Tehama County
Biographies
CARL FREDRICK LUDWIG WIEDEMANN
one of Red Bluff’s energetic business men, was born in Wolgast, Province of Pomerania, Prussia, March 25, 1844. His parents were honest and industrious farmers in that country, and gave their son a common-school education, and also had him learn the trade of shoemaker, and thus prepared him for earning an honest living. When a young man he was enrolled in the victorious German army, and participated in the war which resulted in the taking of the French capital. After his discharge from the service he went to Hamburg, Germany, and in 1873 came to the United States, with the object of making a home and fortune in this “land of the brave, and home of the free,” as so many of his fellow countrymen have done. Mr. Wiedemann landed on the 4th of June in Louisville, Kentucky, and was engaged there by an extensive shoe dealer, H. Schoening, until February 14, 1876. He had found America, but his keener perception taught him to seek the best place in it, and he consequently started for California, the El Dorado of the West, landing in San Francisco. He went to Princeton, Colusa County, but on account of ill-health he went to the Tuscan Springs, and then to Red Bluff, where he engaged in shoe manufacturing, and the repairing of boots and shoes.
Mr. Wiedemann was married in 1877, to Miss Wilhelmina Ross, a native daughter of the Golden West. They lived happily in their own dwelling until 1881, when it was consumed by fire, and he then built his two-story brick store on the west side of Main street, and opened his present boot and shoe store. His wife takes as much interest in his business as himself, and while he is making and repairing, she is selling the goods from the store. In 1887 Mr. Wiedemann purchased, from L. Froh, a farm, on Grasshopper Creek, where they resided for two years. He planted fourteen acres of fruit trees on this place, but as it was not congenial to either of them, they traded the property for two residences in Red Bluff, which he now rents. He was raised in the Lutheran faith, and his wife is a Presbyterian. Politically he is a member of the Republican party, and fraternally is a Master Mason.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
pp 590
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
GENERAL CHARLES CADWALADER
is a descendent of one of the old Quaker families of Pennsylvania, and one of the most promising business men and highly respected citizens of California. The ancestors of the family came to America from Wales a few years previous to the arrival of William Penn. Notwithstanding their religion of peace, they did not let it stand in the way of their doing valiant served for their country, when war was declared with England, and we find enrolled among the eminent names of our Revolutionary patriots and heroes that of the old Quaker family of Cadwalader of Pennsylvania.
In this State, at Brownsville, March 3, 1833, Charles Cadwalader was born, son of General Allan Cadwalader, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1801. He was a Quaker and a remarkable man, fond of original investigation, and a devotee of the natural sciences. He lived to the ripe old age of seventy-eight years, and died at Willows, California, November 27, 1879. The family had moved to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1852, and our subject’s education was acquired at the McIntyre Academy in Zanesville. It was then an old established school, being the first fruits of a noble bequest from a family of that name; and the school has since by judicious management grown until it is now sufficiently large to defray the expenses of the schools of that city, now over 25,000 inhabitants. At seventeen years of age Mr. Cadwalader broke away from the restraint of his books to gratify a desire for railroad engineering, and began as a man at 75 cents per day. He joined the force building the Central Ohio Railroad between Wheeling and Columbus, and in less than a year the managers of the road had become so favorably impressed with his ability that they placed him in charge of the construction force between Newark and Zanesville, and he was made resident engineer. He had studied higher mathematics, but not with reference to the specialty of civil engineering. This promotion from axman to resident engineer for one so young, was the beginning of the prophecy of the powers which he possessed. After completing the road from Zanesville to Newark, Mr. Cadwalader continued in the employ of the company on their line of construction until April, 1852, when he started for California.
Upon reaching this State he first went to Mokelumne Hill, where he assisted his father in a general store, and as a dealer in gold dust, continuing in this business until December, 1855. In January, 1856, he went as superintendent of a prospecting party to explore the quicksilver deposits on the great Almaden lode near San Jose, where he remained one year. Nothing especially important was then developed, although since then this region has turned out untold riches.
