Remarkable Women of Stockton by Mary Jo Gohlke

Author:Mary Jo Gohlke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

Julia Weber

Stockton’s Own Royalty

If Helen Murphy Weber, wife of Stockton founder Charles Weber, were the city’s first lady, then her daughter, comely Julia Weber, could be considered Stockton royalty. She lived an educated, independent life, dividing her time among the social, the philanthropic and the business pursuits of the day.

Her parents had ventured to California well before the gold rush. Charles Weber, a German immigrant, had been granted Rancho El Campo de los Franceses, including both Stockton and French Camp, and partnered with William Gulnac to form a colony at French Camp. The peninsula known as Weber Point was chosen by Weber for his notable adobe, where he and his wife reared their family of three children. When gold was discovered, Weber was ready for business. The 1850 United States Census showed 3,647 residents from throughout the world had settled in San Joaquin County.

By the 1890s, Stockton had shown significant prosperity as agriculture flourished and it became a major industrial and transportation center. Wheat, once dominant, gave way to fruits and a variety of other crops. Julia, the founder’s only daughter, proved herself a businesswoman after her parents’ deaths. She gave her brother Charles control of the family’s residential properties and took on agricultural interests. She managed several ranches, raising barley and planting a cherry and walnut orchard. Her vineyard claimed more than 150 acres.

The curly-haired girl grew into such a renowned and beloved Stockton personage that local flags were hung at half-staff on her death at eighty-two. Her parents educated their only daughter at the Stockton Female Institute on El Dorado between Flora and Park Streets. The school was the work of Dr. Henry W. Hunt and was devoted to music, art and languages. It closed in 1873.

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