| Notes |
- FRED HOFF
An honored Californian who has made agriculture his lifelong pursuit is Fred Hoff, who, since 1917, has made his home on his choice estate of 300 acres, about five and a half miles southwest of Lodi on the Lincoln Highway. Mr. Hoff is a man of great enterprise and industry and he has been engaged in steady and worthy endeavor ever since boyhood. He was born at Menno, S.D., October 25, 1883, a son of Jacob and Charlotte Hoff, the former a farmer in South Dakota, who died three months before our subject was born. There were two other children in the family, Mary, deceased, and Eva, Mrs. Chris Suesse. Subsequently the mother married William Hieb and reared a large family.
Fred Hoff had little opportunity to secure an education, but he was a lad of only eight years when he was obliged to begin earning his own living, working for his board and clothes. In 1896, his stepfather brought the family to California and Fred worked on a ranch about a mile and a half east of Lodi, but this job was of short duration; he then worked three months for Mr. Hogan on Cherokee Lane, receiving twenty dollars per month, then he went to Galt, Cal., where he worked for Gallagher Bros. for two years, when he returned to Lodi and was employed on the grain and stock ranch of John Emde, southwest of Lodi.
On January 1, 1905, in Lodi, Mr. Hoff was married to Miss Bertha Schenkenberger, a native of Scotland, S.D., a daughter of John and Louise (Barrett) Schenkenberger, both natives of South Russia. John Schenkenberger came to California in 1898 from Dakota and both parents are now living in Lodi. They reared a family of eleven children: Louise died at the age of forty-two; Amelia, Mrs. Lange, resides in North Dakota; Lydia, Mrs. Stoddard, resides in Fresno; Bertha, Mrs. Hoff; John and Henry reside in Lodi; Pauline, Mrs. John A. Bender, resides in Lodi; Christine, Mrs. Hieb, resides in Oakland; Jacob W. resides in Lodi; Sarah, Mrs. W.A. Moore, resides in Lodi, and Samuel. Mr. Hoff's first purchase of land was a fourteen acre tract southeast of Lodi on Kettleman Lane; this he set to vineyard and in 1909 sold it and bought forty acres in the Victor section, which he set to orchard and vineyard, then sold it and moved to the Barnhart tract on Kettleman Lane, where he leased a tract of land for a year; later he rented the McMurtry ranch of eighty acres and the Beatty and Earl ranches of 100 acres each, and farmed them six years. In 1917 he purchased the Earl ranch and after holding it for one year sold it. In 1920 he had 260 acres in tomatoes which made him a loss of $18,000. In 1921 he purchased 200 acres of the Mettler ranch, five and a half miles southwest of Lodi on the Lincoln Highway, where he now resides. He leveled the ranch for irrigation and put in three pumping plants, and has set the entire 200 acres to Tokay and Zinfandel grapes. That same year he bought the Beatty ranch of 100 acres, leveled it and set it to Tokays. Mr. Hoff has helped various farmers during harvest time for the past twenty-five years and for the past four years has done contract harvesting with a Holt twenty-foot harvester and a forty-five horsepower Holt caterpillar engine. About 1904 he began operating a hay-baler and still continues that work. He does contract leveling, ditching and road work, working fifty head of mules and twenty head of horses, besides tractors, and has as high as thirty men on his payroll. For a number of years he was among the largest vineyardists of this section, controlling a large acreage. He has set out about 1500 acres to vines and trees under contract in the last twenty years. He has a lease on 600 acres of tule land which he farms to grain. On the 100-acre vineyard he had under lease before the price of grapes went up, he pulled the vines out, much to his regret and loss; recently he has reset this 100 acres to young vines. He markets his fruit through the Pacific Fruit Exchange. Mr. and Mrs. Hoff are the parents of seven children: Vera, Henrietta, Viola, Earl, Walter, Edwin, and Donald. Fraternally he is a member of the Eagles of Lodi and in politics is a Republican.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
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1883 - 
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