Ernst Rufus: 1810-1887, from Wurttemberg, southern Germany, possibly Catholic,
wife Fredericka
‘Rika’ Rufus 1830-1904
-1810 Ernst
Rufus born in German state of Wurttemberg. A later note when he returned to
visit in 1854 refers to the ‘mountains of his native Switzerland’ (10).
Southern Wurttemberg borders Schweiz or Switzerland along Lake Bodensee. Given
this bit of info, Rufus is probably from southern Wurttemberg, possibly Friedrichshafen
or one of another 20 some small cities in the area along the border with
Switzerland.
- 1835: Rancho
Period: cattle hides proved material for belts to drive factory machinery of
Industrial Revolution
- 1836 Mexican
Independence from Spain
-1839 John Sutter
(Swiss) arrives Yerba Buena, starts his fort New Helvetia
-1840 Two Years Before the Mast published, Richard
Henry Dana, “what an enterprising people could do with this land”
-1840 Sutter becomes
a Mexican citizen
-1841 Sutter
granted New Helvetia, 48,000 acres, huge!
- 1841 Rufus
possibly arrived in CA, (5)
- 1841: Sutter
buys Fort Ross from Russians on credit, within 2 years salvaged materials and
property to Fort in Sacramento Rancho New Helvetia
- 1842: few
Americans moving west, #s go up exponentially from here
- 1843 Wilhelm
Otto Boniz (William Benitz),German immigrant from Breisgau, state of Baden, sent
by Sutter to manage Ft. Ross
- 1844 Willima
Benitz granted Rancho Breisgau, 5 square leagues on east side of Sacramento
River right where Cottonwood Creek joins, at the border of Tehama and Shasta
counties (2)
- 1844 Rufus issued
permit to enter to CA by Governor Micheltorrena, (6)
- 3/1844 Rufus
naturalized Mexican citizen, lieutenant in Sutter’s army, in charge of Indian
brigade
- 12/1844 Rufus
granted Cazadores Rancho in Sacto Valley
- 1844-45: Sutter
leased Fort Ross to Bentiz, Rufus and Charles Theodore Meyer, transaction
brought Sutter’s claim to Fort Ross back into question by Mexico (3), (8)
- 1845 Mexican
government rejected Sutter’s claim to Ft. Ross and granted it to Manuel Torres;
Sutter did not have standing to buy as Russians had never owned it
- 1846: Rufus
granted Rancho Hermann by Governor Pio Pico; “5 square leagues in Mendocino
County, now Sonoma County” (1), one of last Mexican land grants; title stayed
good; Gualala River to Ocean Cove. (4)
-Hermann
(Arminius, Armin):
a German hero who defeated Roman legions in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest at
the time of the Emperor Augustus/ Pax Romana/ benign dictator
-etymology
of ‘German’ unknown, a Roman reference to northern tribes
-also
known as Rancho German; Hermann would be written ‘German’ in Spanish. Hermann
Sons Sonoma, Petaluma
- 1846; Bear
Flag Revolt, Vallejo taken prisoner at Sutter’s Fort, John C. Fremont, Army 2nd
Lt., with 60 armed men, incl. Kit Carson, arrives Alta California, occupy
Sutter’s Fort for a month, US flag goes up, Edward Kern put in charge of fort
-America annexes
CA, Sutter commissioned to US Army, Rancho period ends, Vallejo empire collapses
-Donner party,
Sutter sends help
-Sutter regains
control of Fort
-1846 Fremont offered Rufus the command of the military post at Sonoma, (Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 6, Number 930, 17 March 1854)
-1846-1848
Mexican American War: in wake of 1845 U.S. annexation of
Texas which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas
Revolution (Alamo, Sam Houston etc), Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion
-1848 Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, forced session of Alta California and New Mexico; treaty
gave Mexican Californios property rights, there was a land claims commission,
with appeals to US District Court, in Bancroft library records
-1849 Gold Rush,
Sutter feudal empire comes to end
-1849: Manuel
Torres sold ranch (Ft. Ross) south of Rancho Hermann to Benitz and Rufus,
making them owner of 2/3 of Sonoma County coast, from Gualala (Walhalla/
Valhalla) River to Russian River
-1849 Rufus sold
3 leagues of Rancho German to Bentiz and Charles Meyer for $1000
-1850 Rufus got
a half share of Bennitz’ Rancho Breisgau by Sacramento River and Cottonwood
Creek by agreeing to give William Benitz a half share of Rancho Hermann (2)
-Rufus sold his
share of Rancho Hermann to Benitz; Benitz traded Rufus his share of Agua
Caliente
-1850 55,000 Americans move west, Sutter’s land
occupied by squatters, CA becomes 31st state in the Union
-1852 Rufus’ Rancho Hermann
Charles
Mayer et al., claimants for German, five square leagues in Mendocino county
(now Sonoma county, and situated in Salt Point township), granted April 8,
1846, by Pio Pico to Ernest Rufus; claim filed April 27, 1852, confirmed by the
commission December 22, 1852, by the District Court, September 10, 1855, and by
the United States Supreme Court; containing 17,580.01 acres. Vide page 28, App.
Hoffman's Reports, Vol. 1.
-1851: Land
Claims Act, lengthy, expensive litigation; most Californios lost title, some
claims still litigated into the 1940s (7)
-1853: Rufus has
Agua Caliente land grant in Glen Ellen, sold part to Joseph Hooker (from Rufus’
handwriting/ Serres collection)
-(Vallejo had this
Grant in 1839 fraudulently, after actual granteee died in fighting Americans in
Mexico
in 1846 Vallejo
conveyed it to Andreas Hoppner the music teacher, then it went to Rufus in
1852, then George Watriss in 1925 and then Serres) (9)
1854 ad by Rufus of fruit trees: ‘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,; from Daily Alta California, Volume 5, Number 36, 5 February 1854
1854, March: Rufus returns to Europe, “after having seen the wilderness grown to a mighty empire, he returns to spend a few months in revisiting his native mountains of Switzerland”, (10)
1856 Rufus had
full claim to 5 leagues of Rancho Breisgau, sold it for $5000; wrapped up in
troubles regarding the claim and title to land, patented or not, cost them a
lot of $, lost land to squatters, Rufus’s title to new Bresgau pronounced
fraudulent (2)
1860 Census,
Sonoma, CA Ernst Rufus, age 60, farmer, value of real estate $4000, value of
personal property $950, wife Fredericka, age 34, from Wurttemberg; children:
Louisa 14, Otto 11, Bertha 9, Mena 8; lodger Henry Graf from Hamburg, age 81
-next door
neighbor is the Douglas family, who owned lot #513; the Rufus residence was
therefore, lot #514 on Napa Street east and 8th Street East
1861 Civil War
starts
1863
transcontinental RR began in Sacto
1865 Sutter
moves east to WA DC, then PA Dutch country
1870s -Frefericka
Rufus owned lot #514 (where new development is going in); given that Ricka was
26 tears younger than Ernst, Ernst was taking care of her by putting the
property in her name
1877 Sonoma County Atlas shows the Valhalla
River, what became the Gualala River. The town at Salt Point was called
Louisville, there was hotel, store, railroad and sawmill there.
1880 Census,
note change in spelling ‘Ernest’ as 70 years old and Ricka as 40, she lost 4
years; Ricka’s place of birth appears to be California rather than Wurttemberg
1886 excise tax, E. Rufus income of $494 taxed at 5% =
$24.70 plus a $1.00 each tax on a watch and carriage Total: $26.70 tax
1887, Sept 2,
Ernst Rufus dies
1900 Census,
Fredericka is a widow, 61 years old with Louisa and Otto still living at home,
still on lot #514
1904 Fredericka
Rufus dies, daughter Bertha or Mena had become Mrs. H.J. Wicker
1910 Census,
Otto Rufus, 45, is head of household, sister Louisa M. Nicols 47, hired man
Morton Tuller age 63; still on lot #514
1920 Census
Otto E. Rufus is
single, head of household, 61,
Maida Gilbert
41, housekeeper, single/ unmarried
Maida’s son
Kennon 16, no mention of a daughter
-Maida is buried
in the Rufus family plot as Maida Rufus
-neighbors on
lot #513: Otto and Clara Schuhmann, Gerhard Schuhmann (citizenship Pa) with
wife Pearl and son Gustave Wolf
1922 Maida J. Rufus 1877 – 1922; the 1920 Census has a Maida
Gilbert from NY, housekeeper for Otto Rufus, she was 18 years younger than Otto
-headstone says Maida Rufus but her name 2 years earlier in
the census was Maida Gilbert, did Otto marry her?
1930 Census, Otto
E. Rufus was 70, he had a radio, Maida has died but her family remains: Kennon
R. Gilbert 26, Florence A. Gilbert 21, Gloria Gilbert 0; you’d think that a Mr.
Gilbert would be around if Maida had a baby… or was Otto the father?
