California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


GEORGE BERTCH. A successful rancher and stockman of Tulare county. George Bertch 
is located upon his property of seven hundred and fifty acres nine miles west of Tulare, which has 
been the scene of his labors since the fall of 1882. He was born in Baden, Germany, in 
Lichtenau, December 11, 1841. His parents, George and Saloma (Faulhauver) Bertch, were 
both natives of the same place. His father, who was a farmer, brought his family to America in 
1853, locating near Buffalo, Erie county, N. Y., making that place his home for many years, 
eventually coming to California, where he is now spending his last days at the age of ninety years. 
The mother was burned to death in 1895. by an explosion of a coal oil stove. 

Of a family of ten sons and two daughters, of whom five sons are living, George Bertch is the 
oldest. Until he was twelve years old his home remained in Germany, where he attended the 
public schools. The trip to America was made upon the sailing vessel Havre, and occupied forty 
days. After the permanent location of the family in Erie county, N. Y., George attended the public 
schools for a time, but with the spirit of thrift characteristic of his race he early sought and 
found employment on neighboring farms, giving to his father all that he made up to the time of 
his twenty-first birthday. In 1863 he came to California by the Nicaragua route, and after a 
long and tedious voyage landed in San Francisco June 11, 1863. He easily found employ- 
ment on farms in Napa county, where he remained for six years, and then located in Ven- 
tura county, where he purchased one hundred acres and engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising until 1873. In the last named year he went to Stanislaus county and followed farming 
near Grayson, being principally interested in grain raising. After about nine years in that 
locality he located on Robert's Island, San Joaquin county, and farmed for two years. In 
the fall of 1882 he came to Tulare county and with the results of his years of energy and thrift 
purchased a ranch of seven hundred and fifty acres nine miles west of Tulare. This property 
was without any improvement at that time. He at once bored an artesian well four hundred and 
seventy-five feet deep, and as soon as it produced sufficient for irrigation began farming. He put 
in alfalfa and ever since has engaged in stockraising. He has met with a most gratifying suc- 
cess, improved his farm, by putting up modern buildings, irrigating by ditch and well, and has 
brought his property to rank with the most valuable in this section. Two hundred and fifty acres 
of his extensive ranch are devoted to alfalfa, while his attention is given to the raising of 
stock and the management of a dairy enterprise. In Stockton Mr. Bertch married Caroline C. 
Minges, a native of that city, whose father, John Minges, came to California as a pioneer and be- 
came an extensive farmer in San Joaquin county. They are the parents of four children : Laura 
Pearl Georgia, Carroll Minges, Henry Harrison, and George Leslie, all attending school in Tulare. 
Mrs. Bertch also owns valuable property, having a ranch of thirty-two acres one mile and a half 
west of Tulare, which they make their home, as in so doing they are enabled to give their children 
better school privileges ; she also owns a ranch of two hundred and twenty acres in San Joaquin 
county, as well as property in Tulare. During Mr. Bertch's residence in Tulare of eleven years 
he served as alderman for four years, being a stanch Republican in his political convictions as 
well as a citizen whose strongest desire is to advance the general welfare of the community. Ik- 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and fraternally is prominent in the Odd Fellows 
lodge, being past grand of the lodge in Tulare, past chief patriarch of the encampment, and both 
himself and wife associated with the Rebekahs and they are also identified with the Fraternal 
Aid.