Volume #1, Issue #4, July, 1969
Elias Jacob of Visalia,
California
1841 - 1902
by Annie R. Mitchell
ELIAS JACOB OF VISALIA, circa
1895
--Photo courtesy of Annie R.
Mitchell
ELIAS JACOB came to the United States in 1853, when he was
only twelve years of age. He went directly to Stockton, California, where some
members of the family were living. 1 His was to be the typical Horatio Alger
success story, only in his case he made his fortune faster than most men. In
1876, when he was thirty-five years of age, he listed himself as a capitalist
and when he died in 1902, he owned 45,000 acres of productive San Joaquin Valley
farm land as well as other business properties.
Elias began his career clerking in a Stockton store. In
1856, he was working at Millerton, California, and in 1859, he came to Visalia,
which was rapidly becoming the trading center for the entire lower San Joaquin
Valley. 2 Perhaps family ties were involved in these moves. His sister, Susie
Jacob, married Hyman Mitchell in Stockton, and when she died he later married
her sister, Dora Jacob. Hyman Mitchell had business interests in Visalia and
spent much of the last two years of his life there. 3 Hyman died suddenly in
1859. At that point, Elias managed his sister's business until she married
Julius Levy in Visalia. From 1860 until 1876, Elias Jacob had a mercantile
business in Visalia. At one time his nephew Michael Mitchell was a partner, and
during the 1870's, the firm was Jacob and Reinstein. 4
Elias Jacob was essentially a thrifty man. Many people said
he was stingy. He did see the potential value of land which was selling from
$1.25 to $2.50 an acre, much of it being swamp land. He began to buy land and
town lots in Visalia.
During the 1860's, he began his long and devoted
connection with Masonry. He joined Visalia Lodge No. 128 and served as Master
in 1866, 1867, and 1868. During the Civil War there was a great deal of
partisanship in Tulare County, for many of its settlers were Southerners.
Controversy spilled over into the school, the churches, and into the lodges.
Because of this, the Masonic Lodge was beset with financial problems and Elias
Jacob bought the building, so that the Lodge would continue to have a meeting
place. This two-story structure still stands at Main and Court Streets and is
known as the Jacob Building. Gradually he bought property adjoining the lodge
building.
The first outside recognition of his business acumen came
in 1866 when Kern County was split from Tulare County. The California State
Legislature appointed a committee of four men to ascertain the financial
responsibilities of the two counties. Elias was one of the four appointees. 5
He had become a naturalized citizen in that year and it should be noted that his
interest in politics led to county and state offices on Democratic committees.
6
Like most naturalized citizens he retained affection for
his native land and in 'so doing, almost caused a riot in Visalia. When Paris
fell to the Germans in 1871, local Germans held a procession in the evening and
Elias Jacob ran up a Prussian flag. Visalia was pretty much of a frontier town
where men were always looking for a fight. That element tore down the flag and
started looking for Elias Jacob. Wiser men calmed them down and the next evening
there was a town meeting at which local attorney A. J. Atwell, spoke on
"Tolerance" and Elias spoke on "Adopted Sons of America." The local newspaper
reported wryly that "... the day closed with a triumph for toleration as well as
for the Germans." 7
For almost three decades the lower San Joaquin Valley was
an open range and dependent upon livestock which could be driven to market. It
was obvious that farming would not be possible until adequate transportation was
provided. Cattlemen were not especially interested in a railroad, but
businessmen were. It took fifteen days to haul merchandise from Stockton at a
freight charge of sixty dollars per ton.
Officials of the proposed valley railroad indicated that
this would be cut to eight hours with a charge of ten dollars per ton. No one
worked harder to have the railroad come through Visalia, than did Elias Jacob.
The story behind the "coming of the railroad," is involved and bitter. It is
evident now that officials had no intention of buying rights-of-way through
established communities such as Stockton, Visalia and Bakersfield, but
businessmen were not apprised of that intention. When Stockton was by-passed, a
committee was appointed at a countywide mass meeting to buy rights-of-way from
Kings River to and through Visalia, and to give title to the railroad company.
Elias Jacob worked on that committee, which met no
opposition from property owners. The committee members went to Sacramento and
made the offer, but were politely stalled. Negotiations went on while the road
was being constructed down the valley. Finally, in April, 1872, R. E. Hyde and
Elias Jacob went to Sacramento with another offer. They sent this cryptic
telegram back to Visalia : "Ephesians Ch. 2, Verse 12." Literally translated, it
meant that Visalia was cut off from the railroad. 8
As was customary, the railroad created its own towns and
when Tulare was platted, one block was marked: "Tulare County Courthouse." Some
Visalia businessmen panicked and wanted to move to Tulare, but wiser men raised
money and built a railroad to connect with Goshen on the main line.
TULARE COUNTY COURT HOUSE IN
VISALIA
Elias Jacob's purchase of the building bonds in 1876, made it possible
for Tulare County to erect this imposing structure.
