CHAPTER ONE: The Guerra Boarding House
from the book,"Stories of the Forgotten III: Tales of the Mother Lode." (2025)
"Have you ever driven by a house or building
and wondered about the history hidden behind those
walls? I know that I have. In fact, my very first historical non-fiction story that I researched and penned
over 18 years ago, was about a house that I was enamored by as a young child. Later on, as an adult I took
that deep dive into its history to share with the world
what I uncovered in the archives.
Well, now I am going to do that again. I am going to take you on a journey back in time to share
with you the history of this property.
With this story
though, it won’t be about just one person, but instead
it encompasses a large span of time with several families and many stories associated with the home. My
biggest goal, which is of the utmost importance to
me, is to share the facts with accuracy, respect and
love.
The home we are going to take a deep dive into
today is located at 315 N. Main Street in Jackson, California. This property's address was originally 156 N.
Main Street. So why this house? Well, in the last few
years this home has been getting quite a bit of attention due to it being advertised as a haunted Airbnb.
From the start, some of the historical aspects that I
was hearing just didn’t sound quite right to me. Then
I started getting random emails from several people
asking me to look into the history of the home to set
the facts straight since there had been a lot of misinformation being shared about the property sprouting up just since about 2021.
I would say 90% of my research on this house
dates back in 2022, but with having to finish my previous book, "Down Below: A History of Deaths at the
Kennedy Mine," which was published the Fall of 2023,
this particular chapter took a backseat until I was able
to give it my full attention to complete it. With that
being said, I hope you enjoy this trip back in time to
explore the true history of the Guerra Boarding
House, a.k.a., the Jackson Boarding House, a.k.a., the
Ginocchio Boarding House, and later on the Tofanelli
family home (and rooms).
The Beginnings
Back in 1872, the Amador County land deeds
show that George Stasal, a local businessman, owned
that entire section of North Main Street. He then sectioned off parcels and began selling those plots of
land. By 1878, county deed records state that a young
lady by the name of Margaret Guerra purchased lot
#3, block #9. It is the author’s belief that a small
dwelling had been built on this property just prior to,
or shortly after the sale given the Sanborn maps. Margaret purchased this property for the amount of
$450.00. She would be the first homeowner of this
property.
So who was Margaret Guerra? Maggie, as she
was noted in the 1880 Census, was born between 1856
-1858, more than likely in Mokelumne Hill, where her
brother Frank was also born. Maggie’s mother died at
some point after 1862, as her youngest brother was born that year. It appears that after the death of his
wife, Dionesio Guerra moved his family up to West
Point. Dionesio Guerra originally hailed from Chile,
immigrating to this country as a miner, while his wife
had been a native of Mexico. Maggie’s brother, Frank
was also listed as a miner. As an adult, Maggie operated a laundry business with her sister, Lena and brother, Albert (sometimes referred to as Emmanuel or Manuel), out of her home on North Main Street.
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Copy of the original deed
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Margaret Guerra purchased from George Stasal,
1/2/1878
Courtesy of the Amador County Clerk’s Office
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Contrary to what others have insinuated in recent years, there is nothing documented anywhere in
our local history to substantiate any rumors of Maggie having been a prostitute or madam. This rumor
has spread in just the last couple of years. It not only
could be considered posthumous slander, but it is also
a disrespect to Maggie and her entire family.
For the record, there is no proof that the home
was ever a brothel and we will get into that whole
“brothel” subject a little later on in this book, backed
up by actual documentation that proves the early
“female boarding houses,” as mentioned in Larry Cenotto’s famous Logan’s Alley, were in an entirely different spot on N. Main Street all together.
Another thing I would like to add about women owning property in Amador County at the time,
although it was not considered common, it wasn’t unheard of. In fact, I have found other women in the late
1800’s who owned property within the county, and
no, they weren’t prostitutes, either!
Historian, Carolyn Fregulia also mentioned to
me that, “under certain circumstances widows and single
women were allowed to own/purchase property. Madam
Pantaloons (Marie Suize) made a number of purchases
over the years in Jackson Gate, out on Clinton Road, and
in Virginia City, Nevada. Amanda Dawson Nichols traveled by wagon train to California with her husband and
family in the early 1850’s. Her husband was killed by Indians before they arrived to Buena Vista, circa 1854…..
Amanda was allowed to buy a ranch outside of town,
where she raised her children.”-
When Maggie purchased the property in 1878,
for the amount of $450.00, that was actually quite
normal at the time for a small two-bedroom home.In
fact, according to the University of Washington’s
Center for the study of the Pacific Northwest, the
average two-bedroom home in the United States
back in 1870, was $300.00, while a four-bedroom
home was about $700.00. Given the fact this was a
few years later, in 1878, it makes sense for a small
home to go for the price of $450.00, which still leads
me to believe the home was part of the property purchase, whether it was built prior to, or shortly after
the sale.
