Plunneke, Charles

Charles Plunneke was born in Hanover, Germany, where he received a common-school education before immigrating to America and settling in Fresno County, California, over thirty years prior to his passing. He initially gained local experience working in the Barton vineyard before purchasing an original twenty acres in the Temperance Colony, where he planted muscatel grapes and built a fine residence. Recognized as an influential Odd Fellow and dedicated pioneer, he expanded his operations by acquiring additional acreage before his death on October 2, 1913.

His wife, Katherine Plunneke, was born in Vienna, Austria, and graduated with honors from the Vienna Lyceum before spending eleven years in Cairo, Egypt, to recover her health. She moved to Fresno in 1906, where she married Charles and applied her background as a stenographer and bookkeeper to help manage and expand their agricultural holdings. Following her husband’s death, she successfully took over the estate, expanding their home vineyard to sixty acres for emperor, malaga, muscatel, and Thompson seedless grapes, while also acquiring a 160-acre ranch near Kerman in 1917.