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When Jane Billelo was writing for The Galt Herald, she took time to do some oral
history work. This oral history took her over five years, but it gives us
an idea of what early Galt families and businesses were like.
I only knew Eddie for the past five years. He became a close and dear
friend. Each year, he never forgot to get me peaches and tomatoes home
grown from the Quiggly farm. He even made sure that Bill Mosher saved me
some ducks. We had fun putting together his family history and the history
of Galt. Equipped with tape recorder, pen and notebook, we visited famous
old timers and historical sites riding around in his famous white Cadillac.
I’m sure the traffic in Galt will never forget. You see, Eddie could
squeeze a chapter into a micro- second of time. Since I couldn’t
comprehend at that speed, I would ask him to slow down, so Eddie would slow the
car, to the terror of everyone behind us. I always made sure my Insurance
was paid before we planned our next excursion. Right now, I’m sure Eddie
is trying to explain why he dented the Pearly Gates.
It was the time just before gold was discovered in the Klondike. Jack
London was in between tramping around San Francisco and whaling the Pacific
Ocean. The horse and buggy was the Cadillac of transportation and women
still didn’t have the right to vote. The Industrial Revolution was newly
arrived and families were not quite ready to give up their cottage industries.
It was the time when European immigrants began to flock to the United States for
the better life. It was then that the seeds of the Edward Ambrogio family
were planted. Planted here and will remain here as part of the pioneer
settlers who both braved the disasters and celebrated the fruits of their labors
to endure to carve out a life and to leave us so much. Eddie Ambrogio was
both a product of that energy and its transformer.
Eddie’s father, Charles Del Ambrogio (b 11/6/1876), came to this country in
1890 from Bellinzona, Switzerland at fourteen years of age. He dropped the
Del in his name at that time. Upon arriving in California, Charlie worked
on the Van Lobensel Dairy Ranch in Vorden. It was then that Charlie became
close friends with Mickey Valensin and G.B. “Germain” Sargenti. In 1906,
the year of the San Francisco Earthquake, there was a great flood. The
cows had to be moved from the ranch to Crocket there they were milked on a
barge. After the disaster, Dr. Obed Harvey took Charlie in as a partner on
the Harvey Ranch, in Galt. It was the beginning of a fourteen year
partnership Charlie would share with Fred Harvey, Dr. Harvey’s son.
Clementina Sargenti, Eddie’s mother, came here from Quartino, Switzerland in
1874 to live with her sister Adele who was married to G.B. “Germain” Sargenti
also from Switzerland. G.B. was not related. It was Germain, a close
friend who leased land on the Harvey Ranch, who introduced Charlie to Clementina.
They were married in Vorden. On January 9, 1906, Inez Ambrogio became
their first born. Eddie arrived two years later at the Harvey Ranch on
September 9, 1908.
Ambrogio’s lived on the three thousand acre Harvey Ranch from 1906 to late
1918 on the old Hull-McClory place. They established a dairy farm of 250
to 300 cows. They shipped cream to San Francisco and made their own
cheeses. They were the first dairy to supply the Sego Milk Company in
Galt. The Ambrogios also made 1000 to 1500 gallons of wine each year in
the wine cellar in the house. They worked hard and saved. Mom
pitched the hay and milked the cows in addition to cleaning the house, making
cheeses and scrubbing clothes in a tub with a washboard. For food, they
grew vegetables and raised chickens. Since the ranch had no electricity,
water was heated on a wood stove. Baths were sometimes chilly. They
also had little money. In spite of all of the chores and hard work to do,
Charlie and Clementina wanted Inez and Eddie to enjoy their childhood days so
they were many times freed from chores.
At five, his parents bought Eddie a little rifle. It became a common
sight to see him in his patched bib overalls shooting squirrels that scared the
cows and gophers that ruined the land. That was his job.
Since everyone needs some time off from work to pursue a hobby, fishing in
Grizzly Slough became Eddie’s favorite pass time. Eddie well remembered
the four mile jaunt to the grammar school on B Street with sister Inez in a
horse and buggy. On not so lucky days, they hiked the distance to the
grammar school that swayed in the wind- the two story school located on B
Street, between 5th and 6th.
Eddie also enjoyed telling the story about the Swiss picnics. Every
year his father would organize a Swiss picnic at the site of what is now the
Fairsite School. Herbert Hoover came every year to renew his old
friendship with Fred Harvey, a fellow graduate from Stanford. Hoover also
enjoyed participating in the ranch demonstrations and fun competitions. As
the story goes, Eddie got drunk on steamed beer. He was two at the time.
