Agoston Haraszthy
Encyclopedia
Agoston Haraszthy was a Hungarian-American traveler, writer, town-builder, and pioneer winemaker in Wisconsin
and California
, often referred to as the "Father of California Viticulture," or the "Father of Modern Winemaking in California". One of the first men to plant vineyards in Wisconsin, he was the founder of the Buena Vista vineyards
(now Buena Vista Carneros) in Sonoma, California
, and an early writer on California wine
and viticulture
.
He was the first Hungarian to settle permanently in the United States and only the second to write a book about the country in his native language. He is remembered in Wisconsin
as the founder of the oldest incorporated village in the state. He also operated the first commercial steamboat on the upper Mississippi River
. In San Diego he is remembered as the first town marshal and the first county sheriff. In California he introduced more than three hundred varieties of European grapes.
), the only child of Károly Haraszthy and his wife, Anna Maria (née Fischer). The oft-repeated claim that Haraszthy was born in Futak (Futog
), Hungary (now part of Serbia
), has been disproved: the records of his birth and baptism
are preserved today in the Roman Catholic Church
of Terézváros in Budapest
, where Haraszthy's biographer, Brian McGinty, examined them in 1995.
who traced their roots to Ung county in northeastern Hungary, now part of Hungary
, Slovakia
and Ukraine
. Agoston Haraszthy belonged to the Mokcsai branch of the Haraszthy family, signifying that at one time or another his ancestors owned estates at places called Mokcsa and Haraszth. In Hungary, he was formally known as Mokcsai Haraszthy Ágoston. (In Hungary, family names are written first and given names last. See Hungarian names.) The name has sometimes been written as Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa. This is the Latin form of the name, which was used in official government business and in Catholic Church records in Hungary. In the United States, Haraszthy was known as Agoston Haraszthy.
The pronunciation of his name in Hungarian
is ˈhɒrɒsti ˈaːɡoʃton. In American English
, his name was pronounced ˈɑːɡəstən ˈhærəsti, and the surname Haraszthy ˈhærəsti is still used by his descendants living in California today.
As a Hungarian nobleman, Haraszthy was entitled to be addressed as Spectabilis Dominus (in Latin) or Tekintetes Úr (in Magyar). These titles were the equivalent of Honorable Sir or Noble Lord in English. When he lived in Wisconsin in the 1840s, the local settlers, mostly German
-speaking immigrants, called him "Count" Haraszthy, although he was never addressed by that that title in Hungary, California, or Nicaragua. In California, he was addressed as "Colonel" Haraszthy, an honorary designation commonly given to distinguished “gentlemen” and vaguely derived from his military service in Hungary.
was produced. Both of the Haraszthys were in the wine business in and around Futak.
On January 6, 1833, Agoston Haraszthy married Eleonora Dedinszky in Bács County, Hungary. The Dedinszkys were of Polish descent, though they had lived in Hungary for centuries and long been accepted into the Hungarian nobility
. Agoston and Eleonora Haraszthy were the parents of six children: Geza, Attila, Arpad, Ida, Bela, and Otelia.
in March 1840. Moving through Austria
, Germany
, and England
, Haraszthy and his cousin crossed the Atlantic
to New York
, then proceeded by way of the Hudson River
, the Erie Canal
, and the Great Lakes
to Wisconsin
, where they eventually settled. In Haraszthy’s own words, he came to America “for one reason only–namely, to see this blessed country for myself.”
(which he spoke from birth), and later in English
. When he returned to Hungary in 1842, he made arrangements to write a Hungarian language
book about the United States. He traveled widely through the United States to gather material for the book, which praised American life and enterprise. The two-volume book was published at Pest in 1844 under the title of Utazas Éjszakamerikában (Travels in North America). A second edition was published in 1850. This was the second book about the United States to be published in Hungarian.
. This effort was unsuccessful, however, so they went on to the Sauk Prairie, on the Wisconsin River
west of Madison
. There Haraszthy purchased a large tract of property facing the river and laid out a town. First called Széptaj (Hungarian for "beautiful place"), later Haraszthy (or Haraszthyville or Haraszthopolis), the town was renamed Westfield and finally Sauk City after Haraszthy left for California
in 1849. In 1842, Haraszthy returned to Hungary to bring his parents, wife and children to Wisconsin as permanent American residents. The Haraszthys became United States citizens and never returned to Hungary.
