San Joaquin County
Biographies
LEWIS MERSFELDER
L. MERSFELDER, proprietor of
the Eureka Bakery, Stockton, was born at Offenbach, Prussia, May 29, 1820, his
parents being Jacob and Kate (Grill) Mersfelder, the father a miller by trade
and proprietor of an establishment. He was reared at his native place; and
there educated to the age of fourteen years, and found his employment in early
life in assisting his father in his mill. He decided, however, to cast his lot
in the new world and try his fortunes there; accordingly he sailed from Havre,
on the Rhone, a French packet ship. He landed at New York and from there went
by rail and water to Baltimore, arriving at the latter city just as the
railroad between there and Washington was finished. He had a brother, named
Simon, in business in Baltimore, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the
business of the baker’s trade. He afterward worked in a large establishment in
Baltimore. He then traveled, working in other cities, among them Cincinnati and
New Orleans. From the Crescent City he returned by sea to Baltimore and worked
there three or four years; then went in business for himself. In 1853 he started
for California, going by rail to New York, where he took a steamer for the
Isthmus, which he crossed as follows: the first twelve miles by way of the
Chagres river and thence on mule-back to Panama. There he spent the Fourth of
July, and a lively one it was too. He left Panama on the evening of the next
day on the steamer “Golden Gate,” and landed at San Francisco July 28, 1853.
Later in the same day he started for Stockton on the little steamer Julia,
landing here next morning and paying $10 for the passage. At that time his
brother Simon was carrying on the Stockton bakery, where the business college
now stands, and our subject went to work there. Nine months later he opened a
coffee saloon on the levee. His family arrived a short time later, and about that
time he opened the Stockton restaurant, where the Eureka saloon now is. In 1857
he closed there, bought property on the corner of Hunter and Channel streets,
and opened the Eureka bakery, which he carried on ever since. In 1870 he built
the spacious and handsome brick business block which now adorns the corner.
Mr. Mersfelder was married in Baltimore,
in March, 1846, to Miss Amelia Haupt, a native of Prussia. They have four
children: Amelia, wife of Louis Gerlach; Louisa, wife of Charles Liegenger;
Laura, wife of A. J. Hahn of the Commercial Hotel; and Frank, at home.
Mr. Mersfelder is a charter member of
Stockton Lodge, I. O. O. F., and an Exempt Fireman, having been an early member
of the Weber Engine Company. He is a man of the highest standing in the city
where he has lived so long, and remembers many interesting anecdotes connected
with noteworthy periods in times gone by. During the flood of 1862, when his
shop was on the business college site, there was three feet of water in the
building and the workmen had to wear high boots while employed. He well
remembers how the boats ran up as far as the asylum during that year, going up
past the tannery and between where the house of John Hart and Charles Haas now
stand, then on past Rothenbusch’s place, unloading at the upper end of the
brewery. During the six or seven weeks the flood lasted, boats went up half a
dozen times to the highest point, and the water did not remain so high more
than a day or two at any time during that period. However, there was no other
way of hauling supplies to the asylum. Only two trees had to be cut down in
order to render navigation practicable.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 491-492. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases