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 577.

G. E. Kaltmeyer [Editor inserted: Gottholdt E. Kaltmeyer]

G. E. Kaltmeyer is one of the thrifty and enterprising self-made men of Ventura County. He was born in Germany, of well-to-do German parents in 1842, and received his education in his native country. A spirit of independence and a desire to do for himself prompted him to start for the United States, here to earn a living and ultimately to establish a home for himself. He came in 1856, and settled at St. Louis, Missouri, where he learned the trade of a confectioner and cook, and was engaged in that business there for ten years; he then went to Tennessee, where he opened a restaurant. From there he went to the Paris World's Fair, and also visited his parents, returning to America three months later. At this time he engaged in the cotton and wool business, and met with reverses, losing all he had made. On his way to New York his ship was caught in a severe storm, and he came so near losing his life that the other things did not seem of much importance.

In 1861 Mr. Kaltmeyer enlisted in a Missouri volunteer regiment, and served three months, during that time participating the battle of Springfield, Missouri. Some time after being mustered out of service, he again located in St. Louis, Missouri, and was engaged in business there until 1866. While in that city, in 1863, he married Miss Josephine Young, a native of Germany. To them were born two lovely children. During the fearful cholera epidemic in St. Louis, they were all taken with the disease, and both wife and children died, he along of the little family being left. At this time he was broken in spirit and also met with financial reverses. With what money he had left he came to California in 1868, via Panama. In San Francisco he worked at his trade, and in the fall he went to Napa County, where he heard there was choice government land in Southern California, and that it was a fine country. He came to Ventura County in December, 1869, and settled on 160 acres of land, which, after a while, he learned was not Government land. He bought eighty acres of it at $16.50 per acre; four years later he bought the other eighty; and still two years later he purchased sixty-seven acres more that adjoined it. Nearly all this time he was unmarried and did his own cooking. After remaining single nearly ten years, he wedded Miss Pauline Ruoff, a native of Germany. This union has been blessed with five children: the first, a son, died; the other children are Matilda, Emelia, Bertha and Hulda, all born in Ventura County.

Mr. Kaltmeyer has greatly improved and beautified his ranch; the house, a very comfortable and attractive one, he built in 1883; and the whole property speaks in unmistakable terms of the taste, refinement and enterprise of the owner. After being broken up twice, he has, by the power of his will and close application to business, become independent and affluent. Notwithstanding his various experiences, he still looks young, and, no doubt, has before him a long and successful career. He was inexperienced in ranch life when he came to his present location, and many were the difficulties he encountered, but he overcame them all, and now ranks among the leading ranchers of his district. Politically, he is a Republican.

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