Yolo County Biographies

PETER LAUENER

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
	A farmer near Capay, was born April 26, 1835, in Switzerland, the 
son of Christian and Ann Lauener, natives also of that country; the father, by 
occupation a farmer, died there in 1849, at the age of forty-five years.  Peter 
was brought up on a farm in Switzerland until 1851, when he emigrated to 
America, with his widowed mother and five other children, and came direct to 
Richland County, Illinois, where he remained until 1859, on a small farm owned 
by his mother.  In 1859 he came overland to California, by way of Pike�s Peak, 
where he remained two weeks.  The ensuing winter he spent at Placerville, and 
during the following spring he entered Capay Valley, and worked for wages until 
he purchased his present place in 1887, which he is preparing for a fruit farm.  
It comprises 300 acres, and is situated three miles from Capay.  He has a sister 
in Yolo County, and a brother at Sonora.  He is a member of Lodge No. 242, 
O.C.F., at Capay.
 
He was married in 1872, to Miss Nancy Lang, a native of New York, and a sister 
of J. A. Lang, an old, time-honored pioneer of Yolo County.  Mr. Lauener is an 
energetic and prosperous farmer, with brilliant prospects before him.
 
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing 
Co., 1891

 

         To read the record of the life of this California pioneer is to
read of dis-couragements bravely met, hardships bravely overcome, adversity
bravely surmounted; it is to read of years of industrious and painstaking
labor, in a country far from the land of his birth, and with no one to aid
or cheer him except a wife possessed of courage equal to his own. Men of
greater persev-erance have never been given to the world than those who
endured the trials incident to the dangerous trip across the plains and the
difficulties incident to the settlement of a new region by a cosmopolitan
population; and in this class belongs the honored pioneer, Peter Lauener,
who for years aided in the agri-cultural development of Yolo county.

        On a farm in Switzerland Mr. Lauener was born April 26, 1835, being
a son of Christian and Anne Lauener, also natives of that republic. The
death of the father occurred on the home farm in 1849, when he was
forty-five years of age, and two years later the widowed mother with her six
children crossed the ocean to the United States, settling at once in
Richland County, Ill., where she purchased and improved a small farm. For
some years Mr. Lauener remained on that place, giving his assistance in the
support of the family, but in 1859 he started out in the world for himself.
At that time great excitement prevailed over the discovery of gold in Pike's
Peak and he joined a party bound for the mountains of Colorado. A sojourn of
two weeks there was sufficient to convince him that little hope of success
could be expected in that region, so he proceeded westward to California and
spent the winter at Placerville. 

       The spring of 1860 found Mr. Lauener a resident of Yolo county, where
he began as a renter and for several years leased large tracts of grain land
in the Sacramento valley. In time he acquired holdings of his own and by
industry and perseverance accumulated about one thousand acres of land.
Un-fortunately his kindly disposition brought misfortunes upon him. By
endorsing notes for friends he was brought face to face with the task of
paying the debts of other people. Ready money was scarce, and it became
necessary to dispose of his entire landed possessions at sheriff's sale. The
result was that land easily worth $25,000 sold for $16,000 and he was left
with nothing. Such an experience necessarily proved discouraging, but he was
not a man to be vanquished by adversity and once more he started out to
secure a start in the world. The qualities which had brought him a measure
of success in previous years now stood him in good stead, and in 1887 he
purchased a ranch of about four hundred acres in Capay valley. This he
operated until about 1901, when, wishing to be relieved from the care of so
large a tract, he exchanged the land for one-hundred acres three and
one-half miles from Capay, Yolo county, and removed to the new purchase,
intending to make a specialty of raising stock. Of the one hundred acres a
portion lies in the Capay valley and the balance is rolling land suitable
for pasture or for crops. It was his hope that many years of life might
still await him, in which to improve the property and enjoy, in partial
retirement, the comforts merited by long and honorable industry. However,
only three years after he had established himself on the ranch he was called
from earth, his death occurring October 18, 1904, at sixty-nine years of
age. For a long period he had been identified with the Presbyterian Church
and he passed away cheered by the Christian's faith. 

         The marriage of Mr. Lauener occurred in 1872 and united him with
Miss Nancy Lang, who was born at Tyrone, Steuben county, N. Y., February 2,
1837, and received a common school education in that locality. In 1870 she
came to California, joining a brother, J. A. Lang, one of the honored
pioneers of Yolo county. Since the death of her husband she has rented the
ranch to her niece and husband and makes her home with them. Though far from
strong, she retains all of her faculties, and is cheerful, companionable,
and generous. In this county where she has so long resided she possesses a
circle of stanch and true friends, whose kindly regard and ministrations
relieve the loneliness of widowhood.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Page 514.

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, May 2009.