Sonoma County Biography
Henry Joshua Chauvet
The third generation of this family represented in Sonoma county, Henry J. Chauvet is adding lustre to a name held in high repute through the pioneer efforts of his father and grandfather before him, and though he has benefited immeasurably as their successor in the ownership of one of the largest wine industries in the state, it has not crippled his ambition to forge ahead and emulate his worthy predecessors.
A native son of the state, Henry J. Chauvet is also a native of Sonoma county, his birth occurring in October, 1865, on the homestead ranch near Glen Ellen of which he is now the owner, and upon which he resides. (An interesting account of the life and efforts of his father, Joshua Chauvet, will be found on another page of this volume.) It was the privilege of Mr. Chauvet to enjoy advantages for an education which were unknown to his father, his primary education being received in the schools near his boyhood home, and to this training was added a course of Sackett's school. Oakland, after which he graduated from the Pacific Business College, San Francisco. At the age of seventeen his school days were over and he was ready to turn his thoughts and efforts to business training. He found ample opportunity for profitable occupation on the home ranch and in the mill, all of which was preparatory to his later position in the winery and distillery. He may literally say that he has grown up in the business, and that he was able to take charge of the business upon the death of his father and manage it so cleverly was due to his long and intimate association with it. As a grower of grapes and a dealer in California wine and brandy no one stands higher in Sonoma county that Mr. Chauvet, of Glen Ellen, whose name is a synonym for all that is purest and best in his line, his grade of wine and brandy being unexcelled, and his products are sent to all parts of the United States and some to the old world. Some idea of the large output of the winery may be gleaned from the statement that during one year he and his father made five hundred thousand gallons of wine and ten thousand gallons of brandy between Sonoma and Santa Rosa. With his father Mr. Chauvet built Hotel Chauvet at Glen Ellen, also three stores, for which they manufactured the brick, all of the structures being models of their kind, both as to architecture and finish. Mr. Chauvet owns the water system in Glen Ellen, water for which is supplied from Graham and Asbury canyon principally, and is distributed by gravity.
Mr. Chauvet's marriage, which occurred November 12, 1893, united him with Miss Annie Lounibos, who was born in Basses-Pyrenees, France, but who has passed the greater part of her life in the United States. She is the daughter of John and Marie (LaSalle) Lounibos, who located in Sonoma county in 1873. Mr. Lounibos is a wine manufacturer and now resides in El Verano. Four children have been born to Mr. And Mrs. Chauvet, evenly divided as to sons and daughters. Henrietta was born January 20, 1895, was primarily educated in the public school of Glen Ellen, and is now attending Heald's Business College, Oakland. The other children, Adele Marie (born June 22, 1897), Leon Henry (August 31, 1899) and Arsena (October 1, 1901), are pupils I n the public school of Glen Ellen. Politically Mr. Chauvet is a stanch Republican, voting for the candidates placed upon that party's ticket both in local and national elections. He is a well-known and active member of the Grange of Glen Ellen, of the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Royal Arch and Order of Moose.
History of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
May 2008
Pages 335-336
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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