The Dairy and West Street Home of John Nottlemann

Above: the Dairy and West Street home of John Nottlemann. The Nottlemann family appears standing in front pictured with their infamous cattle. Courtesy of Chuck Griffin.

Shown in the above image is the John Nottlemann house and dairy on West Street, in downtown Redding. Take a look at the cows and the adjoining dairy in the photo above. Local lore and legend claims that they utilized the nearby courthouse lawn as trespassers. It’s possible that these were the cows which were eating the grass, and leaving behind smelly piles of fecal matter which made the area on the west side of town stink for a few years. People complained about them and the smell to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors which resulted in Shasta County erecting a fence around the courthouse property in Redding to keep Nottlemann's cows off the grass and to protect the property from being damaged by them.

John Nottlemann (his surname is also found as Nottleman) was born on June 23, 1852, a German emigrant who arrived and settled at Redding in 1888 and established this successful business venture that year which lasted in business for a total of twenty-one years. According to his obituary we learn the following about his business practices: “in business he always made warm friends for himself and kept in their favor even at a cost of sacrifice.” During his lifetime, Nottlemann was active in the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Foresters. He also served as a fire fighter within the Redding Fire Department. 

Nottlemann married a German emigrant woman named Anna Schultz at Redding in 1891, and during their union two daughters were born to them consisting of Emma in 1892 and Frieda in 1895. During the interim of their births their father was naturalized as an American citizen on March 8, 1894, at Redding in the Shasta County Superior Court. The couple were divorced in 1902. It was the wife who filed for divorce against her husband. In divorce Anna was awarded by the court the family home on West Street and the adjoining dairy property after proving to them that John gave her a deed for the property which John continued to oversee business relations after the divorce was granted. She also received guardianship of their two children. John Nottlemann moved into a residential building on Chestnut Street after the divorce was finalized which is where he remained until his death. However, the court awarded John one horse, one wagon, and two cows and presumably the court was rumored to have ordered both parties to fence in their cattle so they wouldn't have fecal matter issues on the courthouse lawn, since Shasta County was wanting to take down their fence at that time and reduce further problems from their cattle at the courthouse property.

In 1907, John Nottlemann became a founding member of the Redding Dairying Association with local dairymen Allen Kite, Milton G. Kite, and Edmund Wyndham as founding members of this organization. Their mission was to protect and uphold the mutual business interests of the association for the proper protection of their patrons against the purchase of impure, unwholesome or adulterated dairying products and to establish a just and uniform price for any members of this organization. By reason of the advance price of hay, and mill stuffs and hired help in connection with dairying which at that time had materially increased the cost of producing dairy products. The set standards of dairy products rendered by the Redding Dairying Association for that time period follows below: 

"Retail:

Pint, per month, $1.75

Quart, per month $3.00

Three Pints, per month $4.50

One-half Gallon, per month $6.00

Wholesale:

1 Gallon, 30 cents per gallon.

3 Gallon, and over, 25 cents per gallon.

Cream, 30 cents per gallon."

John Nottlemann died on August 7, 1909, at the age of fifty-six-years-old. His occupation was usually rendered as a milkman or a dairyman. John is buried at Redding Memorial Park, in Redding. His ex-wife survived him, and she died at Redding on May 3, 1943, at the age of eighty-years-old. She is also buried at Redding Memorial Park in Redding.

Above: Anna (Schultz) Nottlemann and her husband John Nottlemann. 

Courtesy of Chuck Griffin. 

Resources: 

John Nottlemann, in the Shasta County, California, U.S. Naturalization Records, 1852-1932

1898 Shasta County, California Great Register

1900 U.S. Census 

Nottlemans Wife Wants A Divorce - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 14, 1902

Mrs. Nottleman Gets A Divorce - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 22, 1902

John Nottleman in the California U.S. Death Index, 1905-1939

Notice - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 28, 1907

John Nottleman Ill - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, February 12, 1909

Condition Serious - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 4, 1909

John Nottlemann Suffers No More - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 8, 1909

1910 U.S. Census

1920 U.S Census

1930 U.S. Census

1940 U.S. Census

Anna Nottlemann, in the California U.S. Death Index, 1940-1997