BIO- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: ROHRER, SAUNDERS, MILLER, ESHLEMAN, BARR, GROFF, BRACKBILL,
traces his ancestors back to 1696, when his grandmother's father, John Rohrer, of the Bachman family, was born in Alsace, now a part of Germany. John Rohrer came to America when quite young, and in 1732 married Maria Saunders, who was born in Manheim, Germany, February 29, 1716. She died May 11, 1769, and her husband, November 28, 1771. The Rohrer
family were Huguenots. His great-grandfather, John Bachman, married Anna Miller, June 15, 1744. He died October 3, 1757. His grand-father, John Bachman, was born March 20, 1746, at Big Spring, now part of Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was married April 9, 1771, to Maria Rohrer, who was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1749. His father, Jacob Bachman, was born in what is now Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1782, and died May 10, 1849. His great-grandfather, on his mother's side, Jacob Eshleman, was born in Switzerland, July 4, 1710. He sailed from Rotterdam in the ship Mortonhouse, James Coultas captain, and arrived in Philadelphia August, 1729. He married Barbara Barr, who was born February 22, 1714. On May 4, 1748, he bought a large tract of land on Pequea
Creek, now a part of Paradise Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He Died December 15, 1758. His grandfather, Jacob Eshleman, was born in Pennsylvania November 7, 1742, and married Barbara Groff January 15, 1767. Barbara
Groff was born March 5, 1747. Her father, Jacob Groff, was born April 2, 1699. Her mother's maiden name was Brackbill. Mr. Bachman's mother, Barbara Eshleman, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1789. Her
marriage to Jacob Bachman took place March 31, 1814, and her death occurred October 3, 1867.
Benjamin Franklin Bachman was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1829. He was reared on his father's farm, and in his younger days attended the public schools of his neighborhood, and afterward attended the
Strasburg Academy at Strasburg, Pennsylvania, Rev. David McCarter Principal. After the discovery of gold in California, he sailed from New York, November 26, 1849, in the brig Emma Prescott, around Cape Horn, and arrived in Monterey,
California, May 1, 1850. He then fell in with a party of young men, who hired mules and a guide and started for the mines in Mariposa, where he lived for thirty years. In February, 1851, he joined the Mariposa Battalion of Mounted Volunteers, and served against the Indians until the following July. The world-renowned Yo Semite Valley was discovered in March, 1851, by a portion of this battalion on one of their expeditions, Mr. Bachman being one of the party. He served as postmaster of Mariposa from 1862 to 1865. For three years he worked in the mines, and afterward followed trading and other pursuits. During the last ten years of his residence there he was engaged in the cattle
business. In 1880 he moved to Santa Clara County and purchased fifty acres of land in and adjoining the town of Los Gatos, which at that time was a village of a dozen houses. He has thirty-two acres of land planted to the leading
varieties of fruits grown in this section of the country. He has 500 French prunes, 500 peaches, 400 apricots, and 700 almonds, together with a small number of cherries, pears, and plums. Mr. Bachman has never married.
SOURCE: Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or
Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.-
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888. page 321-322
transcribed by Roena Wilson