Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2004.011.0247Description
B/w photograph of a painting by Nahl depicting Sutter's Mill.
This black and white photograph of Carleton Watkins' mammoth photograph of Charles Christian Nahl's (1818-1878) 1867 oil painting of "Sutter's Mill in 1851". The original painting was owned by Julius Jacobs, and apparently destroyed in 1906.
References:
Moreland Stevens. Charles Christian Nahl: Artist of the Gold Rush. Oakland Museum, 1976. (pages 70-72, 103).
Julius Jacobs: Pioneer Jewish Merchant, Insurance Salesman, and Assistant United States Treasurer
Julius Jacobs
Julius Jacobs, Assistant Treasurer of the United States, San Francisco, #WS2279
Julius Jacobs was born in the town of Samotschin, Prussia, in 1840.
His father was the village schoolmaster.
At the age of thirteen, Julius Jacobs made his way to San Francisco via Panama, arriving in 1853.
“On his arrival in this country he systematically set out to educate himself by night study. He succeeded to a remarkable degree. He read extensively on the most diverse subjects, and his excellent memory enabled him to retain a vast collection of facts that quick intelligence co-ordinated. He spoke and wrote well. His taste in literature was cosmopolitan, and included English and foreign poets, scientific, political, and sociological writers from whom he quoted freely.”
— Rabbi Martin Meyer, 1916
San Francisco
Upon his arrival in California, Julius Jacobs was employed by C. & T. L. Horn, at that time the largest tobacco house in San Francisco.
Soon afterwards, he moved to Folsom, where he engaged in the general merchandise business and began a second career as an insurance salesman.
Before he was 21, Jacobs headed a chain of stores at Folsom, Georgetown, and other towns in the Gold Country, all under the name of Julius Jacobs & Co.
Later, Julius Jacobs became a partner of the firm of Gridley, Hobart & Jacobs in Austin, Nevada, during a short-lived Gold Rush in that area.
In the early 1860’s, Jacobs returned to San Francisco, retired from the mercantile business and entered the general insurance field.
The insurance firm of Potter, Jacobs & Easton was formed in 1874. Jacobs was active in the firm until his death.
He also built a fine art collection, including one of the most famous Gold Rush paintings, Sutter’s Mill, by Charles Nahl.
"Sutter's Mill," by Charles Nahl, Vintage PostcardCollection
Special Collections
