Louis Aloise Mesmer^[1]

1830 - 1900  (70 years)

• Name	Louis Aloise Mesmer
  Birth	20 Feb 1830	Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France   [2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1870	Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA   [4]
  Residence	1880	Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA   [5]
  Residence	1888	, Los Angeles, California, USA   [6]
  Residence	1890	, Los Angeles, California, USA   [7]
  Death	18 Aug 1900	, Los Angeles, California, USA   [2, 8]
  Burial	East Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA   [2]
  Person ID	I43833	Master
  Last Modified	14 Jun 2022

  
  

  Father	Joseph Messmer,   b. 29 Nov 1789, Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France d. 11 Jan 1854, Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France (Age 64 years)
  Mother	Barbe Merkel,   b. 8 Jun 1792, Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France d. 9 Nov 1857, Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France (Age 65 years)
  Marriage	23 Jan 1810	Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France   [9]
  Family ID	F10110	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Catherine Forst,   b. 28 Oct 1833, Dieffenbach-lès-Woerth, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France d. 2 Oct 1891, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA (Age 57 years)
  Marriage	Dec 1854	Tippecanoe, Harrison, Ohio, USA
  Children	+ 1. Joseph F Mesmer,   b. 3 Nov 1855, Tippecanoe, Harrison, Ohio, USA d. 28 Nov 1947, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA (Age 92 years)   2. Louis Anthony Mesmer,   b. 28 Jul 1860, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA d. 10 Nov 1907, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA (Age 47 years) + 3. Mary Agnes Christina Mesmer,   b. 29 Feb 1864, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA d. 11 Aug 1948, , Los Angeles, California, USA (Age 84 years)   4. Alphonse Joseph Mesmer,   b. 8 Nov 1869, , , , France d. 5 Oct 1925, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA (Age 55 years)   5. Lucile Amelia Mesmer,   b. 24 Dec 1872, , , California, USA d. 20 May 1959, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA (Age 86 years)
  Family ID	F10095	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Jun 2022

  
  

  Family 2	Jennie Elizabeth Hipes,   b. Apr 1856, Dublin, Wayne, Indiana, USA d. 8 Jan 1927, Oakland, Alameda, California, USA (Age 70 years)
  Marriage	15 Jul 1893	, Los Angeles, California, USA   [10]
  	From the LA Herald newspaper of the time: LOUIS MESMER MARRIED. THE MILLIONAIRE MAKES MRS. SWAN HIS BRIDE. The Couple Quietly Make Their Way to San Diego and Are Wedded and then go to San Francisco on a Honeymoon Trip. A local sensation waa created yesterday by a rumor that Mr. Louis Mesmer, the millionaire capitalist, had quietly married a charming Los Angeles woman. That statement was made last evening by Constable Richardson, a relative of the bride. The lady who now bears the name of Mr. Mesmer and will share in his happiness was formerly Mrs. Jennie E. Swan of Martin Street. She is an exceedingly handsome woman, of fine figure and most prepossessing manners. She is about 35 years of age, but looks younger. It is said that Mr. Mesmer is upwards of 61 years old, but he is hearty and active as a man of 40. The story is given to a Herald reporter Iast evening, is substantially as follows: For the last six months the relatives of Mrs. Swan have expected a consummation of Mr. Mesmer's apparent hopes, for it was no longer a secret to them that he was deeply enamoured with the lady. Last Saturday Mr. Mesmer left the city, ostensibly for San Francisco. He went there finally, and with him went a charming bride. He first visited San Diego, where he and Mrs. Swan were married. It is not definitely known what day the lady met the gentleman in the city of bay 'n' climate, but it is asserted they were married Monday by a Catholic priest. They then proceeded to San Francisco on a honeymoon trip. Mr. Tony Mesmer, a son of the newly married gentleman, was seen last evening and asked regarding the marriage. He said he knew nothing of it beyond the rumors He had heard. He admitted, however, that he had interviewed the conductor of the train on which his father went to San Diego, asking him if the lady was with him. The conductor informed him that Mr. Mesmer went to San Diego, "All by his lonesome." He is not in that condition now, however, for he has the undeniable pleasure of being in the charming presence of one of Los Angeles' handsomest women.
  Family ID	F10096	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Jun 2022

