Sonoma County Biography
Elvezio B. Bolla
The first representative of the Bolla family in the United States was the father of the gentleman whose name appears above, Peter Bolla, who keenly felt the limitations by which he was surrounded in his native Switzerland, where he was born in 1843, and at the age of twenty-four came to the United States and began life under new and untried conditions. In his native country he had learned the cooper's trade and had followed it for a number of years, and while this knowledge was perhaps his chief asset when he immigrated to this country, he made no use of it here, but rather adapted himself to the prevailing occupation of the locality in which he settled in Marin county. He had been reared on a farm, and while the manner of farming to which he was trained differed from that employed in this country he readily adjusted himself to the changed conditions, and with the larger field of opportunity which he here found at his command was enabled to achieve results far beyond his expectations.
For his first wife Peter Bolla chose one of his country-women in Miss Isolina Fillippini, who was born in 1860, and who at her death at the age of twenty-six years left three children, Olympio, Elvezio B. and Olivia. The second marriage of Mr. Bolla united him with Miss Ursula Fillippini, and the only child born of that union was a daughter, Edith. The only daughter of the first marriage, Olivia became the wife of Joseph Beretta, who died in May 1911; he was a native of Berne, Switzerland; two children blessed their marriage, Joseph and Isolina. Olympio married Mrs. Soledad, and resides in Two Rock valley.
The second child born of his father's first marriage, Elvezio B. Bolla was born on the family homestead in Marin county, Cal., in 1884. The public schools of the locality gave him a good educational foundation, and he has continued to add to this ever since by the reading of well-selected literature. Throughout his boyhood and youth he had imbibed a knowledge of ranching under the direction of his father that enabled him to undertake the work for himself at an early age, and though still a young man, he is now the lessee of one of the finest ranches in the vicinity of Petaluma, Sonoma county. Here he has two hundred acres of fine land, upon which he is making a specialty of the dairy business and the poultry industry. Forty head of cows of the fine breed maintain his dairy, which in time will be increased by young stock which he is now raising; two thousand chickens yield the owner a good yearly income, besides which he owns four horses, and the land not in use either as pasturage for his stock or occupied in his chicken industry, is devoted to raising hay, which is used for feeding his own stock and not for market.
As a companion and helpmeet in life Mr. Bolla chose Miss Elvezia Garzoli, who was born in Marin county, Cal., in 1883, the daughter of William Garzoli, who was born in Switzerland in 1833. Mr. Garzoli's first marriage united him with Rosie Pirefaemi, who was born in Switzerland in 1866, and who at her death left five children, William, Arnold, Belardo, Elvezia and Carena. Mrs. Bolla's brother Arnold married Armenia Pellasso, and is the father of two daughters Jesta and Frances. The marriage of Mr. And Mrs. Bolla was celebrated in San Francisco, and they have three children, a son and two daughters, Elvus, Rosie and Vivian. Politcally Mr. Bolla is a Republican, and with his wife and children he is a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church in Petaluma.
History of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
March 2008
Pages 596-599
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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