Also, in order to nip this “brothel” theory in
the bud once and for all, you also have to take into
account that Frank was a miner, and Maggie operated a laundry business out of the home with her siblings. According to Sanborn maps, it was a very
small house to begin with, and there was a large family residing there. Not a place you would use for a
brothel!
The 1880 Census has her brother listed as the
“Head of Household,” although Maggie was still
technically the owner at the time. I believe that because at that time period men were usually the head
of the household, there was a sense of propriety expected, and that is why he is listed in the Census that
way. At that time, Frank, 26, his wife Amelia, 26, his
children: Louisa, 7, Amalia, 5, John, 1, and siblings,
Maggie, 25, and Lena, 22, and Emmanuel, 17, are all
living in the house on North Main Street.
Soon, Maggie would fall in love and marry. But
who was her husband?
William Holder was born in England in 1855,
and had immigrated to the United States in his early
adulthood. By 1880, he was living in the home of
William Bryant and family in Pine Grove, working as
a blacksmith. By July 3, 1881, he married Frances
"Fanny" Hawkins Younglove, who had just been divorced by her 1st husband Dwight Younglove.
Mr. Younglove is recorded as having been married multiple times, only to divorce shortly after.
It
appears that William was Fanny's "knight in shining
armor," and even though she had a young son from
the previous union, it did not deter William from
marrying her.
Sadly, on February 22, 1884, Fanny passed
away from what was more than likely a short illness,
and she was buried at the Ione Cemetery. She was
originally from Missouri, and grew up in Lancha Plana, currently near Lake Camanche. Interestingly, records indicate that William loved his wife so much that
he fought over the custody of his stepson, Albert,
against Albert's father, Dwight Younglove, upon
Fanny's passing.
Per Fanny's will, information kindly provided
to me by Megan Buchanan at the Ione Public Cemetery, Fanny named William and her brother, Melville
as executors of her estate, and requested that her
young son, Albert, remain with her mother, Mary
Ann.
Only eight months after Fanny's death, it appears that William or "Billy" as locals called him, fell
in love again, this time to Margaret "Maggie" Guerra.
Maggie and William married on October 22, 1884.
Copy of Marriage Record,
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Amador County, CA
10/22/1884
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It was only a few months later, that Maggie
would sell the deed to the property to Henry Eudey
for $300.00 on January 26, 1885. It is the author’s belief that the money Maggie received for selling her
house to Eudey was used towards building a new
house on a new property. County records show a deed
transfer recorded in the newspaper on March 28, 1885,
which shows William Holder purchased a property in
Jackson from Michael Newman.
Only a few months later, Maggie’s brother,
Frank would take over ownership of the N. Main
Street property, having purchased it back from Henry
Eudey on July 27, 1885, for the amount of $ 5.00 in
gold. The newspaper mentioned this transaction in the
August 15, 1885, edition of the Ledger.
So, why did Eudey allow Frank to purchase the
property back for a mere $5.00 in gold? That is a very
good question. Records indicate that at that time in
1885, Eudey was a foreman at the Zeila mine in town,
but he was also known for his savvy business sense,
making investments in businesses and people all over.
It is the author’s belief that Eudey owed Frank
money for his services, possibly work with the mining
industry. It is also possible that instead of paying for
the property outright, Eudey may have held a promissory note on the remainder of the value of the property, as an early type of mortgage, where Frank was responsible to pay Eudey payments and interest. Eudey’s
personal investments within the county proved so successful, he eventually became the President of the
Bank of Amador County thirteen years later in 1898.
Going back to the story...
Later on that year, Maggie and William’s first
child, William Jr., was born on November 21, 1885.
On the evening of Friday, February 11, 1887,
Mr. & Mrs. William Holder were attending the “social
ball” at Moon’s Ranch, when Maggie tripped down the
stairs while holding her young baby in her arms.
Thankfully, the baby was unharmed, though poor
Maggie suffered several broken ribs. It was such an
event that it was mentioned in two different newspapers the following week.
One thing to note, if Maggie had a reputation
for being a prostitute or a madam in town as recently
insinuated, I highly doubt she would have been accepted at a social ball in the community, let alone be referred to as Mrs. William Holder the newspaper.
There was still some sense of propriety back then.
Sadly, the couple could not protect their child
from everything, as young Billy Jr., died at the age of
2 1/2 years old on June 8, 1888. There is no mention
of what he succumbed to, however it was more than
likely a childhood illness, as that was the most common at the time.
