Summary: James S. Rossi was interviewed by Andree Duggan on June 11th, 2021. He is the grandson of Serafino Rossi Sr., who emigrated from Italy at age 16 in 1906 and eventually farmed pears, peaches, plums, apricots, figs, and grapes on his 158-acre farm in Reliez Valley. James tells how his father, Angelo, who was […]
Oral History: Louis M. Cosso — February 23rd, 2015
Lou Cosso moved to Lafayette from Oakland in 1951 at age 9. His uncle owned and operated a fruit farm on 55 acres in Happy Valley. Back in Oakland people considered Lafayette, with its small size and lack of commercial offerings, to be a remote outpost. As Lou described it, however, it was a perfect […]
Oral History: Jim Martino — August 2010
Jim Martino was the fourth child of Natale, who bought a house with 100 acres and began farming in the Springhill Valley in 1919. Jim, who helped operate the farm after finishing high school, says that his father won many prizes for his pears and other fruit. Jim also remembers that his father would leave […]
Oral History: Louis Armanino — May 6, 1980
Summary: Louis Armanino was born in Italy in 1881. He came to the U.S. at the turn of the century and settled in Lafayette in 1916. In this interview, which was conducted in 1980 when he was 99 years old, Mr. Armanino describes his dairy farm consisting of 50 cows which was located near the […]
Oral History: Natale “Nat” Martino — May, 1975
Summary: Nat Martino (1888-1977) gives us a sense of what daily life was like in the farm-centered rural area of the Springhill Valley. In 1919, he purchased a farm house on today’s Martino Road where he raised a family. He describes how he used farming practices he learned in Italy to create a successful fruit […]
Oral History: Rita Santos — October 3rd, 1978
Summary: Rita Santos moved to Lafayette in 1900 at the age of 3. She lived in Happy Valley, first on her father’s ranch, and then her husband’s, until she passed away in 1992. In this interview she describes what it was like to grow up and to live in a small town that was rural […]
