Tracing the Footsteps of Our Ancestors — Part 15

The Bognanco Valley of Northern Italy

Other immigrants who came to the North Yuba region from the Bognanco Valley included Andrea Broggio, who lived in Downieville and was naturalized there as a U.S. Citizen in 1897 before returning to Bognanco, and Giovanni “John” Broggio, who arrived in Sierra County in the early 1890s.

According to the 1900 census, John Broggio lived as a boarder at the residence of John and Teresa Ponta at Downieville. Then he shows up in the 1910 census at Forest City, working as a miner and living with Lorenzo Lagomarsino. By the 1920 census, Broggio was back in Downieville. He owned three cabins along what is now Lavezzola Creek in the vicinity of the Empire and Lavezzola Ranches.

In May of 1934, Broggio ended up missing after hosting a wine party with some friends at his lower cabin. Broggio was known as somewhat of an eccentric; the Mountain Messenger of May 19, 1934, reported the theory that Broggio was on a trip somewhere and “that upon visiting his home village in Italy some years ago he met and played cards with his brother, whom he had not seen for many years, and he returned to Downieville without revealing his identity to his brother, who failed to recognize him.” The following issue of the Mountain Messenger reported the finding of Broggio’s body:

“Identified by his name printed in the waistband of his trousers, the body of John Broggio was discovered last Wednesday morning wedged in the debris near the Pearl Street end of the old York powerhouse dam… the body, badly decomposed by its long immersion, was removed and taken to the county hospital… a verdict of ‘death from causes unknown’ was returned… the body was in such a state of decomposition that there was no possibility of determining whether death was caused by drowning or other and violent means.” At an inquest, it was brought up that Broggio had recently received a considerable sum of money, and “the fact that he had apparently less than $10.00 on his person or in his cabin lead to some conjecture as to the possibility of foul play.” However, it was generally thought that Broggio had fallen into the river from a footbridge while drunkenly stumbling home from the party he hosted the night he went missing.

On December 24, 1915, a tragic mining accident took place at Brandy City. Historian James J. Sinnott wrote that a gigantic blast was set off at the mining diggings there, and “four men were asphyxiated by poisonous fumes and smoke from the explosion.” James Dugan, an old-time miner, said: “The powder of the Great Blast was made up of ten tons of Judson (black powder), and one ton of 40 per cent gelatin of Hercules Powder - a total of 22,000 pounds of powder!”

According to Sinnott, “the men who lost their lives were: Ernest Godfrey, Jack Hayes, [Tom] Sadler, and an Italian.” From my research, the Italian was Giuseppe “Joseph” Tioni, a native of Bognanco. Also present was Bognanco native Pietro “Pete” Pioda, who was unharmed in the blast. Joseph Tioni left a widow and three children in Bognanco. I was able to trace his descendants and recently got in contact with his great-grandson, who still owns his great-grandfather’s home (obtained with money sent from California) in the Bognanco Valley hamlet of Bosco!

To finish off this series, I wanted to share some recently discovered information about my own ancestors, who came from Bognanco. As related in previous articles, many of the Italian records have information that differs from the American records. My great-great-grandfather Joseph Mottini has his birth year inscribed as “1857” on his headstone at the Downieville cemetery. However, his death certificate and other California documents show his date of birth as February 9, 1851. According to his Italian birth certificate that I recently discovered, he was actually born on February 9, 1852! His wife, Rosa Morganti, was born in September 1863, according to her headstone, death certificate, and other California records. However, her Italian birth certificate shows her date of birth as December 30, 1860! Also, other records indicate Joseph Mottini immigrated to the United States either in 1869 or 1870, but I recently discovered an Italian testimony in which he stated he left Bognanco in 1873 and lived in Eureka, Nevada, where he worked as a “carbonaio,” or charcoal burner, before returning to Bognanco in 1879 to get married. This information was new to me!

In closing, it was a wonderful experience to see where Sierra County’s Italian pioneers came from, to meet their descendants and distant relations who still live in Italy, and to assist Sierra County’s residents with learning their family histories. Now it’s time to go back into “retirement” from writing for some time. If my readers have any questions or comments regarding Sierra County history, they can email me at corypeterman3@gmail.com at any time!