Mendocino County Biographies

Gebhard Hegenmeyer

Transcribed by: Pat Howard

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


	Was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, December 1, 1831, where he 
resided till the spring of 1852, being educated in the common schools of the 
country in the meantime. At an early age he began the trade of gunsmith, 
blacksmith, and machinist, his father being a mechanic before him. In the spring 
of 1852 he sailed from Rotterdam to England, and at Liverpool he shipped on 
board the sailing vessel Henry Clay for New York. From there he sailed on the 
steamer Illinois to Panama, and thence to San Francisco on the steamer 
Northerner, arriving in August. He then went to Sonoma, Sonoma county, and from 
there proceeded on foot to Mendocino City, arriving early in September of that 
year. He came in company with his older brother, Joseph, and they joined their 
eldest brother, George, in the occupation of getting out piles. George had begun 
operations at that business on the Big river in connection with Mr. Scharf. They 
were badly provided with the necessary appliances for work of that kind, and 
when the rains of 1852 came their piles were washed out to sea; and a short time 
afterwards the whole outfit was washed away, and they were compelled to leave 
the place.
 
SOURCE: History of Mendocino County, California - San Francisco, Cal. Alley, 
Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1880 Pp. 541