San
Joaquin County
Biographies
THOMAS F. KNUTZEN
Prominent among the successful
grocerymen who have contributed largely to making Stockton one of the very
desirable home-cities of the Golden State, is Thomas F. Knutzen, of the
well-known Wilkes-Pearson-Knutzen Company, of 715 East Weber Avenue. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany,
on May 21, 1870, and after attending the fine public schools there, he left his
native land and came across the great pond to the United States. He was seventeen years of age when, in 1887,
he arrived in Stockton, and he was fortunate in soon securing employment in a
grocery store conducted by L. Mollenhauer, at the
corner of Weber and American avenues.
This was one of the oldest groceries in the city, founded in 1864 by
John Ducker, who carried on the business there until 1878; and from that year
until 1892 it was owned and operated by Mr. Mollenhauer. The latter became especially interested in
the youth, after hearing his story and learning how he had come to turn his
face toward the New World. Jens Knutzen,
the father, was a seafarer, who sailed around the Horn to California in his own
ship; and he stayed here long enough to mine in Mariposa County, and to live
some time in Stockton. Then, although he
had become an American citizen, he returned to Germany, married there and never
came back to California; but he advised his son to come out here, deeming
California truly the Land of Promise, and so it happened that Thomas F. Knutzen
also became an American citizen.
In 1892 he purchased Mr. Mollenhauer’s business, which he conducted for fifteen
years, when he sold out and formed a partnership with J. B. Wilkes and C. B.
Pearson, styling the new firm the Wilkes-Pearson-Knutzen Company. This firm occupy a modern, two-story brick
block at the corner of Stanislaus and Weber avenues, and they do both a
wholesale and a retail grocery trade, being widely regarded as decidedly one of
the leading grocery establishments, their growth having been rapid. By his own unaided efforts Mr. Knutzen has
risen to his present enviable position, in which he is able to exert a powerful
influence for the benefit of local commercial affairs.
At Stockton, in 1895, Mr. Knutzen
was married to Miss Emma Siesbuettal, a native of
Germany, and they have been favored with three children, all born in
Stockton: William F. Knutzen is a clerk
with the Standard Oil Company at Stockton; Miss Elsie is employed in the
Stockton Public Library; while Ella is in school. Mr. Knutzen is a member of the Evangelical
Lutheran Zion Church of Stockton.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1631. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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