San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GIOBATTA CANESSA
An Italian-American who, on account
of his marked success in the cultivation of a trim orchard and vineyard of some
twenty acres four and one-half miles out of Stockton on the White Road, the
result of his combined progressive methods and thorough, scientific industry,
has become one of the most interesting ranchers in that locality, is Giobatta Canessa, who was born in
Canale Province, Genoa, Italy, in 1870, the son of Louis and Mary (Cuneo) Canessa. His father
was a farmer, and he lived and died in Italy, where his affectionate and
equally devoted mother also breathed her last.
The worthy couple had eight children:
Nicholas, deceased; Antonio; Giobatta, the
subject of this story; Rosie, Angelo, Louisa and Mary are dead; and Anna.
Reared in Italy and educated in her
public schools, Giobatta, on the 20th of
September, 1888, arrived in San Francisco, where he secured work in a fish
market. He could not stand the dampness,
however, and after three months took up vegetable garden work for two years. He then spent one summer at Ventura, and
having returned to the north, he put in four months in a hotel at San
Rafael. He then secured job with the
Pacheco-Gray Tankhouse Company, and for the following
three and one-half years worked for them.
After that he was employed in a lumber yard, between Fourth and Fifth
streets, in San Francisco.
In 1904 he bought twenty acres of
stubble field, but soon sold one-half of it, setting out the other ten acres as
an orchard and vineyard, and then built a home upon it. A few years later he purchased a neighboring
ten acres on the north, which had already been set out as an orchard, and for
two years he managed these twenty acres for himself. He then leased the ranch and ran a vegetable
and fruit wagon to Waterford, Knights Ferry, Turlock and Jamestown, the object
being to help pay for his farm.
After that he made a trip to Toronto, Canada,
where he spent three months, when he returned to Italy and spent some time in a
delightful visit to his home and native district, and among kinsfolk and
friends. Coming back to San Francisco in
1908, he was married on November 29 to Miss Katherine Roggio,
a native of Chiavari, Italy, and the daughter of Giuseppe and Angela Roggio, a very worthy couple still living in Italy, who had
five children, the eldest being Giuseppe, the next youngest Alfred, who was killed
in the late World War in action on the battlefield, and Angela, Christina and
Katherine, the devoted wife of our subject.
Two children have blessed this union, Rita and Norma. Mr. and Mrs. Canessa
have a comfortable home, where they extend a welcome to all who come their way;
and as an industrious, thrifty and public-spirited couple, they afford a fine
example of the native of Europe who frequently adds much in wealth of one kind
or another on settling here and electing to become an American citizen.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1484. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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