Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

CARL KIMERER

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

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

For the past fifteen years Carl Kimerer has been successfully engaged in the 
orchard business in Sutter County, where he has an orchard property consisting 
of twenty-five acres which he developed to cling peaches, now in full bearing.  
He was born in Sutter County, Cal., June 19, 1873, a son of Martin and Susan 
(Snyder) Kimerer, both natives of Ohio.  Martin Kimerer was born in Holmes 
County, Ohio, January 19, 1830, and spent his boyhood on the farm of his father 
until his parents died.  He was left an orphan at nine years of age, when he was 
thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood.  After serving an apprenticeship 
covering a period of five years in a tailor�s shop, he began working at his 
trade in Loudonville, Ohio.  About two months after locating there, in 1851, a 
train was made up to come to California, and Mr. Kimerer was one of those who 
formed the party.  He drove a team of horses to Cincinnati, and then took boat 
to St. Joseph, Mo., from which place he drove an ox team across the plains, 
having purchased an eighth interest in one of the ox teams of the train.  Joseph 
Smith, a Methodist class-leader and preacher, was captain of the train.  At one 
time a prayer-meeting was being held, on the Platte River, while en route, and a 
wolf came into camp and broke up the meeting.  Reaching this State, Mr. Kimerer 
came to Goose, Lake County, with the old captain; but after remaining there a 
short time he went to Marysville.  There he sold his outfit, and then went to 
Parks Bar, on Yuba River, traveling the distance on foot.  Here he contracted 
malaria and was ill for some time.  As soon as he could work, he began 
prospecting for gold, a business which he followed successfully for five years, 
sometimes taking out as much as $100 per day.  In 1855 he came down to Black�s 
Station, Yolo County, where he took up government land and engaged in farming; 
but seed was high, and two seasons� crops failed.  This cost him heavy financial 
losses, and as a result he left that locality and settled in Sutter County, 
which was at that time a wilderness.  In 1864, he returned via Panama to his old 
home in Ohio, and after his marriage to Caroline Snyder, a native of Holmes 
County, [in] that State, brought his wife to his western home.  Two children 
were born to them, Daniel S. and Wilson, the latter now deceased.  After the 
death of his first wife, Mr. Kimerer was married to Susan Snyder, who was a 
cousin of his first wife, and also a native of Holmes County.  Five children 
blessed this union: Lincoln, Carl, Alburtus, Dora, and Lillie.  For eighteen 
years from its establishment in 1886, Mr. Kimerer served as postmaster at 
Cranmore post-office.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 
politics was a Republican.  He passed away in 1909.
Carl Kimerer received a good education in the public school at Cranmore, and 
assisted his father with the ranch work on the home place until he began 
stock-raising on his own account in 1906.  That year he purchased land in the 
Barry district of the county, which he developed into a vineyard of Thompson 
Seedless grapes.  About 1908 he sold his interest in the Sutter Basin property 
and devoted his entire time to the development of his home ranch, six miles 
southwest of Yuba City.  He is a member of Barry Center, of the Sutter County 
Farm Bureau.
Mr. Kimerer�s marriage united him with Miss Nettie Poffenberger, a daughter of 
Hezekiah and Mary (Carroll) Poffenberger, natives of Maryland and California, 
respectively, whose life history will be found on another page of this volume.  
Eight children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kimerer: Luella, Henry, 
Glenn, Dallas, Susan, Edward, Ruby, and Raymond.
During the nineties, Mr. Kimerer spent several years in the mines in Idaho.  In 
1897 he enlisted in the United States National Guards of Idaho and was put on 
patrol duty at the mines in western Idaho.  When the Spanish-American War broke 
out, he volunteered in Battery A, Hart�s Brigade, Light Artillery, at 
Sacramento, in 1898, for service in the war, serving till the close of 
hostilities, and later receiving his discharge.  In 1899 he returned to the 
mines, where he experienced a cave-in at the Bunker Hill Sullivan mine, in which 
three miners lost their lives.  Mr. Kimerer was so severely injured that it 
required several months for his convalescence.  He then returned to Sutter 
County, where he has since made his home.  Fraternally, he is a member of 
Enterprise Lodge No. 70, F. & A.M., Yuba City, and in politics he is a 
Republican.  For one term he served as trustee of the Barry school district.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 639