Tag Archives: prunes

RIP – Louis Pellier

June 24, 2016Historical Researchevergreen, family, france, generations, graves, gravestones, immigrants, Louis Pellier, mirassou, misplaced, missing, mystery, pellier, prunes, vintner, winemaking, wineryevergreen

When I went down to Oak Hill Cemetery on Fathers’ Day, because people lessen the likelihood of zombie apocalypse. I was totally interested in anything Evergreen but they were scattered all over the place. The only way to do this is wander around for a long time or check in the records people. I’m going to have to dissect things into lawns and comb through records to find everyone.

That having been said, I knew there were some Pelliers buried here. I forgot who initially was there, knowing it wasn’t the entire family. In looking into the Pellier family originally, I also heard about this awesome grave discovery. There was something fishy with the Louis Pellier headstones, but it looks weird to google on your phone and tip toe through a crowded graveyard. Truth is Louis would and wouldn’t be here at Oak Hill Cemetery.

So, let’s start with our three Pellier brothers, the first generation to come to America. The elder Pelliers were Louis, Pierre and Jean. Louis A. Pellier was the brother who first came to America during the Gold Rush and first thought to bring the Prune and other fruit varietals to California soil. His idea contributed to the California Fruit Industry we still enjoy today. Louis Pellier would die in 1872, age the age of 55. The eldest Louis Pellier wouldn’t be found at Oak Hill. For a long while, his remains wouldn’t be found at all.

Pierre would buy Pellier Ranch in Evergreen from his older brother, Louis, in 1863 after running someone else’s vineyards successfully near Mission San Jose. Pierre and Henrietta Pellier raised their son and three daughters on their Evergreen ranch, Although initially buried with his other relatives, Pierre Pellier would be buried at Oak Hill Cemetry. I found he and his wife, Henrietta! Wait. That’s a weird thing to get excited about. I think this monument is stellar, though. Again, weird thing to get excited about.

Pellier’s son, Louis P. Pellier, would have been the patriarch once Pierre and Jean died. Louis P. was being groomed to groom the vines and run the lucrative family business. Louis P. Pellier would died at the age of 15 in 1873. Passing a year after his uncle, the Pellier family was devastated. They had no scions in the way of male heirs. That having been said, his sisters stepped up and carried on the tradition of French Winemaking in the Evergreen hillside that eventually became the Mirassou Wine Dynasty. The teenage

Wait, how did that happen? They can’t get up and walk away. Well, these Pelliers were laid to rest at Holy Cross or Kell Cemetery, opposite Communication Hill, on the outskirts of Willow Glen. Here, for the most part patrons of St. Joseph’s Basilica were buried. This included many notable Evergreenians. Holy Cross Cemetery was sanctioned by the Catholic Church and operated from 1871-1890. It was later replaced by a larger Catholic cemetery in 1882 which was closer to both Catholic churches. Oak Hill Cemetery, close by, and Santa Clara Mission Cemetery was also available for Catholics. In fact, many moved their loved ones to these other cemeteries. The burial ground wasn’t maintained in the meantime and things got ran down. Kids would play with things. Earth would move. Kell Cemetery was forgotten. Today, it’s a source of Socio-Historic information for Archeologists.

In 1930, the unmoved graves would be bulldozed through and cleared for grazing land. I spoke to the gentlemen who united the monuments with the remains, Ralph Pearce and Judge Paul Bernal. For some reason the elder Louis’s headstone would go missing 80 years, rescued by Clyde Arbuckle, San Jose Historian. Judge Paul Bernal describes its discovery by Clyde.

“Around 1941 historian Clyde Arbuckle was at the Holy Cross Cemetery with his two children Jim and Susan. As Jim and Susan chased a jackrabbit across the once cemetery, Clyde discovered the broken headstone of Louis Pellier lying face-down in the brush. There are photos of Clyde and Helen Abuckle with the headstone propped back up in the cemetery in 1948/1949. Between 1948/1949 and 1951, Arbuckle removed the headstone for safekeeping.”

