Ginochio family once farmed 12,000 acres in Concord
CONCORD, CA (Sept. 26, 2023) — I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the history of the pioneering Ginochio family and narrowed it down to the arrival of three brothers.
Antonio was the first to settle in Concord, with his wife, Marchillena. They had come from New York after leaving Genoa, Italy, in 1867. He started by renting a ranch from the Bancroft family near Heather Farms which extended all the way to what is now Concord Community Park. Eventually, they bought the house that was formerly the DeRosa home on Cowell Road.
They had nine children: five sons, John, Louis, David, Peter and Anthony, who died at a young age, and four daughters, Mary, Lena, Angelina and Azalia.
The next to arrive was Giovanni in 1876. He did not like farming the land, so he got a job in the coal mines in Nortonville. When the mines closed, he moved to Ygnacio Valley but came back to Nortonville and opened a boarding house and saloon and got into ranching.
Pietro, the youngest of the boys, moved to Concord in 1883. With him came Giovanni’s wife Angelina with their first child, Marie. Giovanni and Angelina had four other children: John, Elizabeth, Louis and Amelia.
Expanding family property
Pietro worked with Giovanni in the coal mines but went back to Italy to get his wife, Angelina Moresco. He returned in 1890 and bought a ranch on Clayton Road that extended to Mount Diablo Street and to Cowell Road.
Pietro and Angelina had five children: John, Angelo, Louis, Ermeda and Guido. He had built a house on Dover Way and there happened to be a big oak tree on the property. It stands to this day on the subdivided land that was later sold by Pietro’s grandson, Bobbie.
As time went by, all three brothers had good size farms – with about 2,500 animals grazing over 12,000 acres of land. By the way, none of them finished school because they had to go to work.
Between them, they had 19 children, which is why a lot of us have known a Ginochio or two.
Send comments and suggestions for future topics to editor@pioneerpublishers.com.
Carol Longshore
Carol Longshore has been a Concord resident since 1950. She is a community leader and past president of the Concord Historical Society. Send comments and suggestions for future topics.