San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GOTTLOB W. KUESTHARDT
A period of twelve years covers the
time in which G. W. Kuesthardt has accomplished much in the way of development
work in the Ripon section of San Joaquin County. As an expert deep-well driller he has
succeeded in developing hundreds of wells throughout California; he has also
developed two ranches, one of forty acres near Ripon and one of twenty acres,
which was formerly a part of the Hughes estate, west of Ripon, where he has
erected a fine residence and where he now lives. He was born nears Ansburg,
Germany, May 28, 1866, a son of G. C. W. Kuesthardt, born in Hessen,
Germany. The father was a finely
educated man and was in charge of a children’s home at Arnsburg,
Germany, for twenty-four years and passed away while in the discharge of his
duties in 1876, survived by his widow and eight children. One son, Samuel Kuesthardt, came to America
and located at Toledo, Ohio, where he was ordained as a minister in the
Lutheran Church. Following the father’s
death, G. W., our subject, and his mother left Germany for America, arriving in
October, 1876, and went directly to Toledo, Ohio, to visit the son and brother
Samuel; then they went to Minnesota where they visited at the home of Rev. J.
C. Clubsteak, a brother-in-law of our subject, and
remained in Minnesota for about one year.
Returning to Toledo, Ohio, G. W. entered school and there completed his
education. After his school days were
over, he learned the cabinetmaker’s trade and then went to Norwalk, Ohio, where
he found employment in an organ and piano factory, working at his trade until
1884. In 1885 he and his mother came to
California, locating in Los Angeles, where he followed carpenter work and at
the same time developed a ten-acre orchard near Pomona, and he and his mother
resided there until 1906.
From 1896 to 1906 Mr. Kuesthardt
followed deep-well drilling in southern California with marked success. In 1905 he made a visit to Stockton and
decided to transfer his activities to San Joaquin County, so in 1906 he removed
to Ripon, where he bought forty acres close to town and one acre within what is
now the business section of Ripon. Mr.
Kuesthardt has equipped his well-drilling outfit with the most modern
appliances which greatly facilitate his work, and he has been very successful
in his line of work. Among his larger
deep-well drilling contracts were those for the Simon Newman ranch, the
Associated Pipe Line Company, and other large properties, corporations and
municipalities. Mr. Kuesthardt bought
twenty acres south of Ripon, which he subdivided; this is known as the
Sunnyside subdivision, and today many of the finest homes in Ripon are located
here; later he bought twenty acres of the Hughes estate west of Ripon, where he
has erected a fine residence, which is his present home.
At Pomona, in 1900, Mr. Kuesthardt
was married to Miss Mabel F. King, born near Sheldon, Illinois, a daughter of
George R. and Mary (Bonzell) King, both natives of
Illinois. Her parents removed to Dakota
and later came to California, locating in Pomona about 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Kuesthardt are the parents of
three children: Ruby, Ella and
Roger. In 1888, while residing in Los
Angeles, Mr. Kuesthardt received his final U. S. citizenship papers and has
since voted the Republican and Progressive tickets. After four years of experimentation and
propagation Mr. Kuesthardt has perfected what is known as the “Honey Persian”
melon. During the season of 1922 he
produced over 150 tons of marketable melons from fifteen acres.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1473-1474. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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