The couple would go on to have two more children, daughters Della and Amelia, born in 1888 and
1892. These two girls would grow up into their
adulthood. By 1893, the Amador Dispatch shows that
William is now selling wagons that he was manufacturing himself.
So, we have established that Maggie and William more than likely did not live at the house for any
length of time after getting married, and/or selling
the house to Henry Eudey. We find more evidence
pointing to this conclusion in the edition of the Amador Ledger dated, April 17, 1896, which had a somber
mention of Maggie’s passing: “Mrs. William Holder,
died at her home in South Jackson, and was buried
Wednesday.”
According to records, she died on Tuesday,
April 14, and was buried on Wednesday, April 15.
Maggie was interred in a plot at St. Patrick Catholic
Cemetery in Jackson.
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| Maggie Guerra's Grave, St. Patrick Cemetery, Jackson. |
What happened to William after Maggie’s
death? Well, although we have established that William more than likely never stayed for any length of
time at the house on North Main Street, his connection to Maggie, who was the original owner, allows
for us to discuss his sad demise before we move on
further into the home’s history.
After the death of Maggie, it appears that their
daughters went to live with Frank and Amelia Guerra. So, where did William go? For the record, William was well known around Jackson, and everyone
seemed to like him, but he also liked to drink. I have
yet to determine whether Williams’ alcoholism started prior to or after Maggie’s death.
Only on one documented occasion that I could
find was he involved in anything negative that made
the newspapers, and it really wasn't his fault. It appears that on the 4th of July, 1907, during the festivities an Indian (Native American), who was overly inebriated, assaulted William in public and they duked it
out, which landed the Indian in jail. William walked
away from the altercation with his hands clean, meaning he didn't go to jail. There was no mention whether William had been drinking prior to that altercation.
Although he was known for his intemperate
habits towards the end, he was spoken of as:
"unassuming, courteous, always cheerful, never boisterous.... and was liked for his better qualities, while pitied for
the degenerate condition to which his appetite dragged
him."
It appears that in his early years he had been a
very hard working man, a blacksmith by trade, and
had even owned two shops, one of which included the
wagon making business. He was considered a
"prosperous business man," so it is very sad to see how
he ended up. With all of that potential, he allowed
his bad habits and addictions to get the best of him,
which ultimately led him to losing his family, his businesses, his prosperity and eventually his life.
The death of William Holder took place Tuesday evening, January 12, 1909. According to the Amador Dispatch, William had been found that following
morning, "lying face downward in the sand and the mud
of the north fork of Jackson Creek, the lower limbs partially in the water."
His boss, V.J. Chichizola, whom William was
working as a blacksmith, discovered his body the next
morning around 8 a.m. He was found just west of
the Chichizola store, across the road where the creek
is located. Upon examination by Coroner Potter, it
was ascertained that William had been seen at Casazza's saloon the evening prior. Witnesses stated that he
came to the bar around 8 p.m. already very inebriated,
and although he stayed for about an hour he didn't
drink any more while there. He left the bar around 9
p.m. and stumbled out of there on his way home to
his small cabin across the creek just north of Teresa's
Place. At the time of his death in 1909, William was
living in a little cabin near his job, while his two
young daughters were being raised by Maggie's family.
The weather that night was very stormy and
the creek had risen significantly. It was stated,
"instead of using one of the foot bridges one some distance above and another below the blacksmith shop, Holder
attempted to cross at a point near the cabin as was his custom when the water was low." The article goes on to
mention that William was "carried off his balance by
the current, he had fallen into the muddy water from which
he was unable to rise owing to the stupor of his condition,
and was drowned."
So basically, he tried to cross the creek and it
knocked him off his feet, and being as drunk as he
was, he didn't have the strength or stamina to pull
himself up and he drowned. The sand in his hair and
the pockets of his clothes were evidence enough that
the water had risen up higher than normal in the
night, and sadly, he didn't make it.
Just to quell any suspicions of foul play -- the
Coroner determined based on physical evidence that
it was an "Accidental Drowning." There was no sign
of foul play, and no one robbed him— in case anyone
wants to make those assumptions. There would be
no reason to have killed him. He didn't have any enemies, and he didn't have anything of value on him,
except the new shoes on his feet, which were found
on his person when they discovered his body. In fact,
he had just purchased those shoes earlier that day at
the Chichizola Store. He was buried at the City Cemetery in Jackson in a small plot. Hopefully now he has
the peace he struggled to find at the end of a bottle.
