: Walter; Emma E. is Mrs. E. E. Aldrich; Bertha
is Mrs. E. L. Ferguson. Four children
have passed away: Joseph, Henry, Mrs.
Anne Stroupe and Dr. C. E. Hansel.
Walter was educated in the public
schools of Stockton and then for three years worked in the blacksmith shop of
L. Salbach. In 1898 he entered the employ
of A. H. Wright, who conducted a bicycle store and had the first automobile
agency in Stockton, selling the Oldsmobile, National and Stanley. In 1901 Mr. Hansel opened a bicycle shop with
a twenty-foot front on South San Joaquin Street; at this time Charles Merrill
became his partner in the business and the firm was known as Merrill &
Hansel; later L. Salbach was taken into the firm and it was known as Merrill,
Hansel & Salbach. In 1908 the
partnership of Hansel & Ortman was formed, taking over the interests of
Merrill and Salbach, and in time they erected the first reinforced concrete
building in Stockton, becoming agents for the Reo and Cadillac motor cars. In 1914 the new garage was erected at 211
North Hunter Street, which they still occupy.
When they started in business in 1908 it was valued at $6,000 and is now
worth half a million dollars. In 1918 before
the line was cut up among so many dealers, they were the largest buyers of
Goodyear tires in the United States.
They employ seventy-five people, doing the largest business of any firm
of its kind in the northern part of California, and are distributors for the
Cadillac and Oldsmobile in the counties of San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Calaveras and
Amador.
The marriage of Mr. Hansel united
him with Miss Nellie Curtis, a native of Kansas, and they are the parents of
one child, Walter, Jr. Fraternally Mr.
Hansel is a member of Stockton lodge No. 218, B. P. O. E.; Charity lodge I. O.
O. F.; Stockton Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W.; and Independent Order of Foresters. In 1920 he built a beautiful residence on the
corner of Stockton and Acacia streets, where he resides with his family.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1163-1164. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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