California Genealogy and History Archives
Biographies
of
Sacramento County
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RICHARD
TIMM It
took Richard Timm, the present proprietor of the California Planing
Mill, situated at the corner of Second and Q streets, Sacramento, years
to finish his wanderings and settle down to business. But he did it and
he is none the worse for wear. He was born in Altona, Holstein, Germany,
January 3, 1864, one of the sons of the household of William and Matilda
Timm, prominent citizens of that sturdy old German state. Children are
schooled in Germany and schooled hard, and the boy Richard had his work
in the public schools and afterwards in the gymnasium laid out for him
till he was eighteen years old. Then be took a medical course at the
University at Kiel and he was ready for the New World and its
adventures. Naturally he went as far west as he could on the American
conti- nent, and in the California mines around Placer county he dug and
shoveled and washed for almost two years. His next appearance was in Los
Angeles, where he filled an engagement as bookkeeper for Helman, Haas
& Co., wholesale grocers. Here he remained for three years, and
another year, spent in Mexico as a correspondent in an office, made four
years spent in the south before he returned to the upper portion of the
state. Once
more in Placer county, near Lincoln, Mr. Timm was a rancher,
industriously plowing and growing, when the Klondike discoveries in the
north claimed his attention, and Mr. Timm figuratively left his
plowshare in the mold and stampeded for Alaska. Over the steep, icy
Chilcoot he climbed and for a year he dug and froze for the dull yellow
nuggets. In May, 1898, he was back in California. Volunteering for the
Spanish war, he served in the regular army, being assigned to Battery A
of the Third U. S. Artillery. In 1899 he was mustered out, there being
no prospect of any further skirmishes with Spain, and the discharged
soldier returned to Lincoln, Placer county. For two years he was again
on the old ranch, hard at work but ambitious to enter larger interests.
In 1901 he worked at the planing mill of Braunton & Robertson in
Sacramento, remaining at this place for seven years; in fact, he stuck
to it till he became the owner of the establishment. Then he changed its
title to the California Planing Mill. His travels are over, and with the
same industry and care for the details of business that marked his work
as an employe of the mill, he is working as a proprietor and manager,
and meeting success. An event which while he labored so steadily in the
mill during his apprenticeship was his marriage, which auspicious event
took place June 8, 1905, in Oakland, and the other party to the compact
was Miss Caroline Pulcifer. They have one daughter, Ernestine, aged five
years, who makes glad their capital city home. Mr. Timm takes great interest in public affairs around him and makes his influence felt for the right. He is a Republican of the Insurgent type, believing first in the people and the politicians afterwards, if necessary to believe in them at all. He is a member of the Humane Society, of the Home Products League, the Retail Merchants Association, and is also a Spanish-American War Veteran. |
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Source: Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011 |