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Lost Grass Valley Gold Rush History of the Wilhelm & Binkleman Pioneer Families by Waldo C.F. Potter (2024) (374 pages)
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Page: of 374
The Wilhelms
Sometime in 1872, Theodore “Theo” Henry Wilhelm arrived in Grass Valley. Theo was born in
Burlington, lowa on March 19, 1850. He was the son of Michael Jacob and Julia Ann Neff Wilhelm.
Michael Jacob Wilhelm was born on October 26, 1808, in Baden-Wiirttemberg, Germany, and learned
the butcher trade from his father, Johann Jacob Wilhelm. Michael Jacob Wilhelm died in Huntington,
Indiana, on February 26, 1895. Julia Ann Neff Wilhelm was born in 1829 in Pennsylvania and died on
December 13, 1889, in Burlington, lowa. Theo was educated in the public schools in Burlington and then
learned the butcher trade from his father. Theodore H. Wilhelm arrived in California on August 10,
1870, according to the “1878 Reunion Register” (list of Gold Rush Pioneers 1849 — 1878) that Theo. H.
Wilhelm signed. He spent two years working as a butcher in Dutch Flat, California. Shortly after arriving
in Grass Valley in 1872, he purchased the Empire Market, which he ran for almost 36 years. Sometime
after the 22-year-old Theo arrived in Grass Valley, he met Rosa “Rosie” Binkleman. Theo and Rosa
Binkleman Wilhelm were married in December 1875. Theo was the president of the Pennsylvania Mine,
Grass Valley, from 1891 — 1910. At some point, Theo became one of the “The Big Four,” a term the
people of Grass Valley used to identify the city's top businessmen. Theo and Rosa Binkleman Wilhelm
had five daughters. The oldest daughter, Ida Louise Wilhelm, married Lt. Waldo C. Potter, U.S. Army, in
a military-style wedding at the family’s home at 118 Richardson St. on July 18, 1911. Theo Wilhelm’s
large house and stables for the Empire Meat Market delivery carriages and horses encompassed the
large city lot between Rustic Lane and Smith St., with the house situated on the corner of Richardson St.
and Smith St. The home was eventually purchased from the daughters about 1920. Theo Wilhelm had
died from a heart attack during a trip to see his daughter Ida Louise Wilhelm in San Francisco in 1910.
Rosa Binkleman Wilhelm died in Grass Valley on March 14, 1908, from cancer. On April 16, 1967, the
property owner authorized the Grass Valley Fire Department to raze the building by burning it down.
The land was later sold, and a doctor’s office complex now sits on the Theo Wilhelm property at 120
Richardson St. All the Wilhelm sisters married and moved to San Francisco with their husbands: Ida
Louise Wilhelm Potter and her husband, Brig. General Waldo C. Potter moved to Oakland, CA, after
World War Il and his retirement to be close to the sisters. All five sisters remained very close until the
end of their lives. Theo and Rosa Binkleman Wilhelm are buried to the left of David and Sophie
Binklemann at the old Masonic Cemetery in Grass Valley. Many of the Binkleman children are buried in
that cemetery, as well as one of the Wilhelm girls and her husband, Winifred Wilhelm Tyrrell and James
Tyrrell. James was “the boy next door” she married in “Daught’s,” Winifred Wilhelm Tyrrell’s daughter’s
six-page historical memories of the Binkleman and Wilhelm family histories.
In the 1895 Pictorial History of Nevada County, California, a reissue of “Nevada County Mining Review”
compiled by William Frederick Prisk Jr. and the staff of the Grass Valley Daily Morning Union, and “Grass
Valley and Vicinity” compiled by J.E. Poingdestre with an historical sketch by Samuel Butler, it was said
of Theodore H. Wilhelm: “In all towns and cities the business of selling meats is an important and
prominent one. The Empire Market in Grass Valley is one of the best conducted markets in the State.
Mr. Wilhelm was born in Burlington, lowa, in 1850 and came to California in 1870. He located at Dutch
Flat, Placer County, remaining there a year and a half. He then went to Nevada City, where he worked
for seven months. Mr. Wilhelm came to Grass Valley and has made this city his home since that date.
He has conducted the Empire Market for many years and has established a paying and prosperous
business by fair dealing. Mr. Wilhelm has never held public office, although many times importuned to
accept a nomination. He has been active in all public enterprises and in the ranks of the Republican
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