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 20 Feb 1830 - Surbourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France Marriage - Dec 1854 - Tippecanoe, Harrison, Ohio, USA Residence - 1870 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Residence - 1880 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Residence - 1888 - , Los Angeles, California, USA Residence - 1890 - , Los Angeles, California, USA Marriage - 15 Jul 1893 - , Los Angeles, California, USA Death - 18 Aug 1900 - , Los Angeles, California, USA Burial - - East Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  From California and Californians, Vol.4http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3341 Louis Mesmer,who took a leading part in the history of Los Angeles, was born at Surbourg, Canton Sulz, Alsace, France, February 20, 1829, and died at Los Angeles, California, August 18, 1900. He was the son of Joseph and Barbara Merkel Mesmer and was one of a family of eleven children. At the age of fourteen he began an apprenticeship at the baker's trade at Hagenau, and after four years established a bakery at Strassburg, thence to Colmar, thence to Paris and thence to Havre. His success stimulated a desire to see a little more of the world. He sold his business, and traveling in a sailing vessel, landed at New York three months later. He worked at his trade at Syracuse, at Buffalo, at Cincinnati and Dayton, and later established a business of his own at Tippecanoe City, Ohio. While there he married Miss Catherine Forst in December, 1854, and four years later he left Ohio for California. After some experience without special reward in the gold fields of California and British Columbia, he became post baker for the British troops stationed at Fort Esquimalt, but returned to Los Angeles in August, 1859, where he first purchased the Ulyard Bakery and later the New York Bakery. During the Civil war he had a Government contract to supply bread to the troops stationed at Camp Leighton, southwest of and near Culver City. Mr. Mesmer had the real spirit of the western pioneer, rugged, strong physically, an indomitable will, always ready for adventure and some new line of enterprise. When these undertakings took him from his business it was Mrs. Mesmer who took up the reins and successfully carried on—rearing her growing family mid the hardships of those early pueblo days. She was responsible for the family making their permanent home in Los Angeles, and to her is due much for the husband's success. In 1863 Mr. Mesmer sold his business and purchased the United States Hotel. In 1869, after leasing the hotel, Mr. Mesmer and his family made an extended tour through Europe, and in 1871 he bought the Dr. R. T. Hayes home, which continued to be the family residence for over twenty-five years. His realty operations were largely in what is now the uptown business district of Los Angeles. He not only exercised good judgment in the purchase of real estate, but the value of these investments was greatly enhanced by the close supervision he gave to every phase of building construction. In 1880 he contracted for the first piece of concrete sidewalk laid in Los Angeles, in front of his Fort Street residence. His business ability and integrity made his service sought in many directions. In 1874 Rt. Rev. Bishop Thadeus Amat asked him to take full charge of the erection of St. Vibiana's Cathedral. Hardly any public enterprise was launched during the last thirty years of the previous century at Los Angeles in which Louis Mesmer was not interested to the extent of financial contributions. He was ever loyal to his home community, generous to the call of the poor and those early charitable institutions caring for the orphans and the homeless. Modern Los Angeles owes to him the debt that represents the obligation of the present day generation to the strong and resourceful pioneers of the past. Mr. Mesmer lost the much beloved and highly respected companion of his early struggles and the mother of his children on October 2, 1891. On July 15, 1893, he married Mrs. Jennie E. Swan, to which union no children were born. Mr. Mesmer's family comprised three sons and two daughters, three of whom are living at Los Angeles, Joseph, Mary Christina Griffith and Lucile A. Whipple, widow of Charles Lee Whipple. Louis Anthony died November 7, 1907. Alphonse J. died September 7, 1925. History of the Ulyard Bakery Mr. Ulyard rented an adobe and set up a bakery business, using yeast that his wife brought across the Great Plains to their new home. Ulyard "soon sought a new location on the outskirts of the pueblo, at First and Main Street," later he moved to the southwest corner of Fifth and Main, site of the Alexander Hotel. Ulyard was the first American-born baker in Los