San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ANDREW RIVARA
The advancement of San Joaquin
County and the upbuilding of the city of Stockton had a progressive promoter in
Andrew Rivara, whose name has been connected with many of the influences and
movements tending toward development along many avenues. Born in Italy, twenty-three miles northeast
of Genoa on March 12, 1853, he was there reared and attended school until he
was fifteen. His father was a farmer and
owned and operated a flour mill. His
son’s duties were to deliver the grain to the mill on the backs of mules, and
take the flour back to the bakery, a distance of seven miles. He made two round trips daily, thus covering
twenty-eight miles each day on foot.
Tales of the wonderful opportunities of the New World had penetrated
their village and when he reached the age of twenty-one he decided to cast his
lot in this new country. In 1874 he
married Miss Mary Musto and together they came to America, coming direct to
Stockton, California, arriving on October 30.
He secured employment with Peter Musto, who ran a grocery store at El
Dorado and Market streets; his hours were long, working from daylight to nine
at night, receiving for his labor twenty dollars per month, which continued
three years, when his wages were raised to thirty dollars per month. He then decided to go into business for
himself, and opened a small grocery store on North Hunter Street near Lindsay,
remaining in that location for seventeen years.
He then bought a lot on the corner of Main and Madison streets and
erected a store building and for the following twenty-three years carried on
his business. During 1915 he sold his
business, but is still owner of the property.
He is now living retired from active business altogether, his extensive
real estate holdings requiring all of his time.
In partnership with three other men, he owns a sixty-acre ranch on the
San Joaquin River southwest of Stockton, which is now a full-bearing vineyard
and orchard, and he is the owner of a ten-acre ranch, seven of which is in
vineyard, located near the race track east of town.
Mr. Rivara has built up a competency
wholly through his own efforts and foresight and during his forty-eight years
of continued residence in Stockton, has witnessed the remarkable and
substantial growth of that city. For
over thirty years he has been a member of the Italian branch of the Foresters
of America. Mr. and Mrs. Rivara are the
parents of nine children, of whom only three are living: Mrs. Laura Armanino,
Mary and Edna. They had a daughter,
Adeline, Mrs. Mina, who died in 1918, leaving a son, whom Mr. Rivara adopted
and is rearing and educating.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
862. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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