Haraszthy formed a partnership with an Englishman named Robert Bryant and threw himself into a myriad of ambitious projects. Besides the town that he laid out, he built mills, raised corn
and other grain
s, and kept sheep, pig
s, and horse
s. He opened a brickyard, kept a store, operated a ferry across the Wisconsin River, and obtained the approval of the Wisconsin Legislature
to build a bridge across the Wisconsin River. Many of the oldest houses still standing in Sauk City were built with bricks from Haraszthy’s brickyard, although the bridge was not built, for before he could get the project under way he left Wisconsin for California.
Haraszthy was a legendary hunter. He donated land on which the first Roman Catholic church and school in Sauk City were built; owned and operated a steamboat, which carried passengers and freight on the Wisconsin and Mississippi River
s; planted grape
s; and dug wine cellars into hillside slopes above the town. The cellars and slopes are today home to the Wollersheim Winery, one of Wisconsin's best-known wine producers.
in California in 1848, and by the end of that year he completed plans to leave Wisconsin. Early in 1849, he was elected captain of a train of wagons destined for California via the Santa Fe Trail
. Although most California-bound travelers were lured westward by dreams of gold, Haraszthy said that he was going to California “to settle, not for the gold”, and that he intended to plant a vineyard near San Diego. Traveling with his entire family, he left Wisconsin in March 1849 and arrived in San Diego the following December.
from San Diego in September 1851. He served from January 5 to May 4, 1852, advancing proposals to relieve flooding on the San Diego River, build a state hospital in San Diego, ease tax burdens on Southern California
landowners, replace the debt-ridden San Diego city council with a board of trustees, and provide relief for the indigent in San Diego. He also led an unsuccessful movement to divide California into two states.
(Mission Dolores) in San Francisco. His first purchase there was made on March 25, 1852. He tried to raise grapes in San Francisco but found the climate too foggy. He acquired a large tract of land near Crystal Springs on the San Francisco Peninsula (now part of San Mateo County) and planted it to vineyards, but eventually gave up the effort to make wine there, again finding the climate too foggy to ripen the grapes. In both San Francisco and Crystal Springs, Haraszthy continued to import a wide variety of European grape vines and experimented with their planting and cultivation.
In San Francisco, Haraszthy became friendly with a group of Hungarian metallurgists
. He formed a partnership under the name of Haraszthy and Uznay and built a large private refinery facility, called the Eureka Gold and Silver Refinery. When a branch of the United States Mint
opened in San Francisco in April 1854, Haraszthy became the first U.S. assayer
. In August 1855, he became melter and refiner at the Mint. A grand jury investigation of alleged defalcations of gold from the Mint led in September, 1857, to a federal indictment charging Haraszthy with the embezzlement
of $151,550 in gold. A long investigation led to the dismissal of the criminal charges. A civil trial then followed, which fully exonerated Haraszthy in February 1861.
. He moved his vines there from Crystal Springs and began to expand the vineyards and hire Charles Krug
as his winemaker.
In 1857, he began to bore tunnels into the sides of a nearby mountain and build stone cellars at their entrance. He eventually had two large stone winery
buildings, equipped with underground tunnels and the latest wine-making equipment in California. Haraszthy’s cellars at Buena Vista were the first stone wineries in the state. He added acreage to his original purchase, eventually holding more than 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of valley and hillside. He was a proponent of hillside plantings, arguing that vines should be permitted to grow without irrigation. He divided some of his acreage into smaller plots, inducing prominent Californians to come to Sonoma, where he planted vineyards for them. He was a vocal advocate of Chinese
immigration, arguing that Chinese should be permitted to come to California and provide much-needed labor. He built a villa in the middle of the Buena Vista vineyards, in which he lived with his family.
proclaimed that Buena Vista was “the largest establishment of the kind in the world.
John G. Downey
as a commissioner to report to the Legislature on the “ways and means best adapted to promote the improvement and growth of the grape-vine in California”. He decided to make a trip to Europe to investigate the best European vine-planting and winemaking practices and to gather cuttings of European vines. He traveled through France, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain before returning to California in December 1861 with more than 100,000 cuttings of more than 350 different varieties of vines. He offered to sell the vines to the state, propagate them in his Sonoma nursery, test them to determine which were best suited to the California soil and climate, and distribute them to would-be winemakers throughout California. The Legislature refused the offer, leaving Haraszthy to distribute the vines at his own expense. It was a financial setback, as Haraszthy had expended large sums of money in gathering the vines and bringing them back to California.
