JOHN A. RUSSI

Sacramento County

Biographies

JOHN A. RUSSI

JOHN A. RUSSI.--Prominent among the supervisors of Sacramento County may be mentioned John A. Russi, the proprietor of the popular Russi Market at Folsom City. He was born on Due Rock ranch on Deer Creek, near Shingle Springs, in Eldorado County on September 22, 1876, the son of John Antone and Louise (Wallace) Russi, the former a pioneer who came to America as a young man from his native Switzerland, and located near White Rock in Eldorado County. There he established himself in a small way as a dairyman, and from the start built up an extensive business on his home place near Clarksville. He died over thirty years ago, at the age of forty-four, survived by a widow and six children, among whom John A. is the eldest. Mrs. Russi, the mother, is still living, at the age of sixty-eight, on the old home place forty miles distant from the capital.

At the time of his father’s death, John Russi assumed the responsibilities natural to the maintenance of such an estate and family, and great credit is due him for the remarkable ability with which he has forged ahead. From the beginning he has had the confidence of all with whom he has dealt. Deciding to set out for himself, he borrowed money from Andrew Morrison with which to buy his first stock; and since that year, 1898, he has devoted all his time and energies to the stock trade, gradually building up an extensive business. He is a man of exceptional ability, which was developed in the hard school of experience; he is endowed with a wonderful capacity for clear thinking, and is amply fitted for the achievement of any important task assigned him.

In 1906 he bought land in Sacramento, and he has added to his holdings by subsequent purchase until his farms embrace about 5,700 acres, nearly all of which is used for stock-raising and dairying. He has continued in the dairy field, but for the past twelve years he has turned over the dairy business to his partner to conduct on shares. In 1906 he also opened a retail meat shop in Folsom City; and this business has so prospered that he is now a large dealer in beef and fresh meats, both wholesaling and retailing his stock. Five years ago he entered the sheep business, and today he owns some 5,000 head of choice sheep.

In 1910, at a time when there was no bank at Folsom, it was through John Russi’s efforts that the State Bank of Folsom was organized with a capitalization of $25,000. He has remained the largest stockholder and has always been a director in the bank, and he has thus had much to do with their fine new edifice, which was completed in 1920 and is a great credit to the locality. That same year he bought the corner property now known as the Russi Building, with a frontage of twenty feet on Sutter Street, and extending back to the railroad; this is used as a warehouse, and it has a modern refrigeration plant with machinery for the manufacture of ice, and a clean, new retail meat market with a capacity of fifteen beeves per day. In 1918, he bought the old Burnham home, which had been kept in fine repair, and there he lives today; at the time of its completion, in 1896, it had cost Mr., Burnham $26,000, and was rated as the finest residence in the county. He also owns other desirable property in Folsom City, and elsewhere in Sacramento County.

Mr. Rossi has been identified with public life for years; and through his unselfish devotion to the interests of the community, and the people he represents as a supervisor of Sacramento County, in District 4, he has worn the esteem and admiration, not only of his immediate colleagues, but also of all who have been acquainted with his varied activities. As regards the many things he has accomplished while supervisor of the county, he can be said to be the father of concrete highway construction, and always as active advocate of good roads. The building of needed bridges, and the work on the County Hospital, now nearly finished, have also received his most conscientious attention. He is now serving the second year of his third term as supervisor.

At Sacramento, on October 13, 1906, Mr. Russi was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Sims Hall, who was born in Baton Rouge, La., the daughter of Shephard and Frances (Harris) Sims, both representatives of fine old Southern families, dating back to the best of English ancestry. She came West in 1880 to Shingle Springs, Eldorado County, and was married to Daniel T. Hall, who died over thirty years ago, survived by her children: Lawrence S.; Alvin, deceased; Avis Dahlin, at Oakland; and Norvin M., at Folsom City. The Hall estate was handled by Mrs. Hall with consummate ability and embraces over 1,700 acres of choice range land, which is now a part of our subject’s holdings. Mrs. Russi has proven her worth as a helpmate, and Mrs. Russi attributes a large part of his success to her natural gifts and her increasing interest in his affairs. During the World War, Mr. Russi patriotically did everything that was in his power to do, to forward the Liberty Loan and other drives. His hobby has been hunting and fishing but the rapid and steady increase in his business interests has crowded sports to the wall. Mr. Russi is a member of Granite Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of the Rebekah Lodge and the Encampment, and is a past noble grand; he is a charter member of the native Sons of the Golden West, at Folsom City; he belongs to the Eagles; and he is one of the “Best People on Earth”—the B. P. O. Elks, of Sacramento.

Transcribed by Gloria Wiegner Lane.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 472-475. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.