San Joaquin County
Biographies
LOUIS F. BARZELLOTTI.
The capable and efficient engineer of Lodi, Louis Barzellotti was born in Florence, Italy, on April 1, 1857, and was educated in his native country. Finishing his preliminary education he entered the University of Pisa and was graduated with the degree of M. A.; he received his C. E. degree from the University of Rome; then took a post graduate course in mineralogy and geology from the Institute of Florence. During the year of 1891 he concluded to cast his lot in the land of greater opportunities and upon arrival in California practiced his profession of mining engineer in Sierra County for three years; he was also consulted by horticulturists throughout California on olive and grape culture; for the next ten years he was consulting engineer for the Corvagie-Tesla Coal Mining Company. He then was engaged in railroad construction work in the Mojave desert and in 1912 located in Lodi when that thriving city was just starting on its era of expansion.
Since his arrival in Lodi, Mr. Barzellotti has taken an active part in its development. He built a new stone sewer system and twelve miles of paving; he planned and built the municipal swimming baths in the city park, the first municipal baths constructed in the state. He is secretary of the City Planning committee which has had charge of all recent improvements. He takes a great interest in his work and has advocated the annexation of more territory to the city. In 1915 he took an active part in the campaign for bond issue for city improvement which was passed unanimously and Mr. Barzellotti has witnessed many substantial developments in the municipality. He specializes on scientific irrigation, the development of which has been the greatest factor in the progress of central California; he has frequently been called upon to lecture on this interesting subject and is considered an expert on municipal engineering and irrigation topics; he has written extensively on these subjects for a number of periodicals. Mr. Barzellotti is engineer of reclamation district No. 548, located in the Delta district and containing 13,000 acres, this tract of land being originally from five to six feet below tide-water; he was also irrigation engineer on the development of two large ranches on Rough and Ready and Roberts Islands. Mr. Barzellotti is serving as vice-president of the San Joaquin County Association of Civil Engineers. Fraternally, he is identified with the Lodi Lodge, No. 256, F. & A. M., and Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, San Francisco.
The marriage of Mr. Barzellotti united him with Miss Amelia Louise Wetman, a native of San Francisco. The state of California and the locality which he has selected for his permanent home owe much to men of the caliber of Mr. Barzellotti.
History of San Joaquin County, California Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1276
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
JACK BARRON.
A well-known, hustling realty dealer whose operations have had considerable significance for others as well as for himself, is Jack Barron, of 411-12 Commercial & Savings Bank Building, Stockton, a native of San Francisco, where he was born on March 1, 1881. As early as his thirteenth year, he started to work on a ranch at Riverbank, and when more experienced, he continued farm labor on ranches in the Delta district. Later, he was in the employ of the Stockton Glass Works as a fireman.
In 1916 he started in the real estate business by buying cheap lots in Stockton, which were then considered not worth bothering with, but in the selling of which he was successful, realizing some profit. He next associated himself with Kenneth T. Howe, the real estate dealer; and how they came to start together is very interesting. Mr. Howe had a horse which he wished to sell, and Jack said that nothing could be easier,and at a good price, too. Jack made the sale, and Mr. Howe said that a man who could get that price for a horse, could also sell real estate. So Jack started in, and in the Mineral Baths Tract made a record for sales, taking first prize among other salesmen. He later became the exclusive agent for Mosswood Park, which was owned by Mrs. Mary B. Percival, selling off many lots there and he is still agent for the property.
Early in 1920 Mr. Barron became associated with P. H. Stitt in the sale of lots and houses in Tuxedo Park; and one of his first big deals there was in closing the sale of a $17,000 residence; and since that time he has sold real estate all over Stockton. He also buys lots and builds cottages and bungalows which he sells at a good profit and in this venture has met with very satisfactory results. Mr. Barron employs six and seven salesmen in his business, and along with his other transactions he buys and ships grapes, deals in farming and grape lands, and does a general real estate, loan and insurance business. He is a good judge of values, a wide-awake student of changing market conditions, and first, last and all the time, dependable. Mr. Barron's signs 10x30 feet in size bearing "Barron's Real Estate Exchange," are to be found on all roads and principal highways leading out of Stockton. Mr. Barron belongs to the San Joaquin County Realty Board; and as a Master Mason, he is a member of the San Joaquin Blue Lodge.
History of San Joaquin County, California Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1276
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.
JOHN VINCENT CRAVIOTTO, M. D.
A distinguished member of the medical fraternity in California is John Vincent Craviotto, the physician and surgeon, whose fine suite of offices are located on North Sutter Street, Stockton. He was born near Genoa, Italy, on August 1, 1879, and when five years of age, he was brought to California by his parents, who settled at San Francisco. He attended the local schools, and later went to St. Ignatius College; and in 1899 he was graduated from the University of California with the Ph.G. degree. Five years later, he was graduated from the Cooper Medical College, affiliated with Stanford University; and then he received the coveted M. D. degree. He was an intern in the City and County Hospital and also the French Hospital at San Francisco for a year, and in October, 1905, he removed to Stockton and began to practice medicine.
From the beginning of his professional experience, Dr. Craviotto has not only been in great demand as one of the leaders in the Italian Colony of San Joaquin County, but he has steadily taken high rank as one of the ablest of physicians and surgeons, often called in consultation and for serious cases requiring the specialist. He is physician for the Concordia Grove of Druids, the Cavalotti Lodge of Foresters, and the Italian Garden Society. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and the State and County Societies, and he has a fellowship in the American College of Surgeons. He is president of the Stockton Italian Club, and belongs to Lodge No. 218 of the Elks, to the Young Men's Institute, to the Druids, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Foresters of America, and he is a member of the advisory board of the Bank of Italy at Stockton and of the Security Building & Loan Association and for the past twelve years he has been a member of the State Lunacy Commission.
In San Francisco, in 1904, Dr. Craviotto was married to Miss Lydia Spadina, a native of San Francisco; and they have six children, all born at Stockton: Concessa, Irene, Angela, John Vincent, Jr., Vincent Angelo, and Yollanda.
History of San Joaquin County, California Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1923
p 1279
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.