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Photograph courtesy of Cookie Curci
True Pioneers: The Horrwarth family and its younger members, like all children of prune ranchers, performed the seasonal ritual of picking prunes off the hard orchard ground. The knees of their work jeans were worn several times a season.
Remember When
The WG Horrwarth Family: Strong Local Pioneer Spirit
By Cookie Curci
In the mid-1800s, snow-white blossoms of prune and cherry trees dominated the Santa Clara valley--a valley that would one day be heralded as the garden capital of the world.
It was around this time that Henry Willard Coe developed the process of sulfuring dried fruit and revolutionized the local fruit industry.
During these years, local fruit orchards produced bountiful crops, which created employment, not only for the families who owned the farmlands but also for the multitude of immigrants in the valley.
One of Willow Glen's most productive pioneer ranchers was J. W. Horrwarth. Like most early valley ranchers, he came here from another part of the country. Horrwarth and his bride, Julia, emigrated here from their native Kansas in May 1880.
They purchased a 10-acre farming site in the heart of "the Willows" (Willow Glen). The area was located on Northern Road (now Willow Glen Way) between Creek Drive and Bird Avenue, along the south side of the road. Homes on Arbor Drive now occupy much of the Horrwarth farm property.
Horrwarth purchased his farm from the E. A. Philbrook family for $1,800 in gold coins. A substantial sum of money for the time. But like most heads of family, who sold all they owned to come to California, Horrwarth had a plan, and he was prepared to risk it all on his dream.
He had read of the European agriculturists who touted the Santa Clara Valley as a prime location for growing French plums. Based on this knowledge, Horrwarth recognized the area's potential for fruit production and with a burning desire to carve out a successful niche for himself, he planted rows of plum trees on his Willow Glen farm. With the help and support of his wife and five healthy offspring to work the land, he was assured success.
But success didn't come without sacrifice, and family members would be called upon to carry their share of the load. They would have to put ranching ahead of everything else, including their social lives. Summertime meant long, hot days on their hands and knees under the hot sun helping to bring in the crops. It was never easy, but it was a sacrifice that every early ranch family was willing to make for the sake of their family's survival.
Each year, the Horrwarth family transported its harvested prunes to the processing plant in the family's horse-drawn wagon. At the reins was Papa Horrwarth, his wife, Julia, by his side, and his five children holding down the crates. Local valley ranchers all made this same seasonal trek to the Sunsweet fruit facility on Lincoln Avenue, between Fruitdale Avenue and Auzerais Avenue.
Local resident Roger Bibb is the great grandson of J.W. and Julia Horrwarth; he recalls how the family's original prune- hauling wagon survived for four generations on the old homestead.
Bibb says, "Grandpa kept the old wagon as a reminder to future generations of their inherent pioneer spirit."
The wagon remained intact until 1962, when the property was sold for redevelopment.
Julia lived on the family ranch until her death in 1930 at the age of 76. The San Jose Herald carried a small obituary. But, like most obituaries, it failed to tell the whole story--the story of a young German immigrant girl who came to America at age 16; how she married and moved to our valley in search of a new and better life; how, like most wives of farmers, she struggled through the yearly stress and uncertainty of bringing in the crops; how, in those early days, she relished the sight of a forest, thick with willow trees, surrounding her home as far as the eye could see. Eventually, the magnificent trees were all sacrificed to the ranch lands of a growing valley.
Life may have been tough for Julia and her family; but they would be the first to tell you it was uniquely good too; they may not have had much in material assets, but they were rich in the things that mattered. They felt a deep love and respect for their hard-working immigrant parents and today share a sense of pride in their family traditions and rich agricultural history.
Like many children of early valley ranchers, the Horrwarth family roots go deep into the soil. The children made their home in Willow Glen and attended Willow Glen Elementary School. And like their father and grandfather before them, they were drawn to farming. The Foxworthy and Plummer Shopping Center was part of the Horrwarth prune orchard prior to development.
A daughter, Lena Horrwarth, married Jack Peters, who farmed cherries, apricots and prunes on Hollenbeck Road and El Camino Real.
The Horrwarth family has farmed about 100 acres, which include cherries, apricots, prunes and walnuts--once Willow Glen's most bountiful products. But as the years passed and the orchard lands became more scarce, local ranching families such as the Horrwarths had to find other areas to farm. Horrwarth's great grandson keeps the farming legacy alive, owning and operating a ranch in Stanislaus County.
These memories of our early pioneer families are handed down from grandmother to grandson. It's what links our generations and makes our community ties strong.
Those of us whose families emigrated here during the turn of the century delight in remembering a time in our valley when the hustle and bustle of prune-picking season set the pace for our community; how the clanging of metal buckets, being tugged along the orchard ground, was a familiar sound and how the warm southern wind wafted in the pungent aroma of dehydrating prunes from the nearby Valley View packing plant.
We remember, too, the sights and sounds of spring irrigation; the orchard canals filling with zigzagging streams of water; the plentiful growth of yellow mustard greens that filled the orchards after the spring rains; and the relentless rhythm that took hold of our community at that special time of year.
Thanks to pioneer families such as the J. W. Horrwarths, Willow Glen and the Santa Clara Valley have prospered. The trees and blossoms are gone now, but the providence that brought our pioneer families here lives on in each new generation that chooses to make their home in the valley of the heart's delight.
Cookie Curci can be contacted at cookiecurci@mymailstation.com.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
