When he was baptized in Kandern in Baden on 23 Feb 1803, he received the given names of Johann August. He was an adventurer and colonizer whose controversial role in the development of America is characterized by the quotation, "Confused by the favor or hatred of interested parties, his image vacillates through history". [From Schiller]
After his birth, he lived in Switzerland and felt at home enough there that he called himself throughout his life as a German-Swiss, not as a German-American. In spite of his love for Switzerland, he was forced to flee from his creditors there at the age of 30.
In California, Johann August worked on the cultivation of grains, crops that had been almost completely neglected due to lack of irrigation. The present prosperity of the Sacramento Valley is largely the result of his foresight. Because he did so much that helped to make California a part of the United States, it can be said that he added ten percent to the population of the United States.
Backing up in the history, some dates are obscure. He did live in the Swiss Canton of Basel and served in the Swiss Army, where he rose to the rank of Captain. But his heavy debts forced him to flee. In 1826, at the age of 23, he married Anna Duebel, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. In 1834 he came to New York. In the next few years he was trapping in Oregon and visiting Vancouver and the Hawaii Islands. Most of all, he was attracted by California. In July of 1839 he arrived in San Francisco and promptly made a nice sum of money.
Shortly after his arrival, he presented the Mexican Governor with a bold plan for founding a colony in the unexplored north, on the southern bank of the American River, close to where it joins the Sacramento River. The Governor granted him a vast tract of land, where he planted vast orchards, vineyards, and grain. Water was needed and he instituted extensive irrigation projects. In June of 1841, the Governor visited him at Neuve Helvetio, as Johann August called his "kingdom". The governor made him a citizen of Mexico. His enterprise was the talk of California, and he was considered the richest and most respected citizen of California, with the title of General.
Then it all collapsed, almost overnight. A James W. Marshall, on 24 Jan 1848, found nuggets of a yellow metal on Johann August's land. News of the discovery of gold spread like a wildfire in spite of the efforts to keep it secret. The employees all left but were replaced by thousands of gold prospectors who destroyed everything that Johann August Sutter had built up. Sutter salvaged little and fled. Eventually he secured a modest pension from the Federal government for his part in making California a part of the United States. Eventually he bought a house in the Moravian town of Lititz, Pennsylvania. He died here in 18 June 1880.
(20 Jun 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.