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Giusto Farms: A story of Italian immigration to America

RICH RIEGEL
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

In September 1961, from left to right, Aldo Rossi holding a watermelon, Agostino “Augie” Giusto and Aldo’s nephew Richard Alfieri pose with ice cream melons, a type of melon similar to honeydew melons, and common in the day. Italian farmers grew melons and cantaloupes in Portland until the mid-1960s, at which time a soil virus totally eliminated the ability to produce the crop to this day. This photo was taken at the then Rossi-Giusto Farm, with the bunkhouse in the background; the location was on Buckley Avenue, now Northeast 122nd Avenue, in the Parkrose area of what is now Northeast Portland.
COURTESY PORTLAND’S GARDENERS AND RANCHERS ASSOCIATION
In a portion of the half-acre plot behind the family’s produce stand, Dominic Giusto, grandson of farm founder Gerolamo Giusto, helps daughters Ashley, 8, foreground, and Nicole, 11, piggybacking on 14-year-old niece Katelyn Meeks, make money for their college education by planting Zinnias that the girls harvest and bunch for sale at 3518 N.E. 162nd Ave., just south of Sandy Boulevard.
MEMO PHOTO: TIM CURRAN
Gerolamo Giusto had heard many tales of prosperity in America and knew he wanted to take advantage of all the opportunities the New World had to offer. In 1911, he bid farewell to his family in the small village of Sciarborasca, Italy, and set sail for America.

Giusto boarded a ship in Genoa, Italy and spent several days sailing across the Atlantic Ocean before arriving in New York. Determined to settle among friends from his Italian village, Giusto took a cargo train from New York to Portland where he accepted a job from Alfonso Debenedetti to work on a vegetable farm in the Parkrose area of what is now Northeast Portland.

It did not take long for Giusto, who had experience working on a family farm in Italy, to adapt to plowing the fields and cultivating crops in America. In addition to planting and harvesting spinach, cabbage and potatoes, Giusto also built a social network in Portland.

Shortly after his arrival Giusto reconnected with Nicola Rossi, a friend from his village in Italy. He told Rossi about his job at the Debenedetti Farm in Parkrose and described his boss as a man who paid well and cared about his employees, and encouraged Rossi to seek work on the Debenedetti Farm as well. Rossi was hired, and the pair began working together as farmhands.

Not long after Giusto and Rossi began working at the farm, Debenedetti issued a challenge to his farmhands: The two men who worked the hardest would be allowed to marry his daughters, Jennie and Edith.

Giusto and Rossi set out to prove themselves to Debenedetti, and their efforts paid off: Giusto married Jennie, and Rossi married Edith. The pair continued to work for Debenedetti for several years before purchasing their own plot of land on Northeast 122nd Avenue in Parkrose and becoming partners in 1917.

Giusto, who would later go by the Americanized name Jim, managed the day-to-day operations on the farm, while Rossi spent his mornings at the Gardeners and Ranchers Association market selling head lettuce, potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables that were grown on their farm.

Rossi had a son, Aldo, who eventually began helping out on the farm, but Giusto, who had no children, knew they needed to hire additional help in order for the farm to be successful. He wrote to his brother, Agostino, who had three sons and five daughters, and asked if his youngest son, also named Agostino, could come to America to work for him on the farm. Giusto decided to adopt Agostino.

In the fall of 1953, Joe and Rosetta Garre, friends of the family, were on vacation in Italy and were preparing to return to the U.S. The Garres made arrangements to have Agostino accompany them on the same ship when they returned. On Nov. 17, 1953, Agostino and the Garres left Italy from Genoa aboard the Andrea Doria bound for the U.S. It took nine days of sea travel to reach New York City’s Ellis Island on Nov. 26, 1953. Paul “Paulina” Montecucco, who happened to be stationed in the city with the U.S. Coast Guard, greeted all. As it was Thanksgiving Day, Montecucco and the Garres took Agostino to a local restaurant for his first turkey dinner in the U.S.

During the three-day trip to Portland, Ore., from New York, Agostino began wondering just how far his uncle’s farm was from the East Coast; Joe Garre told him it was “at the bottom of the world.” Agostino and the Garres arrived in Portland on Nov. 29, 1953, and were greeted by Jim Giusto. Within a couple of days, Agostino would find himself carrying boxes of cabbage out of the field. Agostino became known by his Italian nickname Ermite. Today most folks call him Augie.

Just two years after coming to America, Augie Giusto partnered with Aldo Rossi after their fathers retired in 1955. The pair split the chores, with Augie plowing the fields and Aldo sowing the seeds.

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