San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JACOB J. KNOLL
A well-known citizen and vineyardist
of San Joaquin County is Jacob J. Knoll, who has worked his way upward from a
humble financial position to one of independence, and is the owner of a ten-acre
vineyard one and a half miles southeast of Victor. He was born in South Russia near the city of
Odessa, December 24, 1890, a son of Jacob and Christina (Werner) Knoll, both
natives of Russia, who came to the United States when their son Jacob was a boy
of six years. They settled in Wells
County, North Dakota, and there the father homesteaded a large tract of land;
later on he sold his North Dakota property and removed to San Joaquin County, California,
and purchased vineyard land, which he brought to a high state of cultivation,
so that he is among the most wealthy of the vineyardists in the vicinity of
Victor today.
The education of Jacob Knoll was
obtained in the public schools of his vicinity; but from a lad he assisted his
father on the home farm, where he was obliged to work early and late. He remained at home until he was nineteen
years old, and then went to Canada in 1909 and homesteaded a quarter-section of
land lying along the Saskatchewan River in Saskatchewan, near the town of Moose
Jaw. There he raised grain, remaining
until 1919, when he sold out and came to California. Here he purchased ten acres on the
crossroads, about two miles southeast of Victor, the vicinity of his father’s
vineyard.
At Moose Jaw, Canada, on January 7,
1912, occurred the marriage of Mr. Knoll and Miss Christina Wahl, also a native
of South Russia, and the daughter of Adam and Magdalena (Settler) Wahl, both
natives of South Russia. Adam Wahl came
to America with his family in 1897, and settling in Wells County, North Dakota,
near Sheridan, homesteaded a tract of land.
Later he sold out and went to Canada, and taking up a claim near
Woodrow, farmed to grain for ten years.
Again selling out, he came to California and is the owner of a
seventeen-and-one-half acre vineyard south of Lockeford on the Jack Tone
Road. There are five children in the
family, of whom Mrs. Knoll is the eldest, the others being Katherine, who is
Mrs. Young of Tracy; Jacob, Adam, and Ida.
Mr. and Mrs. Knoll are the parents of four children: Martha, Irene, Anna and Alice. Mr. Knoll’s vineyard consists of two acres of
Tokay grapes and four acres of wine grapes in full bearing, and the balance is
in young vines, with ample space for buildings.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1211-1211. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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