Tulare County Biographies

CLAUDE H. SONDERICKER

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        Claude H. Sondericker, manager of the Bonnie Brae Packing House at 
Merryman, California, was born at Royal, Antelope county, Nebraska, October 1, 
1890. His parents, Henry and Delia (Daly) Sondericker, are both natives of the 
state of New York. His maternal grandfather, Peleg Daly, was a veteran of the 
Civil war, who was with General Sherman on the famous "march to the sea" and 
after the war was a farmer near Greenwood, Illinois.
        While Claude H. Sondericker was still a small child his parents removed 
to Woodstock, Illinois, where he grew up and was graduated from the high school. 
In 1907 the family came to California and located at Uplands, where Henry 
Sondericker followed farming for a number of years. He and his wife are now 
living retired at San Bernardino. Soon after coming to California Claude found 
employment in the orange packing houses in the southern part of the state. 
Foremost among his employers was R. C. Merryman, a pioneer orange grower and 
principal owner of the Bonnie Brae packing business, now a resident of Pasadena.
        In 1909 Mr. Sondericker came to Exeter to work for the Merryman Fruit, 
Land and Lumber Company, which owns the Bonnie Brae packing plant, as well as 
extensive orchards and vineyards in Tulare county. Five years later he was 
promoted to the position of manager, which he still holds. The plant handles 
both oranges and grapes. Besides taking care of the fruit of the owners, the 
company does a commercial business, one house handling grapes and the other 
oranges.
        Mr. Sondericker is a member of the Exeter Chamber of Commerce and the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Lilith Armitage, of Elgin, 
Illinois, and they have two daughters : Dorothy and Elsie. The family resides on 
a ranch belonging to the Merryman Fruit, Land and Lumber Company.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 493