San
Joaquin County
Biographies
PETER CALORI
At
present residing at 2006 North El Dorado Street, Stockton, Peter Calori is an
old-time resident of San Joaquin County, with whose various interests and
affairs he has been closely identified since the year 1881, when as a boy of
eighteen he left the parental roof in far-away Italy and cast his lot in
California. Agriculture in its different
phases has been the chief object of his attention and endeavors since coming
here, and his unqualified success as a vegetable gardener near Mossdale has
brought him recognition as one of the foremost men of his class in San Joaquin
County. He was born in the Province of
Genoa, near Chiavari, Italy, October 29, 1863, and is
the youngest son of Dominico and Maria Calori, both natives of the same
province. In 1866 the father made a trip
to Brazil where he remained only four months when he returned to Italy and
became an extensive rancher and vineyardist.
Both parents are now deceased.
Peter Calori is the youngest of
three children and the only one to come to the United States. At the age of eighteen years he went to
Havre, France, and there took passage on a vessel bound for America reaching
San Francisco in June, 1881, and soon found employment in the vegetable gardens
of Marin County, where he worked for three months, when he settled in this
county, which has been his home ever since.
For five years he worked in vegetable gardens where now stands the
splendid group of buildings of the Stockton high school. In 1893 Mr. Calori came to Mossdale and purchased
fifty-four acres of raw land covered with tules and willows. He cleared the land and planted orchard and
vineyard. Several times his orchard and
vineyard was swept away by the floods, until finally the levees were
constructed of sufficient strength to control the flood waters and Mr. Calori
was able to raise fine crops of fruits and vegetables on his land, and his
products became known all over the county.
Nine years ago Mr. Calori erected a fine residence on his ranch, but
since retiring from active business life he has lived in Stockton with his
family, where he owns a residence on North El Dorado Street. Mr. Calori’s
energies are not alone confined to ranching operations but as he has prospered
he has invested his profits in business and residence property in Stockton
being very optimistic for the future greatness of this city.
The marriage of Mr. Calori occurred
in Stockton November 29, 1891, and united him with Miss Serafina
Rossi, a native of Italy, born near Genoa, a daughter of G. B. and Catherine
Rossi who followed agricultural pursuits and are both now deceased. Her maternal grandfather, Nichol Guglierri, made the trip to San Francisco in the early
period of the gold excitement and for a few years followed mining in the mother
lode country when he returned to Italy and spent the remainder of his
days. Serafina
Rossi, the fourth of eleven children, arrived in Stockton in 1891; there she
met and married Mr. Calori, and their union has been
blessed with four children who are all very devoted to their parents. Mary attended Heald’s Business College, Edna
the Stockton high school, and the two sons are Andrew and August.
Mr. Calori was one of the founders
of the Associated Gardener’s Union, an association for marketing fruits and
vegetables, and was an active and influential member until his retirement from
the busy life of a rancher. He has never
had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1396-1399. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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