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


HENRY KLEHN. Numbered among the more prominent and progressive agriculturists of 
Stanislaus county and one of the oldest and best posted settlers is Henry Klehn, who owns 
and occupies a large and well-improved ranch, lying about one mile north of Newman. As a 
general farmer and stock-raiser he has fine success, the productions of his land bring him in 
handsome profits. A self-made man in every sense implied by the term, he is everywhere re- 
spected, and his honesty and straightforward business methods have gained for him the con- 
fidence of the community in which he resides. He was born August 20, 1844, m Holstein, Ger- 
many, where his parents. Hans and Margaret (Meinke) Klehn, spent their entire lives. 

The youngest son, and the sixth child, in a family consisting of four daughters and three 
sons, Henry Klehn received a practical education in the elementary schools of the Fatherland. 
A lover of the sea from his boyhood, he shipped as a cabin-boy on a Danish vessel when a mere 
lad, and subsequently as a sailor visited all the important ports of the world, including among 
others the following named : Hammerfest, London, Antwerp, Riga, Copenhagen, Hayti, Lagos, 
Mozambique, Zanzibar, St. Helena, Bahia, Valparaiso, Peru, Singapore, Siam, Hong Kong, 
Bankok, Canton. Chefu, Tien-Tsin, Manila and San Francisco. In the latter city, in 1866, Mr. 
Klehn took French leave of the vessel, and for a year was employed in coasting along the bay 
and the river. Turning his attention then to agricultural pursuits, he worked first as a farm 
laborer in Napa valley, and afterward on Orestimba creek, in the San Joaquin valley. In 1872, 
forming a partnership with Morris and Crow and Ed. Randall, his former employer, he em- 
barked in farming on his own account, continuing for seven years. The partnership being dis- 
solved in 1879, Mr. Klehn located a mile north of Newman, where he bought his present ranch 
of six hundred and forty acres, which he has farmed with undisputed success, carrying on gen- 
eral farming, stock-raising and dairying on a large scale. His own land not being sufficient 
for his operations, he rented a thousand acres of land, which he operated in addition to his own. 
Active and enterprising, he kept busily employed at all times, during the harvesting season running 
a threshing machine for over twenty years. He sold his ranch September 1, 1904. 

Mr. Klehn married Anna Kricke, a native of Germany, and a lady of culture and refinement ; 
they are the parents of four children, namely : Walter H., Helena D., Bertha E. and Charles F. 
Of these Bertha E. married the Rev. August Hansen', a minister of the German Lutheran 
Church. Religiously Mr. Klehn is a member of the German Lutheran Church, and politically he 
is actively identified with the Democratic party. Fraternally he belongs to Newman Lodge, F. & 
A. M., in which he has passed all the chairs ; is a member of the Stockton Commandery, K. T. : 
is a member and past officer of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Knights of 
Honor. Mrs. Klehn is a member of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, and a member of 
the Eastern Star.