Going back to the story, it wasn’t until Frank
Guerra and his family took over the property that I
believe the home became a boarding house. This is
when there was additional construction done on the
house to enlarge it. You see, when the home was originally purchased in 1878, the pricing would have fit for
something small along the likes of a two or three bedroom home.
The house as it stands today is fairly large, and
according to the Sanborn Insurance maps it looks like
the original dwelling, and the one next to it, were possibly demolished and rebuilt. If you take a look at the
1890 Sanborn map below, you can see two dwellings
very close in proximity to each other and both had
stove pipe heating. The one on the right would be the
Guerra’s residence. By the 1898 Sanborn map, you can
see that it was enlarged and now there is a larger gap
between it and the neighboring structure.
Map #1 of the 1890 Sanborn Map, North Main Street
Again, it appears that the original dwelling that
Maggie Guerra had purchased in 1878, was demolished
sometime after 1890, and another home built a little
further south on the lot, while the neighbor to the
north (left side) had theirs completely enlarged as well.
Both homes had terra cotta chimneys added. It also appears that both dwellings were set further back on the
property towards the creek, allowing for larger wraparound porches on both homes. These images from the
local historical maps, further explains the changes
when the boarding house was actually built.
Map #2, Sanborn Map of 1898, N. Main Street.
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Notice the homes are now set further back on the property, closer to the creek?
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Frank Guerra was not just a miner, he was very
involved in the community and active in local theater,
even taking part in various plays and minstrel shows,
including one that took place at Rocca’s Hall on Water Street in 1881. He was also a member of the committee for the Grand May Ball which took place at
Love’s Hall in 1882. Among some of the other committee members was none other than early Amador
County Historian, Jesse D. Mason. He was also a
member of the Elk’s Lodge, the Knights of the Pythias, and the O. of C. Officers, (The Order of Caucasian Officers), as a “warden.”
Now, if you were to look this group up today,
you would find a lot of negative opinions about it, basically calling it a racist fraternal order, but it simply
wasn’t as cut and dried as that. You see, during that
time period in the late 19th century, fat cats such as
Charles Crocker had invited many Chinese immigrants to come to the United States promising them
work. This however, displaced the workers who were
already here, already skilled, and already had those
jobs. To put it bluntly, the Chinese were used for their
labor at cheaper prices while the original workers
were pushed out, and virtually put out of work. This
is what unions today would call “scabs.” On March 3,
1875, the Order of Caucasians was filed with the Secretary of State, and during my research into it deeper,
I found members who were European immigrants
such as Italian, Irish, Scottish, also Americans and
Hispanics (such as Frank, who was of Chilean and
Mexican heritage) who were seeing their jobs replaced by Chinese immigrants. One of the rules for being a member of this group was to “procure a boarding house” and help fellow strangers have a place to
stay and find work. They formed this group as a
means of self-preservation because they were watching their livelihoods disappear.
During the 1880’s, Frank was a miner by trade,
but also much more than just that. His experience in
mining made him very much in demand, so he would
travel all over from Arizona, down to Sonora, Mexico,
to help start up mines. By 1885, around the same time
he purchased the property from Henry Eudey, Frank
was running the new Amador Queen mine, which had
a 20 stamp mill just off Middle Bar Road, in Hunt’s
Gulch, on the North Fork of the Mokelumne River.
Because the demand for Frank’s expertise was
so high, he was often away from his family for long
periods of time, sometimes years.
It appears that in
his absence, his wife, Amelia ran the boarding house.
This was not uncommon at the time. In fact, according to local historian Carolyn Fregulia, it was women
who mostly ran the boarding houses in Jackson at that
time, and “most began as a family-run business or were
managed by the wife of an employed miner.”
A boarding house back then was so much more
than just renting out a room for a miner to rest. It involved daily cleaning, washing fresh blankets and linens, washing miners laundry, food preparation, serving multiple meals to boarders, and supplying alcohol
at the end of each miner’s shift every day. Rooms
would often be rented out to three miners per room,
in shifts according to their schedules.
In the book, “Italians of the Gold Country,” by
Carolyn Fregulia, it mentions the boarding house
down the road on Jackson Gate, owned by Teresa Vinciguerra. Per Carolyn’s research, Teresa rented out
her 12 room bunkhouse, three miners to each room, in
eight hour shifts and serving multiple meals a day
plus alcohol. This schedule allowed more miners to
have a chance to have at least several hours to rest.
Once their time was up, a new round of men would
arrive from their shifts at the mines and would want
to rest. It is very important to note, as the boarding
houses were in competition with one another in order
to make money. It is not hard to imagine that the
Guerra family followed similar business practices
when operating their boarding house.
