Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding aid of the Johann Edward Knoche Memoirs, 1819 -- 1901
Consult repository
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Johann Edward Knoche Memoirs, 1819 -- 1901
Dates: 1819 - 1901
Collection Size:
1 folder
Repository: The
Society of California Pioneers.
San Francisco, California 94107-1272
Abstract: The memoir of Johann Edward Knoche, an early member of the Society of California Pioneers, describes his trip by ship to San
Francisco in 1849, his early work in the city, and his journey on foot to mine for gold. The remainder of the memoir describes
his life in San Jose as a businessman and farmer.
Physical location: Stored on-site at the Society of California Pioneers
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open by appointment for research.
Property rights reside with The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to reproduce or publish must be
submitted in writing to the Librarian.
Johann Edward Knoche Memoirs, 1819 -- 1901. The Society of California Pioneers.
Biography / Administrative History
Johann E. Knoche, an early member of the Society of California Pioneers, was born March 1, 1819 in Salzderhelden, Germany,
where he studied the trade of a silver and goldsmith for five years. He immigrated to New Orleans in 1846 and departed by
ship for California in the spring of 1849. Traveling around Cape Horn he arrived in San Francisco October 21, 1849. He engaged
in the business of coffee vendor, waiter and later as a watchmaker and jeweler on Kearny Street. Knoche left for the mines
in 1850 and stayed only one year. He then traveled to San Jose where he began general farming until 1870 and returned to
Germany for several years. He then returned to San Jose where he died October 29, 1903.
| 1819/1901 | Johann Edward Knoche Memoirs, 1819 - 1901 |
Scope and Content of Collection
Johann Edward Knoche's Memoirs begin with a brief description of the author's family and their lives in Germany prior to his
emigration. The memoir then continues with the author's arrival in New Orleans in 1846 and details his trip by sea around
Cape Horn to California on the bark Montgomery. He describes his life after arriving in San Francisco and gives many details
about the weather, costs and quality of accommodations, the crush of newly arrived fortune seekers, and the availability and
types of work in which he engaged during 1849. Knoche describes his journey with four fellow German immigrants by foot in
April 1850 to the mines through San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Gilroy and into the San Joaquin Valley. He describes two separate
mining partnerships in the area of Mariposa near Yosemite, neither of which proved successful for Knoche. In 1851, upon returning
to San Francisco, he describes a new partnership he entered into with two other men, one from Alsace and another from Normandy.
Their first business, a shop established in San Jose, provided alcohol to the campaign to elect Fremont to the United States
Senate. Later they purchased a gambling house called the Mariposa. Knoche's partners bought out his share of the business
and his memoirs give details about the dissolution of their relationship. The author then describes the remainder of his
life in San Jose as a farmer in the region. Knoche describes the hardships associated with his early agricultural venture
that was followed by a more successful farming experience. He then mentions that he and his wife returned to Germany, but
ultimately they came back to San Jose where they established a successful farm.
The end of the memoir consists of seven separate recollections: the first gives further details of his business as a coffee
vendor primarily serving the clientele of the gambling houses in that area of San Francisco; the second describes a fight
he witnessed that was orchestrated between a bear and a number of bulls in 1851; the third discusses the pear orchards of
the Santa Clara valley and an incident whereby a squatter took possession of the mission orchards in 1849; the fourth discusses
Knoche's attempt to enter the silk trade in the 1850s in San Jose; the fifth briefly discusses the value of real estate during
pioneers days; the sixth reminiscence is about James Lick and his place in San Jose area history; and the seventh describes
the monetary system during the pioneer days of California.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Pioneers - California
Voyages to the Pacific coast
Mines and Mineral resources - California - Mariposa County
Knoche, Johann Edward, 1819 - 1903
Biographical File
Autobiography Record, Volume 3, pg.67
Archives Record, Volume 2, pg. 294
Obituary Record, Volume 10, pg. 71