Cristopher Frederick Leiding 1824-1899
Cristopher
Frederick Leiding was ‘A native of Bremen, Germany, born May 28, 1824, where he
received his education and
resided until 1850, when he sailed around Cape Horn to California, arriving in San Francisco in 1851.
He came to Sonoma in May of the
above
year, and was engaged in raising vegetables for a few years. In 1858 he began merchandising in Sonoma city, which he
continued until 1872, when he
visited
his native country, returning in 1873. In 1875 he moved upon his present estate, of forty-two acres, adapted to fruit
growing. Married Miss Minnie
Mondigel,
November 29, 1859, she being a native of Germany.’ (1)
Bremen was in C.F. Leiding’s time, a
culturally and economically advanced area. Leiding was probably an
educated, cultured and worldly man. Bremen is a Hanseatic port city on the
Weser River leading to the North Sea, full of history from post Ice Age
settlement around 12,000 BC to the Romans, Vikings, the Hanseatic League, the Middle
Ages and the Reformation. The Protestant Reformation divided Germany into a
Lutheran north and Catholic south. From this generality we may be able to
deduce the religion of some of our actors.
Note that in the ‘Germany’ of the time, Wurttemberg was a
state while Bremen was a city. Germany did not become a unified country until
1871. A lot of immigrants listed their country of origin as Germany even when
there was no Germany per se. Why was this? Deutsch means German. Anyone who
spoke German was Deutsch, if they were from Austria, Switzerland, Wurttemberg
or Bremen. Deutschland then, is where German-speaking people live and thus it
was an easy generality to put down for a census question about where you were
from.
Ernst Rufus immigrated to California from Wurttemberg in the
early 19840s, either 1841, Hittell, (11) or 1844 Bancroft, (12). Leiding may
have heard of Rufus’ exploits by letter if they knew each other before
emigrating. Leiding may also have known of California from ads and publicity by
John Sutter before the Gold Rush. Leiding would certainly have noted the Gold
Rush in 1849. In any case by 1850 he decided to cast his lot in the New World
and head for the frontier of northern California.
C. F. Leiding arrived in Sonoma in May of 1851. By 1852 the
future Toscano Hotel was built in Sonoma “by Dorothea Nathanson using left-over
lumber from the construction of the Methodist (now Baptist) Church on First
Street East.” (2) Leiding would later buy this building and have a business
there.
The
1860 Census shows F. Leiding, age 36, a merchant from Bremen with
real estate valued at $700 and other property valued at $1411. In Leiding’s
household is one Montigil Leiding, no first name given, age
28, from Germany, female, and her daughter, age 13, from Germany as well. Both
women were listed as being named Montigil. The surname for the Montigil women
is given in quotes as Leiding. The column of boxes indicating marriage status
is unchecked for the whole page. C.F. Leiding was listed as from Bremen while
the Montigils were listed from ‘Germany’.
C.F. and Minna Leiding are buried together, so we can deduce
that the above Minnie Mondigil was eventually
C.F.’s wife, later referred to as Minna. According to the Ancestry.com reference
(1) they were married one year prior to the 1860 Census. Something is not quite
right here as the marriage date and surname do not add up. If C.F. and Minna
were married in 1859 why is her old surname still listed? With other people’s
genealogical reckonings it is wise to not believe everything you hear or read.
Maybe the census enumerator just happened to do a lousy job
of noting our people’s names and marriage status? Since the daughter was 13 in
1860 but Leiding had only married his wife in 1859, we might deduce this was
not C.F. Leiding’s daughter and that Minna had a daughter prior to marrying.
Ship manifests, if accessible, might shed some light on whether C.F. immigrated
alone and/or the marriage status of Minna Mondigil and the parentage of her
daughter. Why would C.F.’s wife keep a prior surname when they were already married
in 1860? Maybe they were not married in 1860 and that is why the Mondigil name
remains? More on this later.
In 1860 C.F. Leiding, the merchant, bought the building
later to be known as the Toscano Hotel. “The building was sold….to C.F. Leiding
in 1860.” Leiding there operated a general store. (2)
The following is an interesting
newspaper clip from 1864. Leiding was perhaps inspired by the Age of Discovery,
Darwin, Humboldt, Steller and Bering, to discover what he might in California.
|
“A
California Glow-worm. C. F. Leiding, of Sonoma, has sent us a live specimen
of a magnificent glow-worm. It is three inches long, three-eighths of an inch
wide, and three-sixteenths of an inch thick. There are twelve joints, the
color of which is light brown about the edges and dark brown in the middle.
