San
Joaquin County
Biographies
THEODORE KNECHT
Numbered among the vineyardists of
San Joaquin County is Theodore Knecht, who resides on his ten-acre vineyard on
Almond Avenue, south of Lodi. He is a
native of South Russia, his birth occurring on September 12, 1872. His parents, Ferdinand and Katherine (Malke)
Knecht, both natives of Russia, engaged in farming in their native
country. On June 12, 1885, when our
subject was twelve years old, the family arrived in the United States and
settled in Edmunds County, South Dakota.
There were five children in the family when they arrived in Dakota as
follows: Theodore, Emanuel, Lydia,
Mollie and John. Two boys, Frank and
Adolph, were born in Edmunds County. At
the time of their arrival in South Dakota there was little chance of making a
living and they were obliged to gather straw to burn for fuel, and our subject
helped his father gather the dried cattle bones on the prairie to sell so as to
buy food for the family. Later the
father filed on a homestead, a timber claim and a pre-emption, and there he
lived until 1917, when they came to Lodi, where the parents both live.
Theodore Knecht knew nothing but
hard work from the time he was old enough to handle farm tools, and his
schooling in the United States covered a period of two months, but this has
been greatly supplemented in later years by reading and experience. He remained at home with his parents until he
was twenty-three years old, then he homesteaded a quarter section of land in the
same county as his father’s property, which he devoted to the raising of grain.
The marriage of Mr. Knecht occurred
at Milltown, South Dakota, on February 14, 1896, and united him with Miss
Katherine Boerge, a native of Krem, South Russia, who came to the United States
when she was about sixteen years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Knecht lived on their homestead until 1918, meantime adding
another quarter-section of land, which is still owned by Mr. Knecht. In 1918 Mr. Knecht and children removed to
Lodi, his wife having died on March 3, 1918.
He bought his present ten-acre vineyard on Almond Avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Knecht had five living
children: Emma, Mrs. Judith of
Sacramento; Mary, John, Elsie and Samuel are at home. Mrs. Knecht was a devoted wife and mother. In politics Mr. Knecht is a Republican and
attends the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Lodi.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1629-1630. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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