Meanwhile his father had obtained 8,000 acres of land, believed to be part of the Sutter grant. Charles joined his father in this enterprise, and showed his disappointment when the courts decided adversely to their claim, and they saw their valuable property taken away without remedy. He next engaged as a writer in the clerk’s office of the Supreme Court, where he remained during the winter of 1861-’62. The great floods that winter threatened to destroy the city of Sacramento, and forced the necessity of building levees. It was a great undertaking, and involved an expenditure of over $250,000. Levee Commissioners were appointed, and among them were Charles Crocker, H. T. Holmes, Francis Tuky, Judge Swift and others, and the work was commenced. Here was another opportunity for Charles Cadwalader to resume a pursuit, and he accepted a position as assistant superintendent to Andrew Jackson, engineer in charge. The experience at Zanesville and Newark repeated itself, and before the work was near its completion he had entire charge of it, and remained until January 1, 1863, when the construction survey began for the Central Pacific Railroad, under Theodore D. Judah. Mr. Crocker and Mr. Judah had observed his capability, and solicited him to assist for a few weeks in the work, and he gladly embraced the opportunity, for he saw a great enterprise, and with a great ambition desired to be connected with it. The same resolution went with him to make himself indispensable. He was kept in preliminary work until May, 1864, from Sacramento to Clipper Gap, and in June, 1864, was given charge of the construction work from Penryn to Blue Canon, which occupied him until 1866. The company, in order to build more rapidly and compete with the Union Pacific in the strife for subsidy and land grants, resolved to do grading and laying track in advance of the contractors’ completed work, and sent Mr. Cadwalader over the mountains to the Truckee River, in the fall of 1867. Invincible men dragged iron over the mountains in sleds and wagons, and struggled through mountains, improving many of the requirements for railroad building, and defying the very protests of nature herself. By the time the main party had reached the summit, Mr. Cadwalader was ready to join them with about fifty miles of completed road, taking them at one leap nearly to Reno. In 1868 they built over 400 miles, over a mile a day, laying some days over three miles of track, and climaxing the wonderful achievements of their work by laying ten miles of track in one day! It was plain that Mr. Judah’s request for Mr. Cadwalader’s services of a few weeks was to settle his career for many years, for he received the appointment of locating and constructing engineer of the Contract and Finance Co., under which the road was built, and in this capacity he completed the road from the State Line to Humboldt Wells, a distance of many miles. He also had charge of track-laying and the finishing of grading to Promontory Point, where the connection was made with the Union Pacific Railroad, by the immense stride of ten miles on the last day, May 10, 1869. History has rarely recorded an achievement so great as the building of that great trunk railway.
In May, 1869, Mr. Cadwalader moved to Chico, where he was put in charge of the location and construction of the Oregon division of the Central Pacific Railroad, which had been completed to Marysville by another company. He built that season twenty-two miles, to Biggs Station, and July 4, 1870, completed the road to Chico. In October, 1870, he moved to Red Bluff, and connected the road to that point December 6, 1872, and September 1, 1873, finished it to Redding. He was made resident engineer of the road from Roseville Junction to Redding, and since that time has resided in Red Bluff. September 3, 1875, he assisted in organizing and incorporating the Bank of Tehama County, with a capital of $100,000, and has since been made its president and manager. The capital stock of the bank was increased to $300,000, with a surplus of $100,000. The original incorporators were the best men in the county, and the business career of the bank has exceeded the highest expectations of the most sanguine of its friends. Mr. Cadwalader was appointed one of the first members of the board of trustees, and has the honor of having been the first President of the city. In 1873 he was appointed by Governor Booth Brigadier General of Militia, commanding the Fifth Brigade, and was re-appointed to the position by Governor Irwin. General Cadwalader still holds the position of president of the Tehama County Bank, and was elected president of the Shasta County Bank at Redding, of which his son Charles is assistant cashier. In February, 1890, the General, in connection with James G. Fair and others, San Francisco capitalists, organized the Mutual Savings Bank of San Francisco, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, of which he is one of the directors. Mr. Cadwalader is a prominent Republican, and is now the Republican nominee for State Senator for Tehama and Colusa counties.
In 1886 he was married to Mrs. Resathia Root, a native of Quincy, Illinois, and they have two children: Charles, born in Placer County; and Anna, born in Red Bluff. The family are members of the Episcopal Church.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
pp 591-593
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler