San Joaquin County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
 
GUSTAV AUGUST DANIEL BUSCHKE.
 
        A pioneer of California since 1876, Gustav August Daniel Buschke has 
been a resident of Tracy since 1878, and has aided in the progress and 
development of the city and county. He was born in Posen, Germany, on September 
4, 1857. Finishing his schooling in 1871, he took up the trade of harnessmaker 
at Zirke, Germany, where he served his apprenticeship and became master of the 
trade of harness making. In 1874, his uncle, Daniel Buschke, had settled on a 
farm near Stockton, California, and our subject had decided to leave his native 
land and come to America, and on July 3, 1876, he arrived in Stockton. Here he 
found employment at his trade; then removed to Livermore and worked for two 
years in the shop owned by Theodore Gorner. In 1878 he settled in Ellis, San 
Joaquin County, and he was put in charge of the Ellis Harness Shop, which he 
purchased during the fall of that year. In 1878 there were less than ten 
buildings in the town of Ellis, there being no school house or church building; 
late in 1878, the citizens decided to move this village and the buildings were 
put on wheels and drawn by mules and horses the two miles to the town of Tracy. 
Mr. Buschke made his first purchase of real estate that same year, a corner lot 
at Central Avenue and Eighth Street, the purchase price being $100; later he 
built a small shop and opened a harness-making business, the first of its kind 
in Tracy. He remained in this location until 1912, when he disposed of the 
property to J. Schmidt. In the early '80s Mr. Buschke acquired a corner lot on 
the opposite side of the street, and in 1920 let the contract for a $50,000 
office and bank building which is occupied by the Pioneer Bank of Tracy; there 
are also four stores included. In 1878 and in 1909 Mr. Buschke suffered severe 
losses by fire, but his spirit of determination and enterprise overruled 
discouragement and success has come to him to a great degree.
        In 1908 his father, G. Buschke, made an extensive visit to his sons and 
daughters in San Joaquin County, returning to Germany in 1909, where, a few 
weeks later, he passed away at the age of seventy-eight. His wife, who was 
Louisa Mietzner, passed away when only forty-one years of age.
        The marriage of Mr. Buschke occurred in Oakland, California, and united 
him with Miss Caroline Service, a native of Indiana, who came to California with 
her parents in 1871. Her mother is still living on a ranch near Tracy, but her 
father has passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Buschke are the parents of eight children, 
six living: G. Arthur D. passed away when seven; Louisa M. is the wife of C. 
Ward, residing in Los Angeles, and has three children; Emilie C. is the wife of 
Thomas R. Evans, residing in Los Angeles, and has two children; Esther M. is the 
wife of Leo J. Schmidtz, residing at Burlingame, and they have two children; 
Jessie I., Mrs. James C. Lane, resides at Whittier and has two children; N. 
Irene died in infancy; Clinton A. served in the U. S. Army overseas with the 
First Division, and was with the army of occupation fourteen months at Coblenz, 
Germany, and upon his return to America marched in parade in New York City and 
Washington, D. C., with General Pershing; he is now employed with the Union Oil 
Company at Fullerton, Cal.; and Grace Rosemond is at home. During 1881, Mr. 
Buschke received his U. S. citizenship papers while residing in Stockton. In 
politics he is a Republican. He belongs to the Lutheran Church of Tracy. He has 
been active in promoting enterprises for the good of the community, and his 
contributions to charities, public buildings and churches have been extensive. 
For a number of years he has been the sole survivor of the merchants who removed 
to Tracy from the village of Ellis in 1878.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p      1352    
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.