San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE J. LUHRSEN
An enterprising businessman and
rancher whose far-sightedness has been of service to others as well as himself,
is George J. Luhrsen, who came to San Joaquin County in 1876, where he has since
continuously resided. He was born on
February 26, 1864, in San Francisco, California, the son of Louis and Bridget
Luhrsen. His father, a native of
Germany, came to San Francisco in 1856 and was employed in the sugar industry,
operated by Claus Spreckels at San Francisco, until 1875, when one year later
he removed his family to the San Joaquin Valley where he passed away in
1890. The mother, who was born in
Ireland, passed away here in 1892. They
were the parents of two children, George J., and Mrs. Fred Holloway, who passed
away in 1914.
George J. attended the Lincoln
grammar school in San Francisco one year, until he was eleven years old, when
he became self supporting; however, he was only eight years old when he earned
his first dollar. He became employed on
the ranch owned by the late Herman Miller, located near the old town of Ellis;
at the age of fourteen he took a man’s place on the threshing machine and for
many seasons covered the west side section on a header operated in the wheat
harvest. In 1878, the year the village
of Ellis was moved to Tracy, Mr. Luhrsen drove a thirty-mule team used in
hauling the buildings overland two and one-half miles. In 1882 he entered the employ of D. and M.
Lammers near Bethany, San Joaquin County, and for the next thirteen years was a
successful and trusted employee.
The marriage of Mr. Luhrsen occurred
on February 18, 1894, and united him with Miss Matilda Anne Lammers, the eldest
daughter of the venerable pioneers, Dietrich and Dorothea Lammers of this
county. They have one child, Esther D.,
the wife of Virgil F. Poet, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Tracy in
1914; they are the parents of two children, George Franklin and Mabel Dorothea,
twins. Mr. Luhrsen owns 320 acres of
rich land all under the system of the West Side Irrigation District, of which
he is director of Division No. 1. For
twenty-two consecutive years he has served as a trustee of the Lammersville district school; and with his usual
progressive spirit, helped in establishing the West Side Union High School, and
he is a member of the board of trustees, having served as such since it
started. In his political affiliations
he is a Republican, and as a member of the county central committee has had the
privilege of doing some excellent work in the choice of candidates. On February 28, 1885, Mr. Luhrsen became a
member of the Sumner Lodge of Odd Fellows and for four different terms has held
the office of noble grand; in 1896 served as delegate to the Grand Lodge
Encampment held in San Francisco; he is past district deputy of the lodge,
coming from district No. 7, and was the first man to hold that office; he is a
charter member of Encampment No. 49; a member of the Samarian Rebekah Lodge, Canton Ridgely; a
past president of the Tracy Parlor, N. S. G. W.; also a Master Mason of Mt. Osso Lodge No. 460, of Tracy.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
883-884. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases