San Joaquin County
Biographies
EDWARD NIES.
More than a century ago George Washington said that "Agriculture is the most useful as well as the most honorable occupation to which man can devote his energies," and the truth of this saying stands today as it did then. Farming is the basis of commercial activity and is one of the great departments of labor without which the human race could not maintain an existence. Edward Nies is known in San Joaquin County as an enterprising agriculturist, making his home in Victor, but in partnership with his brother, owns forty acres in vineyard. He is a native of McIntosh County, N. D., born near Lehr on August 8, 1896, and is a son of Henry and Christina Nies, both of whom were natives of southern Russia. About thirty-five years ago, Henry Nies left his home in Russia for America and on arrival settled in North Dakota, where he homesteaded a tract of land and engaged in farming for sixteen years, when he disposed of his land holdings in North Dakota and came to California, where he bought a ranch of eighty acres south of Victor, which he set out to vineyard and farmed for seventeen years and then retired to Lodi, where he resides. There were ten children that grew up in the family: John, of Lehr, N. D.; Barbara was the wife of Henry Frey and resided in Salem, Ore. She and her husband died only four hours apart, leaving six children: Andrew, Ida, William, Allina, Walter and Eldon, who now make their home in San Joaquin County. Katie, Mrs. Adolph Bechthold; Jacob, Christ, Edward, Adolph, Emil, Mrs. Martha Lee, and Albert, all reside in the vicinity of Victor.
Edward Nies came to California with his parents when seven years of age and received his education in the Alpine district school east of Lodi and assisted his father on the home place until he was twenty-one years old. He worked for wages on farms in the neighborhood of his home until he and his brother Adolph purchased the forty-acre vineyard together, which is well improved and highly cultivated, visible evidence of their thrift and industry. This vineyard is about two miles northwest of Lockeford on the Lockeford-Christian Colony highway and is in full bearing; a fine irrigation system has been installed by which they pump water direct from the Mokelumne River. In 1922 Nies brothers sold their ranch and purchased an orchard and vineyard one and one-half miles south of Victor. They also bought a store building in Victor and established a general merchandise business. He is a stockholder in the Victor Fruit Growers, Inc., and during the season buys and ships grapes.
Mr. Nies was married July 20, 1919, at Lodi, to Miss Bertha C. Kammer, also a native of North Dakota, a daughter of Phillip and Christina Kammer, engaged in farming in San Joaquin County. Mrs. Nies received her education in Franklin district, Sacramento County. They have one son, Lloyd Edward. Recently Mr. Nies purchased a new modern bungalow in Victor, where they reside. He and his wife are members of the Evangelical Church of Lodi and politically are Republicans.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1248
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
CONRAD O. BAUMBACH.
A native of the Island of Krem, Russia, Conrad O. Baumbach has been since 1906 a continuous resident of San Joaquin County, where he has demonstrated what industry and enterprise can accomplish. He was born on June 8, 1866, and is the eldest of a family of eight children of Conrad and Mary (Olenborger) Baumbach, the others being as follows: Lenhard, Karl, Mary, John, Louisa, Lydia and Robert. When eight years old, Conrad accompanied his parents to the United States and the family settled near Yankton, S. D., where the father homesteaded a quarter section and preempted a quarter section and also a quarter section timber claim, which was devoted to the raising of grain. Both parents died when about sixty-four years old. When his father located in the Northwest there were no public schools, and the education of Conrad O. Baumbach was therefore limited; but he was well versed in the best methods of cultivating the land, kinds of soil, and the most profitable crops.
On March 28, 1886, Mr. Baumbach was married to Miss Elizabeth Bechthold, a sister of Abraham Bechthold, also represented in this work, and a daughter of Henry and Lottie (Baumbach) Bechthold. For the first three years of their married life the young couple remained at home with his parents and farmed land Mr. Baumbach had rented; he then removed to Kansas and worked at his trade of stone mason, bricklayer and plasterer at Hillsboro, which occupied him for nine years, when he came to California. He purchased his home place, consisting of nine acres in two-year-old Zinfandel grapes; and then bought a ten-acre vineyard, which he held for eight years and sold at a good profit, and purchased a twenty-acre vineyard south of Kettleman Lane devoted to Tokay and Zinfandel grapes. On his home place, Mr. Baumbach has installed a four-inch pump driven by a four-cylinder Overland automobile engine which his son installed for him, and on his twenty-acre vineyard he has installed a deep-well Byron Jackson turbine pump with a capacity of 700 gallons a minute. Mr. and Mrs. Baumbach became the parents of five children, all of whom are deceased. The first three died in infancy and the fourth child, George, died at the age of two years; Fred, who was a skilled mechanic, was killed in November of 1920 by a traction line car. He was married to Emma Reimche and had a child, Elmer Elton. In politics, Mr. Baumbach is a Republican. He is a member of the Church of God in Lodi.
History of San Joaquin County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1248
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.