The Haus Family and a Story of Lost Love
Samuel Haus was born in 1826 in Switzerland. He was a
blacksmith. Samuel married Regula Elliker, born in 1829, and they
settle in Zurich where they had twelve children. Three of the
children emigrated to the United States to earn money for the
family. Arnold, Emma and Ed went to Texas in 1881. Arnold succumbed
to small pox, Emma married, and Ed Haus left to find a new life in
California.
In 1882 Ed purchased a farm in Pope Valley and opened a
blacksmith shop. Once Ed was able to get settled and put aside a
little money, he wrote back to his Family to send out his childhood
sweetheart, Ida Leimbacher to become his wife. Swiss tradition
allowed only the eldest girl to marry first, so to his surprise the
family sent out Ida's eldest sister Bertha. Ed was disappointed,
but married Bertha and they started a life together and had two
children, Sam & Lillian.
Ed & Bertha started a life together and founded the Burgundy
Winery. The winery was constructed in 1897 from massive timbers
moved down from the Oat Hill Quicksilver Mine. The winery is a
three story gravitational flow winery, with hand dug cave. The cave
took over 9 years to dig.