Clyde Arbuckle would realize the treasure he had found. The grand headstone was used as a prop for a documentary on Sunsweet Prunes in 1951. Arbuckle’s collection was just underway. He would be San Jose’s prevailing historian for many years. The Prune King’s monument would be a piece of a vast collection which became the awesome organization History San Jose. I’ve visited these guys. Wow. If you’re looking to get your nerd on, you can do it here. But the collection was so broad, even this large piece was able to be overlooked for some time. It was kept too safe.

Some years later, an orchardist and rancher would happen upon the headstone of Louis P. Pellier. Farmer Lee Lester bought the property next door to the former cemetery. Lester knew his prune history and thought he had found the most valuable piece of memorabilia, the Prune King’s headstone. The monument was a little worse for wear, but it would be preserved as well by another San Jose history buff. The gravestone would come back to Lester’s Baily Avenue farm for safekeeping and lean up against his barn exposed to the elements.

So, fast forward almost 100 years after its abandonment, Kell Cemetery was in the path of a proposed highway into the heart of Downtown. That highway was the 87. In 1984, these remains were moved to nearby Oak Hill with family or to the Catholic Cavalry Cemetery off of Alum Rock, its replacement, in a Pioneer Section. All the remains moved. Not all of the gravestones were located. Many were in disrepair. Both Louis Pellier’s remains would move to Alum Rock.

Jim%20Ralph%20Tim — Photo Courtesy of Ralph Pearce

Pioneer of Santa Clara County would often end up at the San Jose Public Library, like I have, in the California Room, in the midst of librarian Ralph Pearce. In August 2011, Ralph let a member know that he thought he heard someone had a Louis Pellier headstone laying around. The group having found the younger Louis’s monument in their possession, the search for the Prune King was on. History San Jose confirmed it in archive databases, but the collection was so massive, it was housed in many multiple warehouses. They opened their doors to the Pioneers of Santa Clara and Ralph Pearce, together creating the “In Grave Danger Gang”.

The “In Grave Danger Gang” would commemorate the reuniting of the Pellier Monuments on November 2, 2011 with Lester family, Pellier Family and the Pioneer Society members.

So, when I popped up at Oak Hill and asked for Louis Pellier, I wasn’t expecting the helpful lady to call me back with this little curve ball. A two year old curve ball too young to be either first or second generation Louis. Who’s this little guy?

Ralph Pearce and the Santa Clara Pioneers Society helped me figure it out! It was buried deep in census statistics from the 1870’s and figuring out who was in the household who was old enough to father this child. This little guy Louis belongs to another Louis Pellier, son of Jean Pellier. This is the fourth generation of Louis Pellier, here who passed as a boy. Jean’s son Louis A. was born in France in 1852, moved to the States with his family and married Christina Frances Alvarez. They would have a son and also name him Louis A. Whoa. Those family names. You could certain understand the confusion was all had. Which brings up a whole new question. Where’s the other L. A. Pellier located now?

Through the grapevine – Pellier Contributions

May 5, 2016Artwork, Historical Researchagriculture, business, california, evergreen, family, fruit, generations, grapes, mexican, missions, orchards, pellier, period, prunes, settlers, Valley of heart's Delight, vineyards, wine, winemakingevergreen

My grandmother used to own a home off Norwood Avenue and have volunteer grapevines charging up through her hillside backyard. Little did she know, my grandmother’s house was a part of the Pellier estate, one of the largest in early Evergreen.

The Pellier Brothers would eventually come to call Evergreen home in the late 1850’s. Before that, the Pelliers would live in the Pueblo of San Jose as California became a State and as San Jose became its Capitol in the early 1850’s. Luis Pellier would get creative with his brother Pierre while gold panning in 1848, changing San Jose and California forever once again.

By bringing over their cions , seeds, clippings and plantings from their Native Country of France, Luis, Pierre and Jean Pellier would set fire to the huge California Fruit Industry. Basically, there was no industry before that, as Mission lands and their predictable orchards were left unattended and were being reclaimed by wilderness. The California Missions were secularized by Mexico in 1833. By the time the Pelliers came to California, the Missions weren’t even holding Catholic Mass.