Angeles, naming his shop the American Bakery. He was in competition with Jospeh LeLong who was running his Jenny Lind Bakery and baking French bread. Ulyard made "German and American bread and cake, which soon found favor with many; later he added freshly-baked crakers," which he advertised as "baked in Los Angeles, and superior to those half spoiled by the sea voyage" from San Francisco. The bakery was taken over by Louis Mesmer and then by James Rowan and his son, Thomas E. Rowan. The building was damaged by fire in December 1869, an event that led to the establishment of Los Angeles's first organized fire company. Harris Newmark remembers Louis Mesmer "Louis Mesmer arrived here [California] in 1858, then went to Fraser River [BC, Canada] and there, in eight months, he made twenty thousand dollars by baking for the Hudson Bay Company's troops. A year later he was back in Los Angeles; and on Main Street, somewhere near Requena, he started a bakery. In time he controlled the local bread trade, supplying among others the Government troops here. In 1864, Mesmer bought out the United States Hotel, previously run by Webber & Haas, and finally purchased from Don Juan N. Padilla the land on which the building stood. This property, costing three thousand dollars, extended one hundred and forty feet on Main Street and ran through to Los Angeles, on which street it had a frontage of about sixty feet. Mesmer's son Joseph is still living and is active in civic affairs." "Judge Walter Van Dyke was here in the early fifties, although it was some years before I knew him; and I am told that at that time he almost concluded a partnership with Judge Hayes for the practice of law. He was Judge of the Superior Court when the City of Los Angeles claimed title—while I was President of the Temple Block Company—to about nine feet of the north end of Temple Block. The instigator of this suit was Louis Mesmer, who saw the advantage that would accrue to his property, at the corner of Main and Requena streets, if the square should be enlarged; but we won the case. A principal witness for us was José Mascarel, and our attorneys were Stephen M. White and Houghton, Silent & Campbell." Title: Sixty Years in Southern California 1853-1913 Containing the Reminiscences of Harris NewmarkAuthor: Harris Newmark Editor: Maurice H.Newmark & Marco R. NewmarkRelease Date: May 10, 2013 Rancho Ballona and Port Ballona Port Ballona was situated, from circa 1859 to 1903, near the center of Santa Monica Bay in coastal Los Angeles County, where currently Plaua Del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon is located. The name comes from the Mexican La Ballona land grant. Port Ballona consisted of the current Del Rey Lagoon Park but conceptually embraced including the current Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve. The estuarine river, Ballona Creek flows into the marsh and alongside the marsh within earthen levees that are soft-bottomed wetland soil. In 1839, the Mexican government granted the Machados and Talamantes families title to Rancho La Ballona In 1857, Benjamin D. Wilson, the first Maryor of Los Angleles, through foreclosure received title to 1/4 of Rancho La Ballona. Later, in 1859, Wilson, for $5000, sold 3,480 acres (1,410 ha) of Rancho La Ballona to George A. Sanford and John D. Young. During the Civil War, US General George Wright ordered troops to secure Port Ballona against any Confederate invasion and by 1862, a large force of 6,000 US troops were at and near Port Ballona. The troop camp was called Camp Latham. In 1863, Louis Mesmer sold his Los Angeles bakery and purchased extensive land holdings from the Machados, including Port Ballona. In 1887, Louis Mesmer and Moye Wicks made a small port harborr at Port Ballona. Moye Wicks starts the Ballona Harbor and Improvement Company. in 1887, with plans to make the port a major sea port. August 21, 1887, the Town of Port Ballona was developed by Louis Mesmer and Moye Wicks. By 1889, Ballona Harbor and Improvement Company was out of funds to complete the maintain and expand the port, they could not keep the Port open. Louis Mesmer and Moye Wicks sold the port and land around the port to Moses Sherman. Sherman purchased 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land around the Ballona lagoon and the Port Ballona in 1902 under the name, Beach Land Company. Port Ballona rail depot was built at the port and serviced by the California Cental Railroad opening in September 1887; this line later became the Santa Fe Railway. Sherman and Clark renamed the port and land around the port to "Del Rey" in 1903. Port Ballona, in 1903, was renamed Playa Del Rey by Sherman and Clark. In the 1880s and 1890s, parts of Venice, Playa Vista, Culver City, and Mar Vista were also part of Port Ballona.

