San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. MINNIE SPERBECK
A lady who arrived in San Joaquin
County over fifty years ago, Mrs. Minnie Sperbeck was born in Beetown, Grant County, Wisconsin. Her father, Oscar E. Hamlin, was born in Deansville, New York, and came out to Wisconsin when a
young man, and there he married Martha J. Stephenson, a native of Terra Haute,
Indiana. Oscar Hamlin was a contractor
and builder in Wisconsin. During the
Civil War he served his country in a Wisconsin regiment. In 1872 Mr. Hamlin brought his family to
Stockton, California, and here he followed the building business until his
death. He was a member of the Masonic
lodge and of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Mrs. Sperbeck’s mother passed away in San Francisco. Minnie Hamlin was the oldest of their nine
children. Coming to Stockton in 1872,
she completed the grammar school through attendance at the Old Crow
schoolhouse.
At Placerville, on May 3, 1874,
Minnie Hamlin was married to Andrew J. Sperbeck, who was born at Schenectady,
New York, February 22, 1840, and came out to California when a boy of fifteen
years, in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn in 1855, landing at San
Francisco. He followed mining in the
Mother Lode region until he volunteered for service in the Civil War, enlisting
on July 18, 1863, in Company I, 1st Regiment, California
Cavalry. He served in Arizona and New
Mexico until he was mustered out May 22, 1866.
After the war he became a carpenter and was in partnership with O. E.
Hamlin, and after his marriage Mr. Sperbeck continued in business for some
years in Placerville. Mr. Hamlin moved
away, but Mr. Sperbeck continued in the building business in that region until
he died June 30, 1887. He was a past
master in Palmyra Lodge, F. and A. M., and a prominent G. A. R. man. He was a member of the Methodist Church.
After her husband’s death, Mrs.
Sperbeck sold their holdings in Placerville, and in October, 1887, she located
in Stockton. She is a member of Homo
Chapter, O. E. S., of Stockton; Rawlins Women’s Relief Corps, and was a charter
member and first chaplain in the local circle, Ladies of the G. A. R. Her deep interest in progress and protection
for American industries and citizens leads her to be a staunch Republican.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1638. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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