, the former comandante general of Mexican California, founder of Sonoma, and a neighboring landowner and well-respected winemaker.
On June 1, 1863, the Haraszthy and Vallejo families were united in a double wedding, with two of the Haraszthy sons marrying two of the Vallejo daughters. In that wedding, Natalia Vallejo became Mrs. Attila Haraszthy, and Jovita Vallejo became Mrs. Arpad Haraszthy.
One of Agoston Haraszthy's grandchildren was actress Natalie Kingston.
as a planting technique. This resulted in quicker propagation of vines but also exposed the plants to soil diseases. By the middle of the 1860s, the vines at Buena Vista were growing brown and weak. Haraszthy’s critics believed this was due to his layering. In fact, it was the result of the first infestation of the phylloxera
ever known in California. Almost unknown before it made its appearance in Sonoma, the phylloxera spread in subsequent years throughout the California vineyards and even crossed the Atlantic to France, where it caused devastation. With production lagging, profits from Buena Vista wine were inadequate to pay the Society’s debt. Shareholders forced Haraszthy out of the Vinicultural Society in 1867 and replaced him with another manager, who tore out all of his layered vines. Haraszthy left Buena Vista for another vineyard in Sonoma owned by his wife. While living there, he filed bankruptcy
.
. He formed a partnership with a German
-born physician and surgeon named Theodore Wassmer and began to develop a large sugar plantation near the seaside port of Corinto, Nicaragua
, where he planned to produce rum and sell it in American markets. On July 6, 1869, he disappeared in a river on his Nicaraguan property. Whether he fell into the river and was thereafter washed out to sea, or was dragged under the water by alligators which infested the area, was never finally established. His body was never found.
vines to California is a subject of controversy. In the 1870s and 1880s, Haraszthy's son Arpad Haraszthy stated that his father brought the first Zinfandels to California in the early 1850s, possibly as early as 1852. Arpad was then a well-known champagne producer in San Francisco and President of the California State Board of Viticultural Commissioners, and his statement was widely accepted. A century later, however, California wine historian Charles L. Sullivan began to challenge Arpad's statement.
In 2003, Sullivan published a book in which he showed that other men brought the Zinfandel to the East Coast of the United States as early as the 1820s and to California at unspecified dates in the 1850s. Although Sullivan praised Agoston Haraszthy as a “truly important figure in the history of the American West” and “an important force in the history of California winegrowing”, he argues that there is no credible evidence that Haraszthy brought the Zinfandel to California and that Arpad Haraszthy’s claim about it was a “myth”. In his biography of Haraszthy, however, McGinty presents evidence that Haraszthy may well have obtained Zinfandel vines as early as 1852 with the help of Lázár Mészáros
, former Hungarian Minister of War and an avid horticulturalist who was then operating a nursery in New Jersey. This evidence would tend to corroborate Arpad Haraszthy's recollections. Sullivan does not discuss it in his book, thus leaving the issue in controversy.
. Seventy wine journalists cast ballots, honoring Haraszthy for his contributions to the early development of the wine industry in California. The award was accepted in Haraszthy's behalf by his great-great grandson, Vallejo Haraszthy.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, often referred to as the "Father of California Viticulture," or the "Father of Modern Winemaking in California". One of the first men to plant vineyards in Wisconsin, he was the founder of the Buena Vista vineyards
Buena Vista Winery
Buena Vista Winery , located in Sonoma Valley, is the oldest commercial winery in California. It was founded by Agoston Haraszthy in 1857.-External links:*...
(now Buena Vista Carneros) in Sonoma, California
Sonoma, California
Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...
, and an early writer on California wine
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
and viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
.
He was the first Hungarian to settle permanently in the United States and only the second to write a book about the country in his native language. He is remembered in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
as the founder of the oldest incorporated village in the state. He also operated the first commercial steamboat on the upper Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. In San Diego he is remembered as the first town marshal and the first county sheriff. In California he introduced more than three hundred varieties of European grapes.
Birth
Haraszthy was born in 1812, in Pest, Hungary (since 1873 a part of BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
), the only child of Károly Haraszthy and his wife, Anna Maria (née Fischer). The oft-repeated claim that Haraszthy was born in Futak (Futog
Futog
Futog is a town in Serbia, in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. It is part of the metropolitan area of Novi Sad.-Name:The name Futog derives from Old Church Slavonic term for “on the mouth” - vo utok ....
), Hungary (now part of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
), has been disproved: the records of his birth and baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
are preserved today in the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
of Terézváros in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, where Haraszthy's biographer, Brian McGinty, examined them in 1995.
Nobility
The Haraszthys were a Hungarian noble familyNobility in the Kingdom of Hungary
The origin of the nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary can be traced to the Magyar conquest of Pannonia in the 9th century, and it developed over the course of the Middle Ages...
who traced their roots to Ung county in northeastern Hungary, now part of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Agoston Haraszthy belonged to the Mokcsai branch of the Haraszthy family, signifying that at one time or another his ancestors owned estates at places called Mokcsa and Haraszth. In Hungary, he was formally known as Mokcsai Haraszthy Ágoston. (In Hungary, family names are written first and given names last. See Hungarian names.) The name has sometimes been written as Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa. This is the Latin form of the name, which was used in official government business and in Catholic Church records in Hungary. In the United States, Haraszthy was known as Agoston Haraszthy.
The pronunciation of his name in Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
is ˈhɒrɒsti ˈaːɡoʃton. In American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
, his name was pronounced ˈɑːɡəstən ˈhærəsti, and the surname Haraszthy ˈhærəsti is still used by his descendants living in California today.
As a Hungarian nobleman, Haraszthy was entitled to be addressed as Spectabilis Dominus (in Latin) or Tekintetes Úr (in Magyar). These titles were the equivalent of Honorable Sir or Noble Lord in English. When he lived in Wisconsin in the 1840s, the local settlers, mostly German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-speaking immigrants, called him "Count" Haraszthy, although he was never addressed by that that title in Hungary, California, or Nicaragua. In California, he was addressed as "Colonel" Haraszthy, an honorary designation commonly given to distinguished “gentlemen” and vaguely derived from his military service in Hungary.
Life in Hungary
Both Agoston and Charles Haraszthy owned estates in a part of southern Hungary called the Bácska, now a part of Serbia. Agoston's father-in-law was Ferenc Dedinszky, the superintendent of a large estate at Futak on the Danube River where, among other things, vines were cultivated and wineWine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
was produced. Both of the Haraszthys were in the wine business in and around Futak.
On January 6, 1833, Agoston Haraszthy married Eleonora Dedinszky in Bács County, Hungary. The Dedinszkys were of Polish descent, though they had lived in Hungary for centuries and long been accepted into the Hungarian nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
. Agoston and Eleonora Haraszthy were the parents of six children: Geza, Attila, Arpad, Ida, Bela, and Otelia.
To America
Traveling with a maternal cousin named Károly Fischer, Haraszthy left Hungary for the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in March 1840. Moving through Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Haraszthy and his cousin crossed the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, then proceeded by way of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
, and the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, where they eventually settled. In Haraszthy’s own words, he came to America “for one reason only–namely, to see this blessed country for myself.”
Travels in North America
Haraszthy was a writer in his native Hungarian, in GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(which he spoke from birth), and later in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. When he returned to Hungary in 1842, he made arrangements to write a Hungarian language
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
book about the United States. He traveled widely through the United States to gather material for the book, which praised American life and enterprise. The two-volume book was published at Pest in 1844 under the title of Utazas Éjszakamerikában (Travels in North America). A second edition was published in 1850. This was the second book about the United States to be published in Hungarian.
Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, Haraszthy and his cousin attempted to settle on some land at Lake KoshkonongLake Koshkonong
Lake Koshkonong is a reservoir in southern Wisconsin. It lies along the Rock River, . down-river from Fort Atkinson, primarily in southwestern Jefferson County, although small portions of the lake extend into southeastern Dane and northern Rock counties....
