Tracing the Footsteps of Our Ancestors — Part 6

The Michele Lavezzola FamilyMost sources indicate that Michele Lavezzola settled at the property, still known to this day as the Lavezzola Ranch, about five miles northeast of Downieville, in 1869. However, this conflicts with the information provided in Volume 3 of History of the Sacramento Valley, California by Jesse Walton Wooldridge, published in 1931, which features a biography of Antone “Tony” Lavezzola, a son of Michele and Maria Lavezzola. It states Tony’s parents “were born, reared and married in Genoa, Italy. In 1859 the parents emigrated to the United States and came direct to Downieville, where the father started farming. He soon afterward bought from a Mr. Wilson a squatter’s right to one hundred and sixty acres of land, about fifty acres of which were cultivable, and when the homestead law went into effect he took it up and proved on it.” As discussed in a previous article, Michele and Maria Lavezzola were actually from San Colombano Certenoli, not Genoa. Maria Lavezzola did not come to California with her husband in 1859, as she was not yet married, having been only eleven years old at the time; this is a mistake in the book. However, it has been determined through census records that Michele Lavezzola was in Downieville by 1860 and later returned to Italy, marrying his wife there in 1869 before returning to California. I believe the “1859” indicated in the book by Wooldridge was a mistake and should’ve been written as “1869.”

In an interview conducted in 1951, Tony Lavezzola stated, “The family lived in a very small house – one room with a cellar beneath it. During the winter, the clothes would often freeze in the house through the night. They built other houses gradually. Mr. Lavezzola cleared and excavated the land and raised hay, fruit, vegetables. Between this ranch and five or six others like it, they supplied all the mines for a twenty-mile radius. They supplied potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, and beets, but not a much larger variety of vegetables. These ranches were the only means the miners and townspeople had of obtaining vegetables. They also supplied apples and pears. The family would get up at 2 a.m. during the vegetable season, and the children had to help in the garden when they were old enough. While working in the garden, Mrs. Lavezzola would use a heavy pick instead of a garden hoe – she did so until she was 85 years old. The ladies did the cooking and most of the farming; they would get up at 2 a.m. to bake bread. They relied on their own stock and chickens for milk, butter, meat and eggs. Salt pork, corned beef, and so forth were all made at the ranch.”

In another interview with Tony Lavezzola, printed in the Oakland Tribune of September 6, 1959, it is stated the ranch was 400 acres and “in 1869 a substantial two-story frame house was erected on an excavated cellar whose walls were retained with ‘dry masonry’ - rock work without benefit of cement or mortar - and which stands today, although the house was destroyed by fire in 1940.” However, James J. Sinnott stated in his book that “in March of 1926 the dwelling and barn of the Lavezzola Ranch were destroyed by fire. The buildings were constructed in early days of the best timber, the walls all consist of 12 by 12 hewn timbers.”

The Oakland Tribune article states, “In 1870 Father Lavezzola set out 275 apple trees on his rolling acreage. All cultivation had to be done by hand due to the steepness of the terrain, and water was flumed in from a branch of the North Yuba to irrigate the young orchard… Hay had to be cut by long hand scythes and baled by hand, farming machinery being impractical to use.”

To Michele and Maria Lavezzola, seven children were born at the ranch: Frank (1871-1886), John (1872-1932), Peter (1875-1960), Daniel (1876-1938), Antone “Tony” (1881-1962), and Joseph (1888-1941). As stated in a previous article, Frank Lavezzola died after falling into an arrastra near the Sierra Buttes Mine mill. John Lavezzola married Rose Grondona (the Grondona family also originated from Liguria and settled in both Sierra and Plumas Counties). John and Rose unfortunately lost their two teenage sons during the influenza epidemic of 1918. Peter Lavezzola never married, nor did his brother Daniel or his sister Mary (who was referred to as “an invalid for the past twenty-two years” in Wooldridge’s 1931 book). Joseph Lavezzola married Ruby Stoner and had three children. Tony Lavezzola married Teresa Tomola, a native of Piedimulera, Italy.

Tony Lavezzola will be the focus of Part 7 of this series, coming next week!