San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN ROHRBACH
A vineyardist who has built his
success upon the foundation of his own energy and capable management is John
Rohrbach, now residing on his home ranch of twenty-two and a half acres two and
one-half miles southeast of Lodi, San Joaquin County, on Kettleman Lane. A native of southern Russia, he was born near
Odessa on March 5, 1857, the eldest son of Jacob and Magdalena (Hottel) Rohrbach, both natives of
Russia, although the Rohrbach’s originally came from
Germany. There were eight children in
the family as follows: John, our
subject; William, Jacob and Fred; Margaretta, Christina, Magdalena and
Katherine. The father lived to be
sixty-three years old and the mother seventy-five.
John Rohrbach received his education
in the Russian schools, where they taught the German language, and remained at
home with his parents until he was twenty-one; then spent five years in the
Russian Army. At Odessa on February 20,
1884, he was married to Miss Christina Frey.
She is the youngest of a family of six children of Mr. and Mrs. Martin
Frey, namely, Martin, John, Carolina, Barbara, Eva and Christina. After their marriage the young people came to
America and settled in Lyman County, South Dakota, where they homesteaded a
quarter-section of land and resided for the next thirteen years.
In 1904 Mr. Rohrbach sold his
interests in South Dakota and removed to California where he purchased his
present home place of twenty-two and a half acres; ten acres of this tract was
in an almond orchard and the balance was a grain stubble field. He set out a vineyard on the grain land,
installed a pumping plant, and built a good house and other farm
buildings. Mr. and Mrs. Rohrbach are the
parents of one son, Fred, who is at home with his parents. In politics Mr. Rohrbach is a Republican and
in religious faith a member of the German Reformed Church of Lodi.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1594. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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