  
  

• Sources

  [S761] Yates Publishing, Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree. [S751] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) (Reliability: 3). Name: Louis Aloise Moessmer Mesmer Gender: Male Birth Date: 20 Feb 1829 Birth Place: Surbourg, Departement du Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France Death Date: 19 Aug 1900 Death Place: Los Angeles County, California, United States of America Cemetery: Calvary Cemetery Burial or Cremation Place: East Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States of America Has Bio?: Y Spouse: Catherine Mesmer Children: Mary Agnes Christina Griffith Lucile A Whipple Joseph Mesmer Louis Anthony Mesmer Alphonse Joseph Mesmer Alfonso Mesmer Catarina Luisa Mesmer Catalina Mesmer URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11190151/louis-aloise_moessmer-mesmer https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/104134051:60525?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377 [S1230] Surbourg Civil Birth Records, Surbourg - Etat civil - Registre de naissances 1830 - 4 E 487/3:Page 6 (Reliability: 3). https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/detail-document/ETAT-CIVIL-C483-P1-R67155#visio/page:ETAT-CIVIL-C483-P1-R67155-1804057 [S231] Ancestry.com, 1870 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. ), Year: 1870; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: M593_73; Page: 547B (Reliability: 3). Name: Louis Messmer Age in 1870: 40 Birth Date: abt 1830 Birthplace: France Dwelling Number: 910 Home in 1870: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California Race: White Gender: Male Post Office: Los Angeles Occupation: Keeping House Father of Foreign Birth: Yes Mother of Foreign Birth: Yes Male Citizen Over 21: Yes Personal Estate Value: 500 Real Estate Value: 25000 Household Members Age Louis Messmer 40 Catherine Messmer 36 Joseph Messmer 13 Antonio Messmer 9 Christine Messmer 6 Alfonse Messmer 9/12 https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/659745:7163?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377 [S230] Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1880 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.), Year: 1880; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 67; Page: 189B; Enumeration District: 023 (Reliability: 3). Name: Louis Messmer Age: 47 Birth Date: Abt 1833 Birthplace: France Home in 1880: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA Street: Fort House Number: 69 Dwelling Number: 236 Race: White Gender: Male Relation to Head of House: Self (Head) Marital Status: Married Spouse's Name: Catherine Messmer Father's Birthplace: France Mother's Birthplace: France Occupation: Retired Merchant Neighbors: View others on page Household Members Age Relationship Louis Messmer 47 Self (Head) Catherine Messmer 45 Wife Christina Messmer 16 Daughter Alphonso Messmer 11 Son Lucy Messmer 7 Daughter https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20405727:6742?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377 [S853] Ancestry.com, California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 20; FHL Roll Number: 977994 (Reliability: 3). Name: Louis Mesmer Age: 59 Birth Year: abt 1829 Residence Year: 1888 Residence Place: Los Angeles, California, USA https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/6067172:2221?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377 [S1363] Ancestry.com, Los Angeles, California, U.S., City Directories, 1888-1890, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc) (Reliability: 3). Name: Louis A. Mesmer Residence Date: 1890 Residence Place: Los Angeles, California, USA Business Address: 22 Manhattan Occupation: Bookkeeper https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/48508:4415?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377 [S973] Ancestry.com, California, U.S., County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images. (Reliability: 3). Name: Louis Mesmer Gender: Male Race: White Death Age: 70 Event Type: Death Birth Date: abt 1830 Birth Place: Germany Death Date: 18 Aug 1900 Death Place: Los Angeles, California, USA https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/778074:61460?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377 [S1359] Surbourg Civil Marriage Records, Surbourg - Etat civil - Registre de mariages 1810 - Original en mairie, Page 2 (Reliability: 3). https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/detail-document/ETAT-CIVIL-C483-P1-R67247#visio/page:ETAT-CIVIL-C483-P1-R67247-3677766 [S973] Ancestry.com, California, U.S., County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images. (Reliability: 3). Name: Luis Mesmer Gender: Male Marriage Age: 62 Event Type: Marriage Birth Date: abt 1833 Birth Place: Frances Marriage Date: 15 June 1893 Marriage Place: Los Angeles, California, USA Spouse: Jennie E Swan https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/900342709:61460?ssrc=pt&tid=183164770&pid=142390408377