Agoston Haraszthy

Agoston Haraszthy (; , ; August 30, 1812 – July 6, 1869) was a Hungarian American nobleman, adventurer, traveler, writer, town-builder, and pioneer winemaker in Wisconsin and California, often referred to as the "Father of California Wine", alongside Junípero Serra, as well 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 Winery 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. Birth Haraszthy was born in 1812, in Pest, Hungary. He was the only child of Károly Haraszthy and his wife, Anna Mária (née Fischer). It had been previously claimed that he was born in Futak, Hungary, but that was disproved in 1995. Nobility The Haraszthys were a Hungarian noble family 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 (today villages in Slovakia: Krišovská Liesková, Chrasť nad Hornádom). 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.