San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN A. MERZ
A native of Germany, where he was
born on April 6, 1867, spending a part of his boyhood there, John A. Merz, long
one of the most loyal and optimistic citizens of his adopted land, has the
distinction of being the first man in Stockton to commercialize automobile
painting, with the result that he enjoyed the most profitable patronage of any
expert hereabouts in his line. His
father, Baltis Merz, who
had married Miss Rosie Ammon, brought his family from
Germany in 1879 and arrived at Stockton on May 15, 1880; and it was fortunate
for our subject that he had already participated in good educational
advantages, for the circumstances of the family were such, after they reached
here and Mr. Merz died, that John had to go to work for a living, although only
thirteen years of age. From 1880 to
1886, he served at the carriage-painter’s trade in the service of M. P.
Henderson, while from 1886 to 1890 he was one of the best painters at the
William P. Miller Carriage Factory.
In 1890, however, Mr. Merz decided
to strike out for himself, and so he built a small shop at 732 East Lafayette
Street, commencing with one helper to establish a thoroughly dependable
carriage and wagon-painting service.
Eight years went by, however, before he painted an automobile for the
first time, and this was the well-known machine of C. A. Towne, one of the
first owners in Stockton of a motor-car.
From that first, luckily successful, experience grew an important
business, to carry on which he employed regularly at least seven hands. He also rebuilt and enlarged his shop and his
satisfied customers came from all over San Joaquin County, and even
occasionally from beyond the county’s limits.
Taking plenty of time and never allowing even the customer to hurry him
beyond what is advisable for the patron’s interests, Mr. Merz found it easy
enough to produce work of the highest quality, so that it was never difficult
to live up to a guarantee. He disposed
of his business in February, 1921, and is now living retired.
At Stockton Mr. Merz was married to
Miss Magdalena Adams, a native daughter and a member of a well-known Stockton
pioneer family. By a former marriage
with Miss Lulu Ellen Heeney, daughter of a pioneer,
he is the father of one daughter, Lulu Ellen, now the wife of Harry Saner of Stockton. Mr. Merz is popular as a fraternity man,
belonging to San Joaquin Lodge No. 19, F. & A. M., Truth Lodge No. 55, I.
O. O. F., also to the Encampment, and he has made all chairs of the Red Men,
and also all the chairs of the Woodmen of the World. For twelve years he was a member of Company
A, N. G. C. He was one of the original
stockholders of the Union Safe Deposit Bank, and since 1917 has been a member
of the board of directors.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
772. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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