THE VALLEY OF HEART's DELIGHT
CHARLES GENARDINI
Surnames: PATA, CANET, TONINI, JACQUES
For more than a quarter of a century Charles Genardini has been active
as a dairyman of Santa Clara County, and his success has been obtained
through close application to business, coupled with honesty and
uprightness of character. A native of Switzerland, he was born at
Gordola, in Canton Ticino, June 29, 1865, the son of Joseph and Rosalia
(Pata) Genardini, Charles being the fifth child in a family of six. The
father was a farmer and orchardist. Charles was educated in the public
schools of his native land, and spent his boyhood on the farm helping
his father with the farm work. In 1886, when he was twenty-one, he came
to California, settling in San Luis Obispo County.
Mr. Genardini was a
carpenter by trade and when he came to California he could turn his hand
to any kind of work. He started to work in a dairy, but he found the
milking of cows very hard and thought he never would learn it, but in
three months he had mastered it, so he could hold his own with anyone.
He attended strictly to business and in time his employer sold out to
him and he continued the business for four years, then started in the
dairy business for himself near the town of Morrow, ten miles from San
Luis Obispo and continued for four years; then leased a ranch at Chorro
and ran it eight years, when he came back to Morrow, where he leased two
different ranches. In time he came to have one of the largest dairies in
that region, having 170 milch cows. He was one of the first dairymen to
see the practicability of the separator and was one of the first to
install a steam separator in his dairy and also a power churn, where he
manufactured butter. During several months of the year he made 200
pounds of butter a day, which he shipped and sold in the Los Angeles
markets through commission men, obtaining a record price. He was said to
have the best bunch of cows on the Coast. He saw to it, too, that his
men had comfortable quarters and good food and he was known as one of
the most reliable and enterprising men in the county. He continued
dairying there until 1913, selling out his dairy in San Luis Obispo
County and settled in Santa Clara County on a ranch near Lawrence
Station, consisiting of 160 acres. He rented this place for about five
years, then bought forty-four acres on Bascom Avenue devoted to prunes,
which he later sold, and purchased his present home on the Stevens Creek
Road; remodeling the house into a modern bungalow and putting the place
in good shape.
Mr. Genardini's marriage occurred in San Luis Obispo in 1889 and united
him with Miss Elizabeth Canet, the daugher of Joseph and Valentine
Canet. Grandfather Canet came from Spain and settled in California in
very early days. Mrs. Genardini was educated in the schools of San Luis
Obispo, and was reared on a farm. She and her husband are the parents of
five children: Rosalia, deceased; Armenia, accidentally burned to death
when two years old; Joseph married Miss Jennie Tonini of Morrow and they
have three children--Alfred, Helen and Stanley Charles; Mary is Mrs.Fred
Tonini and they have three children--Ellis, Carl and Eileen; Dante
entered the service of his country in June, 1918, and was one month at
Camp Lewis in Company L, Three Hundred Sixty-fourth Infantry of the
Ninety-first Division; was transferred to the Signal Corps in New York
and went to France as a telephone operator, and spent eleven months
overseas in Company C of the Three Hundred Sixth Field Signal Battalion
and received the rank of corporal, having a fine record in the service.
He returned home July, 1919, and was honorably discharged. He married
Miss Irene Jacques and they reside in San Jose.
Politically, Mr. Genardini is a stanch Republican, and he became a
citizen of the United States in 1894 at San Luis Obispo. In August,
1906, he made a trip back to Switzerland to visit the old home, where he
had a pleasant time, as his mother, who was eighty-two years old, and
sister were living. He spent over three months, during which time he
traveled into Italy and different countries on the continent, visiting
his brother, Elia, in Paris, returning to California pleased to get
back. His mother lived to be eighty-eight years of age. Fraternally Mr.
Genardini is an Elk of the San Luis Obispo lodge and a member of the
Druids No. 90 of Cayucos. He is a strong admirer of his adpoted country
and does all he can for the advancement of his locality.