Speakers: Don Anderson, Joe Pelanconi and Jean Taeuffer

Many of Healdsburg’s immigrants during the last part of the 19th century came from Italy. You’ll see these families’ names everywhere today. Don Anderson will delve into why the Italians came to the U.S., how they ended up in Healdsburg and how they helped build our town as wine makers, farmers, merchants and community leaders. Then local historian/writer Joe Pelanconi will tell the story of his family in Geyserville and Healdsburg. Jean Taeuffer will trace the circuitous genealogical route it took to link of her maternal grandfather to all the other Buchignani families in town, an example of how so-called “chain migration” often encompassed widely extended families.