By 1892, it appears that Frank put the property
in his wife, Amelia’s name. Perhaps, knowing that he
was always gone, and many times out of the country,
and working a very dangerous job, it is possible he felt
she would have more security financially having the
house in her name. Either way, the title was transferred to Amelia and the business continued on until
1898 when the property was then sold to Enrico
Ginocchio. It appears that the sale was in name only
at that time, and the boarding house continued to be
run at that time as usual by the Guerra family. There
is no record stating why it was sold to Ginocchio.
The 1900 Census shows the family still living
there at the property. On the evening of October 25,
1900, when John Guerra (son of Frank and Amelia)
ended his shift at the Kennedy Mine, he had a terrible accident when he was riding up the skip. He had
stayed up all night the evening prior, as there had been
a political parade with a dance that commenced afterwards, and the young men enjoyed the festivities well
into the early morning hours. Most of the men went
straight to work the morning shift without having
had any rest after partying the night before, leaving
them sleep deprived.
As he was nearing the 800 foot level on the bail
of the skip, John must have dozed off for a moment,
losing grasp of his holding, and he plummeted to the
bottom. His funeral was held on Sunday, October 28,
1900, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon at the Catholic
Church in Jackson, and subsequent burial at St. Patrick Catholic Cemetery. The newspaper reported the
large amount of people who came to the church to pay
their respects to the deceased. In fact, there were so
many people that many had to wait outside until services were done, to follow the burial procession along
to the cemetery.
There were lots of flowers brought for the deceased, and many young ladies were seen crying at his
grave. The pall bearers were his friends and fellow
workers at the Kennedy, some of which would later
lose their lives at the same mine years later. John
Guerra was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the
Guerra family plot at St. Patrick Catholic Cemetery in
Jackson.
By December of 1904, Grandpa Dionesio Guerra had failing health, and the newspaper said he was
suffering from paralysis at his home in west Jackson.While everyone was expecting the next bad
news they would hear would be the passing of the
patriarch of the family, Grandpa Guerra, they were
shocked by the news that it was his son Frank who
would pass so suddenly.
According to the Dispatch dated June 2, 1905,
Frank had passed away at Sisters Hospital in Los Angeles on May 16th from cancer of the tongue. He had
been diagnosed only eight months earlier and the
rapid progression of the disease took everyone by
surprise. The last two months of his life he had been
unable to speak.
He had been operating a mining claim in New
Mexico with a partner when he fell ill. He sought
treatment in Los Angeles but there was nothing that
could be done. His daughter Louisa was notified
shortly before his passing, and rushed to be by his
side only to find he had passed away before she got
there. Frank was interred at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 1905.
On July 4th, 1905, patriarch Dionesio Guerra
passed away. He was 83 years old, and buried at St.
Patrick Catholic Cemetery in Jackson. After the
deaths of both Frank and Dionesio, it is possible that
Amelia may have decided to travel to San Francisco
to be with her daughters temporarily. It appears that
the boarding house continued to be owned by Enrico
Ginocchio, and would have been managed by someone in her absence.
On August 30, 1906, one of the many miners
who stayed at the house was seriously injured in a
horrible accident at the Kennedy Mine. Manuel Gonzales, a native of Spain, fell down an ore chute about
25 feet, severing his spinal cord. After an unsuccessful
surgical procedure at the hospital, Gonzales passed
away on September 9, 1906. For the record, he did
not die at the boarding house. He is buried in an unmarked grave at St. Patrick Catholic Cemetery.
After the great earthquake of San Francisco,
Amelia’s daughters were displaced and the family returned to Amador County. Did they return to the
boarding house? Possibly. It appears Louisa decided
to return to San Francisco in 1908, and Amelia decided to make a permanent move to the bay area.
On October 30, 1908, the newspaper read:“Mrs.
Guerra is offering her household furniture for sale and
preparing to move to San Francisco, to be with her two
grown up daughters. She has been keeping a boarding
house on the Jackson Gate road, but finds the work becoming to arduous for her. She will take the young Holder children with her to the city.”—
And this is where we end the chapter of the
Guerra’s at this specific property, with the passing of
Amelia on October 22, 1909. The odd thing about
this newspaper clipping is the spelling of her name,
as all documents from the census records down to the
recorded deed on the property, her name was either
spelled Amelia or Amalia, but never Amanda. Sadly,
this is the lasting piece of history on Mrs. Guerra’s
life for the world to remember her by, and it was
spelled incorrectly.