Mother was not pleased. When Eddie announced that he was going into town,
the chase was on. Of course, mom won.
By the time Eddie was ten, several hundred hogs and a large herd of cattle
were added to the ranch and so were horses. One hundred horses were used
for everything from hauling and raking to plowing the fields. Eddie also
had a new job – cutting cattle- and with that new job came three saddle horses.
Of course, ranching for a ten year old does come with its share of danger.
Eddie remembered the time he rode bear back and his horse was stung by a bee.
The horse reared and swam into Dry Creek, slamming Eddie into an oak tree.
That tree saved his life. Both the sore horse and bruised Eddie eventually
made it back home, neither of them worse for the ordeal. He remembered the
time when he was cutting up pumpkins for the hogs, and he nearly cut off his
finger; and when Clementina’s younger brother, Uncle Kelly Sargenti, was caught
in a flood with a horse team. He attempted to brave the water with the
team but didn’t make it. He and the team were washed off the road.
The horses drowned and Uncle Kelly was saved by hanging on to an oak tree.
These were Edie’s memories of childhood in Galt.
But the memories are not always good. Kelly Sargenti wasn’t so lucky
the next time fate knocked. Kelly, then in his twenties, was moving a
Derek down Thornton Road when it became snagged on a power line just east of Dry
Creek Bridge. Kelly was electrocuted on the first power line brought into
Galt. He is buried in the Galt Cemetery.
On the sweltering hot day of June 22, 1920, Charlie Ambrogio pitched hay all
day by hand and then milked 47 cows before sundown. Two in the morning his
heart stopped. It took the doctor several hours to get there, but there
was nothing he could do. At the age of 44, Charlie died in the old Hull-McClory
house and left a wife and two young children, Eddie, 11 and Inez, 13. With
his death, a chapter in each of their lives had ended.
With dad gone, the family moved to town. Mother bought a two-acre plot
of land on Oak Street from Billy Hicks. Mom called it the Ambrogio Dairy.
They grew alfalfa and kept ten cows. They bought the cows from Roll
Brewster, the town constable, who owned a dairy on A Street. And so, at
the age of twelve, Eddie exchanged his horse for a bicycle – basket in front and
one on the back- and made twenty five to thirty trips to deliver milk to seventy
five customers in Galt. In 1921, Eddie delivered milk in a horse and buggy
and in 1922 he bought himself a young mare. In 1924, he wrote his first
check – a check for four hundred and nineteen dollars – for a Model – T Ford
that he bought from Mr. Barletta who lived where Spaans’s Cookies factory is
today.
From 1920 to 1927 – Eddie’s grammar school and high school days – he
continued to go to sleep at 11 and to rise at 3 am to milk the cows and to run
his route. In spite of the grueling schedule, he managed to become the
star and Captain of the Galt High School basketball team and Treasurer of the
student body. When he graduated from high school in 1927, he even managed
to secure a basketball scholarship to Stanford. Since the scholarship only
paid for one quarter each year, Eddie decided to attend Galt Technical Junior
College of Aeronautics in 1928-29 and majored in aeronautical engineering.
The year appeared to hold the fondest memories of his youth. The school
stood next to what is now the Galt High School. He became part of that
group of dreamers who would become successful in every way – one the top man for
Pan American Airways. One, the head winemaker for the Sebastiani Winery.
One, a major contractor in Sacramento, and still another, a Four Star General.
Two became pilots, and another the manager for Richland Aviation. Like
them, Eddie would go on to become a financial success and key contributor to the
growth of Galt. Each of them attributed their success to the Galt
Technical Junior College of Aeronautics.
After the college closed, Eddie attended Cal Berkeley in 1929-1930 until his
Junior year. Then he ran out of money. During these lean years,
Uncle Germain Sargenti and Aunt Adele made a bad decision. They had saved
every penny they had to invest in a ranch partnership with Charlie. With
Charlie gone, Germain invested $125,000 in the stock market instead. The
Stock Market Crash of 1929 destroyed his dreams. He died in 1933 a
disillusioned man. Eddie remembered arranging the funeral.
In 1930, Eddie got his big break. Credit and financing was impossible
in those Depression years, but Eddie managed to do it. Guy Foulke, owner
of the Valley Investment Company, placed his faith and confidence in this
energetic young man with the gift for the dollar. At that time, Ed and
Albert Hall owned Galt Motors. They sold refrigerators, washers, radios
and cars – Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles. The brothers also owned a rice farm
that failed because of a flood. Times were hard and the brothers could not
longer hold on to the businesses. Guy made it possible for Eddie to
finance the Galt Motors Company. And yes, the business was a great
success. Between 1930 and 1949, Eddie not only sold appliances, but
installed and repaired them as well. Most of the pumps on New Hope Road
and many others in this area are probably his handy work.