The head is an eighth of an inch wide and long, and is dark brown in color.
There are three pairs of short legs, one pair attached to each of the three
foremost joints. Between the joints and the sides the worm emits a brilliant
greenish phosphorescent light. It is far superior in size and light to any
glow-worm which we had ever before seen.” (9)
|
The 1870 Census has a George F. Leiding, age 35, as hotelkeeper
in Mariposa, CA. George F. Leiding was
from Wurttemberg. C.F. and G.F.
Leiding were better than likely brothers. C.F. was 46 in 1879, 11 years older.
That G.F. was from Wurttemberg suggests that older brother C.F. had possibly moved
to Bremen from Wurttemberg.
The 1870 Census shows Cristopher Frederick Leiding, age 46, merchant/
farmer, from Bremen. The value of his real estate is $2,600 and value of
personal estate $18,000. C.F. is moving up in the world, realizing an American
dream. Way to go.
The daughter, who would have been 23 in 1870 is no longer in
the household; a thread no longer able to be followed, no indication of name, marriage,
husband, death, nothing.
C.F. and Minna are the same age on the 1860 and 1870 Census.
The 1880 Census has C.F. as 56 and Minna as 48. Ages and dates get mixed up
between censuses; these discrepancies are worth trying to iron out for accuracy
yet sometimes the fact that different dates are given just has to be lived
with. The headstone of C.F. and Minna Leiding in the Sonoma Mountain Cemetery
reads C.F. Leiding 1824-1899, wife
Minna 1824 -1905. Let’s just say they were the same age.
The 1870 Census has Minna Leiding, age 46, from Wurttemberg.
The fact that Minna was from Wurttemberg is critical to interpreting family
relations here. C.F. Leiding is
noted as an uncle to Ernst Rufus’ son Otto. (2) How and why was he an uncle?
I have deduced that Minna
Montigil, wife of C.F Leiding was a younger sister of Ernst Rufus. Clue number
one: Ernst Rufus and Minna were both from Wurttemberg. Clue number two: Ernst Rufus and C.F Leiding were not
brothers or they would have the same surname. When Minna and C.F. married, the
only way C.F. could become an uncle to Otto Rufus, Ernst’s son, was if Minna
Montigil and Ernst Rufus were brother and sister. Upon Minna’s marriage to C.F.
Leiding, her surname was Montigil and not Rufus because she had been previously
married, thus accounting for Leiding household discrepancies on the 1860
Census. The fate of Mr. Montigil remains untold; he may have died. The marriage
date in any case was somewhere around 1859 and probably after 1860 because on
the 1870 Census and thereafter Minna is Minna Leiding, no Montigil.
Ernst Rufus named one of his own daughters Mina. The name
had some value to the Rufus family; Mina was maybe the name of Ernst’s mother
or grandmother.
That C.F. Leiding had a brother from Wurttemberg named G.F
Leiding and that they both ended up in Nor Cal, opens up the possibility that
C.F. was originally from Wurttemberg and knew the Rufus family there in Germany
before any of them immigrated to California. These connections point to some
degree of founder effect and chain migration among these families.
Ernst Rufus and C.F. Leiding were closely associated people.
1880 Census records have them on the same page right next to each other,
indicating that they were direct neighbors. I believe it is safe to say they
were also brothers in law. They may also have been Catholic, being originally
from Wurttemberg in southern Germany. Leiding may have converted to Lutheranism
while he was in Bremen in the north.
On the 1870 Census, Li Chung, Chinese male, age 15 is
a cook and member of the C.F. Leiding household. Many Chinese immigrants are a
part of Sonoma history. Their story lacks in many specifics as they tended to
be servants and laborers and to live under the northern European immigrant
radar.
In 1873 Leiding
had returned to Europe with some Sonoma and regional wines. A
newspaper account follows of comparing and boosting California wines over the
European parentage, foreshadowing the full bore hype of the 21st
Century Sonoma wine tourist boom. (3)
In 1880 four Chinese laborers are members of the Leiding household,
Ah Wah age 35, Tung age 35, Jung age 30 and Sam age 18, all with Leiding as a
surname. There is also a white, 24 year old male farm laborer whose last name
appears to be Fisher, middle initial H. or N., illegible. It’s troubling to
aspiring Sherlock Holmes investigators to have critical clues be illegible! The
Leiding family at least gave these Chinese the dignity of their own names,
unlike the Harasthy family who listed all
of their many Chinese laborers as “John Chinaman”. (10)
“…Mr. Leiding retired about the year 1880, going to his farm
at Buena Vista Station, formerly known as the Brockman or Captain Johnson
Place.” (2) On the 1880 Census Ernst Rufus and C.F. Leiding are direct
neighbors, having been enumerated right next to each other. Since the
retirement date to the east side was “about 1880”, this means either Rufus and
Leiding were neighbors in town or that they were neighbors on the east side.
