Butte
County
Biographies
HENRY
GIANELLA
HENRY
GIANELLA.—A native son of the Golden State, who is a hustler and
making good as a stock-raiser and grain-farmer in Butte County, is Henry
Gianella, who was born on the Vincenzo Gianello Ranch near Honcut, in
1889. His father was a pioneer rancher
and is mentioned at length in the sketch of J. L. Gianella on another page of
this work.
Henry Gianella was next to the
youngest in his family. He attended the
public schools of St. Mary’s College at Oakland,
graduating from the commercial department.
From early boyhood he has helped his father and brothers with the work
about their large ranch and was familiar with the raising of grain and
stock. After he left college he
returned to the home place and worked with his father and brothers until the
death of the father, after which he and his brother, J. L. Gianella, operated
the Gianella Ranch near Nord. In 1916, Henry
Gianella formed a partnership with his brother, Thomas A. Gianella, and D. J.
Murphy. They leased the Richardson Springs Range and
stocked it with sheep and began the sheep business on a large scale, raiding
the animals for their wool and flesh. In
1917, the Gianella brothers, Henry and Thomas A., leased twenty-five hundred
acres of the Phelan Ranch and here they engaged in raising grain and
stock. To prepare the land for the crops
they use a caterpillar tractor, together with their horse and mule teams. They have about seventeen hundred acres in grain
and the balance in summer fallow, thereby replenishing the strength of the soil
each year.
Mr. Gianella was united in
marriage, in Chico, with Miss Bertha Leeper, a native daughter of Butte
County. Her father, John F. Leeper, is
an old and prominent citizen and business man of Chico and is
represented on another page of this work.
Mr. and Mrs. Gianella have one child, Roseadelle. Mr. Gianella is a member of Chico Council,
No. 1137, K. of C., in which he is warden.
He is a stockholder and a director in the Gianella Land Company.
Transcribed by
Chris Worley.
Source: “History of
Butte County, Cal.,” by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1070-1071, Historic Record Co,
Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Chris
Worley.
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