CHRISTOPHER CONRAD STIERLIN
Bio- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES; LAUX, JANSEN,
was born in Switzerland, March 3, 1826. He was reared there
till the age of sixteen years, when he came to the United States, landing in New
Orleans July 5, 1842. He is a machinist by trade, having learned the business of
his father in the old country. After working at his trade in New Orleans for a
year, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked two years in the employ of
the government in the machine shops connected with the arsenal. From there he
made two trips to New York, but soon returned again to St. Louis. From there he
went to Illinois and up into Iowa, which at that time was a pretty wild country.
He has traveled both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers from their mouths
nearly to their sources. From Iowa, in 1849, he made preparations to come to
California. There was a party of four agreed to make the trip together. Two of
them, including Mr. Stierlin, bought the stock and drove to St. Joseph,
traveling days without any accommodations other than camping out. At this place,
as by an agreement, they met the other two of the party, with the wagon,
provisions, etc.
Having completed their arrangements they started out with three
yoke of cattle, one yoke of cows, two horses, and a mule. Leaving St. Joseph on
the twenty-fourth of May, they arrived at Nevada City in the latter part of
October with one yoke of oxen, one yoke of cows, and two horses, after being on
the road a little over five months. He engaged in mining at the place where the
city of Nevada now stands, working for a doctor at a salary of $6.00 a day.
After working for him eight weeks he hunted up a claim for himself, which he
worked all that winter with very poor success. This claim was at Rock Creek,
three miles from Nevada City. At this time a company of twenty old miners was
formed, which he joined, and went to Rich Bar, on Feather River, where he took
out $7,000 in about four months. He then left and returned to Nevada City, where
he had an interest in a quartz mine. However, he soon left that mine and went to
Mormon Island, in the North Fork of the American River. Here he went into a
river claim, and after doing some of the hardest work that he ever did in his
life, lost all of his money except $400, with which he returned to Nevada City
in hopes that the quartz mine had turned out better than what he had expected,
but upon arriving there was doomed to another disappointment. By this time
becoming satisfied with experience at mining, he sought employment in
Sacramento, and there found a chance to buy a gunsmith shop, which he did and
continued in that business for one year, when he sold out.
With a capital of
$3,000, an outfit of four horses and a wagon, he came to Santa Clara County in
1851, and bought a little farm in Fremont Township, where the old town of
Mountain View now stands. His next purchase was 850 acres of government land in
San Mateo County, and he engaged in a stock business, buying calves and young
cattle, which he kept on his ranch until they were in good order, and then sold
them to the San Francisco market, which was a profitable business. In 1864 he
purchased his present place of 164 acres, about three-quarters of a mile from
New Mountain View. He also has fifty-six acres just east of the station about a
quarter of a mile, and eighty-seven acres on the Charleston road. His land is
principally a grain farm, with the exception of seven acres in orchard for home
use. For eight years he acted as a grain buyer for San Francisco capitalists,
which was also profitable. Mr. Stierlin was married, in 1854, to Clara Laux, a
native of Germany, who is the mother of four children : Lisetta, wife of Fred
Jansen, a resident of San Francisco; Harry John Stierlin, a watch-maker and
jeweler of Villa Lerdo, Central Mexico; Marguerita C. C., and Mary Esther G.
Stierlin, residing at home. Mr. Stierlin has one of the most attractive places
in the county. On his place is a fine spring, which is walled up and furnishes
an abundance of pure water. Mr. Stierlin was reared in the Protestant faith. In
political action he is identified with the Democratic party.
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.
Pg. 669
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT