California Biographies
Mendocino and Lake Counties, California
 
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 Mendocino and Lake Counties, California
With Biographical Sketches
History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry
Illustrated, Complete In One Volume
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914


JOHN J. STAHELI. � A resident of Lake county for nine years only, 
since 1905, John J. Staheli is a comparative newcomer, but his energetic dis- 
position has carried him so far forward during that period that he has become 
known through his achievements for the county as well as for himself. Be- 
sides taking advantage of the magnificent possibilities offered in the cultivation 
of the land, he has gone a step beyond, carrying on the preparation of food 
stuffs for the market at the source of supply, and keeping the income from the 
operations involved in the locality, to enrich its resources further. Soon after 
his arrival here Mr. Staheli evolved the idea of drying fruits for the market 
in the vicinity where they were produced, a proceeding which operates for 
good in both directions, the farmer being sure of a market for his crops inde- 
pendent of uncertain transportation, and the business man being enabled to 
rely upon having first-class products accessible at the proper time. To say 
that Mr. Staheli carries a payroll of $4000 monthly during the season, and 
that last year he did a business amounting to $75,000, conveys some idea of the 
wealth he is helping to keep within the county. The headway he has made 
since entering this line is the more remarkable since he had no previous expe- 
rience in agricultural work. However, his familiarity with the grocery trade 
had brought him into touch with market conditions and standards of quality 
which have proved as valuable as the numerous other phases of the business 
he has since mastered. 

Mr. Staheli is a native of St. Gall, Switzerland, and his father, John 
Staheli, was engaged in the typical business of the place, as a manufacturer of 
embroideries at St. Gall, living and dying in Switzerland. He attained the 
age of sixty-four years. The mother, whose maiden name was Bertha Braendli, 
is now seventy-five years old, and in the enjoyment of fine health. She 
makes her home with her son John in Lake county. Of her four children 
three grew to maturity: John J.; Emil, a farmer, living at Corning, Cal. ; and 
Ernest, who died in Dubuque, Iowa. The latter was married and had five 
children. 

John J. Staheli spent the earlier years of his business career in handling 
embroideries and laces. Born October 25, 1863, he lived in Switzerland until 
eighteen years old, meanwhile serving an apprenticeship in a wholesale em- 
broidery house at St. Gall. Later he went to Paris, France, and for twelve 
years continued in the same line, in the employ of American importers of 
laces and embroideries, for six years with Goldenburg Brothers & Company, 
the following six years with Van Burger & Company (both of New York 
City), in their buying offices in Paris. Soon after his marriage he came to 
America and settled in Dubuque, Iowa, where his two brothers were engaged 
m the retail grocery business. Buying out one of the brothers, he carried on 
the store in partnership with the other for twelve years. At the end of that 
lime they sold their interests in Dubuque and came to Corning. Cal., John 
Staheli living there for six months. Thence, in 1905, he came to Kelseyville, 
Lake county, and invested in the one hundred and fifty acres just south of 
that town which he has since cultivated. Over a third of his land is set out 
in fruit, fifteen acres in Bartlett pears, twenty acres in French prunes and 
twenty acres in grapes. Zinfandels. He has thirty acres in grain. In 1908 
he commenced the drying of fruits, in which he has become so extensively 
interested that he not only uses all his own crops but those of a number of 
other fruit growers in the locality. Seventy-five tons of pears and probably 
fifty tons of prunes constitute his average yearly production of dried fruits, 
which he disposes of to the wholesale grocery trade. During the season 
he also packs and ships fresh pears and peaches, which go to the eastern mar- 
kets in carload lots. Three years ago, when he did a business which ran up 
to $60,000, he bought practically all the pears raised in the county, besides 
fifty tons of prunes, and he employed nearly one hundred people, many of 
them women, his payroll reaching $4000 monthly. In addition to this were 
his expenses for freight and teaming. His equipment for evaporating fruit, 
principally pears, is up-to-date and sanitary in every particular. He has a 
winery to take care of the abundance of grapes he raises. All of this has 
meant expenditure as well as profit for Mr. Staheli. His farm has been well 
improved and conducted in the most systematic manner, and the expense 
of developing this property, with orchards, vineyards, winery and evaporating 
plant, has averaged $3000 a year. Mr. Staheli's remarkable judgment and no 
less remarkable industry are happily combined with executive and financial 
ability which enables him to realize on every possibility. His old-world train- 
ing and experience have proved a solid foundation for the daring and enter- 
prise characteristic of his adopted country which he seems to have assimi- 
lated so readily, and his fellow citizens in Lake county are willing to concede 
that few have done as much to carry its reputation out into the business world. 
Personally he is respected and popular, and has entered heartily into the life 
of the community where he has established his home. For eight years he has 
served as clerk of the Rincon school district, and he is a member of the Demo- 
cratic county central committee. He is one of the directors of the Lake County 
Telephone Company. 

While engaged at Paris, France, Mr. Staheli returned to Switzerland to 
marry a girl from his old home, Amelia Baumann, of Zug. They have had 
four children : Bertha, a graduate of the San Jose State normal school, class 
of 1914, she completing the course in the Union high school at Lakeport and 
is now teaching in the home district; Marie graduated from the Union high 
school at Lakeport. class of 1914; John and Matilda complete the family.