Butte County
Biographies
PETER MUNJAR
PETER MUNJAR.—In
the upbuilding of Chico
and vicinity, no one class of men has figured more conspicuously than the
farmers and stockmen, and among these successful farmers Peter Munjar stands forth prominently. The family originally came from France
to the United States. The grandfather, William Munjar,
was a native of Maryland and served in the War of 1812; he settled in Ohio,
where his son Thomas, the father of Peter Munjar, was
born, and he afterward lived in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Utah, arriving in
the latter state in an ox-team train in the early fifties, coming from the
latter place to Butte County, Cal., in 1866, and settling on Rock Creek. He then went to eastern Oregon
and engaged in stock-raising, and there he died.
In early days,
the father, Thomas Munjar, came to Utah,
where for a few years he was a stockman, but in the fall of 1861 he crossed the
mountains, with mules in an ox-team train, coming to Butte
County, Cal., where he engaged
in teaming and freighting. In 1871 he
located the present place as a homestead and began farming and raising stock on
his three hundred twenty acres. He died
in May, 1898, at the age of seventy-three.
His wife, Lydia (Moon) Munjar, was a native of England. She was married twice before she married Mr. Munjar. After the
death of her first husband, John Clayton, she married James Clayton, his
brother, by whom she had two children, one of whom, Hiram J., is living and is
a resident of Chico. She married Thomas Munjar
in Utah and six children were the
result of this marriage, four of whom survive.
Thomas, now living in San Jose; Mary, Mrs. Ashmore of San
Francisco; Peter; and Albina, now Mrs. Mullen, residing near the old home. The mother died in January, 1908, at the age
of seventy-one.
Peter Munjar was born in Tooele County, Utah, January 22, 1858,
and came with his parents when a child of three years to Butte County, Cal.,
where he was brought up on the farm, learning the business in all its
branches. Later he hauled lumber from
Chapman’s mill to Chico, and then
was in the dairy and stock business for a season, and also engaged in
farming. He afterwards returned home
and, with his brother, Thomas, operated the home place until the father died,
after which he and Thomas bought the others out and continued in business
together for many years. They rented
eleven hundred acres, part of the Stanford grain ranch, harvesting with a
combined harvester. Finally the brothers
gave up the lease, divided the farm and dissolved partnership, Peter taking one
hundred sixty acres of the old place and continuing alone. He later bought eighty acres adjoining his
land and now has two hundred forty acres.
He also leases four hundred eighty acres of land and raises grain and
stock.
Mr. Munjar was married in Oroville, January 6, 1908, to Helen
Mary Officer, a native of Oregon, born in Dayville, Grant County,
and a daughter of Eli and Martha (Howard) Officer, the former born in Jackson
County, Mo., and the latter in Oregon. Mr. Officer crossed the plains over the old
Oregon trail in pioneer days and fought Indians during
the war with the Red Men in Oregon. Grandfather Howard also came across the
plains and was one of the pioneers of Oregon. Mrs. Munjar was
reared in Grant County
and there was married to Edward Sheffield, by whom she had two children; LeRoy C., who is serving in Battery E, Seventeenth Field
Artillery, in France; and Percy H.,
who is in Baker City, Oregon.
For some years Mr. Munjar served as a trustee of the
Antelope school district, the same district where he attended when a lad. In politics he supports the candidates of the
Republican party.
Transcribed 5-2-08
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 918-921, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
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