John Strentzel

John Strentzel - father-in-law of John Muir - Influential People in John Muir's Life - John Muir Exhibit

Noted horticulturist in Alhambra Valley, near Martinez, California, and father-in-law of John Muir .

From the time they first met, John Muir spent much time talking with his future father-in-law, sharing their common interest in plants.

Strentzel was born in Poland, but after the unsuccessful Polish revolution of 1830, fled to Hungary. There he was trained as a viticulture and later trained as a physician at the University of Budapest.

Coming to the United States in 1840, Strentzel traveled to the Trinity River in Texas, where he built a cabin on the present site of the city of Dallas. When the colony failed and dispersed he removed to Lamar County in the same state, was married at Honeygrove to Louisiana Erwin, a native of Tennessee, and in 1849, with his wife and baby daughter, Louie (who eventually became John Muir's wife) came across the plains from Texas to California as medical adviser to the Clarkesville "train" of pioneer immigrants. Not long afterwards he settled in the Alhambra Valley of California near Martinez and became a famous horticulturist.

Strentzel was the owner and builder, in 1882, of the Victorian Italianate mansion which later served as John Muir's home, now part of the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. John Muir and Louie originally lived in a an older house nearby, but moved to her father’s large, luxurious home when she inherited the estate upon his death.