Rougny, Eugene

Eugene Rougny, born in Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France, on November 8, 1884, was a farmer’s son who learned the fundamentals of agriculture and completed his public school education in his native land. At the age of twenty-one, he joined the French army and served in the Fourteenth Battalion of an Alpine Regiment known as the Blue Devils, eventually earning an honorable discharge as a corporal. He immigrated to California in 1908, arriving in Fresno on December 25 of that year. Upon his arrival, he worked in the lumber yards of the Fresno Flume and Land Company in Clovis and Pine Ridge, engaged in logging with the Shaver mill, and later returned to Clovis to lease a vineyard for three years.

On April 6, 1918, Mr. Rougny married Mrs. Anais Corbeil Blanc near Malaga, and they had one child named Leon. His wife, also a native of Gap who came to Fresno County in 1899, was previously married to Marius Blanc, a viticulturist who passed away in 1916 and left behind four children named Henry, Albert, Marius, and Adrian. Together, the Rougnys owned and operated their ranch near Malaga, which was dedicated to raising grapes and alfalfa. As active participants in the local agricultural community, they also held membership in the California Associated Raisin Company.