Joseph Bayer (1846–1900) was an importer and wholesaler of wines and liquors, in 19th century Los Angeles, California. He emigrated to the U.S. from the Kingdom of Württemberg.
Personal
Bayer was born November 1, 1846, in Württemberg, Germany, and came to the United States as a boy. In 1870 he journeyed to California and settled in Los Angeles, and he became a naturalized citizen that year.Los Angeles Public Library record, citing the Great Register of Los Angeles County for 1873 He married Katherine Barbara Happ of Buffalo, New York, and they had a son, Alfred Joseph An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California, Chicago: Lewis Publishing (1889), page 388
He died July 26, 1900, in his home at 746 South Broadway, the cause being given as diabetes."Former Councilman Dead," Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1900, page II-3 In 1906, his widow married William W. Hoagland."Married at Home," Los Angeles Daily Herald, June 20, 1906, page 7
Vocation
Bayer enlisted in the Union Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War and served three years. In 1872 he set up a wholesale liquor and winery enterprise, with an importing business at Requina and Main Streets, Los Angeles, and remained there eighteen years, except for two years that he spent in Phoenix, Arizona. Bayer, who was seen also as a "well-known caterer and saloonist," Tucson Record, quoted in "Local Brevities," Los Angeles Daily Herald, October 1, 1880, page 3 was associated in various businesses with C.F.A. Last and also with a man named Sattler. Bayer's establishment, known as Joe Bayer's, was the meeting place of "a sort of Deutscher Klüb," recalled local writer Harris Newmark in his history of that period.Harris Newmark, Sixty Years in Southern California
Bayer was the owner of a park at the junction of West First and West Second Streets, Location of the park on Mapping L.A. where in that vicinity oil was first discovered in Los Angeles, in 1892. Afterward, he drew a "handsome steady income" from the royalties."History of the Oil Industry," Los Angeles Daily Herald, January 1, 1895, page 1
Public service
Bayer was a one-term member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the legislative branch of the city.
References and notes
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