In fact, Evergreen before the Pellier journeys would’ve been cattle grazing land. After the Pellier journeys, Santa Clara Valley would become known as the Valley of Heart’s Delights.

What was grown in the Spanish Period at the Franciscan Missions in California from 1769-1821? I’m so glad you asked. The indigenous native peoples, priests and monks grew “mission grapes”, apples, lemons and oranges, beans, veggies and olives for the most part. Olive Oil would be a source of pride for the Missions. The “Mission Grape” of the Spanish colonists was a Vitus vinifera, a Spanish variety that was black and blue in color. The clippings would’ve been brought over sea with Cortez’s colonization of Mexico or New Spain. Only problem was less than 1000 acres of vineyards would be cultivated in California until the 1850’s. These plants were a dying off as people left the Missions. The Mission Grape would have been made into wine for Sacraments. The Spanish may have brought apricots as well, originating in Turkey. There was an indigenous plum tree present in California. A wild grape, too, would be indigenous. Mission San Jose would be one of the biggest producers, but would’ve been closed for several years by the time the Pelliers set sail.

What did the Pellier brothers from France with help from the Delmas brothers bring to the Port of Alviso and to Santa Clara County? Luis and Pierre Pellier would pull into port and sell peach, pear, plum, cherry, apple and prune cions off their boat in Alviso in the 1850’s. Certainly his most famous contribution was the Angen ‘D Petit Prune, but the Valley of Heart Delight would begin with these trips to France and these cions. With the driving force of the Pelliers’ new varietals, the Fruit Industry would soon provide thousands of jobs, would drive people to come to the Santa Clara Valley and would bring spark the Fruit Canning business. We, in California, still feel the benefit of their actions today.

The French Prune brought to California in 1854 was considered perfect for drying and dipping. After it was grafted on to a California plum tree, it became an instant success. Pellier raised orchards of prunes and a nursery famed in downtown San Jose. The Angen ‘D Petit Prune was immediately adopted by other Santa Clara Valley’s orchardists. This would become Santa Clara County’s identity to the rest of the United States through the 1950’s when Silicon Valley bumped it. The prune’s attributes, complimentary for drying and dipping, would make them a popular commercial export.

The Prune Orchards would quickly spread all over Santa Clara County, the Valley of Heart’s Delight, and then all over California. The French Prune ignited the whole California Fruit Industry, as only dried fruits could be exported. The Mexican Government had a hard time settling California. California through the Mexican Period (1821-1848) wouldn’t be well-known for its awesome agriculture, despite the rich soil noted by the Spanish Missionaries. Evergreen was a grazing land. The Missions closing meant the crops became scarce. Pellier’s strategy was inspired by the high price of fruit.

A dollar gets you much less today, so you will naturally need more dollars to obtain the same product over 100 years ago. Here’s an exception to that rule. Before Luis and Pierre Pellier’s travels, an apple would cost over a dollar. Today, $2.00 would get you a pound or several apples. The demand was so high for apples and produce, most people couldn’t afford them. You could forget about apple pie. That would’ve cost you over $20.00 in apples alone in 1850’s California. If you were in California in the 1850’s, you were a pioneer, gold panning and roughing it. Their business idea was brilliant. I wonder if they knew about the Manifest Destiny campaign that would send thousands of newcomers to California in a few short years.

Luis Pellier would open “City Gardens” and sell his cions and young trees to the rest of Santa Clara County’s farmers in 1850. This was the epicenter of the Valley of Heart’s Delight, creating a path to the American Dream for farmers coming to California. The Pellier brothers would leave their popular nursery and orchards in downtown San Jose, where Pellier Park is today, and move to Evergreen to plant acres of vineyards in later 1850’s.

In 1858, Luis Pellier, now Evergreen resident, would present nine varieties of foreign grapes at the national trade show, being described as “unequalled to any other of the same variety”. Luis Pellier’s introduction of new grapes would almost single handedly create the California Wine Industry as well. Grafted on to Mission vines and indigenous vines, these grapes is really well in Evergreen. When wine was made and the word spread, the Pelliers struck gold again.

