California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


ANTONIO FARETTA.� One of the adopted citizens of Fresno County, 
who has forged ahead without making any fuss about it, is Antonio Faretta. 
He was born in the Province of Potenza, Italy, October 28, 1875. He attended 
the village school until his eighth year, when he went to work, but kept up his 
school at night. Upon reaching manhood, he served thirty months in the Italian 
army, and returning to his home village in 18^8 was married to Cathrina Masucci, 
who had come to America when six years of age, and had returned to Italy. An- 
tonio's father had also come to America and was located in Oakland, Cal. Soon 
after the son's marriage he and his wife started for America with just enough 
money to reach this side, arriving in 1898, and going to Oakland. After work- 
ing for wages in Oakland for eighteen months, he came to Fresno County in 1900 
and for six months was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 
and for the next two and a half years worked on ranches in the county. He then 
followed work in various lines until, in 1904, he started a grocery store at 1301 
Fresno Street, one of the first to engage in business on the West Side. This 
was a small frame building, and his business grew from the start and to such 
proportions that finally, in 1913, he erected his present two-story brick building, 
which enables him to better supply his still increasing trade. He also owns a 
twenty-acre ranch on Shields Avenue, planted to Thompson seedless grapes. He 
is a successful, self-made man. He has four children, all born in California: 
Mamie, Rosie, Marie Antoinette and Theodore.