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Agoston Haraszthy (Ah-gush-tun Harris-tee) (august 30, 1812 in Futak, Hungary-july 6, 1869 in Texas), the “Father of Modern Viticulture in California,” was born in Hungary. Commonly referred to as "Count Haraszthy" not actually a count though he was from a noble family.

Life

He was invited to Washington by Daniel Webster and other leading Democrats in 1840, to discuss commercial relations between the US and Hungary. Although he was a chemist and metallurgist, he spent most of his life in the wine business.

going west to Wisconsin

In 1840-1841 he travelled West, and impressed by what he saw, first he purchased a small plot along the Wisconsin river, later (with his partner Robert Bryant), bought 10,000 acres for a townsite and founded Szeptaj, which later renamed as Sauk City. The name Széptáj is merged from two hungarian words: szép (nice/beautiful) and táj (region/scenery) together meaning Beautiful scenery. Later he founded the first steamboat transport company on the Wisconsin River. In spite of these successes, Haraszthy was disappointed in not being able to establish the high quality vineyards of his native Hungary.

On to California

On Christman day of 1848 Haraszthy, his wife, six children, his father and stepmother, and Thomas W. Sutherland, the former U.S. Attorney for Wisconsin Territory who was Haraszthy's stepbrother departed for California.

In Kansas Territory Haraszthy formed a wagon train of about 60 people. As wagon master, Haraszthy led the group safely to San Diego, arriving in late December 1849.

He purchased a plot adjacent to Mission San Luis Rey and with his sons Attila and Arpad planted a fruit orchard. He later bought 160 acres in conjunction with local friends in Mission Valley and planted peach and cherry trees with stock sent from New York State.

In San Diego he set-up the first regularly scheduled omnibus transit system and established a livery stable and also established a butcher shop.

In the first election after California bacame a state, in March 1850, Haraszthy was elected county sheriff. In May 1850, the city of San Diego was incorporated and Haraszthy was chosen to be the first City Marshall; his father, Charles, was elected Magistrate and Land Commissioner; his step-brother, Tom Sutherland became San Diego's first City Attorney.

In 1851 Haraszthy was elected to the California State Assembly and resigned his other offices. He succeeded in getting funding for the expansion of San Diego Harbor and the first public hospital in the county. He blocked the establishment of a state telegraph monopoly based in and controlled from San Francisco. He was the first to introduce the legislation to divide California into two states: North and South. That bill died in the State Senate because of powerful interests in Northern California.

Wine time

San Francisco, February, 1852 "In his frock coat and stovepipe hat, Colonel Agoston Haraszthy bent over the newly-arrived bundle of European vines, peering through a lens. A faded label bore an unfamiliar name, which seemed to be 'Zinfandel'. He planted them in his garden, and with the unfolding of their leaves unfolded the future of winegrowing in California." (Idwal Jones, Vines in the Sun)

In 1857, he purchased land in California’s Sonoma Valley and began planting vineyards. In 1861, the State Legislature commissioned him to travel to Europe in order to purchase grapevines of every possible variety. He pioneered a number of viticulture experiments and innovation and was elected president of the California State Agricultural Society. He was author of the book Grape Culture, Wines, and Wine Making.

Haraszthy is often credited with introducing the Zinfandel variety into California. However, there is strong scientific evidence that he was mistaken.

In 1863 Haraszthy's sons Arpad and Attila were married in a double ceremony to Jovita and Natalia Vallejo the daughters of Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.

In the Gubernatorial election, of 1868 Haraszthy supported the proposed Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing "equal protection under the law" and the Fifteenth Amendment which would give former slaves the right to vote. He was soundly defeated in the election.

After the Wine times

After a series of unfortunant events in 1868 Haraszthy traveled to Nicaragua where he bought a sugar plantation. In 1868 his wife died of yellow fever. In 1869 while returning to California he died on board a ship. His obituary reads that he was eaten by a crocodile as his body (buried at sea) never surfaced.

See also

• California Wine
• Sonoma County

Source

• Agoston Haraszthy
• Agoston Haraszthy
• Groves, Martha. Making Zinfandel's case as the Calif. state wine. Los Angeles Times, February 26, 2006.

• Hungarian-Americans