1940 Census, no
Rufus family listed in Sonoma
1944 Bertha A. Wainwright 1861-1944, buried in the
Rufus-Leiding plot next to Maida Rufus, in the Mountain Cemetery
-born in CA, 8th grade education, married to
James W. Wainright #2, widowed San Anselmo auditor son of English immigrant
saloon keeper James W. Wainright #1 in SF
-could be case of grateful dead, Otto Rufus gave her a charity burial?
-Bertha does not show up on any other census, nothing else
on her
REFERENCES
(1)
Sonoma County CA Archives History - Books .....Mexican Land Grants Of Sonoma County 1880 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 25, 2006, 6:43 pm Book Title: History Of Sonoma County THE MEXICAN LAND GRANTS OF SONOMA COUNTY. RANCHOS MUSALACON—COTATE—GUILICOS—CANADA DE POGOLOME—LLANO DE SANTA ROSA— EL MOLINO—HUICHICA— YULUPA—GUENOC—SOTOYOME—BODEGA — BLUCHER — CALLAYOMI — MUNIZ— LAGUNA DE SAN ANTONIO—ARROYO DE SAN ANTONIO—SENO DE MALACOMES—ROBLAR DE LA MISERIA—CANADA DE LA JONIVE—ESTERO AMERICANO—GERMAN—PETALUMA—SAN MIGUEL TZABACO—CASLAMAYOME—CABEZA DE SANTA ROSA—AGUA CALLENTE—FOUNDING OF SPANISH MISSIONS.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sonoma/history/1880/historyo/mexicanl137gms.txt
Charles
Mayer et al., claimants for German, five square leagues in Mendocino county
(now Sonoma county, and situated in Salt Point township), granted April 8,
1846, by Pio Pico to Ernest Rufus; claim filed April 27, 1852, confirmed by the
commission December 22, 1852, by the District Court, September 10, 1855, and by
the United States Supreme Court; containing 17,580.01 acres. Vide page 28, App.
Hoffman's Reports, Vol. 1.
(2)
Peter Benitz family website
(3)
http://historyandhappenings.squarespace.com/mexican-land-grants/
1845,
(4) History and Description of The Sea Ranch, http://www.tsra.org/news.php?viewStory=139
(5)
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
p701 “alleged Mexican grant to, of four square leagues of
land in Sacto county, pronounced fraudulent”
Rancho German
Rancho de Hermann
Sonoma Cty up by Ft. Ross
Land case 15 ND
Land case map B-29
Granted by Mexico 6/1846 to Ernesto Rufus 17,580 acres
(6)
California Pioneer Register and Index, 1542-1848:
Including Inhabitants... 1769-1800 and a List of Pioneers, Hubert Howe Bancroft
This compilation of genealogical and
biographical sketches is extracted from the first five volumes of Bancroft's
seven-volume History of California. Consists of a complete register of
pioneers, alphabetically arranged, listing all known information of importance
about them.
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.
(7)
Hoffman’s Land Claim Cases
HOFFMAN, Ogden (1822-1891). Reports
of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California. June Term, 1853, to June Term, 1858, Inclusive...Volume
I [all published]. San Francisco: Numa Hubert, Publisher, 1862.
Appendix
p. 28
199, 15, N.D., 507 Charles Mayer et
al., claimants for German, 5 square leagues, in Mendocino County, granted April
8th, 1846, by Pio Pico to Ernest Rufus; claim filed April 27th,
1852, confirmed by the Commission December 22d 1852, by the District Court
September 10th, 1855, and by the US Supreme Court; containing
17,580.01 acres.
p. 42
303,376. N.D. James Murphy, claimant
for Cazadores, 4 square leagues in Sacto county, granted December 22d, 1844 by
Manuel Micheltorrena to Ernesto Rufus; claim filed August 14th,
1852, confirmed by the Commission July 17th, 1855, by the District
Court September 22d, 1856, decree reversed by the US Supreme Court and cause
remanded, with direction to dismiss the petition, 23 Howard, 476
(8)
1845,
Benitz with partners, Ernest Rufus and Charles Theodore
Meyer leased Fort Ross from Sutter. Later in the same year, the lease was with
Manuel Torres, as the Mexican authorities rejected Sutter's claim and granted
it to Torres.
(9)
A Glen Ellen Timeline
1853:
Joseph Hooker buys part of the Agua Caliente from Ernst Rufus.
(10)
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