Placer
County
Biographies
COSTANTINO C. BOTTO
Costantino C. Botto, is now
deceased, but many of the residents of Sutter Creek remember him as a most
reliable and worthy citizen of Amador County, who by his well spent life
commanded the respect of his fellow men.
He was born in Italy, near Genoa, in 1824, and was indebted to the
schools of his native land for the educational privileges he received. He was there married to Miss Theresa Grillo,
and two children blessed their union ere their removal to the new world.
In 1858 Mr. Botto bade adieu to
friends and home, coming to California, where he met good success in the placer
mines and continued in that business for five years, at the expiration of which
time he opened a boardinghouse at Sutter Creek and also became a partner in the
building of a ditch to bring water to the mines. That enterprise proved very successful and
profitable. After some time he sold his
interest therein to the Blue Lake Water Company. Subsequently he dealt successfully in liquors
for a number of years, but in the meantime his father had died in Italy and he
returned to his native land, whence he brought his mother to California, caring
for her during her remaining days. In
1860 he purchased forty acres of land on Sutter Hill, a very desirable
property, overlooking the town of Sutter Creek.
Thereon he erected a fine residence, which he continued to make his home
until his death which occurred in 1879 in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He had brought from his old home in Italy,
Italian chestnut and olive trees and Italian soft-shelled walnut trees which he
planted on his ranch, meeting with success in the cultivation of those
products. He hardly knew what the word
“failure” meant, for he possessed such determination and energy that he carried
forward to completion whatever he undertook.
Mr. Botto was a member of the Catholic Church and his family is also
communicants of the same denomination.
His good wife still survives him, at
the age of sixty-nine years, and she and her interesting family reside at the
old homestead. There were ten children,
of whom five are yet living, namely:
Anna, the wife of James Bona; Louisa, at home: Emil, who is managing the
farm and carrying on the business; and Mary and Matilda, twins, for former the
wife of Thomas Gorman, the latter the wife of Wilfred Dennis. Mr. Botto, the father, was a man of generous
impulses, purposeful and energetic, and he left to his family a comfortable
property. His son, Emil, was born at the
old home in Sutter Creek, on the 28th of November, 1861, and is now
successfully managing the estate. The
members of the family are all widely and favorably known in the community and
it is with pleasure that we present this record to the readers of this volume.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern California”,
Pages 163-164. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.