John Remmers Willms, a pioneer settler born in Hanover, Germany, came to America at age six and at 20 joined the Gold Rush to California with his friend John H. Kappelmann, arriving in Sacramento on October 12, 1849. The partners spent time in the southern mines, worked in the hotel and butcher business in Buena Vista, and with John Dent, brother-in-law of President Ulysses S. Grant, operated a trading post on the Stanislaus River near Knights Ferry. Willms and Kappelmann also built the Table Mountain Water Company, whose water was used for mining in the Buena Vista gravel mines. In 1852 they settled on the old Willms homestead, bought claims from surrounding settlers, and began raising horses for the mines in Virginia City and Bodie. Their "KW" brand was the first brand registered in Tuolumne County in April 1852. In 1867 Willms married Elizabeth Kappelmann, his partner's sister, and they had seven children: John Henry, Etta, Fred, Clara, Arthur, Walter, and Camilla. After Kappelmann's death in 1881, Willms entered the cattle business and expanded the ranch to more than 10,000 acres. The ranch house was built in 1892. The Willms Land and Cattle Company was incorporated in 1909 and operated until World War II, when the corporation was dissolved and each partner managed their own land. Most of the original ranch remains in the hands of Willms descendants and has operated continuously for 163 years.