Bio-Coast Counties
SURNAMES: NISSAN

Following upon a seagoing career of forty-two years, Capt. Carl Christian Schnauer came to Santa Clara county in 1896, and has since lived on his finely equipped ranch of thirty acres near Santa Clara.  All that modern ingenuity can suggest has been added to make this an ideal home, and the erstwhile mariner find in his fruits and flowers, gracious neighbors and peaceful surroundings a grateful contrast to the storm and stress and adventure to which he has been accustomed.  His land is entirely devoted to prunes, and he has a dryer and packing houses, and all modern general improvements.

Captain Schnauer inherits that love for the sea which has been imbedded in the heart of the Danish nation for centuries.  He was born in Denmark February 22, 1846, the second of the two sons and o daughter born to his parents, Carl and Henrietta Schnauer, also born in Denmark.  His father was a weaver by trade, making the meager wages of the people who plied their trade ere machinery revolutionize it, and it became necessary for his children to consider the importance of earning their own livelihood about that of acquiring an education.  Carl Christian was fourteen years old when he shipped in the bark Napoleon as a cabin boy, and in this capacity he visited the majority of  the great seaport towns of the world, acquiring a broad knowledge of nautical affairs. He came to San Francisco first in 1863 and shortly afterward was shipwrecked in the Benicia straits. Next he became boatswain o the Ivanhoe and went to South America and New York, sailing from there for a few years.  Later the captain took the Ivanhoe to South America.  Captain Schnauer then came to San Francisco via Panama and in 1873 he was made commander of the schooner Oscola.  From that time on his fortunes brightened perceptibly, and he not only commanded, but built and owned ocean crafts, including the Ida Florence, Fairy Queen, Ida Schnauer and Jessie Nicholson.  The Wrestler, a stanch boat many years ago, is still running, but the Harvester, equally promising and costly, was lost at sea.  Captain Schnauer also built the four-masted steel ship John Ena, and is still the largest owner of the same, which now plies between New York and the Orient.  The Ena is a barque of twenty-seven hundred tonnage, register length three hundred and twelve feet, breadth forty-eigh feet, and depth twenty-two feet.  As will be seen from the dimensions, it is a boat of which any owner might be proud, and compares favorably with any of its kind which sails the seas.

Captain Schnauer has never had time or inclination for political aspirations.  He has voted comparatively few times in his life, but has then shown a preference for the Republican ticket.  In San Francisco he married Eleanor Nissan, a country woman, who came to America from Denmark shortly before her marriage.  Four children have been born of this union, Uno, Ena, Roy and Carl C., Jr.  Captain Schnauer is a typical mariner, having the voice and manner of one accustomed to implicit obedience.  His sterling traits are appreciated by his many friends  on land, as they were by  those who sailed the main with him and heard his voice above the roar of the tempest.  He was a successful captain and vessel owner, and success has not deserted him though turned into quieter and more gracious channels.

History of the State of California of Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California- Guinn, 1904, page  1256

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