Merced-Madera County CA Archives Biographies.....Stefani, Pompilio 1871 - 
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Author: John Outcalt (1925)

POMPILIO STEFANI

   Men of the type of Pompilio Stefani, who have come here from the farms and
vineyards of their native countries, and have brought their first-hand knowledge
of all forms of agriculture to a new land, helping in its development and
upbuilding, are very real factors in our present-day prosperity, and deserve to
be mentioned in its personal history. Born February 2, 1871, at Maria, Province
Lucca, Italy, Mr. Stefani was the seventh of ten children born to Constantino
and Maria (Lorencetti) Stefani, both natives of Italy, where the father was a
farmer and vineyardist. He attended the public schools of Maria, and was reared
on the home farm, learning in his boyhood the unceasing effort necessary when
reaping a harvest from the soil.

   Mr. Stefani served twenty-three months in the 8th Regular Infantry of the
Italian National Army, and at the end of that period decided to seek his
opportunity in America. Leaving Italy on July 4, 1894, he went to Havre, France,
and there boarded the steamship Fulda, and ten days later reached New York. He
had been preceded to California by a brother, Carlo, who came in 1892, and he
himself came direct to San Francisco from New York.

   September 12, 1894, Mr. Stefani came to Merced County, and at once entered
the employ of Thomas Wood, then superintendent of the Santa Rita ranch; his
wages were twenty dollars per month, working in the dairy and alfalfa, and he
spent three years in their employ. He worked in the Italian Colony in Madera
County, and remained there six months during the harvest season of 1896.
Returning to Merced as foreman of the ranch workers' gang on the grain ranch of
the Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Company, he was thus occupied steadily for the
next six years. In the meantime, in 1903, he invested in twenty-nine acres of
land in Ash Colony and his property today is known as Franklin Corners, three
miles north of Merced on the State Highway. Here he set out a vineyard of black
grapes and a fruit orchard, and now has a highly developed property, with class
A buildings and residence. He added seventeen acres by subsequent purchase, and
set out more vineyards, and in 1923 he erected a fireproof garage building, 40'
by 80' on the Franklin Corners, and has leased the corner to a garage and
service station company. In all this development work, Mr. Stefani has added to
his own resources, and at the same time has added to property values in the
county. A man who believes in the judicious investing of his savings for
permanent improvements, he has been an upbuilder to the community where he
settled and makes his home.

   The marriage of Mr. Stefani, at Maria, Italy, when he returned home for a
nine months' visit, in 1908, united him with Teresa Marchini, a native of Lucca,
and third of six children born to her parents, Joseph and Anna Marchini, farmers
of that place. Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Stefani:
Annie, Constantino, and William. Mr. Stefani received his citizenship papers in
Merced in 1897, and is a Republican. Fraternally, he has been a member of the
Merced Lodge of Druids for eleven years.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
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

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


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