On the 1870 Census Leiding was a neighbor of Fred Fisher and
Camille Aguillon. 1877 Sonoma lot maps do not show Fisher or Aguillon as owners
next to Leiding’s lot on the east side. Ernst Rufus is not a neighbor of C.F.
Leiding as shown by 1870 Census enumeration.
But by 1880 they were neighbors as shown by the sequence of
enumeration on the census. The enumerator would have gone from one household to
the next thereby revealing who were direct neighbors. The upshot, Ernst Rufus
had a home on the east side directly adjacent to C.F. Leiding. I will reveal
the location momentarily.
By at least1877
(5) if not before, Leiding owned lot #523 on 8th Street East.
Leiding’s lot bordered Arroyo Seco on the East and 8th Street East
on the west, lot #513 on the north and MacArthur on the south. If France Street
extended to 8th Street East, it would divide lot #513 from Leiding’s
Lot # 523 and be the northern border of Leiding’s property.
Buena Vista Station was a rail stop north, up 8th
Street East from Leiding’s property. The station was on the eastern frontage
just south of Napa Street East. A few 6x 6 posts on the frontage represent all
that remains of the station today. The railroad would have gone right by Mr.
Leiding’s property for approximately the last 19 years of his life; he
conceivably could have sold and loaded produce from his ranch right from Buena
Vista Station or from down the street at Batto Station at Denmark Street.
Leiding’s lot
#523 was right on Arroyo Seco. A shallow well there would have been replenished
quickly with any good period of rain. He probably had an easier time of it
agriculture-wise than farmers who lived away from watercourses.
C.F. Leiding’s
ranch house is at the current, 2014 street address of 19772 8th
Street East. The house was built in the
1870s. Pictures of the Leiding house, entryway and orchard are online at the Bancroft
library website. The house is straight east down Hamblin Rd. past the county
and city yards, off of 8th Street East.
Fredericka
Rufus, wife of Ernst, owned lot #514. This lot borders Napa Street East on the north,
8th Street east on the east and the imaginative extension of France
Street in the south. Lot #514 is directly west of lot #513 where the old
Schuhmann Hotel still stands in 2014 on the other side of 8th Street
East. The Rufus’ lot #514 is currently under development for three or four
McMansions. Four 400’ wells have been drilled. (6) Rufus’ lot #514, Leiding’s
lot #523 and Otto Schuhmann’s later portion of lot #513 were all contiguous and
represent one representation of a relatively concentrated German immigrant
presence on Sonoma’s east side.
A census
enumerator can’t count people who don’t have a dwelling unit on a street
address, therefore Ernst and ‘Ricka’ Rufus had a home on 8th Street
East and Napa Street on lot# 514. A character associated with Sutter and
Vallejo had a home right across the street from the old Schuhamnn Hotel, built
1912-1913, where I currently live. History comes alive!
In 1883 C.F.
Leiding bought the Union Hotel, which was located on the corner of First Street
West and Napa Steet in downtown Sonoma, site of the current Bank of America.
The hotel was built 1866-1869 by John Lutgens and sold to and owned by German
immigrant Franz Oettel until 1883 when Leiding took the reins. After Leiding’s
ownership the hotel was sold to Otto Rufus, his nephew.
“C.F. Leiding and his
wife Minna Leiding owned the property (Union Hotel) for a while, the latter
conveying it to her nephew and niece and Louisa M. Rufus, who in turn conveyed
it to the present owner, John Steiner.” (8, 8A) John Steiner was a descendent
of the original John Steiner, a German-speaking Swiss immigrant.
The
following clip of an 1887 newspaper article shows a great sample of what Sonoma
was like during the time of C.F. Leiding’s later years. The article describes
an agricultural exhibition by Sonoma Valley municipalities in San Francisco. Sonoma
Valley was then an area of dynamic and diverse, small holding agricultural
production. Soon enough the industrialization of agriculture in the US would
put this type of dynamism out of business all over the country.
Not
only would the means of production change technologically, the whole fabric of
society would shift from small town, family oriented, genuine, regional,
immigrant flavored cultures to a world more and more made up of individuals
cast out onto the mythic American highway, to shape and redefine the next
chapter of what these immigrants founded during the frontier era.
