On Sunday, September 18, 1887 Carmen Ghirardelli passed away at the age of 58 while at the home of her sister, who resided at 1227 Chestnut Street in Oakland. In 1837, at the age of 20, Ghirardelli married his first wife Elisabetta “Bettina” Corsini (1817–1846) in Italy. When that proved unsuccessful, he opened a general store in San Francisco, which catered to needs of miners. From all accounts theirs was a happy and comfortable marriage. Following the death of Bettina in 1846, he remarried in 1847 [or 1849] to Carmen Alvarado Martin (July 16, 1829–September 18, 1887), a young widow with an infant daughter after meeting her in Lima, Peru. Domingo, Jr. and Joseph, each gone for approximately seven years, returned to attend the Jesuit Santa Clara College before beginning their business careers with Ghirardelli & Sons. Further, the Newsletter writes of “Ghirardelliʼs widow died at 1227 Chestnut” but as Carmen died in 1889, and Domingo died five years after her in 1894, the reference was clearly a typo as “widow” should have been ‘wife.’. When Garibaldi fled a death sentence in Italy and went into exile in South America, Ghirardelli and his young wife Bettina followed, moving to Montevideo, Uruguay, where Domenico worked at a coffee and chocolate establishment. His body was returned to Oakland and buried in Mountain View Cemetery with the rest of his family, just as he had requested. Caught up in the gold rush, Ghirardelli spent a few months in the gold fields near Sonora and Jamestown, before deciding to become a merchant in Stockton. See Copyrights. Ghirardelli’s business selling chocolate, coffee, and dried fruit was profitable, leading him to open a second store in San Francisco. Privacy Policy | This financial instability led to Domingo Ghirardelli and business partner/son-in-law Angelo Mangini being forced to declare bankruptcy in 1870 [or 1871 … searching for court records]. Mangini, accused by a business associate of embezzling over $10,000, “fled to parts unknown.”. Many of the creditors, old and bent with age and limping on canes, were present. Angelo Mangini, the son-in-law, became a full business partner in 1868. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. At a young age, Domenico is introduced to the chocolate and confectionary trade when he apprentices with a local candy maker. The Ghirardelli family fortune meant that Christian could focus on his painting, while they traveled throughout Europe, wintered in Carmel, and lived in Yosemite Valley from 1899 to 1918. They will receive about 75 cents on the dollar. Several accounts of what followed have circulated over the years: the priest thought Domingo Ghirardelli had not donated enough to the church; there was a heavy rainstorm; the priest was drunk. Domingo Ghirardelli, founder of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company 1. Third son Caesar died at the age of 10 while away at boarding school, which may be why the two youngest sons seem to have not been sent abroad for their education. (3) Some four decades later, Alfred's daughter Polly Ghirardelli … Ghirardelli, who at this point had changed his first name to the Spanish version, Domingo, decided to try his luck at gold prospecting and came to California, too. Ghirardelli has been around for over 160 years, making it the oldest continuously operating chocolate maker in America. Eugene married Rosie (or Rosa) Capelli, with whom he had two children, but in 1909 he “ran out on his wife and disappeared” and was declared legally dead by his wife in 1921. But even now their claims will not be satisfied in full.