The Pellier brothers are originally from the Bordeaux region of France, well-known for its Wine Industry. The Pellier boys would’ve grown up cultivating their parents’ vineyards and orchards in France. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec would’ve been easily found in that region of France. Folle Blanche, the ultimate brandy making grape, has been contributed to Luis Pellier. A Black Burgundy grape, another brandy grape, would also be brought to California by Pellier. A Mourvedre vine, similar to a Mission Grape but a French strain, has also been drawn back to Pellier. These would become popular in Zinfandel vineyards. Chasselas Fontainebleau, French Colombar and Madelaine are green grapes for white wines that have also been contributed to the Pellier brothers trips to France.

Even though the Pellier brothers would become famous for their perfect prune trees, descendants of the Pelliers would be boastful of its Pinot Noir grapes and wines. These certainly would’ve been brought back from France in the 1850’s by their forefathers. Pellier descendants, the Mirassou family, have called Evergreen home for over 150 years. Mirassou Winery operated off of Aborn Road for 100 years and continues to be a landmark in Evergreen. Today, the Mirassou Winemaking Family continues to be the oldest Wine Family in California and continue to call Evergreen home.

Before this point, varieties of wine could only be found in Europe, mainly in France and Spain, and imported into the United States. California wasn’t well settled, but that would change fairly rapidly. Again, Missions harvested Mission Grapes for altar wines and brandy, but there wasn’t much more out there. What was out there was going away with the Missions closing. With the Gold Rush and Manifest Destiny in full affect, the Pelliers would be at the right place at the right time to make something amazing happen. California is the second capitol of wine today. It would difficult to envision Napa Valley today without its vineyards. 80% of these vines can be traced back to that Alviso Port. California’s Fruit Industry was initiated by Pellier’s cions. Luis Pellier is acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of San Jose. Here’s the artwork specific to the Pellier Family past and its present.

Apricot Town

April 16, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical Researchagriculture, apricots, coe, fruit, kettmann, orchards, pellier, prunes, san jose, township, Valley of heart's Delightevergreen

In discussing what makes Evergreen what it is today, I kept being asked about the variety of fruit shown in the proposed artwork. Almost every interviewee asked me why I was showing love to all the fruit picked here. We have vineyards associated with Evergreen, for sure. My parents kept telling us that they moved in across from apricot orchards and the houses were built when we were too young to remember. The majority of orchards in Evergreen were apricots.

Barry Swenson, Evergreen Native and Downtown Developer, recalls the school schedule coinciding with harvest schedules. “Cot” Season would be from July to August, prune harvest following that before school would resume. Prunes were a big business in the Valley of Heart’s Delight with 80,000 acres of prune trees. Apricots would come in second with some 7,000 acres of trees. Farming families would raise huge farms and huge families to cultivate the rich Evergreen soil. Harvest time was a community event. Families, companies and neighbors all pitched in to pick fruit and harvest grain.

I bet you’re asking: “What’s the prune got that the apricot doesn’t?”

Luis Pellier’s small Agen prune / plum cions would make him famous once successfully grafted or implanted onto a natural wild California plum tree. He’s often called the father of the “California Fruit Industry.” The prune was successfully marketed as “Fine to Dry”, though the prune would need to be hastened through a boiling or dipping process. Prunes as a crop were much easier to harvest than apricots, so they were an attractive investment. Santa Clara County would grow up around prune orchards and packing factory all thanks to Pellier. The Apricot didn’t have a fancy PR campaign and wasn’t so easily dried and exported.

Canned apricots are totally cool and were popular. I certainly remember eating them as a kid. They would still play second fiddle in the Santa Clara Valley to the prune. In the later half of the 1800’s though, that dried prune had the country captivated. Dried fruit to export was a new thing. Canned fruit had been around for a little while as the primary way of exporting fruit long distances. In fact, there weren’t can openers when Evergreen fruit started going into cans. Railroads would be the only way to get fresh fruit out of the Santa Clara Valley. Into the 1900’s, Evergreen Packer, Edmund N. Richmond and the Richmond-Chase Company would be one of those canners using Evergreen harvested apricots.