. This effort was unsuccessful, however, so they went on to the Sauk Prairie, on the Wisconsin River
Wisconsin River
-External links:* * * , Wisconsin Historical Society* * * *...
west of Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
. There Haraszthy purchased a large tract of property facing the river and laid out a town. First called Széptaj (Hungarian for "beautiful place"), later Haraszthy (or Haraszthyville or Haraszthopolis), the town was renamed Westfield and finally Sauk City after Haraszthy left for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1849. In 1842, Haraszthy returned to Hungary to bring his parents, wife and children to Wisconsin as permanent American residents. The Haraszthys became United States citizens and never returned to Hungary.
Haraszthy formed a partnership with an Englishman named Robert Bryant and threw himself into a myriad of ambitious projects. Besides the town that he laid out, he built mills, raised corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and other grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
s, and kept sheep, pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s, and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s. He opened a brickyard, kept a store, operated a ferry across the Wisconsin River, and obtained the approval of the Wisconsin Legislature
Wisconsin Legislature
The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Wisconsin Senate and the lower Wisconsin Assembly...
to build a bridge across the Wisconsin River. Many of the oldest houses still standing in Sauk City were built with bricks from Haraszthy’s brickyard, although the bridge was not built, for before he could get the project under way he left Wisconsin for California.
Haraszthy was a legendary hunter. He donated land on which the first Roman Catholic church and school in Sauk City were built; owned and operated a steamboat, which carried passengers and freight on the Wisconsin and Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
s; planted grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s; and dug wine cellars into hillside slopes above the town. The cellars and slopes are today home to the Wollersheim Winery, one of Wisconsin's best-known wine producers.
Across the Plains
Like many others, Haraszthy was excited by news of the discovery of goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
in California in 1848, and by the end of that year he completed plans to leave Wisconsin. Early in 1849, he was elected captain of a train of wagons destined for California via the Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...
. Although most California-bound travelers were lured westward by dreams of gold, Haraszthy said that he was going to California “to settle, not for the gold”, and that he intended to plant a vineyard near San Diego. Traveling with his entire family, he left Wisconsin in March 1849 and arrived in San Diego the following December.
San Diego
In San Diego, he formed a partnership with Juan Bandini, a prominent Spanish-Californian, and launched a host of business and agricultural projects. He planted fruit orchards, operated a livery stable and stagecoach line, opened a butcher shop, and organized a syndicate to subdivide a large section of the San Diego Bay shore into streets, parks, and building lots. The land lay between Old Town and New San Diego and was called Middle San Diego, or Middletown. It was informally known in San Diego as “Haraszthyville”. While in San Diego, Haraszthy imported grape vines by mail. Some came from the eastern United States, others from Europe. He planted a vineyard on a tract of land near the San Diego River. On April 1, 1850, in the first election held under the new American administration of California, Haraszthy was elected sheriff of San Diego County. He also served as city marshal. In his capacity as a private contractor, he built a jail for the city of San Diego, which was completed in 1851.California State Assembly
Haraszthy was elected to the California State AssemblyCalifornia State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
from San Diego in September 1851. He served from January 5 to May 4, 1852, advancing proposals to relieve flooding on the San Diego River, build a state hospital in San Diego, ease tax burdens on Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
landowners, replace the debt-ridden San Diego city council with a board of trustees, and provide relief for the indigent in San Diego. He also led an unsuccessful movement to divide California into two states.
San Francisco and San Mateo
While attending the legislature, Haraszthy began to buy real estate near Mission San Francisco de AsísMission San Francisco de Asís
Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...
(Mission Dolores) in San Francisco. His first purchase there was made on March 25, 1852. He tried to raise grapes in San Francisco but found the climate too foggy. He acquired a large tract of land near Crystal Springs on the San Francisco Peninsula (now part of San Mateo County) and planted it to vineyards, but eventually gave up the effort to make wine there, again finding the climate too foggy to ripen the grapes. In both San Francisco and Crystal Springs, Haraszthy continued to import a wide variety of European grape vines and experimented with their planting and cultivation.
In San Francisco, Haraszthy became friendly with a group of Hungarian metallurgists
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
. He formed a partnership under the name of Haraszthy and Uznay and built a large private refinery facility, called the Eureka Gold and Silver Refinery. When a branch of the United States Mint
San Francisco Mint
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint, and was opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new one in 1874. This building, the Old United States Mint, also known affectionately as The Granite Lady,...
opened in San Francisco in April 1854, Haraszthy became the first U.S. assayer
Assayer
An assayer is a person who tests ores and minerals and analyzes them to determine their composition and value. They may use spectrographic analysis, chemical solutions, and chemical or laboratory equipment, such as furnaces, beakers, graduates, pipettes, and crucibles.An assayer separates metals...