Enrico Ginocchio & Bros. continued to own the
property up until 1911, when the boarding house was
sold to Rocco Molineri and John Devencenzi. The
two were brothers, both having the same mother, different fathers. Rocco, just a little older than him, was
born in Italy, and traveled with his mother to the
United States. It appears that Mary, his mother, remarried to Mr. Devencenzi and had another son,
John. The two grew up in Volcano, and from what I
could find were involved in farming. This time period
from 1911 up to 1924, appear to be more on the quiet
side as far as documented history.
The 1920 Census lists the residents of 156 N.
Main Street as Elvira Giovannoni, an Italian immigrant who was renting the home from the two brothers. She was listed as “Head of Household” due to being a widow, along with having three children: Geno,
14, daughter, Theresa, 11, and Evelyn, 5. The census
also indicates she had a lodger, Alfred Faosi, who
worked in the mines. By February 25, 1922, Elvira
would remarry to Frank Dal Porto of Oakdale. We
also know she had moved out of the house shortly
prior to the marriage, as her marriage certificate
states by then she was a current resident of Stockton.
Was the home rented out again to a family, or
did it go on as a boarding house? Well, most of the
homes on that street housed miners, per the census
notations. Given this fact, more than likely the home
remained a residence which took on occasional lodgers. By 1924, Stefano Tofanelli comes into the picture
when he purchases the house from the two brothers.
A New Chapter
Stefano “Steve” Tofanelli hailed from a little
village in Italy, named Antraccoli. He was born on
February 15, 1891, to parents Domenico and Maria
Tofanelli. According to his daughter, Yolanda Tofanelli Atherton, Steve was a big baby, weighing 12 lbs.
when he was born. By 1908, he left his home country to travel to
the Chaco Province of Northeastern Argentina to
visit his aunt and uncle. Crossing the Atlantic ocean
and seeing a far away land must have sparked a interest in seeing the world, because by 1909, he took a
trip around Cape Horn to travel to San Francisco
with only $20.00 in his pocket.
According to family stories, Steve’s friend who
accompanied him on his travels stole his money and
left him high and dry when he arrived. He had to
learn the hard way— it was sink or swim. He went
to work at various restaurants, worked on a chicken
ranch, a paper mill, he unloaded and loaded cargo
ships, he did it all. In 1917, his military draft registry card shows
him still living in San Francisco on Pacific Avenue,
and working for a cold storage company. He continued working in labor for several more years until he
took on the role of manager of the California Hotel
in Jackson, which was owned by Guiseppe and Teresa Dal Porto. For some time he and his wife, Mary
lived at the hotel. We will get into the history of
that property later on in this book.
Although Steve and his 1st wife owned the
property on North Main Street in 1924, they were
still living at the California Hotel at the time. According to Steve’s daughter, Yolanda, it was her uncle,
Guido “Guy” Tofanelli and his wife, Irene who operated the boarding house first before Steve and his 2nd
wife, Marilda moved into the home. Guy and Steve’s
mother, Maria also lived in the home. Census records
show that Guy Tofanelli was renting the house from
Steve for $60.00 per month. Yolanda mentioned to me
that Guy and Irene rented rooms and offered
“Chicken and Ravioli Dinner for 75 cents*,” at this
property.
Was there any gambling in this house? I am not
going to say yes or no. Although there were no records in the newspapers to confirm this, it is quite possible there were some card games played there
amongst the boarders at the house. Still, I am not going to confirm or deny this without facts to support it
either way.
In 1927, the California Hotel was sold to Victor
Molfino. Did Steve remain there? No, other management took over. Eventually, Steve divorced his first
wife, Mary, after falling in love with Marilda in the
early 1930’s. Oddly enough, he stayed on good terms
with his first wife, and allowed her to live in the
smaller house on the property just south of the main
house. Steve also purchased the building that is now
the four-plex, which was once where the stables of
the California Hotel once stood.
(*Not to be confused with the California Hotel which also advertised
the same dinners).
Tofanelli Ends Up In Hot Water
The 1925 headline read “Highgraders Nabbed,”-
“The town was surprised last evening and this
morning when it became known that the sheriff and posse
had raided the California Hotel for high grade and took
the proprietor, Steve Tofanelli. With the Sheriff, was Federal Secret Service man, a Mr. Schmidt, State Mineralogist
Root, a Mr. De Pue and Deputy Sheriff Podesta.
They all went to the hotel at a late hour and made a
thorough search from cellar to garret but found no high
grade or ore or any gold. So they took Tofanelli to the
county jail where he is now. Now it appears the California
Hotel has been doing a big business along illicit lines. Like
the ‘49ers, many of the boarders paid “in dust”—anything
that looked like gold was as good as coin to the proprietor;
it was readily accepted and it would seem he was in no way
inconvenienced in disposing of it.”—-
As it turned out, Steve collected the dust until
it was a decent amount, melted it down and then he
would have a niece in San Francisco go to the Mint to
sell it for cash. This went on for a while until Steve,
his wife, Mary, and niece, Miss Quirolo were arrested
on Federal charges.
