RYAN & CIPPA

Sacramento County

Biographies

RYAN & CIPPA

A thorough knowledge of the undertaking business and an intelligent supervision of the details connected therewith characterize the well-known firm of Ryan & Cippa. Formerly located at Nos. 1017 and 1019 Fourth street, Sacramento, in 1913 they located in their present commodious quarters at No. 1214 K street. In addition to being well located the parlors are elegantly furnished and the chapel is large and well suited for its purpose. Since forming the co-partnership Messrs, Ryan and Cippa have gained a growing prestige in the commercial circles of the city. Henry P. Ryan, the senior member of the firm, was born February 23, 1870, in Sacramento, where his father, Thomas P. Ryan, engaged in business from 1860 until 1908. The public schools and business college of the city enabled him to secure excellent educational advantages, but at a very early age he left school in order to learn the rudiments of the printer's trade. In the composing room of the Sacramento Bee he learned to set type and later acquired a knowledge of other departments of the occupation, remaining with the same paper for a period of twenty years. His identification with the undertaking business began in 1906, when he embarked in business with William Crowell. At the expiration of two years he purchased the interest owned by his partner and then continued alone until 1910, when the partnership of Ryan & Cippa was formed.

April 19, 1892, H. P. Ryan was united in marriage with Miss Mary Wetzel, of Sacramento, and they are the parents of three sons, Henry M., Thomas J., and Charles A., the two eldest of whom are now working as printers with the Sacramento Bee. For years Mr. Ryan has been actively identified with the Typographical Union. The Native Sons of the Golden West number him among their interested members. Other organizations to which he belongs are the Young Men's Institute, the Knights of Columbus and the U. P. E. C. In religion he is in sympathy with Roman Catholic doctrines and has been a generous contributor to the work of the church.

The junior member of the firm, Fred T. Cippa, is likewise a native son of Sacramento, his birth having occurred here May 20, 1874. His father, Thomas Cippa, came to America via Australia from his native Switzerland and after landing in San Francisco in the spring of 1866 proceeded direct to Sacramento. At the time of his arrival in this city he was eighteen years of age. Beginning entirely without means he worked his way forward to a substantial degree of success. On the Marysville road seven miles from Sacramento he owned a ranch of one-thousand acres, where he not only tilled the soil and raised grain, but in addition made a specialty of the dairy industry. It was in 1866 that he became a resident of this county and during the next forty years he was prosperously connected with general agriculture in the locality, meanwhile having the co-operation of his family in the acquisition of substantial success. After he came here he remained single for some years and then was united in marriage, becoming the father of eight children, of whom Fred T. is the second eldest.

Farm pursuits and attendance at school filled the youthful years of Fred T. Cippa, but upon attaining his majority he started out to earn his own way in the world. For three and one-half years he worked at the butcher's trade with Friend & Long. Next he began to learn the undertaking business with Clark & Booth and continued with them for a short time. His next position was in the employ of W. F. Gormley, an undertaker, with whom he remained for eight and one-half years. During seven years of this period he served as deputy county coroner. His present business relations with Mr. Ryan were formed in 1910 and have been both enjoyable and profitable. Like Mr. Ryan, he is identified with the Native Sons of the Golden West and like him also he holds membership with the Young Men's Institute and Knights of Columbus, while in addition he is connected with the Fraternal Brotherhood. For three years he served in Company E, California National Guard, and at the time of the great fire in San Francisco he was stationed with Troop B in that city for one month.

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.

Source: Willis, William L., History of Sacramento County, California, Pages 670-673. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.