California Genealogy and History Archives
Biographies
of
Sacramento County
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EUGENE
A. JUNIOR For
more than twenty-five years a resident of the vicinity of Antelope, Mr.
Junior ranks deservedly among the most influential and progressive
citizens of this portion of Sacramento county and the place that he owns
and occupies, improved through his laborious efforts and cultivated
under his scientific supervision, represents the fruits of his years of
intelligent toil. Visitors state that the farm is one of the most
attractive in the region, while the testimony of his own financial
returns indicates that the property is remunerative as well as
artistically beautiful. When he first came to the locality he was
entirely without means and, in order to secure a start, was obliged to
work out as a ranch hand for a number of years. Beginning as a property
owner in 1893, he acquired the title to twenty-one acres near Antelope
and later purchased an adjacent tract of twenty acres. On this farm he
since has engaged in the growing of almonds. As a specialist he has won
wide recognition and distinct success, and the products of his ranch
find a ready sale at the highest market prices. A son of Joseph and Mary Junior and a native of Brandon, Rutland county, Vt., Eugene A. Junior was born February 20, 1855, and attended the public schools of the home neighborhood from 1861 until the spring of 1873. At the latter time he removed to Michigan and secured employment as a clerk in a general mercantile store at Menominee, continuing in the same position until January of 1876, when he came west to California. Here his first employment detained him for one year in Trinity county, where he worked in a quicksilver mine. From that section he drifted to other localities and worked at any honest occupation that promised a livelihood. His advent into Sacramento county in 1886 was not auspicious, for he was without friends or capital or influence. However, he possessed an abundance of de- termination and energy and these qualities, backed by honorable principles and intelligent judgment, have brought him a fair degree of success. His life has been so occupied with private concerns that he has had no leisure for political interests nor have his tastes led him in the direction of public activities. In political sentiments he is inde- pendent, supporting the men and the measures rather than the party. In the work of the Grange he has been an intelligent participant, having served two terms as past master, and in all local movements for the general welfare be has been actively interested. During December of 1889 Mr. Junior was married in Sacramento to Miss Minnie Gardner, an estimable young lady, born in Sutter township, this county. She is the daughter of Daniel Gardner, who came to California around the Horn in the early '50s. In 1910 their new residence was built and it presents an artistic appearance, being a bungalow with cobble-stone front, the stone having been brought for that purpose from Natoma. |
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Source: Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011 |