Peter Kunz

 

Peter Kunz, proprietor of the Empire Nurseries, is one of the best known of the old residents of Sacramento. He is a native of Germany, born at Zeiskan, Bavaria, on the 11^th of April, 1835, his parents being George Henry and Christina (Weigand) Kunz, the father a farmer and land owner. Peter Kunz spent his boyhood days at his native place, and received his education in the public schools between the ages of six and fourteen years, and in 1851, in company with his brother John, he came to America. They sailed from Havre in the sailship Germany, and landed in New York May 6, 1851. They remained in New York city eleven months, and then our subject went to learn the nursery business with Peter Henderson & Bros., of Jersey City. He worked in the floral department and became expert in the care and handling of flowers. In 1854 Mr. Kunz and Chris Martin, a fellow-workman, came to California, leaving New York on the steamer Sonora, July 20, crossing the Isthmus by rail, and proceeding by sea on the steamer Empire, from which they landed at San Francisco twenty-six days out from New York. Mr. Kunz obtained work in San Francisco with a man named Thomas Hayes, with whom he remained two and a half years. He then came to Sacramento, arriving here in August, 1856. He rented a place on Third street, between S and T, in partnership with Charles Shiminger, and they set about improving it. They got their stock from the Eastern States, and by the fall of 1861 they had made such progress that they had a splendid place, and were worth $50,000. That was the condition in which the floods of 1861 - 62’ found them. But when the deadly elements had finished their destructive work, it was seen that the result of the labor of years had been swept away at one fell blow, and either partner would have sold out to the other for $25! During the flood time, after he had put in the day, Mr. Kunz would row in a boat to the second story of the house where he slept, and there pass the night. Mr.  Kunz had $700 in cash in his pockets, which, of course, the flood had left him, and about two months later he went to San Francisco and was married; when he returned with his bride he had $60 in his pocket. It cost him $300 to clear away the drift wood which was all over the place, to get started again, but that summer he cleared $2,000. This was not all done on this place here by any means. He first raised $500, then went to San Francisco, bought plants, shipped them to different parts of the State, and then auctioned them off. While Mr. Kunz keeps a few varieties of flowers, to cut for bouquets, he makes a specialty of small fruits and rhubarb. He purchased his present location, corner of Third and R streets, in 1863, moved into it in 1864, and has since made all the improvements. He was much damaged in this place by the flood of 1878, which was very destructive. He was married in San Francisco on the 9^th of February, 1862, to Miss Louisa Ochs, a native of Spesert, Baden-Baden, and kept a public house. Her father died in 1849, and she came to America with her mother in 1854, locating in Jersey City. She came to California from there, landing at San Francisco January 13, 1860. Mr. and Mrs.  Kunz have six children, viz.: George, Annie, Rose, Louis, Lillie, and Christina. Mr. Kunz is one of the oldest members of the Tehama Lodge, No.  3, A. F. & A. M., having joined in 1858. He is a Republican on national issues, but in local matters is non-partisan. Mr. Kunz’s parents both died in Jersey City---his father in 1865, and his mother in 1854. He had a brother named George Henry Kunz, who came to California with General Sutter, but our subject has lost trace of him since 1849, when he heard of his going to Valparaiso. He has a brother now living back East. Mrs.  Kunz’s mother died in Jersey City in 1867. Mrs. Kunz has a sister living in Germany, another is widow of Mr. Shiminger, and a third sister is the wife of Frank Kunz, of Union Nursery.