The
newspaper clip notes that C.F. Leiding had an exhibit of cereal grains. A
number of fellow German-speaking immigrants are present along with Mr. Leiding:
Steiger, Glaisher, Drahms, Johannsen, Stoffen, Lutgens and a few first
generation Germans, R.A. Poppe and Otto Rufus. A non-German with a great name
worth noting: J. Summerfield Enos.
German immigrant culture is further highlighted by a description of the
immigrant ancestry of Julius Poppe’s carp.
“A more
dazzling display of' fruits in glass has never been seen at the Fair, and as
yet the Glen Ellen display is not unpacked. The Sonoma portion of the exhibit
is the only one mentioned at this time. A huge pyramid illustrates the vintage,
and around this are tables loaded down with the wealth of the products of
orchard and field. To mention in detail the individual exhibits would be beyond
the limits of space allowed the ordinary newspaper article. They may be
generalized as follows: H. E. Boyes, of Agua Rica, vegetables that should make
the grower famous: L. Modini, Sonoma, beans in the pod; Mrs. B. Vallejo,
Sonoma, beans and fruit in glass, also Indian relics; E. Steiger, Sonoma,
vegetables and enormous onions and tanbark; O. C. Hart, Sonoma, squashes of
huge dimensions; Mrs. M. A. Carriger, Sonoma, citron growing and vegetables; G.
P. Thompson, Sonoma, vegetables and fruit; M. Marti and Keyser, of Sonoma,
cheese; Ed. E. Read, Sonoma, building stones; T. L. Glaisher, iron-stone; Caleb
Berles, white maple.
“The display
of fruits in glass were credited to Robert Hall, W. Burris, A. D. Lowell, Mrs.
C. C. Carriger, G. W. Hooper, Mrs. M. E. Young, T. S. Cooper, R. W. Merrill, A.
Drahms, H. E. Young, Fletcher Willett, T. M. Dunn, L. M. Johannsen, T. A.
Willett, Thos. Armstrong, Mrs. A. McHarvey, Mrs. M. K. Cady, S. H. Shaw, John
Wadsworth, T. S. Glaisher, J. S. Enos, R. L. Ware, O. B. Shaw. T. D. Morris, L.
B. Lawrence, R. S. Watt, H. Appleton, Mrs. R. C. Johnson, R. B. Thomas, John T.
Jones, P. N. Stoffen, H. C. Lutgens, O. R. Rufus, Mrs. R. J. Snyder, S. T.
Craig, O. W. Craig, W. T. De Forrest, M.T. Mortin, Robert Howe.
“R. A. Poppe
has a handsome display of cereals, as also have C. F. Leiding and M. P.. Akers. Mrs. J. A. Poppe, wine vinegar; A.
Brown, green corn. Spencer Brothers, beans and cider. Mrs. J. McCheney, candied
orange. S. H. Shaw, popcorn. D. Church, almonds. Mrs. C. C. Carriger, oranges.
Herman Lang, sulphur water from an artesian well. Mrs. M. G. Vallejo, lemons.
Mrs. S. T. Enos, almonds. Mrs. H. E. Boyes, tastefully mounted ferns and wild
flowers of the Sonoma valley, preserved vegetables, pickles and fruit. Joseph
Neuman has a display of cocoons illustrating the silk industry. He also
displays a branch of the common wild coffee plant of California, having upon it
a cocoon of a worm. The shrub and the worm, Mr. Neuman says, will ere long
revolutionize the silk trade of the world. The worm feeds upon this shrub and
thrives without care, and spins a web outrivaling that of the silk worm.
“A glass tank
of German carp attracts a great deal of attention. The progenitors of the carp
exhibited were brought from Reinfeld, Holstein in 1872 by the late J. A. Poppe.
In Germany the carp may be said to be the peasant's turkey, if it is fair to
make fowl of fish. G. F. Hooper has a
very fine show of olives and olive oil.
“Among
the exhibits there is a table of inlaid woods belonging to Mrs. Poppe. The red cedar in this table was taken from
the supports of the original Bear
flag pole.” (4)
C.F. Leiding’s
brother in law Ernst Rufus died this same year, 1887. It’s worth noting also
from the above exhibit that building stones were mentioned. At this time
quarries, after mixed agriculture and vineyards were the third most important
aspect of the local economy.
