Emeric
Portrait of Joseph Emeric c1870
In the beginning...
Writing from Toulon after its recapture from the British, the French commander-in-chief remarks in his official despatch, copied in the Moniteur of December 7, 1793: "Among those who distinguished themselves most, and who most aided me to rally my troops, is citizen Buona Parte, commanding the artillery." In the village of Nouelles, a few miles from that city, and in the year when citizen Buona Parte, better known to fame as Napoleon Buonaparte, met with his final overthrow, was born one of the most remarkable men on the roll of California's pioneers. His name was Joseph Emeric, and among those of our argonauts who have passed from earth there are few who will be longer remembered, not only as one of the most successful merchants and farmers of earlier days, but as one in whose character was blended the strongest admixture of qualities, of virtues and infirmities, of worth and imperfection, of noble and unworthy attributes. Such indeed we all possess, but in some those inconsistencies appear in greater degree than in others, and often in those most richly endowed with nature's gifts are found, as by a law of which is our common humanity is subject.
Joseph Emeric was born in France in 1815. His father was a naval officer, a man of even and placid temperament, slow to anger, gentle in manner, without an enemy, and as his friends declared, almost without a fault. His mother was a woman of opposite character, possessed of strong individuality, nervous, quick-tempered, excitable, and at times even combative. Of her four children, Joseph was the eldest, and in some respects inherited her characteristics, with little at least of his father's suavity, and with not a few of his mother's idiosyncrasies. At the village school of Néoules, Joseph received his early and in fact his only education, living under the parental roof until the age of thirteen, when a series of quarrels with his mother culminated in a forced departure from his birthplace. Young Emeric made the best of his advantages, and at the age of twenty had become an expert linguist, speaking fluently the English and Spanish languages, and corresponding neatly in his own.
At the beginning of 1848, Mr. Emeric was one whose lot in life his fellow-man might envy. First of all he was wealthy, as wealth was computed in these early days; he was at the head of a flourishing and steadily increasing business, and a few years before he had boon married to a most estimable and accomplished lady, in the person of Miss Mary Mestoyer, the daughter of a French planter. Of their children the only survivor is Henry. It was toward the end of February 1849 when Mr. Emeric landed in San Francisco, his worldly effects consisting of the clothes on his back — and those of the scantiest — and in his pocket a single dollar.
By 1852 at age 37, he had saved enough to establish himself in business, in partnership with James F. Hibbard, for the purpose, as their agreement stated, of "cutting and selling wood, making and selling charcoal on the encinal of San Antonio (now Alameda), Contra Costa county, and doing whatever else might legally be done on said encinal." This he continued for about two years, securing among other patronage that of the principal hotels in San Francisco. Then, disposing of his interests, he conducted in that city until 1854 a grain and commission house in conjunction with Sampson Tams, under the firm name of Emeric, Tams and Company.
On winding up their affairs, or in lieu of a certain sum of money due from his partner, Mr. Emeric accepted a portion of the San Pablo ranch, and here in 1855, he commenced farming, in company with a Frenchman named Xavier Ransim. The first, or one of the first, to engage in fruit-raising, and that rather as an experiment than for profit, he planted a small orchard with the finest and most suitable species of pear, cherry, almond, and orange trees, and thus demonstrated what few had before suspected, that Contra Costa county was well adapted for a fruit-growing region. To his original tract he added year by year as means permitted, continuing to farm his own land until 1861, when he leased the estate to one Leopold Prevot, at first on shares and afterward for a money rental.
After Mr. Emeric's demise it was found that the entire property, valued at more than $1,000,000, had been left to his son (Henry), with the exception of a few legacies amounting in all to less than ten per cent of the total. They included bequests to his brother and sister in France, each of $10,000; to Archbishop Riordan and Father Maraschi, each $5,000; to certain of his old servants, smaller amounts; to the French Ladies' Benevolent Society $5,000; to his native village (Néoules, France) for the use of the municipality $5,000; and for the poor of that village an equal sum. As it chanced that only one poor man could be found in Néoules, he thus received an unexpected windfall; but as he was a cripple, there were few who envied him his good fortune. The will was in all respects a most sensible one, and somewhat in contrast with a previous document, dated 1879, wherein the sole legacy to his son was $5, "for the purpose of buying a pistol and blowing out his brains."
The Death of Joseph Emeric
San Francisco Examiner • Tue, Jun 25, 1889; Page 2
Source: Chronicles of the builders of the commonwealth [microform] : historical character study by Hubert HoweBancroft. Publication date 1892.
Oakland Tribune • Tue, Aug 9, 1977; Page 4