Not until San Felipe Ranch owner, Henry W. Coe for which the largest State Park is named, changed the drying process did apricots take off. Apricots sun-dried and pitted without any treatment get really sweet but black in color. That’s a difficult product to get to sell. Henry W. Coe perfected the apricot drying system with a sulfur smoke which preserved the color and the golden apricot embraced as a fine dried fruit. Coe was a business man using his back East, New York connections. His exports and products may have inspired the “Heart’s Delight” knick name by the rest of the Country. Importing and exporting was Henry Coe’s strength and he was first to market with the dried apricot.

It turns out that back East, people loved golden apricots and may have gotten over the whole prune fad. The dried ‘cot was new and hip. The farmers across the Town of Evergreen would be blanketed with thousands of acres of apricot orchards. In 1914, 600,000 apricot trees were recorded in Santa Clara County, most of those planted in Evergreen. In the early 1900’s, the apricot industry would improve in Evergreen. German-American farmer, Mr. Emil Farhner, would figure out that cutting the apricot in half, not just pit them, would hasten drying as well as prevent blackening and reduce drying error.

The dried golden apricot technique was perfected here in Evergreen. The delicious snack quickly became a big hit across the country. Tons of the dried fruit were sent around the world, over 25,000 tons exported a year from Santa Clara County. Apricots became especially big business for the Evergreen orchardists. Eastside San Jose Fruit Growers Association would operate out of McLaughlin Road and Tully Road Headquarters until 1899 when it was acquired by California Prune and Apricot Growers, which eventually became SunSweet.

The dried ‘cot was so popular, the methods of harvest also needed to innovate to keep up with the demand. Prunes fell to the ground for harvest, where apricots had to be picked off the trees while on ladders. That can be a balancing act. An Evergreen Native would own the patent on the apricot picking bucket in 1920. Evergreen Native and youngest son of Gerhard Kettmann, for whom Kettmann Road is named, would invent a bucket that hung over the ladder rung, where tying the bucket would eventually dump the bucket or limit how many you could pick at a time. The apricot industry would really develop in Evergreen soil.

Back to that PR campaign the dried prune had, the apricot cions were brought with Spanish colonists through the El Camino Real and raised on the Mission lands. Mission of Santa Clara and Pueblo de San Jose were founded in 1777. Mission of San Jose would open its doors in 1797. That would date the apricots’ roots back in California before 1800.

The apricots were already here before the European immigrants and California Statehood. Spanish “Mission Grapes”, too, were also already around and probably the vines French cions would be grafted on to by Pellier. There were no printing presses to spread agricultural trends in the mid 1800’s. Some Santa Clara Valley farmers would witness the Industrial Revolution very personally and learn to adapt their machinery and techniques, like Andrew Kettmann.

A little trivia: When a apricot and a plum/prune have a baby, it’s called a pluot.

Another bit of trivia: All prunes are plums, but not all plums are prunes.

When people think of Evergreen, they think specifically of Apricots. I think that’s because of the frequency of “Cot” orchards in and around town. It’s not misplaced association, however. I don’t think people know how Evergreen apricots really are. The apricot was made perfect here by forward thinking farmers. The “Cot” is definitely an Evergreen thing.

Here’s some of the artwork we have planned with ‘cots featured.

Redundant Theme – Orchardists

An overwhelming motif of Evergreen is our orchards. You’re going to see a lot of trees in rows portrayed throughout the Evergreen Mural Walk.

My parents would tell tales of moving in across Stevens Lanes from apricot orchards. In creating the artwork for this project, everyone asked why there weren’t more apricots and prunes. This theme is plain as day to those of us who remember fruit stands and vineyards. Our newer residents may not understanding what was here before we moved in.

Our Evergreen entrepreneur and agriculturalist, Luis Pellier, hatched a plan in 1847 while gold panning to bring the seeds, plants and clippings from his native France and forever change the fruit industry of California. The cost of a single apple was $1.50 at the time, which in 1849 dollars was cost prohibitive. Without our guy, there wouldn’t be the awesome economy in San Jose during the 1800’s. He’s really the father of California’s wine and fruit industries. The Pellier family still lives in Evergreen today.

