Sonoma County Biography
B. D. Ackerman
A man of enterprise and pronounced business qualifications, B. D. Ackerman, owner and proprietor of the Sotoyome lumber yard of Healdsburg, is numbered among the most substantial of the younger generation of men in this city. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in Dodge county in 1858, and in that state his parents continued to make their home about eight years after the birth of their son, for in 1866 removal was made to Iowa. There, in Butler county, the father purchased a farm, in the duties of which he found an able assistant in his son, who continued with him until he became competent to manage a property of his own. Altogether he remained in Iowa until the year 1883, when, believing that a better opportunity awaited him in Kansas, he removed to that state, and there carried on general farming and stock-raising for the following thirteen years.
During this time Mr. Ackerman had heard such favorable comments concerning California and its possibilities for young men of push and enterprise that he determined to come west and settle. Closing out his affairs in Kansas, he came to California in 1896, coming directly to Sonoma county, and near Healdsburg, settled upon a fruit ranch of twelve acres to the changed condition of soil and climate to which he had been accustomed, and during the six years that he carried on the ranch he was very successful and had every reason to feel proud of his accomplishments. However, in the meantime he had become interested in the business opportunity offered in the lumber business and in 1902 he bought out the business and good-will of Joseph Price, who had maintained a lumber yard for some time. As a partner in the lumber business Mr. Ackerman was associated with G. R. Harrison, the association continuing for about four years, or until 1906, when Mr. Ackerman bought out his partner and since that time has conducted the business alone. At the time Mr. Ackerman purchased the business of his predecessor it was small and inconsequential, but he has put new life into the enterprise by increasing the stock, enlarging the size of the yard and erecting new sheds, until now it would hardly be taken for the same place. The Sotoyome lumber yard, as his plant is known, is one of the best equipped lumber plants in the county, and the thriving business which the proprietor now commands is constantly on the increase, his trade coming from all parts of the county.
While a resident of Iowa, in 1880, Mr. Ackerman formed domestic ties by his marriage with Miss Amelia R. Miller, a native of the state in which her marriage occurred. Four children have been born of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman, Merle, Charles, Roy and Ruth. Fraternally Mr. Ackerman is identified with two others, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen.
History of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
November 2007 Pages 818-821
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Biography Archive Index ~ Sonoma County Archive Home
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