Ventura County Republican Project: History and Genealogy

Ventura County Republican Project: History and Genealogy

"A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura, California" (1891), page 292.

A. W. Blumberg

A. W. Blumberg is the proprietor and manager of the Ojai Hot Springs, in the Matilija Canon, located fifteen miles from Ventura and five miles from Nordhoff. Here Mr. Blumberg has what might be called a village for the sick, the halt, and the invalid of every description, and here are located three springs. The Hot Sulphur Spring is 104° and is impregnated with sulphate of soda, magnesia and other healing properties, and is the safest and most healing to be found. Every one who has tried its efficiency speaks in the most emphatic manner of the benefits derived. Another fine spring is called the Fountain of Life, which is tonic in its effect. The third spring Mr. Blumberg calls the Mother Eve spring. It is alternative and cathartic in its effect. It is one of the unexplained mysteries of nature how these delightful health-giving fountains should flow from our beneficent mother earth in the same locality. The canon in which the little health town is located has a beautiful, clear mountain stream, the San Buenaventura River, running through it, filled with a great many shy little trout, that all can fish for but only the expert can catch. This romantic spot is hemmed in by mountains 1,000 feet high on either side, and those who enjoy wild and rugged scenery can here find a place of delight. It is about nine hundred feet above the sea, and is completely shut in from the breezes of the great Pacific, fifteen miles away. Mr. Blumberg has eighty acres of land, in the center of which he has built the Matilija House, which is designed with kitchen, dining-room, parlor and office, near which are five or six cottages in which guests may have the quiet of home. There are also some tents, the bath-house, a store and post office, all built and conducted by Mr. Blumberg, who is also the Postmaster. He is an enterprising business man, well informed, pleasing in his manner, and takes great pains to look after the comfort of his guests. Consequently, his resort is fast becoming a popular one.

The subject of this sketch was born in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York, July 9, 1836, the son of Christopher Blumberg. His grandfather, George Blumberg, came from Germany, was detained in the British army, and afterward became a settler of Delaware County, New York. Mr. Blumberg's mother, nee Jane Mackey, was a native of New York. Her father, Thomas Mackey, was also born in the same State. They were of Scotch ancestry. Mr. Blumberg received his education in New York, and afterward went to Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1872 he came to California, and after residing in Los Angeles one or two years came to Ventura County, where he has since remained. He built the first hotel in Nordhoff, for which he received the twenty acres of land on which it stands. He arrived in Nordhoff January 12, 1874, and at that time the town was in the embryo state. Mr. Blumberg named the hotel which he built The Nordhoff, but it has since been called the Ojai House. For three years he was its proprietor and conducted it successfully. The land for the town site was bought for $4.25 per acre, and sixteen years later Mr. Blumberg sold one-fourth of an acre for $5,000. He still has considerable real-estate interests in the town. He started the Hot Springs enterprise January 20, 1887.

Mr. Blumberg was married in 1859, to Miss Catherine E. Van Curen, a native of New York, daughter of Calvin Van Curen, also a native of New York. Their union has been blest with five children, four of whom are living, viz.: Ines O., Wheeler C., Birdsel W. and Irene M. The last named was the first child born in Nordhoff. Mr. Blumberg is a Republican and was elected Justice of the Peace by his party. He is a Master Mason.

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Descendants of Abram W. Blumberg

1 Abram W. Blumberg b: 09 Jul 1836 in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York d: in Ventura County, California
.. +Catherine E. Van Curen b: 1843 in New York d: in Ventura County, California
........ 2 Inez O. Blumberg b: 1862 in Iowa
............ +Shephard
........ 2 Wheeler C. Blumberg b: Nov 1863 in Iowa
............ +Rose A. b: Oct 1864 in California
................... 3 Clarence Blumberg b: Feb 1882 in Ventura County, California
................... 3 Etta Blumberg b: Jan 1887 in Ventura County, California
................... 3 Carl Blumberg b: Apr 1897 in Ventura County, California
........ 2 Bertsell W. Blumberg b: 1872 in Iowa
........ 2 Irene M. Blumberg b: 1875 in Ventura County, California


Ventura County Republican Project: History and Rootsweb Genealogy posted by Jon Miller and Tony Larson.