San
Joaquin County
Biographies
PETER JOENS
No country has furnished as large a
population to the citizenship of San Joaquin County as has Germany, for many of
the residents of this portion of the state were either born in that country or are
descended from German ancestry. To the
former class belongs Peter Joens, a prominent resident of Victor, San Joaquin
County. He was born in Holstein,
Germany, on January 6, 1855, a son of John and Christina (Sievers)
Joens. His
father, John Joens, was a farmer in his native land and was the parent of a
large family, of which Peter, our subject, was the youngest.
Peter Joens received his education
in the grammar schools of his native country and spent the early part of his
life working on his father’s farm. After
he was seventeen years old, he worked for wages on farms throughout the
immediate vicinity of his home place until he was twenty years old, when he
determined to come to America. He
settled in Dubuque, Iowa, and worked as a farm hand for three years; then
removed to Howard County, Iowa, and rented a half-section of land near Elma,
which he farmed for the next fourteen years.
He then purchased eighty acres in that vicinity, which he added to from
time to time until he had 280 acres.
This property he farmed until 1902, when he came to Lodi, California.
Shortly after arriving in
California, Mr. Joens disposed of his Iowa holdings and the with proceeds
purchased 156 acres, a grain stubble field at that time, with no improvements
upon it, paying $67 an acre for it. This
ranch is now among the finest and most productive vineyards in the county, the
varieties being Tokay, Zinfandel, and Emperor grapes. Twelve years ago, Mr. Joens began laying
concrete pipe for irrigating purposes, and now the entire acreage is
piped. He has three pumping plants on
the ranch; an eight-inch pump driven by a forty-horsepower motor, a five-inch
pump with a twenty-horsepower motor, and a smaller pump driven by a
five-horsepower motor, which pumps the water direct from the Mokelumne River,
the water then being piped to all parts of his ranch. Twenty years ago, he built a splendid and
conveniently arranged house, as well as other farm buildings necessary to carry
on a vineyard ranch. Mr. Joens was one of the organizers of the Farmers &
Merchants Bank in Lodi, and has been a member of its board of directors ever
since; and he is second vice-president of the board.
On April 13, 1882, in Howard County,
Iowa, Mr. Joens was united in marriage with Miss Louisa Reckner,
a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Charles and Louisa Reckner. Her father, Charles Reckner,
is a farmer in Iowa, who settled there about sixty years ago. Mrs. Joens is the sixth child in a family of
eight children, and received her education in the grammar schools of Iowa. They are the parents of ten children: Mary is Mrs. Mans of Victor and has two
children, Lavern and June; Charles J. Joens resides in Victor, and has one son,
Charles Jr.; Amelia is Mrs. J. R. Hale of Lodi, and is the mother of four
children, Louisa, Miles, Aloa, and Melbourn; Viola is Mrs. Emil Beckman of Victor and has two
children, Ellsworth and Effiedine; Bertha, is Mrs.
Due of Atlanta, California and has two children, George and Floyd; John J. resides
in Lodi; Esther has been making a tour of the United States during the last
year; Jennie resides in San Francisco; Alfred and Eleanor are at home with
their parents. In politics, Mr. Joens is
a Republican, and fraternally, he is a member of Stockton Lodge No 218, B. P.
O. E. He and his family are members of
the German Lutheran Church in Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
768-771. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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