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


RIENHOLD H. G. KAEHLER. Many of the thrifty and enterprising residents of Merced 
county are of foreign birth and breeding, who have brought from their homes across the sea 
those habits of industry and energetic perseverance that have won them. success in their under- 
takings. Prominent among this number is Rienhold H. G. Kaehler, a well-known and prosperous 
business man of the city of Merced. A son of George Kaehler, he was born, June 9, 1862, in 
Kiel, Prussia, which was likewise his father's birthplace. 

A machinist by trade, George Kaehler was for many years master mechanic of a manufacturing 
establishment in the Fatherland. As a soldier in the Danish army, he was in active service dur- 
ing the Revolution of 1848. Immigrating to this country, he settled in California, and is now 
a resident of Merced. He married Josepha Ferdinand, a native of Silesia, Prussia, and they have 
three children living, namely : George, a wholesale dealer of liquors, in Fresno ; Rienhold H. G., 
the subject of this review; and Max, of Los Banos. 

Endowed with excellent mental ability, Rienhold H. G. Kaehler obtained a good education in 
his native city, and at the age of fourteen years began learning the trade of manufacturing and 
distilling liquors, at which he served an apprenticeship of four years. Shipping then as purser 
on the Chinese cruiser Nankin, he sailed through the Chinese waters, and along the coast of Japan, 
visiting ports of both countries. Coming to San Francisco in 1884, Mr. Kaehler was employed as 
a clerk in that city for awhile, and then went to Seattle, Wash., as manager for the firm of 
Walter Brothers & Co. Returning to San Francisco, he remained there two years. Locating in 
Merced in March, 1888, he established a wholesale liquor business, representing the Rainier beer 
in Merced county for the Seattle Brewing Company, and being agent for the James D. Pepper 
whiskey. Mr. Kaehler has acquired a large property in this locality. He has built several busi- 
ness houses, but has disposed of all excepting a brick store building, 25x95 feet. He likewise 
erected a number of residences as an investment for his money, and of these he has sold all ex- 
cepting the one in which he now lives. Purchasing land in this vicinity, he improved it, set- 
ting out an orchard of twenty acres, and this, likewise, he sold at an advantage. 

Mr. Kaehler married, in San Francisco, Blanche Wallinfels, a native of that city, and 
they have two children, namely : Rienhold and Norman. Fraternally Mr. Kaehler is a member 
of the Druids and of the Foresters. Politically he is a Democrat.