California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno 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 (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


ELIAS GAMMEL. � Combining business acumen with unremitting in- 
dustry, Elias Gammel has met with unusual success in his adopted land, and has 
won the respect of his fellow citizens as well. Transplanted into different sur- 
roundings from those of his birth, his courage was never daunted and he perse- 
vered until fortune favored him. Born on October 26, 1883, in Saratof, Samara, 
Russia, he is the son of Henry and Katherina (Kerber) Gammel, the father a 
grain and stock-farmer of that country; he died in 1891, and his good wife fol- 
lowed him just one month later. The}' were the parents of three children, two of 
whom are now living, Elias being the eldest and only one of the family in Cal- 
ifornia. 

Left an orphan early in life, Elias lived with an uncle, Mike Gammel. on a 
farm and attended the public schools. When fifteen years old he was apprenticed 
as a moulder in the foundry at Mariupel, where he completed his trade and 
worked at it until 1905. That year saw his marriage, to Miss Marie Veirt, also 
born in Saratof, and after this event he farmed for two years. 

In 1907, Mr. Gammel came to Fresno, and worked on ranches for eighteen 
months. Then in 1909, he bought his ranch of twenty acres on Shields Avenue, 
and raised alfalfa and operated a dairy for two years. He then plowed the land 
and set out fifteen acres to Thompson seedless, the balance to alfalfa. In 1916 
he bought twenty acres, one-eighth of a mile northeast, for $3,000, set it to 
Thompson vines, and in 1918 sold the property for $8,500. That same year Mr. 
Gammel bought twenty acres in the Biola district, in Thompson seedless vines, 
and disposed of it in record time. He then bought twenty acres in alfalfa in the 
same district and will set out Thompson seedless vines on this ranch also. As 
can readily be seen, he has developed considerable land in the county, and his 
judgment has proven excellent. He has studied English and become well-posted 
on affairs in his adopted country, and is a liberal and enterprising man. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gammel have four children: Henry; Chris; Freda; and Ed- 
ward. The family attends the Congregational Lutheran Church of Fresno. Mr. 
Gammel is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company. In politics 
he is a Republican.