A master of fruit cultivation and ranching who left his mark of greatness on local agriculture, John Wiley was born in 1830. The prodigious Mr. Wiley owned his first 100-acre farm at the tender age of nineteen, and single-handedly pioneered the development of premium quality fruit production in Sonoma County.

He is best known for his famous "Wiley's Graton Cling Peach", a fruit so delicious that it vaulted Mr. Wiley and Sonoma County into the history books.

John Wiley came to the West from Columbus, Ohio for the first time in 1848, returning in 1850 to what was then appropriately known as "Green Valley" near present-day Sebastopol. Everyone at the time said that fruit cultivation was out of the question, but John Wiley knew immediately that the fertile rolling hills and plentiful clear water of green Valley said otherwise.

The famous Wiley Cling Peach became a sensation in 1880, developed from a single purebred peach pit from Virginia carried personally by Wiley. This fruit, developed for it's exceptional flavor and firm flesh, was a hit in San Francisco's gourmet restaurants. Strong demand for the Wiley Peach triggered a huge peach farming industry, which overtook the Green Valley area and eclipsed most other crops.

John Wiley married Miss Lucy Ann White from Chicago, Illinois in 1855. Together they raised nine children, one of whom was named Louella, who went on to marry Victor Piezzi. The energetic, enthusiastic and deeply caring John Wiley was very active in community organizations for all of his life, including local school boards, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge, and as local Road Master.