Merced-Calaveras-Monterey County CA Archives Biographies.....Kahl, Adam 1825 - 1889
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 2, 2006, 10:12 pm

Author: John Outcalt (1925)

ADAM KAHL

   The late Adam Kahl will be gratefully remembered by posterity as one of the
foremost men of his day in Merced County, where he located in 1860 and
established what has come to be known as the Kahl Ranch, near Plainsburg, along
Mariposa Creek. From the time of his settling here he was active in every
organization and movement that, would be of benefit to the ranchers and help
towards bettering the condition of the people of the county and State. He owned
a ranch of 2000 acres and this he had improved with a spendid set of farm
buildings and a substantial and commodious brick house. His ranch was stocked
with the best breeds of live stock and he did much to raise the standard of live
stock in the county. Such was his success that his accomplishments were the
means of many others settling here and trying to follow his example. He was
always ready and willing to advise others as to best methods to pursue to attain
their own success.

   He was born in Franklin County, Pa., September 6, 1825, a son of Jacob and
Catherine Kahl, farmers in their day and place. He grew to manhood on the farm,
attending the common schools and in time migrated to Richland County, Ohio, and
later to Carroll County, Ind. It was while he was living in Indiana that he
decided to come to California, for the discovery of gold had been heralded
throughout the nation and he was among the first of his section to leave for New
Orleans. He embarked on a sailing vessel, landing at Chagres, and crossing the
Isthmus he secured passage on the barque Alyoma for San Francisco, arriving on
June 20, 1850.

   Upon his arrival he was engaged in mining in Butte Flat, Jackson and
Mokelumne Hill and river districts for four years. He returned home for a visit
in 1855, subsequently went to Iowa, thence to Pettis County, Mo. There, on July
4, 1858, he married Lydia A. Spangenberg, a native of Pennsylvania. Immediately
after their marriage they set out for California. This time the trip was made
across the plains behind ox-teams and via Salt Lake and the Carson Canyon route.
They arrived at Snelling, Merced County, in October, 1859, but soon went to the
Pajaro Valley, Monterey County, where he lived until 1860, when he bought a
ranch near Plainsburg, now owned by the family. He paid from $1.25 to $35 per
acre for his land. At the time of his death, January 11, 1889, Merced County
lost one of her most progressive citizens. His estate was divided between his
widow and children, each child receiving 320 acres. There were five children:
Ernest D.; Alice M., who married John Dickinson; George A.; Charles W., who is a
successful physician in Merced; and Arthur S., of Merced County. To such men as
Adam Kahl the county of Merced and the State of California owe much of their
prosperity. Mrs. Kahl, lovingly called "Grandma Kahl" lived to be eighty-five
years old, dying on September 23, 1924, at her home at Le Grand. Several years
prior to her death Mrs. Kahl took an airplane trip from Merced to San Francisco
with Emmett Tanner, at that time she was the oldest woman to take such a flight
in the history of aviation and her journey was widely reported.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925

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