San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN J. RATTO
A very successful rancher long
identified with the Delta, and one who has fully done his part to advance the
territory, is John J. Ratto, the grain-farmer, who was born on June 6, 1882, on
the upper division of Roberts Island.
His father was Joseph Ratto, a native of Genoa, Italy, who came out to
California about 1854, and located in the Delta district, where he took up
farming. He married Miss Angelo Valargo, a native of Venice, who came to California in the
early sixties; they were blessed with a family of ten children, of whom John J.
was the eldest, and therefore the one upon whom many responsibilities
devolved. Mrs. Ratto, beloved by a wide
circle, now resides in Stockton.
Fortunately for John, he had a good
common schooling; so that when in his seventeenth year his father died, and he
was face to face with serious duties, he was better able to cope with the
problems and hard work before him.
Farming early became his chief enterprise, and it has since remained
so. More and more he has made a
specialty of beans, produce and grain, cultivating in time as many as 2,000
acres in the Delta district. Of late
years, he has contented himself with farming only 700 acres, double-cropping
the land. His home place is eight miles
north of Tracy on the Grant Line Canal.
At Stockton, July 6, 1902, Mr. Ratto
was married to Miss Margaret Silva, a native of Oakland, where she was born on
June 4, 1887; and their union has been blessed with the birth of five
children: Lena, Florence, Rose, Ralph
and John, Jr. Mr. Ratto is a Republican
and being public-spirited, he is serving his community well as a trustee of the
Naglee school.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1493. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases