The Zwinge Family
Joseph Zwinge Sr. arrived in Calaveras county in 1853. He came originally from Germany. In 1855 he married Miss Elizabeth Evas in St. Marys Catholic Cathedral, San Francisco. His ranch, which he worked until his death, was located near the Sierra Vista Lookout. His son John also had a ranch nearby in later years. Joe Sr. was killed in 1890 when his team ran away on a downhill road into Murray Creek with a load of lumber. He is buried in San Andreas.
The Zwinges had eleven children: William, John, Joe Jr., Henry, Theodore, Edward, Matthew, Mary, Teresa, Elizabeth and Kathleen. The six boys of Joseph Zwinge were said to be the tallest in the state. The shortest was 6‘2“ and the tallest was 6‘6“. All the girls were over 6 feet tall also.
William Zwinge was the second white child born in Calaveras County. He also was the father of Joe Zwinge, Sheriff for 28 years of the County. Elizabeth married Peter Albers of Sheep Ranch, April 18, 1880.
The present public library building was first constructed as a tent for the first eating place in San Andreas by Joseph Zwinge, in 1853. The tent burned down and was replaced by canvas and lumber by Zwinge. Following a third fire, Zwinge rebuilt the structure in 1857 with stone and rock. Zwinge took in two partners, a brother William A. Zwinge, and Antone Schacten. On December 29th, 1858 the three sold the property to John Huberty, gramdfather of Judge Joseph H. Huberty of San Andreas.
In 1887 the property was acquired by William H. Jenkins, who conducted a hotel and eating place until 1917. The building was known locally as the Old Jenkins Hotel. In 1936 it was purchased by D. Fricot after being idle for almost 20 years. After completely remodeling the old building Mr. Fricot deeded it to the county to be used as a museum and public library. The museum has moved to larger quarters.
May 20, 1858 assessment list by Channcey Johnson, county assessor shows Zwinge and Co. with one house and lot in San Andreas on the south side of main street joining Wells Fargo and Co. Express. Value thereof $1800.
John Zwinge was born in 1856 near San Andreas. He went to school and spent his childhood in the San Andreas area. He worked his ranch, now the present Doster ranch near the lookout and also worked out as a blacksmith. He worked for many mines in the Sheep Ranch - Mountain Ranch area.
John married Louise Filippini on June 6, 1880. They were married by Judge F. O’Connell and witnessed by Henry Zwinge and Sophia Filippini.
The Filippini family was an old family of Mountain Ranch. Four of the Zwinge family married four of the fourteen Filippini family. John married Louise, Joe married Pauline, Ted married Amela and Kate married Dave Filippini. The fourteen Filippini children were Louise, Pauline, Amela, Dave, Dan, Charles, Ellen, Rosie, Sophjia, Josie, Carrie, Flora, Aggie, and Cela. Cela Filippini married “Doc” Cuslidge of Mountain Ranch.
John and Louise Zwinge had six children, Henry, David, Oscar, Eva, Josephine, Agnus, and David.
John Zwinge died in Mountain Ranch in 1949 at the age of 93. His wife Louise died later that same year. Dave was the only one who lived out his life here.
Dave went to school to the 6th grade at three different locations. The old Fisher school located just north of the Zwinge Ranch, at Mountain and San Andreas. Some of his teachers were Daisy Danielson, Tom Moffet, Teresa Rivera, Mrs. Crossett and Lissie Salcido. Dave’s schooling was very limited because he had to help his dad on the ranch.
In his late teens Dave was bigger than most men in the area. He was six foot four and weighed over 200 pounds. He was called “Swede” by his friends. By the time he was 18 years old Dave was working in the mines in the Mountain Ranch - Sheep Ranch area, also made extra money breaking horses, donkeys and burros, Dave says he never found a jackass he couldn’t ride the second time.
Dave also worked on the Emery pipeline ditch from the Emery Reservoir to Cave City with his dad who was a blacksmith and tool repair man on the same job. The foreman was Ed Wigney.
When Dave was 12 years old in 1896 he helped his cousin Joe Hertzig feed the prisoners in the San Andreas jail. The Hertzig family had a contract with Sheriff Ben Thorn to supply the daily food for the guests of the county.
Dave was working in the Square Head Mine for a Mr. Haggerty in 1905 when he married Helen Lovelace. The Square Head Mine was located just south of San Andreas. Helen Lovelace was a sister to Florence Clyde of Sheep Ranch. Dave and his new bride lived in the San Andreas and Mountain Ranch in the old Dughi building. They were married by the Justice of the Peace Pat Kean of San Andreas.
Dave ran for constable against his uncle Henry in 1910, and held office 4 years. It all started on a hunting trip as a practical joke. Dave’s uncle said no one could beat him so Dave proved otherwise. During his term of office Dave became an expert in the art of catching chicken thieves. He spent most of his time rounding them up. His salary was $40 monthly.
In 1914 Dave ran a saloon in Mountain Ranch located next to the road on the old Filippini hotel property. He later went to Arizona to work in the mines near Oatman with Paul Lewis and Ray Cuslidge. Paul broke his arm trying to crank Dave’s old Ford and stayed in L.A. After about a year in Arizona he sold the Ford for $200 and returned by train.
Dave and Helen had three children, Mourice “Molly”, Bernice and Dorothy. Out of the 22 Zwinge boys in four generations, the shortest was 6 foot 2 inches.
After working in many mines in the Mountain Ranch area Dave went to work at the Sheep Ranch mine for John Lewis. He worked there until it closed in 1921. The foreman then was Frank Thor. Dave was night foreman and John Canavera was day foreman.
After separation of Dave and Helen, he married Lola Kelly Jenkins in 1922 in Jackson. He then worked at many different mines in the area and also worked in the woods until 1930.
Dave belongs to the Native Sons and joined the Masons Lodge in 1922.. He is a member of the Blue Lodge, Scottish Rites, and Shriners.
In the early 1930‘s Dave was hired by Attilio Domenghini who was on the Board of Supervisors, as foreman on the country roads in the Mountain Ranch - San Andreas district. At this time he lived in the old Rodesino building.
In 1931 he worked at the Marjoh mine owned by John Martin. The mine went broke and Dave never got his pay. Years later the mine was sold for taxes and bought by Lester Canavera and Louis Domenghini. In 1967 when the estate cleared Dave received his pay. Things still move a little slow in the mountains.
He worked on the old C.C.C. camps at Blue Mountain and Glencoe as a crew foreman for Ed Cooke until 1933. Floyd Butterfield was one of the C.C.C. Boys from Minnesota who worked for Dave at Blue Mountain. Butterfield grew up and went to school with Alex Alberts, father of Phil D. Alberts, in Shovel Lake, Minn. It was a small world even then. Floyd is retired and lives in Arnold. Dave worked on the country roads in the winter and the camps in the summer. Jim Jack was his boss on the country road jobs.
During the depression Dave was never out of a job. He worked wherever work could be found. He did some mining, worked in the woods, and worked on ranches. He worked on the Clyde Sherwood ranch also, now owned by the Senders family.
In 1937 he went to work a the Calaveras Cement Plant at Kentucky House for Sam Lockwood. Dave worked there for twenty years. The superintendent then was Louis Alsman.
Dave rented a house from Louis Domenghini which burned down in 1941. He moved to another Domenghini rental which burned down in 1945. This was rebuilt at once and Dave and Lola lived there until it was sold in 1965 to Phil Alberts. Between these two fires Dave lost all their family possessions. Old family pictures and records were the greatest loss.
In 1965 when the Domenghini property was sold Dave moved just north of Mountain Ranch to the Shattuck Ranch. This was the original Filippini ranch which is now owed by Tim Lane.
Dave retired at the age of 71 but was still very active. He cut his own firewood, rode his young horse and looked after the ranch.
Dave planned to spend the remaining years in the town of his youth. He made his daily trip to the old Domenghini Store to swap stories with anyone with the time to listen. He can well remember when people were not always in a hurry as they are today. He recalls when life was a whole lot simpler and people were a whole lot friendlier. Dave hoped to reach 100 years of age and he almost made it.
Next month I will tell you about an heroic deed Dave accomplished while he was constable in an old El Dorado camp, now called Mountain Ranch.
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