John Augustus Sutter was born in 1803 in Baden and grew up in Switzerland. He came to America in 1834 and made his way to California, then part of Mexico, where he built a trading post and fort at what is now Sacramento.
In January 1848, workers building a sawmill for Sutter at Coloma found gold. The discovery set off the California Gold Rush, but it ruined Sutter. Squatters and gold seekers overran his land, and courts rejected many of his land claims.
Why Lititz
In 1871 Sutter and his wife, Anna, moved to Lititz. He had heard the spring water was good for health, and the Moravian schools in town appealed to the family for their grandchildren. They built a brick house on East Main Street, across from the hotel that later took his name.
From Lititz, Sutter traveled often to Washington, D.C., asking Congress to pay him for his California losses. Congress never passed the relief he wanted.
Buried in God’s Acre
Sutter died in a Washington hotel in June 1880. He was brought back to Lititz and buried in the Moravian cemetery, known as God’s Acre, one of the few non-Moravians buried there. Anna was buried beside him the next year.
His house still stands on East Main Street, and his grave is a regular stop for visitors.