Of course the news ate it up, and gossip spread
like wildfire.
He was even sentenced to 18 months at
Leavenworth prison with a $500 fine, but as it turned
out Steve served no federal prison time for that conviction. I had reached out to the National Archives for
Leavenworth Prison since I could not locate the inmate records for Steve online. I was happy to hear back from Gregory Schmidt, the archives technician
for Leavenworth Prison records, but he said that he
could not locate any such record of Steve Tofanelli
having ever spent any time at the prison.
By 1928, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned Steve’s conviction citing that the there
was no evidence to show that the gold he was selling
to the Mint had been “stolen,” as it had been given to
them in exchange for goods (room and board) and
they specifically didn’t steal the gold, so basically it
was a case built on gossip. Steve was exonerated and
the scandal was over.
By the 1930’s, Steve moved Marilda into the
house on North Main and subsequently added onto
the house, building the downstairs for the family to
live in, while the upstairs was used as rooms to rent
out to boarders. Upstairs had 9 rooms, while the
downstairs, where the Tofanelli’s lived, there were 7
rooms. The basement was used for storage.
On the evening of December 26, 1935, Francisco Piementel was shot seven times by a .45 caliber
Colt revolver in the front room of the house by
Amado Ledesma. According to reports, the shooting
took place between 7-7:30 p.m., and the injured man
died at the hospital the next morning.
Piementel had been living with Carmen Perez
for approximately eight years, but had only been living in Amador County for about 18 months. Less
than two weeks before, Perez left the home and ran off to marry Amado Ledesma instead.
To make
things worse, the new love birds filed “An Intention to
Marry,” which was printed in the December 20th edition of the Amador Dispatch. This must have infuriated Piementel. At some point Piementel tracked
down Ledesma on Water Street in Jackson and a heated argument ensued. It was so bad that officers were
called from the court house to interfere with their altercation. Officer Shear had responded, and he
claimed that they stopped arguing and appeared to
have cooled off, even leaving together towards Ledesma’s residence, which at the time he was boarding at
the Tofanelli house.
It wasn’t until a witness heard gunshots, and
called the Sheriff ’s office, that they realized something bad had happened at the boarding house. After
the shooting, Ledesma left the front room and walked
to his bedroom and threw the revolver on his bed.
Upon examination, it was found that only one bullet
was left in the chamber, having used all seven bullets
on Piementel.
When the doctor had appeared he had tried to
ask Ledesma to help him move Piementel to a bed,
but he refused. Sheriff ’s deputy Podesta arrived, but
by that time Ledesma had fled the scene. Newspapers
revealed that Ledesma had evaded capture and it is
unknown whether he ever paid for his crimes. Although it appeared Ledesma disappeared evading arrest, we do know that Piementel was buried in an unmarked grave at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery on
December 30, 1935.
Moving along…
When going back to the history of the house,
the Tofanelli’s owned the property from approximately
1924 up until the house was sold in 1989. While it
was well known that boarding houses usually served
alcohol to its boarders after their shift at the mine,
there is no record of an actual “saloon” being present
on the premises of this particular house.
While Steve
lived there, he ran the California Hotel & various saloons in town, one of which was the Garibaldi which
was just down the street. So, he had no reason to use
the house as a bar, too. He also ran the Tofanelli Bros.
Saloon located on Main Street, which served beer and
wine as well. Steve also worked at the Amador Lumber
Yard in Martell during the 1940’s.
Another saloon that Steve ran many years later
in the 1950’s was the Klondike Club, which was located at 12 Water Street. That property has been at different times: Rocca’s Hall, Levy & Co. Grocery Store,
Home Restaurant & Lodgings, The Klondike, The
Westerner, and more recently Sasha’s antique shop.
Sometime around the mid-to-late 1940's, Clara
Ericson opened "The Klondike.” She later sold the
business to Guido Tofanelli in 1951. Guido, or “Guy”
as everyone knew him by, would later become Chief
of Police.
Guy had his brothers, Steve & Mike, run the
saloon. Newspaper accounts show that at one point
during the late 50’s when the State was cracking
down on prostitution, the Klondike found itself in
hot water. This was when it was alleged as being
used as a front for “Johns” to be pointed in the right
direction to one of the local cat houses located in another building in town.
