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


JOHN HENRY ELFERS. In the annals of Stanislaus county no more worthy name is found 
than that of John Henry Elfers, who, as owner of a highly-improved ranch lying one mile south 
of Crows Landing, is an able and important factor in developing and advancing the agricul- 
tural interests of this section of the state. A native Californian, he was born July 24, 1864, 
in Camptonville, of thrifty German ancestry, being a son of Archibald Diederich Elfers. 

Archibald Diederich Elfers was born and educated in Hanover, Germany. When a young man 
he left the Fatherland, resolving to make his fortune in a newer country. Sailing around Cape 
Horn in 1849, ne came to the gold fields of California, and for nearly twenty years thereafter 
was employed in mining, being at first located in Downieville, and subsequently in Campton- 
ville. In 1864 he removed to San Francisco, where he resided several years. Locating on the 
west side of the San Joaquin valley in 1869, he engaged in farming and stock-raising, buying 
at first a ranch of three hundred and twenty acres. He afterward bought a large tract of 
land near Crows Landing, Stanislaus county, and made other additions by purchase until he 
had fifteen hundred acres of land in his possession. Continuing in his chosen occupation, he 
was successfully employed in agricultural pursuits until 1900, when he turned the management 
of his large ranch over to his son Louis, and removed to Alameda, where he is now living re- 
tired from the activities of business, being a hale and hearty man of more than fourscore years. 
Of his union with Catharine Elfers, a native of Hanover, Germany, eight children grew to years 
of maturity, and five are living, John Henry, the special subject of this sketch, being the second son. 

Obtaining a practical knowledge of the elementary branches of learning in the public schools, 
John Henry Elfers was subsequently thoroughly drilled in the art and science of agriculture by 
his father, with whom he lived and worked until after attaining his majority. Coming to Stanis- 
laus county in 1889, he soon began farming on his own account, and is now carrying on an ex- 
tensive and profitable business as a general farmer and stock-raiser. He has fifty acres of land 
devoted to alfalfa and three wheat-fields, one containing one hundred and twenty acres, another 
containing two hundred and fifty acres, while the third contains three hundred and twenty 
acres. Mr. Elfers rents eight hundred acres of land from his father, while, in company with 
his brother Charles, he rents seventeen hundred acres, and in addition to these large tracts he 
has recently, in partnership with his brother and others, purchased two thousand and four hun- 
dred acres of the Jones tract. By the exercise of his native industry and his able business 
capacity, he is meeting with unquestioned success in his undertakings ; he has firmly estab- 
lished himself in the confidence of his friends and fellow-citizens, and has won for himself a good 
record as an honest man and a valuable member of the community. 

In Stanislaus county, near Newman, Mr. Elfers married Dorothy Kricke, a native of Germany, 
and they are the parents of two children, Charles and Ruth. Taking an intelligent interest 
in public affairs, Mr. Elfers is actively identified with the Democratic party, the principles of 
which he at all times supports.