Humboldt County Biography
Frank Ambrosini
Born in Lodrino, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, October 2, 1855, Frank Ambrosini was the oldest of a family of seven children, of whom five are at present living. The father, Cipriano, had a farm in Lodrino, which he operated during the summer months, his winters being mostly spent in Paris, where he was employed at the trade of glazier. The mother, Agatha (Martinoli) Ambrosini, was a native of their home town in Switzerland, where she and her husband both died. They brought up their children on the farm, educating them in the public schools, and having completed his education the son Frank assisted his father upon the farm, at the age of twenty years enlisting in the Swiss army for the usual term of service, after which he was honorably discharged. Removing to Paris, he was there apprenticed to the glazier's trade, and after gaining experience in that line of work he continued in that occupation in France for a period of ten years. Having heard and read much of the opportunities offered for success in California, Mr. Ambrosini then decided to cast his fortunes on the Pacific coast, and accordingly in 1885 came to San Francisco, and thence to Eureka, in Humboldt county, Cal., and not finding employment at once in his chosen occupation, he was for five years engaged in working on the dairy ranch of Joseph Russ on Bear River ridge. Desiring to go into that line of business independently, Mr. Ambrosini rented the Bolivia ranch of about eight hundred acres, also on Bear River ridge, which for the following fifteen years he operated as a dairy, milking about eighty cows thereon; his next venture being the leasing of the Donnolly ranch of sixty-five acres of bottom land at Port Kenyon, where he conducted a dairy of thirty-five cows for three years. This lease he finally sold out, and in 1908 leased the Forbes place, where he is at present located, which consists of eighty acres of fertile land about a mile north of Port Kenyon, where he grows an abundance of feed for his herd of forty cows, which are full-blooded, and high-grade Jerseys.
One of the original stockholders of the Valley Flower Creamery on the Island, Mr. Ambrosini was also for some years a trustee of the Island school district, education being a cause in which he takes a deep interest. A very intelligent and well read man, he speaks French fluently, which he learned while engaged in business in Paris; and since coming to California has made a special study of the English language. Having a retentive memory, his wide reading has made of him a well informed and interesting conversationalist, and as school trustee he exerted his influence to further the cause of education among the school children of his district. To the country of his adoption he is always loyal, being keenly alive to the advantages offered here, and became a citizen of the United States as soon as he had lived in the country the required length of time. Politically, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and in his business life his energy is no less apparent, for the early days of his dairying experience, when he panned and skimmed the milk, and churned the butter upon his ranch by hand, have been succeeded by the use of gas-engine power and the present prosperous condition of his affairs. Mr. Ambrosini's wife, an active and able helpmeet to her husband, is Victoria, the daughter of Paul Biasca, a farmer of Canton Ticino, Switzerland, where she was born. Her marriage with Mr. Ambrosini took place in Ferndale, Cal., March 16, 1901, and they are the parents of seven children, namely, Delmo, Sidney, Rina, Frank, Jr., Dora, Ivy and Vinni.
History of Humboldt County California
History by Leigh H. Irvine: Historic Record Company
Los Angeles, Ca. 1915
Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham
28 April 2006
Pages 1095 - 1144
Humboldt County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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