George Wissemann, who is conducting a general wholesale and jobbing liquor establishment in Sacramento, was born on the 15th of September, 1857, in the southern part of Germany. His parents were George and Mary (Wolf) Wissemann, also natives of that country. It was in the public schools that George Wissemann pursued his education, but at the age of fourteen years he put aside his text-books and worked upon his father's farm, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He was thus engaged until 1877 when he had determined to try his fortune in America, having heard favorable reports concerning its business opportunities and advantages. the family numbered three sons, of whom George is the eldest and was the first to come to America. Later his brother Adam also crossed the Atlantic and engaged in farming in Colorado. Subsequently Frederick, the youngest, came to the new world, but died two years after joining his brother George in Sacramento. Mr. Wissemann sailed from the fatherland to New York city, but did not tarry long in the east, going at once to Ohio, where he secured work in the Cleveland quarry, being engaged in getting out stone. While there he operated a stationary engine. In 1880 he came to California, locating in Sacramento, and after several years spent in the retail liquor business he began conducting his business on the wholesale plan and is now located at No. 230 K street, where he conducts a wholesale and jobbing trade.

In 1889 occurred the marriage of Mr. Wissemann and Mrs. Mary Harms-Bower, a native of Germany who came with her parents to California in the early '50s, settling in Sacramento. they now have two sons and a daughter, George, Ruth and Walter.

Mr. Wissemann belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is also a member of the Elks lodge. In politics he is a Republican and has always taken an active interest in local and state politics, never swerving in his allegiance to the principales of the part which he believes contains the best elements of good government. He found in the business conditions of the new world the opportunities he sought for progress in business, and in his trade interests he has prospered, being now the possessor of a comfortable competence.

Source: History of the New California Its Resources and People, Volume I

The Lewis Publishing Company - 1905
Edited by Leigh H. Irvine