San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GIOVANNI NELLI
A prominent member of the
Italian-American residents of Stockton, Giovanni Nelli is the senior member of
the men’s furnishing store of Nelli & Mazza. He was born
near Florence, Italy, on December 27, 1880 where he attended the public
schools, and afterwards took a commercial course. Upon reaching eighteen years of age he
entered the Italian army, where he served for twenty-two months; at one time
being stationed at Napoli and Salerno, where he served as a clerk in the
commissary department; he then went to South America as a commercial traveler
throughout Brazil and other South American countries and in 1903 arrived in the
United States and located in Seattle, remaining there only six months when he
located in Stockton. He entered the
employ of Alfred Santini as a clerk and upon
receiving word that his mother was very ill in Italy, he left and went back to
his old home, where he spent eight months, after which he returned to Stockton
and assumed his old position. During
1910 he formed a partnership with D. Mazza and purchased
the haberdashery of R. Magruetti, located at 226
South Center Street, where a fine business has been built up; the store has
been enlarged, new fixtures installed, and a complete and up-to-date line of
goods is carried.
The marriage of Mr. Nelli united him
with Miss Adella Peirano, a
native of Sonora, Tuolumne County, California.
Mr. Nelli has made a number of valuable real estate purchases, including
an apartment house on Poplar and San Joaquin streets, his new residence at 20
East Ash Street, and another fine residence on South Sutter Street. He is a prominent member of the Italian
colony of Stockton and has been the secretary and treasurer of the Stockton
Italian Club since its organization. In
his fraternal relations he is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the
Concordia Club, of which he has been secretary for ten years, and the Italian
branch of the Foresters of America, serving as secretary for ten years. He is a stockholder in the Bank of
Italy. In the spring of 1921 he and his
wife took a trip covering five months, to his old home in Italy, visiting the
principal cities of his native country.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1611. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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