. In August 1855, he became melter and refiner at the Mint. A grand jury investigation of alleged defalcations of gold from the Mint led in September, 1857, to a federal indictment charging Haraszthy with the embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
of $151,550 in gold. A long investigation led to the dismissal of the criminal charges. A civil trial then followed, which fully exonerated Haraszthy in February 1861.
Sonoma
While the mint investigation was pending, Haraszthy moved to Sonoma, about fifty miles north of San Francisco. In 1856, he bought a small vineyard northeast of the town and renamed it Buena VistaBuena Vista Winery
Buena Vista Winery , located in Sonoma Valley, is the oldest commercial winery in California. It was founded by Agoston Haraszthy in 1857.-External links:*...
. He moved his vines there from Crystal Springs and began to expand the vineyards and hire Charles Krug
Charles Krug
Charles Krug was among the original pioneers of winemaking in the Napa Valley, and was the founder of the winery of the same name. Krug immigrated to the United States from Prussia in 1851 and served as an apprentice winemaker for both Agoston Haraszthy and then John Patchett before establishing...
as his winemaker.
In 1857, he began to bore tunnels into the sides of a nearby mountain and build stone cellars at their entrance. He eventually had two large stone winery
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
buildings, equipped with underground tunnels and the latest wine-making equipment in California. Haraszthy’s cellars at Buena Vista were the first stone wineries in the state. He added acreage to his original purchase, eventually holding more than 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of valley and hillside. He was a proponent of hillside plantings, arguing that vines should be permitted to grow without irrigation. He divided some of his acreage into smaller plots, inducing prominent Californians to come to Sonoma, where he planted vineyards for them. He was a vocal advocate of Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
immigration, arguing that Chinese should be permitted to come to California and provide much-needed labor. He built a villa in the middle of the Buena Vista vineyards, in which he lived with his family.
"Report on Grapes and Wine of California"
In 1858, Haraszthy wrote a 19-page “Report on Grapes and Wine of California,” which was published by the California State Agricultural Society. With practical advice for planting vines and making wines, it encouraged the planting of grapes throughout the state. In later years, Haraszthy’s “Report” was recognized as the first treatise on winemaking written and published in California, and praised as the “first American explication of traditional European winemaking practices.”President of State Agricultural Society
Haraszthy contributed articles to newspapers and made speeches to gatherings of agriculturalists. He entered his wines in the competition of the California State Fair and received the highest awards. On April 23, 1862, he was elected president of the California State Agricultural Society.Buena Vista Vinicultural Society
In 1863, Haraszthy incorporated the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society, the first large corporation in California (perhaps in the United States) organized for the express purpose of engaging in agriculture. With the support of prominent investors, he greatly expanded his vineyards in Sonoma, making wine which was sold as far away as New York. In 1864, an article in Harper's MagazineHarper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
proclaimed that Buena Vista was “the largest establishment of the kind in the world.
Mission to Europe
In 1861, Haraszthy was appointed by California GovernorGovernor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
John G. Downey
John G. Downey
John Gately Downey was an Irish-American politician and the seventh Governor of California from January 14, 1860 to January 10, 1862. Until the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, Downey was California's only foreign-born governor...
as a commissioner to report to the Legislature on the “ways and means best adapted to promote the improvement and growth of the grape-vine in California”. He decided to make a trip to Europe to investigate the best European vine-planting and winemaking practices and to gather cuttings of European vines. He traveled through France, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain before returning to California in December 1861 with more than 100,000 cuttings of more than 350 different varieties of vines. He offered to sell the vines to the state, propagate them in his Sonoma nursery, test them to determine which were best suited to the California soil and climate, and distribute them to would-be winemakers throughout California. The Legislature refused the offer, leaving Haraszthy to distribute the vines at his own expense. It was a financial setback, as Haraszthy had expended large sums of money in gathering the vines and bringing them back to California.
Haraszthy-Vallejo Wedding
In Sonoma, Haraszthy became friendly with Mariano Guadalupe VallejoMariano Guadalupe Vallejo
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californian military commander, politician, and rancher. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of Mexico, and shaped the transition of California from a Mexican district to an American state...
, the former comandante general of Mexican California, founder of Sonoma, and a neighboring landowner and well-respected winemaker.
On June 1, 1863, the Haraszthy and Vallejo families were united in a double wedding, with two of the Haraszthy sons marrying two of the Vallejo daughters. In that wedding, Natalia Vallejo became Mrs. Attila Haraszthy, and Jovita Vallejo became Mrs. Arpad Haraszthy.
One of Agoston Haraszthy's grandchildren was actress Natalie Kingston.
Phylloxera
Haraszthy's management of the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society was both visionary and reckless. He borrowed large sums of money to expand the vineyards and cellars. He employed layeringLayering
Layering is a means of plant propagation in which a portion of an aerial stem grows roots while still attached to the parent plant and then detaches as an independent plant. Layering has evolved as a common means of vegetative propagation of numerous species in natural environments...
as a planting technique. This resulted in quicker propagation of vines but also exposed the plants to soil diseases. By the middle of the 1860s, the vines at Buena Vista were growing brown and weak. Haraszthy’s critics believed this was due to his layering. In fact, it was the result of the first infestation of the phylloxera
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
ever known in California. Almost unknown before it made its appearance in Sonoma, the phylloxera spread in subsequent years throughout the California vineyards and even crossed the Atlantic to France, where it caused devastation. With production lagging, profits from Buena Vista wine were inadequate to pay the Society’s debt. Shareholders forced Haraszthy out of the Vinicultural Society in 1867 and replaced him with another manager, who tore out all of his layered vines. Haraszthy left Buena Vista for another vineyard in Sonoma owned by his wife. While living there, he filed bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
.
In Nicaragua
In 1868, Haraszthy left California for NicaraguaNicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. He formed a partnership with a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born physician and surgeon named Theodore Wassmer and began to develop a large sugar plantation near the seaside port of Corinto, Nicaragua
Corinto, Nicaragua
Corinto is a town of 17,000 on the northwest Pacific coast of Nicaragua in the province of Chinandega. The municipality was founded in 1863 and was named in honour of the Greek city of Corinth.- Economy :...
, where he planned to produce rum and sell it in American markets. On July 6, 1869, he disappeared in a river on his Nicaraguan property. Whether he fell into the river and was thereafter washed out to sea, or was dragged under the water by alligators which infested the area, was never finally established. His body was never found.
The Zinfandel controversy
The claim that Haraszthy brought the first ZinfandelZinfandel
Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kaštelanski, and also the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in Puglia , where it was introduced in the 18th century...
vines to California is a subject of controversy. In the 1870s and 1880s, Haraszthy's son Arpad Haraszthy stated that his father brought the first Zinfandels to California in the early 1850s, possibly as early as 1852. Arpad was then a well-known champagne producer in San Francisco and President of the California State Board of Viticultural Commissioners, and his statement was widely accepted. A century later, however, California wine historian Charles L. Sullivan began to challenge Arpad's statement.
In 2003, Sullivan published a book in which he showed that other men brought the Zinfandel to the East Coast of the United States as early as the 1820s and to California at unspecified dates in the 1850s. Although Sullivan praised Agoston Haraszthy as a “truly important figure in the history of the American West” and “an important force in the history of California winegrowing”, he argues that there is no credible evidence that Haraszthy brought the Zinfandel to California and that Arpad Haraszthy’s claim about it was a “myth”. In his biography of Haraszthy, however, McGinty presents evidence that Haraszthy may well have obtained Zinfandel vines as early as 1852 with the help of Lázár Mészáros
Lázár Mészáros
General Lázár Mészáros , was the Minister of War during the 1848 Hungarian Revolution....
, former Hungarian Minister of War and an avid horticulturalist who was then operating a nursery in New Jersey. This evidence would tend to corroborate Arpad Haraszthy's recollections. Sullivan does not discuss it in his book, thus leaving the issue in controversy.
Vintners Hall of Fame
In March 2007, Haraszthy was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of AmericaCulinary Institute of America
The Culinary Institute of America is a non-profit culinary college located in Hyde Park USA, founded in 1946. The CIA also has branch campuses in St. Helena, California, and San Antonio, Texas, as well as a campus in Singapore. It is a not-for-profit academic institution of higher learning...
. Seventy wine journalists cast ballots, honoring Haraszthy for his contributions to the early development of the wine industry in California. The award was accepted in Haraszthy's behalf by his great-great grandson, Vallejo Haraszthy.
See also
- California wineCalifornia wineCalifornia wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% of American wine is produced in the state...
- History of California wine
- History of San Diego, CaliforniaHistory of San Diego, CaliforniaThe recorded history of the San Diego, California, region goes back to the Spanish penetration of California in the 16th century.-Pre-colonial and colonial period:left|thumb|240px|Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego...
- Hungarian Americans
- List of California Historical Landmarks
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Sonoma County, California
- Sonoma County wineSonoma County wineSonoma County wine is wine made in Sonoma County, California, USA. County names in the United States automatically qualify as legal appellations of origin for wine produced from grapes grown in that county and do not require registration with the United States Department of the Treasury, Alcohol...
- Wisconsin wineWisconsin wineWisconsin wine refers to wine made from grapes grown in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The first wine grapes were planted in Wisconsin by Agoston Haraszthy in the mid-nineteenth century, before he emigrated to California and helped to found wine industry there. As have others since, Haraszthy found...
Works consulted
- Balzer, Robert Lawrence. Wines of California. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1978. ISBN 978-0-8109-0750-8
- Beard, James A. “Shopping for California Wines,” House and Garden, August 1956.
- Carosso, Vincent P. The California Wine Industry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951, 408.
- Darlington, David. Angel’s Visits: An Inquiry into the Mystery of Zinfandel. New York, Henry Holt, 1991.
- Feleky, Charles. “Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa,” in Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone (eds.) Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1931, 236-237.
- Haraszthy, Agoston. Grape Culture, Wines, and Wine-Making, with Notes Upon Agriculture and Horticulture. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1862.
- Haraszthy, Agoston. “Report on Grapes and Wine of California.” In Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1858. Sacramento: John O’Meara, State Printer, 1859, pp. 311–329.
- “The Haraszthy Family,” manuscript, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- Hutchinson, John N. “The Astonishing Hungarian.” Wine and Food [London], No. 137 (Spring 1968).
- Johnson, Hugh. Vintage: The Story of Wine. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989.
- Jones, Idwal. Vines in the Sun. New York: William Morrow, 1949.
- McGinty, Brian. Haraszthy at the Mint. Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1975.
- McGinty, Brian. Strong Wine: The Life and Legend of Agoston Haraszthy. Stanford University PressStanford University PressThe Stanford University Press is the publishing house of Stanford University. In 1892, an independent publishing company was established at the university. The first use of the name "Stanford University Press" in a book's imprinting occurred in 1895...
, 1998. ISBN 978-0-8047-3145-4 - Mokcsai Haraszthy Ágoston, Utazas Éjszakamerikában. Pest [Hungary]: Heckenast Gusztáv, 1844. 2 vols.
- Parish of Futtak. Marriage Register, January 6, 1833.
- Penhinou, Ernest P., and Sidney S. Greenleaf. A Dictionary of Wine Growers and Wine Makers in 1860. Berkeley: Tamalapais Press, 1967.
- Pinney, Thomas. A History of Wine in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
- Sullivan, Charles L. “A Man Named Agoston Haraszthy.” Parts 1-3. Vintage Magazine, February-April, 1980.
- Sullivan, Charles L. A Companion to California Wine. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998.
- Sullivan, Charles L. Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003.
- St. Francis Solano Church, Sonoma, California. Register of Marriages.
- Wait, Frona Eunice. Wines and Vines of California. San Francisco: Bancroft Company, 1889.
- ”Wine-Making in California,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 29 (1864).
External links
- Agoston Haraszthy, 1812–1869: Aristocrat, Entrepreneur, Official, Winemaker Encyclopedia of San Francisco
- Agoston Haraszthy: San Diego County's First Sheriff, 1850–51 San Diego County Sheriff's Department
- Count Agoston Haraszthy The Maritime Heritage Project
- Haraszthy (De Moksca), Agoston 1812 - 1869 Dictionary of Wisconsin History
- "Documents: Haraszthy's Wisconsin experience" Wisconsin Magazine Of History, 23: 2 (Dec 1939).
- A REMARKABLE CAREER.; Story of a Hungarian Emigrant's Adventures in America, obituary of Haraszthy at the New York Times