| Sources |
- [S926] Find-A-Grave, (www.findagrave.com).
Robert Neuman
Birth: 27 Mar 1893 Tarutyne, Odes'ka, Ukraine
Death: 23 Oct 1960 (aged 67) Bakersfield, Kern County, California, USA
Burial: Shafter Memorial Park, Shafter, Kern County, California, USA
Memorial #: 41995266
Bio: Robert NEUMAN born in Tarutino, Akkerman, Bessarabia, South Russia, at the age of 1 immigrated to America via the Port of Liverpool aboard the SS "Lucania" through Ellis Island, New York on the 31st of March 1894 with his parents and brother August.He spent the next 11 years in the Dakotas before moving with his parents in 1905 to an area 10 miles north of Irvine, Alberta, Canada (1911 Alberta Census). Robert's parents took up homesteading there until his father's passing at the Medicine Hat hospital in 1922 due to cancer of the liver.Shortly thereafter the remaining family members sold the farm and all but son August and daughter Dora (Neuman) Krause moved to the Shafter, California area in about 1922. Apparently Magdalena's parents, the Jacob RUB family had already migrated from the Irvine area to California in about 1920.Prior to moving to California newlyweds Robert and Maggie homesteaded 2 quarter sections of land 3½ miles north of present day Hilda, Alberta, Canada for about 8 years. His older brother August apparently purchased Robert's homestead and therefore doubled the size of his adjoining one.Robert the entrepreneur that he was became known as "TOPS" since he, with his 4 sons at his side, went on successfully manage a huge 2,000 acre Potato Ranching operation during the 1930's to the 60's. Their trademark brand was known as "Neuman & Sons King Brand" potatoes throughout the entire USA.Robert & Magdalena had four children: Clarence (born in May 1917 at Medicine Hat), Herbert (born on 11-Oct-1918 in Alberta), Marvin (born on 7-Aug-1920 in Alberta) and Harvey (born on in 1926 in California).Bob NEUMAN, prominent Shafter grower, shipper, and produce dealer recalls the early days in a letter to the Press on the 20th of May 1949 as follows:BY BOB NEUMAN:"Upon request I am writing a little story of how this potato deal looked in the early days, starting in 1923 and 1924 when we started this deal.I arrived here in 1922 from Canada and with only limited capital, consisting of $240 in cash and my family, and not knowing anything about the fruit or grape business, which were the main crops here then. I did not have much choice, as I was a grain farmer and had raised potatoes in Canada, so my idea was that potatoes would be my best bet.There weren't over 250 acres of potatoes planted in the Shafter district and the yields ranged from 100 to 175 sacks per acre. Fertilizer was unheard of here until later years. The farming was all handled by horses or mules. For instance, a good farmer had a team of horses and a team of mules. I was pretty fortunate because I had two teams of horses and built up a good enough credit to buy a second-hand tractor. That was when they called me "Tops" in the potato deal here. I finally managed to plant 80 acres of potatoes myself, and then was able to control the deal.There weren't more than two potato buyers here, they being Weyl-Zuckerman and Bell-Sibbald. Later on Enos-Mosher came in the deal. In those days potatoes were all graded and sacked in the field in un-branded bags and with uneven weight. They were sold by wagon scale weight. Lots of them were hauled in by horses' and were loaded at the team track by the Santa Fe depot. There weren't any warehouses.After a few years we started experimenting with fertilizer and found out pretty quick that it would increase the yield from 150 sacks to 400 sacks to the acre. Later on we made a record yield of 620 sacks per acre. That is the time that this deal started like the Gold Rush and farmers began to pull their grape vines and plum trees or any other kind out, as long as the soil would raise potatoes.The cotton farmers, doctors and lawyers rushed in and joined us, and they bought the deal up to 54,000 acres. That was where competition got pretty keen and it took a bigger potato farmer than 80 acres to be a Potato King.In the early days, there weren't over ten or 15 cars loaded in a day at Shafter and none at Wasco. Of course, quite a few of them to local markets by truck and in lugs.This story will probably, give you a slight idea of what this deal looked like 26 years ago, a spread from 250 acres to 54,000 acres and Kern County shipments as high as 900 cars per day last year.This will probably tell you why Shafter is proud of our potato deal and why we are having a festival. We hope some people will realize how this little town of Shafter was built up, and leave it such."===============================* NEUMAN Children with Unknown Burial Site~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2. Herbert NEUMAN (11 Oct 1918 - Aug 1984) WA===============================
Family Members
Parents
Frederick Neumann 1865-1922
Justina Hammel Neumann/Rub 1870-1961
Spouse
Magdalena Rub Neuman 1896-1984
Siblings
August Neuman 1889-1972
Dorothy Neuman Krause 1895-1943
William B Neuman 1899-1958
Joseph Neuman 1902-1974
Sarah Neumann 1904-1910
Emanuel Neumann 1905-1992
Esther Neuman Niessen 1907-1979
Fred Benjamin Neuman 1908-1974
Children
Clarence J Neuman 1917-1965
Marvin Neuman 1920-1980
Harvey B Neuman 1926-2016
Maintained by: DG Bender (47380620)
Originally Created by: Lisa (46623471)
Added: 15 Sep 2009
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41995266
Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 02 June 2020), memorial page for Robert Neuman (27 Mar 1893?23 Oct 1960), Find a Grave Memorial no. 41995266, citing Shafter Memorial Park, Shafter, Kern County, California, USA ; Maintained by DG Bender (contributor 47380620) .
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1893 - 1960 (67 years)