Where did and do all those fruit trees come from? The following ad gives a clue: “California wines, vines and fruit trees. The undersigned have a variety of California wines from the best vineyards of Los Angeles, and a large assortment of vine cuttings, and 7000 yearling young peach trees, of wonderful growth. Fig trees, olives, English walnuts, pomegranates and apples trees for sale at low rates. Apply at No. 43 Montgomery Street, three doors south of Bush, to Ernst Rufus and J. Weyse
11/5/1898 C.F. Leiding has been up from Oakland this past week looking after his property interests. It appears C.F. had moved to Oakland, perhaps to be closer to more advanced medical care or more culture. In one year he would be dead.
And so was the legacy of C.F. Leiding and his fellow
immigrants to Sonoma. Cristopher Frederick and Minna Leiding are buried in the
Sonoma Mountain Cemetery. One headstone has their names plus that of Ernst and Fredericka
‘Ricka’ Rufus, neighbors first and last. E.
Rufus 1810-1887, wife Rika Rufus 1830-1904.
When we look
around town today in 2014 and see remnant orchards, the Toscano Hotel, the Bank
of America lot, the road to the county yard, the house at 19772 8th
Street East, the remnants of Buena Vista Station, there is C.F. Leiding and the
shadow of his immigrant dream that began in 1850 in Bremen in the north of
Germany and was realized in ways only hinted at by the outline of this essay.
References
Thanks to Bob
Parmelee and Patricia Cullinan for access to and sharing of historical materials
and references.
(1)
File
contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 3, 2006, 7:13 pm
Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880)
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 3, 2006, 7:13 pm
Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880)
(2)
May 2013 Sonoma League for Historic Preservation newsletter
-C.F. Leiding was also said to be an uncle of a Mrs. Wicker,
that connection remains to be deciphered
(3)
Pacific Rural
Press, Volume 6, Number 22; 11/29/1873
(4)
Daily Alta California, Volume 42,
Number 13882, 3 September 1887. The cut
and paste from the original newspaper to a modern text and the resulting
difference in formatting codes left many punctuation errors and misspellings
that I tried to correct; some undoubtedly remain.
(5)
1877 Otto Van
Geldern map of Sonoma
(6)
-see Sonoma
County Water Agency website: Sonoma Valley Ground Water Management Program,
graphics for water supply and use in 2014
Sonoma Valley
has water issues in 2014, issues that likely were not present in the mid 1800s.
Correlation with world climate patterns
and fluctuations, El Nino oscillations, wetter and drier periods could easily
be integrated into a study of historic Sonoma Valley agriculture and water use.
This is beyond the scope of this essay.
Ground water
levels are currently depressed and depleted in the area of lots #513, #514 and
#523. As Sonoma grows and develops, with difficulty regulating the use of
groundwater, the shallower well on lot #513 goes seasonally dry and the
drilling of more and more new wells to keep up with a current building boom,
does not bode well for land management policy in the east valley. Saltwater
intrusion is creeping up the valley from San Pablo Bay; the more wells and
unregulated use, the faster the agriculture of the valley will go bust.
(7)
Daily Alta California, Volume 5, Number
36, 5 February 1854
(8)
A
Retrospect: Robert A. Poppe. An Interesting Communication on the “Days of Old
Sonoma. From Bob Parmelee historical archive, folder #9, p. 7
(8A) August 11, 1955 Index-Tribune, Tevis Miller
(9)
Sacramento
Daily Union, Volume 27, Number 4125, 10 June 1864
(10)
US Census
1860, 1870, 1880, 1900
-1890 Census
records were mostly destroyed by fire
(11)
History of California, Hittell,
Theodore Henry, 1830-1917
5 vol Hx of CA, a standard ref
1898 Pacific Press Publishing, Co. San Francisco
p. 821 Index
p. 331 Rufus arrives CA 1841
(12)
California Pioneer Register and Index, 1542-1848:
Including Inhabitants... 1769-1800 and a List of Pioneers, Hubert
Howe Bancroft
-from the first five volumes of
Bancroft's seven-volume History of
California.
p.314 Rufus (Ernest), 1844, nat. of
Germany, about the manner of whose coming, perhaps earlier, nothing appears.
Iv. 453. He was naturalized in March 1844, appointed in July a lieut in
Sutter’s army, fighting for Micheltorrena, and in Dec. got a grant of the
Cazadores rancho in Sac. Val. Iv. 479, 485, 671, 680. In 1845 in partnership
with Wm. Benitz, he leased the Ross property from Sutter; and in 1846 was
grantee of the Rancho de German, north of Ross. Iv. 679; v. 669. He sold the
rancho, or parts of it, to Glein and Hagler in 1847, but seems still to have
resided in Sonoma Co. as late as 1879. Ruggles (John), 1847, Co. K, N.Y. Vol.
(v.499); at Sac. In ’82.
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