San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM F. VON SOSTEN
A thoroughly experience farmer,
whose intelligence and industry have earned for him and others a well-merited
prosperity, while his uprightness of character and general dependability have
won for him the confidence of all who know him, is William F. Von Sosten. He was born on his father’s ranch four miles
west of Tracy on January 4, 1871, the eldest son of the late Frederick and Anna
(Finck) Von Sosten, honored pioneers of the West Side.
William F. received his education in
the Lammersville district school. While
yet a youth the farm work became so heavy that he was obliged to leave school
and devote his full time to the ranch work, and this he did until his marriage.
Mr. Von Sosten’s
marriage occurred September 7, 1898, and united him with Miss Kathrine Hansen, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Peter
Hansen, honored pioneers of the West Side section of San Joaquin County, whose
sketch appears elsewhere in this work.
Mrs. Von Sosten was born on the Hansen ranch and was reared and schooled
in the Lammersville district school, she and her husband being
schoolmates. They are the parents of
four children: Fred W. passed away at
the age of six years; Edna C; Ethel A.; and Hazel Marie. All their children were born on the ranch
near Bethany and all are being educated in the schools of Tracy. During the years of 1898 to 1900, Mr. Von
Sosten engaged in farming at Union Island, the chief crops being wheat and
barley. In 1901 he returned to Bethany
and successfully engaged in grain farming and stockraising and is the owner of
236 acres of rich farming land, in the West Side Irrigation District. In 1911, a modern family residence was
completed from plans drawn by Mrs. Von Sosten and on Thanksgiving Day of 1911 a
house warming, christening and family reunion was held in the commodious
residence, located on Eleventh Street, Tracy, which is beautiful in appointment
and furnishings. Fraternally Mr. Von
Sosten is an active member of the Knights of Pythias, having served as
secretary of that organization for eight consecutive years. He has been an active advocate of irrigation
and was the first secretary of the West Side Irrigation District, serving until
1917; from 1914 to 1916 he served as city trustee of Tracy; and he also served
as school director while residing in Bethany and in Tracy as well. He is a member of the West Side Pioneers
Society and politically he is a Republican.
Mrs. Von Sosten is a charter member of the Native Daughters of the
Golden West, of Tracy Parlor, and is past chief of the Pythian Sisters of
Tracy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Von Sosten have
contributed generously to churches and benevolences and are members of the Red
Cross. The family stands high in the
whole community, a tribute to their useful citizenship.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1016. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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