Gunless lawman and California statesman, Charles White, came to America in 1833, but his son was a popular orchardist and businessman. These are Charles E. White’s orchards to the right.

John Tully would own and operate many orchards throughout Evergreen, as would H.L. Stevens. From the 1850’s forward, Evergreen would blossom with orchards.

The East Side Fruit Growers Association opened in 1893 off Tully Road and McLaughlin Road, serving as a trade association for local farmers across Evergreen and East San Jose. They would join a larger sales organization in 1899.

Otis B. Whaley would also make our list of well-known, well-liked orchardists of Evergreen. Also having served on the Evergreen Elementary School Board of Trustees for 27 years, he would cultivate his orchards in Evergreen from 1911 until he passed in 1947. The third school opened in the Evergreen School District would be named in his honor in 1963.

When railroads off Monterey Road became popularized in shipping fruit back east, the fruit industry would shift focus downtown towards the rails. The East Side association, like others in the Santa Clara Valley, would be acquired by the Santa Clara County Fruit Exchange, a dried fruit co-op opened in 1892, once known as the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association. The plant was located across the street from Del Monte’s Canning Plant. California Prune and Apricot would become Sunsweet and can here until 1915. The Fruit Exchange wouldn’t disband until 1916 after the plant burnt down while leased.

Popular companies like Sunsweet, Del Monte, Sun Garden and Valley of Hearts Delight, Richmond-Chase, would ship Evergreen fruit, dried and canned, around the world. Railroads and later Reid-Hillview would play major roles in exporting Evergreen’s produce. Santa Clara County as a whole was known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, but Evergreen owns the copyright as its owners still live in town. The town and community of Evergreen would identify as an agricultural hotspot well into the 1950’s.

I have a personal relationship with Evergreen orchards picking fruit and pumpkins from the Cortese fruit stand and orchards. My mother and I made a habit of getting cherries there that never made it home, being snacked on between stoplights. Vincent Cortese would immigrate from Sicily in 1917, and work in the orchards. Vincent would eventually marry an Italian-American lady, purchase his own farm in Evergreen and raise his family with an orchardist tradition and one of civil leadership. The orchards in Evergreen would give way to Evergreen Valley College, but John Cortese, also a lawyer, maintains orchards today. This is a tradition that still bears fruit today.

My continued affections for orchards existed in the various fruit trees in my own backyard as a kid. A love of blossoms and blooms enchanted my childhood. Pies and jams of all kinds came out of our Evergreen kitchen. Apple sauce is a tradition. Our backyard gave us peaches in the Spring, Plums in the Summer and Apples all Fall and Winter long. Lemons, and therefore lemonade, are in abundance at my house. To say I’m drawing from experience would be an understatement.

Orchards have always been in my life as a native of Evergreen. Below are pieces that have and haven’t made the cut, but all include our redundant theme of orchards.

Pellier Roots

December 30, 2015Artwork, Historical Researchagriculture, apricots, business, evergreen, evergreen people, family, generations, mining, mirassou, orchards, pellier, prunes, Valley of heart's Delight, vineyards, vintner, winemakerevergreen

The Pellier family and their descendants have been long time Property and Business Owners in San Jose and Evergreen since the late 1840’s. Though one of the murals is designed specifically for the descendants of the Pelliers, I have another mural for what I’m calling the “Pellier Contribution” to San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley.

Mini-History lesson: The Spanish Missions ran the agricultural business and mostly did business with the local naval bases that protected them. The Indians were the farmers and the monks participated as well. However, when California became Mexican Territories, the missions closed down and the Indians were displaced. The vineyards and orchards went dry and much of the valley turned to cattle pasture.

Louis Pellier (1817-72), son of winemakers outside of Bordeaux, had plenty of experience keeping the family farm. At the age of 32, Louis left France during the French Revolution and traveled around Cape Horn to arrive in San Francisco in 1847-8. Louis sent for his brother, Pierre, and they found success gold mining in Weaverville. Pierre served in the French Army during the revolution and came to California in 1849.

