Sutter
County
Biographies
JULIUS CONRAD ROLUFS
Among
Sutter county’s progressive, reliable and prosperous farmers is numbered Julius
C. Rolufs, who has developed a valuable and attractive homestead of thirty
acres of choice land about two and a half miles south of Nicolaus, where he has
a large prune orchard and a thriving poultry plant. Mr. Rolufs was born in Schleswig-Holstein,
Germany, on the 19th of February, 1861, and is the only child of
Richard and Stine (Christenson) Rolufs, also natives of that country. His father was a sailor in young manhood, but
later came to California, lured by the stories of fortunes made in the gold
mines. He worked in the placer mines and
was successful in winning a stake, which he took back to his home in
Schleswig-Holstein, where he was married.
California still attracted him and, in the hope of acquiring more
wealth, he again came, leaving his young wife in their German home. He located in the gold fields of El Dorado
County and was there engaged in mining when he met with an accidental death, at
the age of thirty-two years. His widow
never came to California, but lived to advanced years, dying at the age of
ninety.
Julius
C. Rolufs was reared in Schleswig-Holstein to the age of sixteen years and
received a fair education in the public schools. He then bade goodbye to his mother and his
native land and started for California.
Here he worked as a farm hand for John and Martin Small, and other of
the pioneer farmers in this valley, particularly around Nicolaus, for some
years. Starting at the foot of the
ladder, he did well whatever he undertook, earning a reputation for reliability
and for hard and efficient work. Later
he went to Butte County, this state, where he engaged in farm work. In 1884 Mr. Rolufs visited his mother and the
old homeland, returning to California in 1885, his future wife coming with
him. Later Mr. Rolufs bought his present
place of thirty acres and on this has lived continuously a period of
thirty-three years. During this time he
has made many substantial improvements and now has one of the choice ranches of
this locality. In the development of this
place he has been ably assisted by his wife, who has been a real helpmate. They have planted prunes, which are now in
full bearing, and otherwise have the place in a high state of cultivation. Through years of hard and persistent work Mr.
Rolufs has become an expert and successful poultry man, and has fifteen hundred
White Leghorn hens on this place, many of which are of the best and purest
stock in the valley. His aim is chiefly
egg production and through his careful and painstaking effort he has built up
as good an equipment as can be found in this part of
the valley.
In
1885, in Sacramento, Mr. Rolufs was united in marriage to Miss Marie
Hendrickson, of Yuba City, California, who was born and reared on the island of
Foehr, in the North Sea, off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. She also comes from a strong, hardy and long
lived family, her father living to the age of seventy-four years and her mother
to the age of eighty-six years. Mr. and
Mrs. Rolufs are the parents of ten children, namely: Richard, who is a yardmaster for the Southern
Pacific Railroad at Truckee, California; George S., who assists in the operation
of the home place; Henry, who is assistant sales manager for the Crane Company,
plumbers’ supplies, at Sacramento; Stine, the wife of Captain Art Trimble,
dredge master on the levee; Minnie, the wife of Ed Wilson, of Sacramento; Ted,
who is a rancher in Sutter County; Fred, who is employed as a bookkeeper in the
Farmers’ Warehouse at Lincoln, California; Emma, who is office manager for the
Sacramento Union, a daily paper; Cecelia, who is a trained nurse in the Sutter
Hospital at Sacramento; and Geraldine, who graduated from the Sutter Union high
school in 1930, expects to become a stenographer. No more hospitable, kindly or generous people
can be found in this section of the valley than Mr. and Mrs. Rolufs and they
command the sincere respect of all who know them. Regardless of age, they appear to be in the
best health and apparently have before them, many years of continued pleasure
and joy on their home ranch, to the upbuilding of which they have devoted the
best years of their lives.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 94-96. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sutter County Biographies