Riverside
County
Biographies
ANDREW DIFANI
Andrew Difani, deceased, was for
many years successfully identified with business interests in Riverside as
senior member of the firm of A. Difani & Sons, dealers in vehicles, trucks
and farm implements and proprietors of a general repair shop. He was born at Hermann, Missouri, January 23,
1864, a son of Andrew and Amelia (Willi) Difani. Andrew
Difani, Sr., a native of Baden-Baden, Germany, crossed the Atlantic to the
United States in young manhood, locating at St. Louis, Missouri, where he
engaged in the retail shoe business.
Subsequently he removed to Montgomery City, Missouri, where he resided
for about thirty-five years. In the fall
of 1884 he came with his family to California, establishing his home on a ranch
in the vicinity of Elsinore. Two years
later, however, he returned to Missouri, in which state he passed away in
1892. His wife, a native of St. Louis,
Missouri, was of German-Swiss parentage, and her father, who was for a time an
engineer on crafts plying on the Ohio River, later turned his attention to
blacksmithing, which trade he had learned in Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Difani, Sr., were the
parents of six children, as follows:
Edward, who died in Los Angeles; Andrew, of this review; W. Columbus,
also deceased, who was a resident of Palo Alto, California; Winona; Byron, a
rancher of Imperial Valley; and Olca, who was a
resident of Riverside at the time of her death.
Andrew Difani received a high school
education and also attended business college at
Montgomery City, Missouri. He was twenty
years of age when in 1884 he accompanied his parents on their removal to
California. He had already served an
apprenticeship of three years at the trade of horseshoeing and carriage
manufacturing and had worked one year for wages. He came to the Golden state with the
intention of establishing himself in business, started the first shop at
Elsinore, and conducted it for nine months, going from there to Wildomar, California, where he operated another shop for a
similar period. It was in 1892 that he
came to Riverside, where with a partner he purchased a shop on Eight and Orange
streets, of which he became the sole proprietor in 1897, thereafter remaining
alone in business until 1921. In that
year, however, he took his sons, Leo Andrew and Leonard Joseph, into the
business under the firm name of A. Difani & Sons. For many years he made a specialty of
manufacturing all kinds of vehicles, especially those for business and delivery
wagons, and fitting up hook and ladder trucks.
In 1916 he added agricultural implements to his stock, and the firm also
handled the Fageol trucks and tractors and the Moline
agricultural implements. The concern
occupied well equipped quarters at 851 Orange Street, between Eighth and Ninth streets.
On the 1st of July, 1890,
in Alexis, Illinois, Mr. Difani was united in marriage to Miss Alice R.
Robinson, a daughter of Rev. Joseph and Ellen Robinson, natives of England,
where she was born, reared and educated.
At the age of sixteen years she came to the United States with her
parents, who took up their abode in Alexis, Illinois. Her father was a clergyman of the Methodist
Church. Mr. and Mrs. Difani became the
parents of three children: Leo Andrew,
Leonard Joseph and Corrine Beatrice. Leo
Andrew Difani was born in Wildomar, California, May
11, 1891, and attended grammar and high schools in the acquirement of an
education. He was connected with Brainard & Company of Riverside, selling the Buick
automobiles, before going into business with his father, but is now assistant
sales manager with Don Lee, Cadillac distributor for the state of
California. Enlisting for military
service at the time of the World War, he was assigned to the chemical warfare
section and stationed at San Francisco, where he was a sergeant and was
discharged with that rank after the signing of the Armistice. Leonard Joseph Difani was born in Riverside,
August 19, 1894. After attending the
schools of his native city he matriculated in the University of Southern
California, and he had been a student of that institution for three and
one-half years when war was declared. He
enlisted for service in the navy and attended the officers training camp at San
Pedro and San Francisco. Receiving his
commission as an ensign, he was assigned to duty on the U. S. S. Brutus, where
he remained until the cessation of hostilities when he was honorably
discharged, and, returning to the University of Southern California, took the
examination for the bar and was admitted to practice. He followed his profession for two months in
the office of Carnahan & Clark in Los Angeles, and then returned to
Riverside to go into partnership with his father. He is now a prominent attorney of this
city. On December 25, 1919, Leonard J.
Difani married Miss Ruth Elizabeth Stephens, a native of Iowa and a daughter of
W. E. Stephens, a realtor of Riverside.
They are the parents of four children, namely: Eleanor Elizabeth, Edward Andrew, Ewing
Stephens and William Sharpless. The mother of the above named attended the
University of Washington at Seattle and is a member of the Delta Gamma
sorority. Leonard J. Difani has
membership in the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Corrine Beatrice, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Difani, was
born in Riverside, was graduated from the Riverside high school with the class
of 1918 and completed her studies at Columbia University of New York City. She is now Mrs. A. C. Young, of Honolulu, and
the mother of one child, Carolyn Ann, who was born in Singapore.
The late Andrew Difani was too busy
a man to take any active part in politics and never sought office but was
interested in the advancement of his home city, of which he was exceedingly
proud. Fraternally he was identified
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, and the
Present Day Club, while his religious faith was indicated by his membership in
the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which his widow also belongs and in the work
of which she takes an active and helpful part.
Mrs. Difani is likewise a member of the Ladies of the Maccabees and the
Independent Order of Foresters. It was
on the 22nd of May, 1928, at his home in Riverside, that Mr. Difani
departed this life at the age of sixty-four years.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 115-118, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S RIVERSIDE BIOGRAPIES