Louis quickly realized that there were going to be a flood of people coming to California for the Gold Rush and American Dream. The price of the limited produce was extremely high. With family in France and experience he gained on the family farm, Louis could get into that business. Pierre came to California in 1849 in search of gold, but the Pellier brothers returned to their native country several times in search of a different kind of gold.

On their 1850’s journeys, Pierre brought back his long lost sweetheart, Henriette Renaud. Louis realized his business plans. Louis, Pierre and Jean, the Pellier brothers, stretched out across France, looking for fruit and vegetable varieties to repopulate the rich soil of the Santa Clara Valley. Not all of the plants would arrive alive when traveling by boat. There was a fair amount of learning taking place in the process. In steamer trunks and barrels, the brothers brought seeds, small potted plants and clippings to propagate once back in California.

The brothers improvised when water ran low, presumed to be due to underestimation on the first journey. They kept the clippings alive by inserting them into potatoes for moisture, which worked well.

The Pellier brothers brought some other notable names, the very young Delmas brothers, to California with them. The brothers made considerable amounts of money and bought large plots of land in San Jose and east of San Jose. Unfortunately, the Pelliers sold all their stock of seeds off the dock of Alviso, which meant they had nothing to plant for themselves after the first voyage. This created the necessity of return trips to France, possibly crossing through Panama by train on their way back to California.

Louis Pellier founded City Gardens Nursery in 1850 with Pierre, at the present day corner of St. James Street and San Pedro Street. The Pellier prune clippings were grafted on to wild Californian prunes, and arranged into rows making the first California prune orchards in 1856. City Gardens was open to the public for picnics and for the nuns to pick freely. The prune was a success, and City Gardens was a cultural hub of Downtown San Jose. The California Prune Industry and Valley of Heart’s Delight radiated outward from the Downtown Pellier orchards. This, however, will be a forgotten garden. The Pellier’s other pride lies east of San Jose in the 1860’s.

Louis and Pierre bought land in Evergreen, which was once part of the Chaboya Land Grant or Rancho Yerba Buena. When Louis sold his portion to Pierre, it became one of the largest ranches in the township of Evergreen.

Louis Pellier had a spat with his brothers, presumed to be due to the sale of all the plants or the neglect of their orchards on one of his journeys to France. Pierre took his horticultural skills and expertise to his ranch and vineyards in Evergreen. Louis stayed downtown. Louis took a wife, a woman of French heritage, who wasn’t well suited for him. She quite possibly drove him mad, possibly creating the wedge between brothers.

Don’t worry. There was a lot of love there between the Pellier brothers, even towards the end. Pierre even named his first son after his brother. In 1872, Louis died in a state hospital, due to a nervous breakdown after the separation with his wife. He and his wife had no children. His brother, Pierre, took care of the estate, and the family decided to pay-off the widow with proceeds of the Downtown property. There was a Will in place, but the greedy widow kept coming back for more until a cash settlement was reached.

Louis’s amazing business venture wouldn’t reach its height for many years. In 1929, California would cultivate 171,330 acres of prune orchards. The La Petite D’Agen from France grafted onto the wild prunes proved to be perfect for California. It was fruitful or meaty enough to be dried, making the prune easy to export all over the country. The growth of the railway system made the export possible. Pierre Pellier brought back the Black Burgundy, French Colombar, Chasselas, Fontainebleau, Pinot Noir, Madeline and others from France. With these new varieties, Louis and Pierre Pellier founded the Valley’s French wine industry at City Garden Nursery.

Pierre Pelliers’s vineyards and orchards a few miles east of San Jose would get passed down to his five children, who later became vineyard owners and winemakers themselves, following in the Pellier’s footsteps, even through Prohibition. The descendants of the Pellier brothers would, in fact, become one of, if not the, most famed business out of Evergreen. The family still has living descendants in family house in the neighborhood. They deserve their own mural in my humble opinion.

Here’s a look at the artwork I have planned for the “Pellier Contribution.”