Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


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



THOMAS A. GIANELLA
 
            Following the example set by their predecessors, the sons of the 
California pioneers are building up successes reflecting credit upon the honored 
names they bear.  Such is the record of Thomas A. Gianella, whose entire life 
has been spent in Yuba County and whose present standing as a successful wool 
and sheep grower is the result of previous years of application and good 
judgment.  A native of the county where he now resides, his birth occurred 
January 8, 1877, and he is the eldest in a family of nine children born to 
Vincenzo and Mary (Hagan) Gianella, natives of Switzerland and California, 
respectively.  
            The Gianella family was established in California by the grandfather 
of the present generation, Lorenzo Gianella, who was a native of Switzerland.  
He was a glazier by trade and followed that employment in his native country 
until 1855, when he decided to immigrate to America, and accordingly located in 
Pennsylvania for a time.  A few months later he came to California and for a 
short time worked in the mines at Georgetown. He then came to Yuba County and in 
the vicinity of Marysville followed farming and dairying for several years.  He 
was very fortunate in his ventures; and when, in 1871, he removed to Sonoma 
County, he was comfortably provided for.  He passed away at his home in Santa 
Rosa at the age of sixty-eight years.  His wife, formerly Giocanda Galippi, also 
a native of Switzerland, came to California with her parents in 1858, passing 
the twilight of her life in Santa Rosa, and living to the age of seventy-two.
            Vincenzo Gianella was the eldest of four children born to his 
parents, and first saw the light in Switzerland, on July 14, 1850.  He was eight 
years old when he accompanied his mother to California; and he remained at home 
until 1871, when he and his brother rented the home place and together engaged 
in farming.  In 1878 they purchased 1050 acres on Honcut Creek, where had been 
located a stage station in the early days.  In addition to this property they 
also rented land and engaged extensively in the raising of stock.  In 1902 they 
purchased about 4000 acres of land lying along the Sacramento River near Nord, 
in Butte County, which they operated in their work of general farming and 
stock-raising.  On February 4, 1873, Mr. Gianella was married to Miss Mary 
Hagan, a native of Sonoma County, Cal., a daughter of Henry Hagan, a native of 
Ireland, from which country he immigrated to Montreal, Canada, when a young man 
of nineteen.  Coming via Panama, he reached San Francisco in 1853 and at once 
found work at the carpenter�s trade.  Later he engaged in farming near Santa 
Rosa, until his retirement, a few years before his death, which occurred in 
Santa Rosa.  Mr. Hagan attained the age of eighty-seven years, while his wife 
(formerly Mary Burgess, a native of Missouri) died in Sonoma County at the age 
of seventy-three.  Mr. and Mrs. Vincenzo Gianella were the parents of the 
following children:  Thomas A. (the subject of this sketch), Mary Frances (a 
sister in Notre Dame Convent, San Jose), Joseph Lorenzo, Monica Louise, 
Katherine Rose, Vincent Paul, Leo, James, Henry, and William August.  Vincenzo 
Gianella died at his ranch at Nord, June 11, 1916.  His widow survives him and 
resides in San Francisco.
            Thomas A. Gianella received his education at St. Mary�s Academy, 
Oakland, Cal., from which he was graduated on June 14, 1895.  His earliest 
recollections are of farm life and stock-raising, and in young manhood he became 
associated with his father in the extensive general farming and stock-raising 
which they carried on.
            On May 10, 1919, Mr. Gianella was married to Miss Addie Block, born 
at Cherokee, a daughter of Charles H. and Nora (Ryan) Block, now residents of 
Gridley, Cal.  Mrs. Gianella is a graduate of the Chico State Normal, with the 
class of 1908, and followed teaching until her marriage.  Two children have been 
born of their union, Mary Nora and Thomas A., Jr.  The home place of the 
Gianellas is located about twelve miles northeast of  Marysville on the La Porte 
road.
            In 1917 Mr. Gianella was appointed by Governor Stephens a member of 
the exemption board for Yuba County, and upon its organization he was selected 
chairman of the board, serving until the close of the World War.  He is a member 
of the County and State Democratic Central Committees; and in 1920 he was 
elected and served as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in San 
Francisco.  He is also a member and ex-president of the Marysville district Wool 
Growers� Association, as well as a member of the State and National Wool 
Growers� Associations.  Fraternally, Mr. Gianella is a member of Marysville 
Lodge No. 783, B.P.O.E., and Marysville Council No. 1869, Knights of Columbus.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p.  570-571