San Francisco County
Biographies
PASQUALE
PETROMILLI
Pasquale Petromilli was born May 2, 1885, at Castelfidaro, Italy, the Italian center of the accordion industry. He passed his boyhood frequenting the municipal schools of his own city while learning, during his hours of leisure, the secrets of the complicated and difficult construction of accordions. For this industry he had a natural propensity. Patient and persistent in seeking what might be an improvement, endowed with a keen intuition for inventions, he succeeded, as years passed by, in going farther than his teachers.
He emigrated to the United States a quarter of a century ago and came directly to San Francisco, California, where he found employment with the Guerrini Company, located at 279 Columbus avenue, which had already quite a good name in the accordion industry. The catastrophic earthquake and fire of 1906 that practically reduced San Francisco to ashes, destroyed also the plant of the Guerrini Company; but Pasquale Petromilli had become its proprietor and technical director, and owing to his efforts, the concern soon renewed its life. Thereafter the Guerrini Company proceeded from good to better, and accordions, which were considered primitive instruments, appreciated at the most only at country festivals, are now welcome at the best theatres of large cities and contribute even to the interpretation of classical music. It is generally recognized that such an astonishing evolution is due in great part to the practical intelligence of Pasquale Petromilli. Those who have some knowledge of accordions are aware of the fact that the obstacles which prevented them from being accepted as first-rate musical instruments were essentially of a technical nature. It was an extremely difficult task to manufacture accordions with sufficient treble notes, basses and chords without making them excessively voluminous and heavy—a very trying inconvenience in an instrument that is carried as it is played upon. Many experts endeavored unsuccessfully to solve these difficult problems. Pasquale Petromilli did succeed. The improvements that he invented have been regularly patented. They impart to the Guerrini accordions all the requirements necessary to make them complete without resorting to excessive weight and dimensions, indeed considerably reducing them. To the Guerrini accordions has been awarded a gold medal in three international exhibitions—Genoa, San Francisco and San Diego—and their popularity has passed beyond the borders of California. The Guerrini Company has an extensive trade in all the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Mexico, Australia and also in Europe, not excluding Italy, the very cradle of this industry. Employment is furnished to twenty-five people.
Mr. Petromilli married Adele Orciani, a lady born in his own country, who made him a father of a daughter, Dina, and two sons, Armando and Vincent. Dina is a prepossessing young girl who inherited the modesty and the soundness of judgment of her mother. Armando and Vincent are progressing with sure steps on the same path Pasquale Petromilli has followed so intelligently. They are already his able and trustworthy assistants in fostering the interests of the Guerrini Company, whose factory is, in its kind, the greatest and most renowned in all the United States.
Mr. Petromilli gives his political allegiance to the republican party, while fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the United Ancient Order of Druids and the Masonic order, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. Hunting and fishing constitute his favorite forms of recreation.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 217-219.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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