Elias Jacob was one of the directors of the Visalia-Goshen
Railroad built in 1874. He was also one of a group who built a large brick
warehouse capable of storing 8,000 tons of grain . 9
In 1873, the Visalia Masonic Lodge and Odd Fellows Lodge
jointly financed a two-story, gothic type lodge building on a lot sold to them
by Elias Jacob. 10 This was one of the finest buildings in the valley and for
many years was the scene of social and fraternal gatherings. In June, 1873, the
lodge building was dedicated with pomp and ceremony by state officers of both
lodges.
Elias Jacob retired from the mercantile business in 1876
and devoted the rest of his life to farming. He joined an agricultural society
and studied methods of scientific farming. 11 He bought one of the new Berry
steam harvesters to implement his harvest machinery, for in 1892, he was listed
as having 30,000 acres planted to grain. His other large holdings were in what
is now Kings County. In 1887, his Lucerne Valley ranch was described as:
... 26,000 acres, where he has 8,000 planted to wheat,
runs 15,000 head of sheep, 100 head of horses, 200 head of cattle, 1,500
Angora goats, and 1,200 hogs. The ranch is irrigated with water from five
artesian wells. 12
While he was liberal in fraternal and community affairs,
Elias Jacob was not noted for keeping his town property in repair. The writer
has come across several pointed editorial comments, such as:
... the outrageous shanties and hovels on the corner of
Church and Main should be condemned . . . and this the property of a
millionaire. Such owners of the Jacob type are sad dampers on the growth and
enterprise of any city. 13
The barbs apparently did not bother him, for at about the
same time, he was elected president of the newly formed Board of Trade, the
forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce.
Perhaps Elias Jacob's most shining hour came in 1876. The
State Legislature had approved issuance of bonds for a new Tulare County
courthouse building in Visalia. The figures submitted on the first bid were too
law, so the County Supervisors put the bonds up for private sale and Elias
Jacob's bid of $20,330 was approved, and work was started on the structure. The
cornerstone was laid October 27, 1876, in an impressive ceremony. Thousands of
people crowded into Visalia to see the festivities. The cornerstone was laid by
John Mills Browne, Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge, State of California,
but he was not the orator of the day. The people had asked that Elias Jacob, who
had made the courthouse possible, be given that honor. 14
During the 1890's, his health began to fail and he spent
more time in San Francisco. He went to Europe in 1902, and shortly after
returning, died in San Francisco. 15 He was buried in the Jewish section of the
Visalia City Cemetery. Jacob Street, located in he heart of Visalia, is named in
his honor.
Elias Jacob never married. His will is an interesting study
of the man. Besides family bequests, he left money to the Pacific Hebrew
Orphans' Asylum and Hebrew Home in San Francisco, to the Visalia Masonic Lodge,
and to the Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home. He then devised,
That every deserving graduate of any of the
universities, high schools, industrial schools, technical or polytechnical
schools, or agricultural schools of the state, shall, so far as may be,
acquire such twenty acres of said land as he may select and settle upon and
cultivate or improve for at least two years.
His will was broken by relatives in Germany and so his
dream for helping young people did not come into fruition. His own dreams and
faith in the land have come true, for the Valley is truly the "Garden of the
Sun."
Endnotes:
1. Elias Jacob was born in Gnesen, Germany, in 1841,
according to information on the death certificate.
2. (Myron Angel), MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE
COUNTIES OF FRESNO, TULARE AND KERN (Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company,
1891), p. 368.
3. Family records in possession of the author. Also
information furnished by Mrs. David Schwartz of Stockton, from headstones in the
Temple Israel Cemetery in Stockton. Jette Mitchell, wife of Hyman, a native of
Trzemeszno, Prussia, died October 4, 1857, at age 31. Family records list Jette
as Susie. Hyman Mitchell, a native of Poland, died October 7, 1859, at age 45.
4. Tulare County Times, August 19, 1871, April 4, 1878.
5. HISTORY OF TULARE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA (San Francisco,
Wallace W. Elliott and Company, 1883), p. 104.
6. Tulare County, Great Register of 1872.
7. Visalia Delta, January 31, 1871
8. Ibid., April 25, 1872.
9. Ibid., August 6, 1874. The warehouse was financed by R.
E. Hyde, Elias Jacob, Solomon Sweet, J. W. Crowley, and L. Guggenheim.
10. "One Hundredth Anniversary, 1857-1957, Visalia Lodge
128, F. & A.M.", p. 16.
11. Tulare County Times, January 22, 1876. Jacob was
elected Secretary of the newly formed Agricultural Society.
12. Angel, op. cit., p. 368.
13. Daily Visalia Star, November 17, 1891.
14. Angel, op. cit., p. 103. Among articles deposited in
the cornerstone, we find that Elias Jacob gave: one Prussian silver dollar, two
phials of wheat grown in 1876. one $20 gold piece, a $5 gold note of the First
National Bank of San Francisco, a $1 currency note, a 25˘ currency note, and
nine foreign coins.
15. Date of death: September 30, 1902.
