He was born into a Jewish family in the Kingdom of Bavaria, in either the towns of Scheinfeld, Nuremberg, or Albertkunstadt, and on April 8, between 1818 and 1820.

[2][4][5] These acres included what is now Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and North Hollywood.

[2] To take the wheat from the valley to Santa Monica, California, he built a wagon path, which he turned into a toll road in 1876.

[2] With his son-in-law, Isaac Newton Van Nuys, Lankershim started the Los Angeles Farming and Milling Co, and they took over full ownership of the San Fernando Valley Ranch Company.

[2][4] They also established the Lankershim Ranch Land & Water Co., a 12,000-acre real estate development in what is now known as North Hollywood, Los Angeles.