Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


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



 
HENRY W. LUCKENSMEYER
Intimately associated with the development of the Golden State, and numbered 
among the leading citizens of Yuba County, is Henry W. Luckensmeyer.  He was 
born eighteen miles out of Madison, in Dane County, Wis., December 27, 1857, a 
son of Herman and Louise (Siekmeyer) Luckensmeyer, natives of Minden and 
Westphalia, Germany, respectively. Herman Luckensmeyer, who was a farmer, 
emigrated to the United States in 1842, and settled in Wisconsin.  He passed 
away when he was eighty-two years old; Mrs. Luckensmeyer died at the age of 
seventy-eight years.  These worthy emigrants were the parents of ten children: 
Henry, deceased; William, in the State of Washington; Elizabeth, deceased; 
Minehart, at Los Angeles; Herman, at Martinez; Henry W., the subject of this 
sketch; Louise, Mrs. Hettinger, of Beaver Creek, Minn.; Minnie and Lydia, 
deceased; and Carry, Mrs. Smith, of San Francisco.
Henry W. Luckensmeyer removed with his parents to Rock County, Minn., in 1878.  
His preliminary education was obtained in the public schools in Wisconsin and 
Minnesota, after which he entered Northwestern University, at Naperville, Ill., 
where he was graduated in 1891 from the theological course; and the same year he 
was ordained a minister in the Iowa Conference of the Evangelical Church.  Rev. 
Luckensmeyer�s first charge was at Defiance, Iowa, where he labored for three 
years.  Then for a period of four years he was at Dunkerton, after which he 
spent two years at Nobles, Cass County, Iowa.  His next appointment was at Alta 
Vista, Iowa, where his labors held him three years; and then, after a season at 
Otter Creek, he came to California in 1904 as pastor of the Evangelical Church 
at Napa, where he preached for two years.  After serving another pastorate of 
four years, in Fresno, he gave up the ministry, and has since devoted his 
energies to horticulture.  He remained in Sacramento for one year, and in 1911 
came to Yuba County and purchased thirty acres of the Oakley tract, one mile 
west of Wheatland.  This open piece of land he has developed into a productive 
orchard, devoted to ten acres of walnuts, twelve acres of peaches, and eight 
acres of young peach trees.  He installed a four-inch pump on this ranch, and is 
putting in a deep-well turbine pump.
On June 30, 1891, in Rock County, Minn., Mr. Luckensmeyer was united in marriage 
with Miss Lena M. Nuffer, a native of New York State, born near Watertown.  Her 
parents, Fred and Margaret (Titus) Nuffer, were natives of Wurttemberg, Germany, 
and emigrated to Watertown, N.Y., where Mr. Nuffer followed his trade as a 
carpenter until he brought his family to Cedar Falls, Iowa.  Six years later 
they removed to Rock County, Minn., and there he followed farming.  This worthy 
couple had ten children: Martha, Lena M. (Mrs. Luckensmeyer), George, Fred, 
Anna, Margaret, Catherine, Alfred, Helen, and Mary.  During the years of Mr. 
Luckensmeyer�s ministry, Mrs. Luckensmeyer ably assisted her husband in his 
ministerial duties; and her Christian spirit and faithful devotion made her much 
loved by all with whom she came in contact.  Mr. and Mrs. Luckensmeyer are the 
parents of two sons: Franklin and Grant.  Both enlisted in the United States 
Army in the late World War; Franklin served in the hospital department at San 
Francisco, and Grant served as a lieutenant in the 40th Division of the American 
Expeditionary Force in France.  Franklin Luckensmeyer married Miss Bessie Helm, 
a native of Portland, Ore.; and they are residing in Oakland, Cal.  Grant 
Luckensmeyer graduated from the University of California, from the College of 
Commerce, in May, 1923, and is now teaching in Bakersfield.  In national 
politics, Mr. Luckensmeyer is a Republican.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
 
p 653