January 4, 2024
Immediately after arriving in Domodossola by train, I boarded a bus that took me along the Bogna River to the small community of Bognanco, the original home of my Italian great-great-grandparents, Giuseppe “Joseph” Mottini and his wife, Rosa Morganti, who settled in Sierra County in the latter half of the 19th century, along with many other immigrants from the Bognanco Valley. For years, the descendants of Joseph Mottini and his wife believed the couple originated from Domodossola (as stated in a previous article, it was typical for immigrants to refer to their hometown as the largest nearby town, as the peripheral villages weren’t well-known); however, several years ago, my good friend Don Costa (a descendant of Downieville’s pioneer Costa family) came across my great-great-grandmother’s immigration records stored with some of the Costa family items. This document listed her hometown as Bognanco - a new discovery! Previously, in 2017, I visited Domodossola in search of distant relatives but did not find anything of importance other than meeting the mayor of the town, whose surname is Mottini. Unfortunately, he did not know much about the Mottini family history. I left that trip to Domodossola without answers. However, all my questions were answered after finding out that my ancestors originated from Bognanco - just a few miles away - and many of my distant relatives still lived in the Bognanco Valley! I made it a mission to find as many of them as I could. My primary reasons for going to Bognanco were as follows: to see where my ancestors used to live, to meet distant relatives (I ended up constructing a giant family tree containing thousands of names, utilizing the historic Italian birth, marriage, and death records that I found), and to discover what happened to my great-great-grandfather’s brother John Mottini, who lived in Sierra County for many years before returning to Italy sometime in the early 1900s, his fate never being known to my family. It was also my goal to do research on the Pianezzi family, another clan with close ties to Sierra and Nevada Counties, whose descendants I’ve been in touch with for many years. During my research, I would find many more families that lived in the Sierra and Nevada County region that I never even knew about, including members of the Baietta, Broggio, Armetta, Tioni, and Pioda families. While making my way by bus along the Bogna River towards Bognanco, my mother (who came along with me) and I were surprised by how much the canyon reminded us of the North Yuba region of Sierra County. I was always told that my Italian ancestors felt comfortable establishing their residence along the North Yuba because the area “reminded them of home.” — I could finally see why! For a short background on my Italian family history, it appears Joseph Mottini and Joseph Pianezzi (a distant relative) both left Bognanco in 1869 for the state of Nevada. It is likely the men traveled with others, as they were both still in their teens. My father told me that Joseph Mottini likely traveled with an older brother named Antonio and that Native Americans jumped their wagon train near Cain Springs in Nevada, with Antonio being killed and thereafter hastily buried. Back in the early days of the internet, he came across a newspaper clipping regarding the event on a genealogy/history forum, but he did not save it; I have yet to find the article nor any other information about Antonio, including in the Italian archives - so I cannot verify his existence! Whatever the case, Joseph Mottini and Joseph Pianezzi made it to Storey County in Nevada. Mottini stayed for sometime, while Pianezzi moved on to Sierra County, eventually marrying into the Costa family. After his stint in Nevada, Mottini also moved to California, working for many years at the Ramm Ranch near Camptonville and later at the Costa Ranch in Downieville. Mottini and Pianezzi both made trips back to Italy at some point, mostly to bring over more family and friends to join them at the ranches and mines of Sierra County. Mottini made a trip back to Italy in 1879 and married Rosa Morganti at Bognanco in early 1880. Their daughter Domenica Maria “Marie” was born in the Bognanco “frazione” of Bei later that year. Soon after, Mottini returned to California, along with Pianezzi’s youngest brother, John Peter, leaving his wife and young daughter behind in Italy. Mottini’s younger brother John immigrated to California sometime in the 1880s as well. In 1884, Joseph Pianezzi sold his property five miles east of Downieville at China Flat (now known as Camp Yuba) to Joseph Mottini. In 1887, Mottini sent back to Italy for his wife and young daughter. Mottini had five more children with his wife in California (Teresa, Joseph Jr., Modesta, Frank, and Aurelio) and established the family home and ranch at China Flat while also working in the mining and lumber industries. The property stayed in the family until the 1940s. My great-grandfather Joseph Jr. was foreman of the Sierra County road department for many years, and my paternal grandmother, Georgie Mottini Peterman, served as Sierra County’s Clerk, Auditor, and Recorder for many years before her untimely death. Part 12 of this series, coming next week, will focus on my fruitful trip to Bognanco and the people I met there.