San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CHARLES MUTHEL
Numbered among Stockton’s early
residents, having come here nearly forty years ago, Charles Muthel has taken a
prominent part in the reclamation of the Delta district, contributing heavily
of his time and energy in bringing this rich soil into productivity. Mr. Muthel is a native of Hamburg, Germany,
born June 20, 1865, and remained in his native land until 1883, when he came to
America, locating first in San Francisco, where he worked in a winery. In the fall of that year he came to Stockton
and went to work as a clerk in China Hall, a crockery store on El Dorado Street
owned by Charles Behrens. Next he was
employed at the San Joaquin Hotel, and then went to sea for a time, going from
San Francisco in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn to Liverpool, and
return. Returning to Stockton, he worked
on a dredge for the Glasgow-California Land Company in the Delta district,
later becoming captain of the dredger, which was working on the lower division
of Roberts Island. For twelve years he
was engaged in this work, and took an active and important part in reclaiming
this valuable land. Next he was in the
machine shop of the Shippee Harvester Works at Stockton, but returned to
reclamation work in charge of the dredger for Richard Smith, and also in District
No. 17 on Roberts Island. For the next
seven years he was engineer for the San Joaquin Brick Company, and then bought
and ran the Columbia Hotel on North San Joaquin Street, opposite the county
jail, one of Stockton’s landmarks, the lumber for the building have been
brought around the Horn in early days.
Subsequently Mr. Muthel owned a bicycle shop in the Masonic Temple
Building on North El Dorado Street, and then bought land at Lodi and planted
three vineyards of twenty acres each, which he disposed of at a profit. In partnership with John Grant he again
engaged in dredger work on the island, and they bought 350 acres of land which
they named the Grant tract, and this they reclaimed and sold.
Mr. Muthel’s marriage united him
with Miss Clara Brandt, the daughter of Frederick and Margaret Brandt. The father was a pioneer settler of
California, coming here in 1857 from Minnesota.
Mr. Muthel has long been a member of the Stockton Lodge of Odd Fellows and
also of Fidelity Lodge. His is now
retired from active business life, and has recently returned from a seven-month
tour of Europe during which he visited his mother and many old friends in his
native city and attended the Passion Play at
Oberammergau, returning to California by way of the Panama Canal.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1127. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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