According to Yolanda, the allegation was that
someone had went into the Klondike and was given a
book of matches and told by Steve that the matchbook was the “password” to gain entry into one of
the houses of ill repute. Newspaper accounts verify
Yolanda’s recollection of the story. Although Steve
claimed the allegation was one-sided, the newspapers
still ran with it.
Steve maintained that this conversation never
took place and that the matchbook story was completely untrue. Despite the fact it was one person’s
word against another’s, it still invited prying eyes
onto the Klondike’s business practices. Once it was
discovered that Steve was not a legalized citizen, despite the fact that it was legally owned by Guy, who
was a legal citizen, the liquor license was revoked for
the saloon.
Yolanda Tofanelli Atherton was kind enough
to share with me some of her memories of growing
up in the house at 315 N Main Street, originally 156
N. Main Street, as she lived there most of her life.
She was born on February 18, 1936, in Sacramento. Her older sister, Zelinda Jean Tofanelli Cardinal was born February 23, 1933, while her baby
brother, Steve Jr., was born on November 7, 1938. All
three siblings grew up in the house and enjoyed so
many happy memories living there over the years.
Per Yolanda’s recollection described during my
interview with her, and according to her book, “The
Way It Was! Jackson, California,” I have been able to include some of her own personal memories of living
at the house.
“We had a good life. It was a nice place. My
mother and father worked very hard for what we
had.” —She described how her father had the rest of
the lower level of the house dug out with the help of
his miner friends, to build the living quarters downstairs. That was their part of the house, while the upstairs level were rooms that were rented out to boarders for $35 per month. Yolanda recalled her mother,
Marlinda once mentioning she had discovered one of
the boarders had died in his sleep in one of the
rooms. They had to call the coroner and he was removed. I haven’t been able to find this death record,
but it isn’t a story that someone would just make up.
She recalled when she was little, there was no
bathroom in the house, that the outhouse just ran directly into the creek. She remembered how they had
an oil burning stove in the kitchen, and that it would
be nice and warm there, where her mother would
bathe her and her siblings when they were little.
Yolanda also remembered a flood destroying the
floors of the bottom level of their house, with the
creek rising during a horrible storm at Christmas
time, and how her mom had a feeling it would happen,
so she moved their Christmas presents to another
part of the house and saved them from being ruined.
It is known that in 1938, Steve spent 6 months
at Terminal Island, in Southern California, which was
based on a second case against him for high-grading.
Although Steve wasn’t perfect, he was only human.
Out of respect for Yolanda and her family, I chose not
to go into too much information about her father’s
mistakes, and rather remember the good things she
misses about him, like the fact he was a loving father
and grandfather. She also shared with me his love of
hunting, his love of dogs and how much he loved
searching for wild mushrooms for fun.
At one point Yolanda recalled that her parents
stopped renting out rooms and the house just became
a regular family home. Steve and Marlinda lived there
until Steve passed away in 1981. The house was then
passed on to the three children: Zelinda, Yolanda and
Steve, Jr., after Marlinda passed away in 1989, the
very same year the house would be sold to the Baumann family. According to Yolanda, the Baumann
family put a lot of money into remodeling the house
in 1990.
The house has exchanged owners several times
since 1989, and most recently sold on May 28, 2021,
to the latest owner. Still, in all of the research I have
done on the history of this house, I cannot find a lot
of dirt on the property. Yes, there was a shooting that
took place in 1935, and yes, Steve Tofanelli found
himself in trouble with the law a few times during his
lifetime. There was the “boarder” who apparently died
in his sleep, too, but other than that, I could locate no
other dark events that took place on that property.
Within the last couple of years, rumors about
the house being haunted have sprouted and taken
root. The current owner has named the house
“Bethany’s Home Sweet Haunted Home,” although there
is no record whatsoever of anyone having been connected to/or having lived in that house with that
name in its early history. Yolanda wasn’t exactly happy to hear about the “haunted” rumors, or the fact
that some false information has been spread about her
family. She has also made it clear that certain photos
of her family that have been used online, were shared
without her permission.
In ending, it was important for me to share the
history of this home with everyone, so they can know
the truth about the property. I also wanted to dispel
unfounded rumors, and to ultimately show that at different times, different families lived there and loved
there, a place they so lovingly called “home.”--------- from the book, "Stories of the Forgotten III: Tales of the Motherlode," by J'aime Rubio, ISBN: 9798329140378
All rights reserved. J'aime Rubio identified as the AUTHOR and PUBLISHER of
the work in accordance with all U.S. Copyright laws. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means without prior written permission by the author/
publisher.
(COPYRIGHT 2024/2025 - J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com)
