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CARL J. TROST.
An expert painter and decorator, Carl J. Trost, of Napa, has gained not only material success through his work
but also a reputation for artistic ability and good taste which has given him marked prestige in his community.
He is a native of Germany, and his birth occurred on the 14th of January, 1861. He was reared and educated in his
native land and learned the trade of painting, in which he served a four years' apprenticeship. He became a master
painter and worked at his vocation until 1886, when he came to the United States. Locating at once in San Francisco,
he entered the employ of one of the city's largest painting contractors, who employed from one hundred to two hundred
men. During that period Mr. Trost was employed in the decorating of the Mason Ridge Hotel, the old Union Square
Hotel and other fine structures in San Francisco. He remained with that firm for about five years and for about
sixteen years was master painter for Fred Shafer. He gained recognition as one of the best interior decorators
in the state and was sent to various outside points to do special work, going to Oakland, Alameda, San Rafael and
Mill valley. In the fall of 1905 Mr. Trost came to Napa and began contracting in painting and decorating, and during
the subsequent years he has commanded a goodly share of the work in that line in this city and vicinity. He constantly
employs from three to five men and has done the decorative work on many of the best structures here, including
the Hays theater, the Migliavacca block and other buildings and homes. He carries a fine line of wall paper, paints
and so forth and is local agent for the Bass Heuter paints and the Pan American wall paper.
In October, 1884, before coming to this country, Mr. Trost was married to Miss Matilda Cordes, a native of Hanover,
Germany, and they are the parents of a daughter, Marie, who is the wife of William Bridges, of Knight's Landing,
this state. Mrs. Trost's father, John Dietrich Cordes, was a cabinetmaker by trade. He was a pioneer of California,
having crossed the plains to this state in 1849. He had been living in New York, and in that city he made by hand
the first extension table made in America. For a time he worked in the gold mines in this state and later ran a
grocery store in San Francisco. He was an intimate friend of Claus Spreckels, James Mocky, Leland Stanford, James
Fair and other prominent men of that day here, men who helped make the early history of the state. In 1857 Mr.
Cordes left California and returned to Germany to spend the remainder of his life. However, he informed his children
of the wonderful oportunities here, and seven of them are now residents of the Golden state. He will long be remembered
as a woodworker of extraordinary talent, evidenced by the fact that there were presented to him three diplomas
for excellence in cabinetmaking and woodworking.
Mr. Trost is a member of the Sons of Herman, while his religious affiliation is with the German Lutheran church,
of which he is a generous supporter, having been one of the founders of that society, in 1905. After becoming well
established in this country, Mr. Trost sent to Germany for two of his nephews, Otto and Richard Cruse, who came
to California and are now successfully engaged in business in San Francisco. Mr. Trost is one of the progressive
and wide awake citizens of Napa, where he is well known and well thought of.
From:
History of Solano County, California
BY: Marguerite Hune
and
Napa County, California
BY: Harry Lawrence Gunn
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Chicago 1926
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