Moise and Ernest Cerf, Entrepreneurs

Moise and Ernest Cerf were brothers who immigrated to California from Phalsbourg, France. Moise was older by fourteen years, having been born in 1832, while Ernest was born in 1846. Their cousin, Aaron Cerf, born in 1824, had immigrated earlier than Moise by fifteen or more years.

In 1860, Moise Cerf appears in the San Luis Obispo, California census, as Moses Cerf living with Aaron Blochman, Alfred Levy, and Amile Cerf (born 1843, believed to be a brother named Emile who died of typhus fever in 1866). A business partnership was formed known as Blochman and Cerf, Commission Merchants, dealer in wool, hides, grain and produce shipped by steamer or schooner up and down the coast of California. The headquarters of their business in the 1870’s was at Nos. 5 and 7 Drumm Street, San Francisco.  On a printed business receipt, which I am unable to post without permission from the Bancroft Library at U.C. Berkeley, empty spaces would be filled in to indicate how many bales of wool and sacks of wheat, barley, potatoes and beans the company received and would deliver per instructions. Letterhead from the 1880's of A. Blochman and Co., General and Commission Merchants, dealers in grain and wool, San Luis Obispo, CA, shows four companies in small print at the top corners. These businesses are probably working in association with A. Blochman and Co.  They are Blochman and Cerf, 5 and 7 Drumm Street, San Francisco; Zederman and Co., Nipoma [Nipomo]; Kaiser Bros. and Co., Santa Maria; and A. Weill and Co., Los Alamos.

Throughout his life in California, Moise resided primarily in San Francisco, where his wife, Fannie Landeker Cerf, whom he married in 1867, gave birth to almost all of her twelve children between the years 1868 and 1887: Charlotte, Eveline, Barach, Delphine, Myrtile (a son), Eugene, Emelie, Adrienne (born in Santa Cruz, CA), Camille, Laurence, Raymond and Yvon.  Moise was listed as a frequent passenger on local shipping lines between San Francisco and San Luis Obispo.

Ernest lived for many years in San Luis Obispo with his wife, Bobbette Hirsch Cerf, whom he married in 1874 in San Francisco.  Their eight children were born in San Luis Obispo between 1875 and 1886: Charlotte, Marcel, Jeannette, Rebecca, Barry, Lorraine, Emile, and Cedric.  The family eventually moved back to San Francisco.  Here is a copy of Ernest’s French Consulate paper with his marriage documentation on the reverse side.

French Consulate papers for Ernest Cerf

Ernest Cerf's marriage information on reverse side

In San Luis Obispo, Ernest operated a mercantile business on Monterey Street in partnership with Abraham Blochman, Lazarus Kaiser, and Lazare Landeker (brother to Moise’s wife).  The name of the partnership was A. Blochman and Co.  The 1870 San Luis Obispo census indicates Lazarus Kaiser (who became a local banker), Lazare Landeker (a cousin of Lazarus Kaiser), and Morris Zederman lived on one side of Ernest, while Morris Goldtree, another merchant, lived on the other side.

There are many indications that Ernest was respected in the community of San Luis Obispo.  Ernest was a member of King David’s Lodge, serving as a Master Mason in 1873. He is mentioned in an historical diary of San Luis Obispo. The 1884 Diary of Louis Pascual Dallidet mentions an overnight boat trip from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco, where the author meets with E. Cerf, who escorts him around San Francisco while he makes arrangements to enroll in college and to rent a room at a boarding house. Also in the diary, Louis Pascual Dallidet mentions visiting his banker in San Francisco, Cerf and Co.

The Cerf brothers engaged in other business ventures. Blochman and Cerf of No. 14 Spear St., San Francisco, was listed as the agent for IXL Lime Co. of Santa Cruz, CA. IXL Lime Co. was a dealer in Santa Cruz lime, cement, plaster, hair, fire bricks, marble dust, and Monterey sand. Evidence of another business venture appears in a letter dated October 24, 1896, in which Ernest wrote to A. Schilling and Co. regarding sales of tea and spices from Mexico. Ernest also acted as manager of the Tesla Coal Co. located in the California town of Tesla, which no longer exists. The town was located in Alameda County, specifically in Corral Hollow Canyon, twelve miles SE of Livermore and SW of Tracy.

Moise and Ernest aggressively purchased land in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Kern Counties, which will be addressed in a future blog. Also to be discussed in the future is more about the children of Moise and Ernest.

References:

Angel, Myron, History of San Luis Obispo County, California, 1883, Oakland, CA: Thompson and West.

The Louis Pascual Dallidet Diaries, Daniel E. Krieger with Patrick and Eleanor Brown (San Luis Obispo: San Luis Obispo County Historical Society, 1982).

Marcel E. Cerf Collection, Brancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.