John Augustus Raffetto, Sr. (March 1, 1864 October 11, 1954) was an Italian-American businessman who founded the First National Bank of Placerville and ran the Ivy House and Cary House hotels.

Background

John Augustus Raffetto Sr. was born in Newtown, California, to Domenico Raffetto and Anna Pensa, both of Ognio, a mountain village northeast of

Genoa, Italy Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. His father arrived in California "by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1859, and the mother joined him later... They were among the most substantial of the early California pioneers." His parents were subsistence farmers in Newtown, whose only income was sale of firewood to the Arcade Bakery in downtown Placerville.

Career

In his youth, Raffetto walked more than 60 miles one way to farm during summers in

Genoa, Nevada Genoa is an unincorporated town in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. Founded in 1851, it was the first settlement in what became the Nevada Territory. It is situated within Carson River Valley and is approximately south of Reno. The popula ...

; he would earn $60 a summer. He became a miner and earned $1.50 per day.

Ivy House Hotel

On February 4, 1895, Raffetto and a friend named Potts saved up enough money to buy the Conklin Academy in Placerville, which they turned into the Ivy House Hotel. In 1890, he bought out his partner and became sole proprietor. The Ivy House had fifty rooms and dining hall. The Ivy House was board for miners, serving them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Eventually, son John Augustus Raffetto Jr. ran the Ivy House as well as a new Ivy Motel next door. Later, the Ivy House became the Placerville Academy, one of the first boarding schools in the state. During the 1950s, the City of Placerville tore down the hotel to make parking lots. In 1908 (or 1911), Raffetto bought the Cary House. In 1915, he demolished and rebuilt it with three stories that had fifty-four rooms (fifteen with baths), coffee shop, and dining room. His oldest son renamed it the Raffles Hotel. (It is now again the Cary House.)

Historical figures known to have stayed at the hotel include
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...
(who used to write for the Mountain Democrat in Placerville), President
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
and
John Studebaker John Mohler Studebaker (10 October 1833 – 16 March 1917) was the Pennsylvania Dutch co-founder and later executive of what would become the Studebaker Corporation automobile company. He was the third son of the founding Studebaker family, and pl ...
. Hollywood figures, such as actress
Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...
, have graced the hotel. Most recently,
Brooke Shields Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress and model. She was initially a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film '' Pretty Baby'' (1978). She continued to model into ...
and
Lou Diamond Phillips Louis Diamond Phillips ( born Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is a Filipino-American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film '' La Bamba'' (1987). For ''Stand and Deliver'' (19 ...
filmed a movie at the hotel.

Raffetto became a director of the First National Bank of Placerville. In 1917, in the name of the Cary House, Raffetto became one of three founding members of the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, based in Placerville.

Personal

On April 22, 1896, Raffetto married Adela Isadeen Creighton (March 30, 1875 – February 9, 1927) of Smithflat, California. They had six children, four of whom survived early childhood, all born in the Ivy House Hotel with only a midwife: * Lloyd Raffetto (1897–1988): Co-founder of Mother Lode Bank * Elwyn Creighton Raffetto ("

Michael Raffetto Michael Raffetto (born Elwyn Creighton Raffetto; December 31, 1899 – May 31, 1990) was an American radio actor who starred as Paul Barbour (1932–1956) in the NBC Radio series ''One Man's Family'' and as Jack Packard in ''I Love a My ...

") (1899–1990): National radio star in 1930s and 1940s * John Augustus Raffetto Jr. (1908–1977): Co-founder of Placer National Bank ** Son Peter Raffetto: former president of River City Bank, Truckee River Bank, Sierra West Bank, Calnet Business Bank * Isadeen Adela Raffetto Murray (1910–1998): Married

Alexander Howison Murray Jr. Alexander Howison Murray Jr. (1907–1993), known as Sandy Murray, was a two-time mayor of Placerville, California and three-time president of the county's chamber of commerce, who championed regional development, including the building of U.S ...

, two-time mayor of Placerville Raffetto was registered as a member of the

Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero A ...

and a member of the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Order of Odd ...

and

Native Sons of the Golden West The Native Sons of the Golden West is a fraternal service organization founded in the U.S. state of California in 1875, dedicated to historic preservation, documentation of historic structures and places in the state, the placement of historic ...

. His name appears in the ''Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of

Royal Arch Masons Royal Arch Masonry (also known as "Capitular Masonry") is the first part of the York Rite system of the Masonic degrees. Royal Arch Masons meet as a ''Chapter'', and the Royal Arch Chapter confers four degrees: ''Mark Master Mason, Past Master, ...

of the State of California at Its Annual Convocation'', where he is listed as one of six first-degree "Mark Masons." John Augustus Raffetto died age 89 on October 11, 1954, at the home of his third son, John Jr., in

Auburn, California Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Placer County, California, United States. Its population was 13,776 during the 2020 census. Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history and is registered as a California Historical Landmark. Au ...

References

External links