Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


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



 
CHARLES W. MERZ
 
What science has done, or is every day doing in one way or another, to aid the 
California automobilist, is well illustrated in the busy life and 
accomplishments of Charles W. Merz, the proficient and very popular �tire 
doctor� of 507� Fifth Street, Marysville.  He is a native son, born in Browns 
Valley, Yuba County, on February 2, 1898.  Grandfather Merz was a pioneer of San 
Francisco, where he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business.  The father, 
George Merz, was a native of California, and married Miss Minnie Walker, a 
native daughter of the State, also of an old pioneer family.
Coming of old pioneer stock, and having inherited native impulses making for 
greater individual independence and initiative, Charles Merz began to shift for 
himself and make his own way at an early age.  He was educated in the schools of 
San Francisco and Oakland and the Marysville High School.  As a boy he sold 
papers on the streets of San Francisco and Oakland, finally returning to 
Marysville in 1912.  For a while, he attended school by day and worked in the 
Marysville Theater in the evenings; and seven years ago he started to work in 
the automobile industry, securing employment with Dunning Bros.  Later, he 
joined the Goodyear Company at Sacramento.  Again coming to Marysville, he 
opened a business for himself, and has since gone ahead rapidly.  He will fix an 
old tire, or sell a new one; does his work well, and is happy in the patronage 
of a large number of satisfied customers.  He is agent for the India Cord Tires, 
and also represents the Kelly Kat or Kelly solid rubber tires, and the Firestone 
solid tires.  His business having grown to such proportions that he found it 
necessary to enlarge his quarters, he is now maintaining a place for pressing 
solid tires on trucks.  This place is located at 717 E Street, and is completely 
equipped with the necessary machinery and appliances, including a hydraulic 
press for pressing on truck tires.
Mr. Merz also owns twenty acres devoted to the growing of peaches and prunes at 
Live Oak, in the Sunset Colony in Sutter County; and between his regular tire 
business and his horticulture ventures, he is one of the busiest of men 
hereabouts.  At the same time he is a live wire in matters affecting public 
interests, and one of the most enthusiastic and loyal of boosters for the 
community at large.
When Mr. Merz married, at San Francisco, on November 15, 1920, he took for his 
bride Miss Thelma Fortna, a native of Sutter, an accomplished lady who also has 
many friends.  Mr. Merz is president of the Marysville Achaean Club, and a 
director of the Lions Club; and he belongs to Marysville Lodge, No. 873 
B.P.O.E., and to Corinthian Lodge, No. 9, F. & A.M.  He also belongs to the Phi 
Delta Kappa Fraternity in Marysville.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 837