JOHN HETTY
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: GROH,
John Hetty, a member of the Board of Trustees of Santa Clara, and a mechanic, was born in Baden, Germany, in 1822. By the death of both his parents he was obliged when quite young to provide for himself. At the age of fifteen he emigrated to America, locating at Sandusky City, Ohio, where he became apprenticed to learn the carpenter’s trade, serving two years. He followed his trade at Sandusky twelve years, when, in the fall of 1849, he went to New York city and took passage on the sailing ship Powhattan for San Francisco. On account of the vessel receiving an injury, it was 228 days in making the voyage, arriving at San Francisco July 29, 1850. It was detained forty days at St. George, one of the Bermuda Islands, for repairs, and several days before reaching the island, passengers and crew were obliged to work the pumps to keep the ship from sinking. At San Francisco he, with others, purchased a small vessel, called a whale-boat, in which they went to Marysville, selling the boat at the end of the voyage. They mined in the gold diggings near Marysville, where he remained until 1854, when he came to Santa Clara and permanently located.
In 1860 he was married, at Santa Clara, to Miss Margaret Groh, by whom he has four children: Louis B., an electrician and bell-hanger of San Francisco; Lucy D., a teacher in the Santa Clara public school; Mamie, still at home; and Julius, in business as electrician with his brother Louis at San Francisco. By a former wife, deceased, he had two children: Mrs. Emma Sassenrath, of Santa Clara, and Charles, a farmer of Colusa County.
He is a member of
Santa Clara Lodge, No. 52, I. O. O. F., and of Santa Clara Encampment, No. 32,
I. O. O. F. and has passed the chairs in both. He has been a representative in
both the Grand Lodge and Grand Encampment of the State of California, and also
attended the Sovereign Grand Lodge held at San Francisco in 1869. Politically,
he is a Republican. He has been four times elected a member of the Board of
Trustees of Santa Clara, having served seven years, and at this writing is
serving an unexpired term.
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. 290
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy