Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1978. július-december (32. évfolyam, 27-50. szám)
1978-08-03 / 29. szám
8 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ Thursday, Aug. 3. 1978. HARASZTHY FOUNDER OF CALIF. WINE INDUSTRY The Haraszthy Crest Everything has a beginning, a point of conception. While this is true of all things, sometimes beginnings are difficult to pinpoint, and, in industry, most often they are the cumulative efforts of many people over a long period of time. But the fertile vinyards of California, the grapes ripening in the summer sun, and the superb wines of the Golden State had a relatively sudden and dramatic birth, the result of the vision and energy of one man- Count Ágoston Haraszthy. He was born in 1812, in Futták, Hungary, of a titled family which had, for many generations, produced much of Hungary’s celebrated Tokay wine. At the age of eighteen, he became a member of the Royal Guard to Emperor Ferdinand, then secretary to the Viceroy of Hungary. And yet, in spite of his close connection to the monarchy, he firmly believed in the rights and freedoms of the individual. At the outbreak of the Anti-Hapsburg Revolution in the 1840’s, he sided at once with the rebels. bathed in warm sun, of rolling sheltered hills protected from the fogs of the Bay to the south, Haraszthy lost no time in purchasing several hundred acres from Vallejo. He set out his vines and - in honor of his good Spanish friends, named his new winery in Spanish Buena Vista, Beautiful View. The vines prospered and the first wines, bottled in 1 857, exceeded Haraszthy’s fondest hopes. They were wines of true excellence - bottled sunshine, rich, fragrant and the equal of any wine this master vintner had tasted. In 1861 Haraszthy made the move that was to bring the California wine industry to full fruition. He suggested to the California government that he travel to Europe to collect there the finest cuttings from the vinyards of France, Germany, Spain and his native Hungary, and to bring them back for distribution to California growers. The state agreed, and for many months Haraszthy traveled the renowned vinyards of Europe, selecting and packaging the choicest cuttings. They were the beginning and the source of today’s premium wines of California. Ágoston Haraszthy, this good American, died in 1869, sheriff and assemblyman for San Diego, Commissioner of the State of California, first Director of the San Francisco mint - but above all, winemaker extraordinary. Visitors are always welcome at the historic Haraszthy Cellars of Buena Vista which, as the birthplace of the California wine industry, have been designated as an official Historical Landmark by the State of California. PENSIONS IN HUNGARY But the revolution was short-lived and unsuccessful. Haraszthy, under sentence of death, fled Hungary, taking with him only what he could carry, and in one black satchel he carried the beginnings of the California wine industry - a few cuttings from his vineyards. He arrived in New York in 1840, convinced that someplace in this vast, new America was a wineland equal to the finest of Europe. Joined by his wife and three sons, he began a search to the west, a search for that particular, rare spot v/here the perfect blend of sun and soil and rain would combine to produce superb wine. The rich soil of Wisconsin attracted him. During his stay there he found time to plant the first hops in the state, to operate a steamboat concern and a general store, to write a two volume book of his impressions of America, and to found a city - today’s Sauk City. Crossing the Santa Fe trail, listening eagerly to the tales of the land bordering the western ocean as a place of milk and honey, Haraszthy arrived in San Diego in 1850. Twelve years ot searching and three failures - yet Haraszthy unknowing and perhaps discouraged, was on the verge of finding his Valley of the Wines. With his first glimpse of the Sonoma Valley - the lovely Valley of the Moon - Haraszthy knew at once that no finer wine land could exist in America- or perhaps in the world. A valley of rich soil, , The Constitution of the Hungarian People’s Republic gives pensions as a part of the social insurance system to guarantee security for the elderly, for orphans, widows and the disabled. Before 1945 only certain sectors in Hungary were entitled to pensions. After the liberation the right to a pension was first extended to all wage- and salary-earners and later to the members of industrial and agricultural cooperatives and finally to private shopkeepers and tradesmen. As a result, every worker receives a pension at retirement. At present, there are 1.964.000 pensioners in Hungary which has a population of 10.644.000. Rozsika Schwimmer In July 1948, on the 100th Anniversary of the first woman’s rights convention held in the United States, Rózsii a Bidy Schwimmer, Hungarian-born feminist /1877-1948/ sent a message commemorating the event to those gathered at the historic site in Seneca Falls, New York. Her message reads, in part, as follows: “One hundred years have passed and women’s rights have come a long way. We have been recognized as persons, theoretically equal and eligible /although there are still many obstacles to push out of our way/ and our struggles now merge into the world-wide campaign for the safeguarding of basic human limits... “I hope that on this centennial, which falls in the third vear of the atomic era, women will retrace their steps from the many paths and blind alleys to which they have strayed in imitation of the social and economic morass of what we once called the “man-made world”, and that thev will remember that we sought equality for our half of the human race, not at the lowest, but at the highest level of human aspiration.” VILMA PACONA We mourn the recent passing of Vilma Pacona, a stalwart supporter of our press and of the fraternal benefit movement. Mrs. Pacona was an enthusiastic and effective worker in the William Penn Fraternal Association, the largest Hungarian-American organization of its kind. She was also an active member of the Hungarian Brotherhood until its demise in the 1950’s, Together with her husband, Eugene, managed the Bethlehem Workers Home. During the past few years she held the position of Treasurer of the Food for the Aged Project in Northampton County, until illness forced her to resign. Mrs. Pacona died at the age of 66, of a chronic heart ailment. Born in Soce, County of Vas, Hungary, she was brought to the United States as a child by her parents. She was buried with the rites of the Catholic Church. The funeral eulogy' was delivered by Father Makó of Bethlehem, Pa. Her passing leaves an irreplaceable void in the Bethlehem Hungarian community. We share the grief of her family, her aged mother, her husband, Eugene, her daughter, FJeanor, her son-in-law, Edward Benniak, and her grandchildren, Eddy,Jr.,Carol and Stacy.
