San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 883-884
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 4/1/2010
GEORGE J. LUHRSEN
An enterprising and successful business man and rancher whose far-sightedness has been of service to others as well as himself, is George J. Luhrsen, who came to San Joaquin County in 1876, where he has since continuously resided. He was born on February 26, 1864, in San Francisco, Cal., the son of Louis and Bridget Luhrsen. His father, a native of Germany, came to San Francisco in 1856 and was employed in the sugar industry, operated by Claus Spreckels at San Francisco, until 1875, when one year later he removed his family to the San Joaquin Valley where he passed away in 1890. The mother, who was born in Ireland, passed away here in 1892. They were the parents of two children, George J., and Mrs. Fred Holloway, who passed away in 1914.
George J. attended the Lincoln grammar school in San Francisco one year, until he was eleven years old, when he became self supporting; however, he was only eight years old when he earned his first dollar. He became employed on the ranch owned by the late Herman Miller, located near the old town of Ellis; at the age of fourteen he took a man's place on the threshing machine and for many seasons covered the West Side section on a header operated in the wheat harvest. In 1878, the year the village of Ellis was moved to Tracy. Mr. Luhrsen drove a thirty-mule team used in hauling the buildings overland two and one-half miles. In 1882 he entered the employ of D. and M. Lammers near Bethany, San Joaquin County, and for the next thirteen years was a successful and trusted employee.
The marriage of Mr. Luhrsen occurred on February 18, 1894, and united him with Miss Matilda Anne Lammers, the eldest daughter of the venerable pioneers, Deitrich and Dorothea Lammers of this county. They have one child, Esther D., the wife of Virgil F. Poet, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Tracy in 1914; they are the parents of two children, George Franklin and Mabel Dorothea, twins. Mr. Luhrsen owns 320 acres of rich land all under the system of the West Side Irrigation District, of which he is director of division No. 1. For twenty-two consecutive years he has served as a trustee of the Lammersville district school; and with his usual progressive spirit, helped in establishing the West Side Union high school, and he is a member of the board of trustees, having served as such since it started. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, and as a member of the county central committee has had the privilege of doing some excellent work in the choice of candidates. On February 28, 1885, Mr. Luhrsen became a member of the Sumner Lodge of Odd Fellows and for four different terms has held the office of noble grand; in 1896 served as delegate to the Grand Lodge Encampment held in San Francisco; he is past district deputy of the lodge, coming from district No. 7, and was the first man to hold that office; he is a charter member of Encampment No. 49; a member of the Samarian Rebekah Lodge, Canton Ridgely; a past president of the Tracy Parlor, N.S.G.W.; also a Master Mason of Mt. Osso Lodge No. 460, of Tracy.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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