In 1932, Eddie was also selling insurance at 229 4th Street, a building owned
then by Wallace Sawyer. The dance hall adjacent to his office caught fire.
The Sawyer building and the Bradford Hotel burned to the ground. Only the
walls remained. Eddie helped fight that fire. After Sawyer remodeled
the building, he offered Eddie spacious quarters for his growing business.
In 1945, Eddie bought the building from Sawyer’s daughter, Marguerite White, and
remained there until 1989.
In 1932, Eddie’s mother, Clementina, married John Smith and the two renamed
the dairy on Oak Street the Ambrogio-Smith Dairy. They stayed in business
until 1942. In that year, Eddie bought three houses and five lots.
One house was purchased from Fred Thomas, the Manager of the Sego Milk Company.
We know it today as the “Headquarters” beauty salon. Another was the house
next door whose location today serves as the Headquarters’ parking lot. He
also purchased Dr. Greer’s medical office that he eventually sold to Roy
Marriott whose son now owns the Express Lane. The other lots were destined
to change the map of the town to the east of Lincoln Way. In 1942, Eric
Spiess wanted to build a shopping center but there was a problem. C Street
ended at Lincoln Highway. He asked Eddie to donate the lots for a through
street. Eddie agreed and with the approval of the City Council, it was
done. Bob Biederman, Ben Casado and Laurence Littleton were on the Council
at the time.
That was not all that Eddie did during the Depression years and pre-World War
II years. Eddie never forgot how hard life was growing up and how
difficult life was for a growing family. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, he was
the only business in town to offer credit to the towns’ folks and he financed
all of his own contracts – unheard of in those days.
The car dealership was to come in 1949 when Guy Foulks made Eddie another
offer. Guy owned Foulks Motor Company in Sacramento and he wanted to make
Eddie a business-dealer. Guy sold Eddie Oldsmobiles for $100 over cost and
serviced them. It evolved into a lucrative enterprise for both of them
until 1956. At that time, the DMV insisted that Eddie put in a display
window or give up the business. Since that was too expensive, he gave up
the car business, but continued with the appliance sales, installation and
repair.
In 1948-49, Eddie negotiated with Albert Osler for the property that was once
the Shad McKinstry Livery Stable and the lots adjacent to it. It was then,
as it is now, known as the Old Jail. Fred May was the Jail’s first judge
and his son, Clifford May, was its last. In its walls are over 100 years
of Galt’s history. Eddie often talked about restoring it. He wanted
it for his next office.
The summer of 1951 brought Eddie to the University of Mexico at Saltillo
where he earned 6 units. Eddie could be seen out with Professor Mateo Diaz
traveling the countryside and attending ice cream socials with him. As the
story goes, there were thirty students enrolled in the class. Only four
took the final and Eddie earned a 100%! He was quite proud of that but
that’s not quite the whole story. His professor, touring, ice cream and
finals weren’t the only thing on his mind that summer. It was here that he
met his 2nd wife Jessalyn, a beautiful lady with whom Eddie spent the rest of
his days. He almost never stopped talking about her, her dancing career,
and the joy she brought his life. Equally important to him was his
daughter, by his first wife, Janet, a successful decorator and art dealer, who
seems to equal her father in energy and foresight. He was particularly
fascinated with her knack for opportunities never missed. The apple rarely
falls far from the tree.
Eagle-Eyed Eddie never missed an opportunity somehow to better his life or
the lives of others. He sponsored sixteen bowling teams, eight of them
from the high school. Three years in a row his league triumphed over Lodi.
In Stockton, his league won a tournament. He sponsored softball teams and
supported their activities. He was also an avid hunter who owned a
pheasant club, a Labrador and a Pointer. But not all of his adventures
were successful. At one time, he thought he was going to become an oil
baron. He and his brother-in-law, Ted Veach, thought they were going to
hit oil on Clay Station Road. Eddie bought oil leases. The only
thing they hit was granite! Eddie lost his leases and Ted Veach was no
longer Head-Driller for the operation!
I (Jane Billelo) will remain grateful that I had the opportunity to capture a
piece of history at a time when our nation was on the brink of becoming so
powerful. It was people like Eddie who broke new ground, who endured the
hardships, who took joy in life and the people in it, and who shared in the
fruits of their labors that brought us into a new age. We must never
forget. I will never forget. He will be missed.
The Galt Area Historical Society would love to get photos of this family for
inclusion here.
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