Guiseppe and Filomena
(nee Zippili) Michetti-Guiseppe
Michetti was born in Abruzzi, Italy, the province of
Teramo in the small town of Corropoli on February 26,
1880. Filomena Zippili was born May 17, 1886. They got
married October 18, 1906. Two sons and a daughter
were born to them [in Italy], Rodolfo (Rudolf), Ottone (Otto), and Gisella,
who passed away at the age of 10 months. Guiseppe left for
Canada on March 24, 1910. He then worked his way through
the U.S., eventually ending up in British Columbia in
1912, where he worked in the construction of the Canadian National
and Grand Trunk Railways. Later he went to Edmonton,
Alberta. In 1914 he traveled to the Hylo area to file for a
homestead (SW¼ 3-66-15-W4), and began working in lumber
camps, living in a tent until his log house was built. In
1917, Guiseppe made arrangements for his wife and two sons to join him from Italy. Arriving in Hylo on April 4, 1917,
Filomena was happy to be reunited with her husband but
upon arrival at their shack which was home, she was not
very impressed with the situation her husband lived in.
Seven more children were born to them: Gisella, Lydia,
Sylvia, Henry, Orlanda (Ollie), George and Benito. After
that, Guiseppe built a large, two-story house, where the
family was raised in poor conditions. While homesteading,
he continued to work in bush camps, trapping, hunting and
the saw mill. When Guiseppe was approaching the age of 70
years, he applied for his pension, then divided his
homestead and a couple of other farms for two of his sons. In the early 1950s, his family had all left home, so Joe
built himself a smaller frame home on his homestead, close
to his sons. They continued to live in their home until
the time of his passing on November 1, 1966, at the age of
86 years. Filomena passed away April 11, 1977 at the age of 90
years.
Rudolph (Rodolfo) and Pierina (nee
Marchesi) Michetti-Rudolph Michetti was born in
1908 and came to Canada in 1917 at the age of nine with
his Mother Filomena and brother Otto to join his Father
Guiseppe, who was homesteading in Venice. In 1919,
he helped his Father build their home, and by the age of
12, he was working on a construction gang and by 15 was
working on a railroad gang. In 1924, his Father sent
him to study steam engineering at the Alberta Institute of
Technology in Calgary. In 1928, he and his Father
purchased an Advance-Rumely tractor to break virgin land.
According to Tony Bonifacio, Mr. Michetti boarded with an
Italian family and met
Antonio Rebaudengo, who had formed
the Fascist Party in Calgary, and Mr. Michetti later had a
role in setting up the Venice Fascist party when Mr.
Rebaudengo came to Venice in December, 1925. In
1931, he married
Pierina Marchesi and they had 10
children. Mr. Michetti was an ardent supporter
of William Aberhart and the Social Credit Party viewing
them as the solution for the economic troubles of farmers
in 1935. In 1940, as President of the Venice Fascio, he was
arrested by the RCMP Corporal Fielding, who was a personal
friend, and sent, first to the internment camp at
Kananaskis and, then, to Camp Petawawa in Ontario.
He was released after spending nine months in Ontario and
returned home. He set up a machinist's shop in Lac
La Biche and worked at the setting up of the Fort McMurray
oil sands project.
Otto and Fleurette (nee Gingras) Michetti-Otto
Michetti was born in 1909 in the town of Corropoli in the
province of Teramo and came to Canada in 1917 at the age
of eight with his Mother Filomena and brother Rudolph to
join his Father Guiseppe, who was homesteading in Venice.
In his account in the Venice-Hylo history book, he
mentions that they were supposed to leave in the fall of
1916 but were prevented from doing so because he had a
cyst on his leg. The ship was torpedoed in the
mid-Atlantic and there were no survivors. They
arrived in Boston on the White Star liner Cedric and,
then, made their way to Edmonton. He worked with
with Father and brother and ended up as the head sawyer
when a group of nine settlers formed a portable lumber
mill to process logs (1927). In the next years, he
worked on the railroad and road building. In 1970 an
American management magazine interviewed railway men and
his interview was published twice. He was working for
the Northern Alberta Railway. He married Fleurette
Gingras and they had three children (Dolores, Douglas and
Kenneth). The family made their home in Edmonton on
Buena Vista Road. He was responsible for preparing
the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railroad for transport and
installation at Fort Edmonton Park. He donated over
500 hours to the project of upgrading their three miles of
track.1
George and Olga (nee Tichonuk) Michetti-George Michetti
was the 8th child of Guiseppe and Filomena Michetti and
was born in 1925 in Edmonton. He worked on the
family farm and went to school until the age of 15. The land was worked using horses and a walking plough and
the land was cleared without machinery.
In 1942, he took
over the family farm and grew alfalfa seed. He
bought his first Massey binder and bindered crops for many
neighbours. He was joined on the farm by his brother
Henry in 1945 and they worked it together until Henry
became manager of the local Co-op Store. They
raised hogs as well as turkeys. From 1942-55, he and his
brother Henry hauled rocks for the Northern Alberta
Railways. In 1948, he married Olga Tichonuk and they
had eight children. In 1976, he sold the land except
for the home site.
Paolo (Paul) and Santina (nee DiBingi) Michetti-Paul Michetti
was born in 1886 in Cosropoli, province of Teramo, Italy
and married his wife Santina DiBingi, who was born in
1887, in Italy. He emigrated to Canada in 1914 to
join his brother Guiseppe. He worked initially for
the Grand Trunk Railway in BC and then returned to Venice. In 1920, his wife joined him in Venice with two of their
nephews, Tony and John
Varze. He sought work in the
US for a while but returned to Venice where the couple
lived with his brother and family. Eventually, they
homesteaded NE1/4 34-65-15-W4 and built a log cabin,
followed by a proper house. They had three children
(Albert, Alfred and Yolanda). Paul worked as a section man
on the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway (later the
Northern Alberta Railways) as well as farmed. The
family farm was taken on by their sons who increased the
land holding and raised purebred Hereford cattle and hogs.
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
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