Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Bemmerly, John 1824 - 1872
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 22, 2006, 11:29 pm

Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

JOHN BEMMERLY

    Prominent among the pioneer ranchmen and sheep growers of Yolo county was
the late John Bemmerly, who settled on land lying three and a half miles north
of Yolo more than half a century ago, on the homestead now owned and occupied by
the widow. Squatting on Knight's grant, he helped his neighbors to fight the
claims of the Knight heirs and gain the victory over them which perfected the
titles to their own homes. A man of great determination and perseverance, he was
at the same time progressive, patient and tactful, a farmer who in other
environments would have developed into a splendid business man. He was born in
Wurtemberg, Germany, February 24, 1824, and was reared and educated in his
native city. In 1847 he came to the United States and worked in New York as a
farm hand until 1852, when he came to California. For several months he mined,
but with no marked success, and so he squatted on land in Yolo county that he
had recently bought from the United States government. Industrious and
farseeing, he labored courageously and became in the course of time an extensive
land owner and a citizen of influence. He raised excellent crops and as fast as
he made money he invested it in contiguous land until he had a home ranch of
eight hundred acres, as well as a sheep ranch near Dunnigan comprising
thirty-six hundred acres. He divided his attention between farming and sheep
raising, and at the time of his death had one of the largest flocks of the
county. His passing, which took place August 8, 1872, was regarded as a sad loss
to the community and an irreparable one to his family. He had been reared in the
Lutheran faith and in his political affiliations was a stanch Republican.

    On October 14, 1860, Mr. Bemmerly married Agnes Wimmer, a native of Baden,
Germany, born February 2, 1833. Immigrating to the United States in 1854, she
made her home in New York until 1859, coming to California that year, and she
has since been a resident of Yolo county. The death of Mr. Bemmerly left her
with four small children and another was born afterward, giving her five little
ones to rear and educate. From the first Mrs. Bemmerly demonstrated her superior
business ability. She employed men to operate the home ranch and others to
attend to the sheep-raising and her management was so successful that she had in
a few years paid off all of the indebtedness and increased the Dunnigan ranch to
forty-two hundred acres by the purchase of six hundred acres of adjoining land.
In 1897 she turned this fine property over to her children, keeping in her own
name the home ranch, in the improvement of which she has paid out considerable
money. She has invested in land near her original ranch, and her holdings now
aggregate three thousand acres of as rich and productive farming land as lies
within the borders of Yolo county. The eldest of Mrs. Bemmerly's children, Mary,
assists her in the management of the ranch. John F., who died in 1906, was a
resident of Woodland. Agnes H. is also a member of her mother's household.
William J. is a successful rancher. Ernest, the youngest of the family, is
mentioned elsewhere in this work.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
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
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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