History and Archives

The Pasetti/Tyioran farm on Giese Road dates back to the early 20th Century.

William and Emelda Pasetti emigrated from Italy with their four daughters: Irene, Sylvia, Florence and Lottie. Their son Severo (nicknamed “Speed”) remained in Italy.

The family moved to the farm in 1924, and the girls went to the Wagner School, about ¼-mile down the road. The school teachers, in addition to teaching all eight grades in the same room, shoveled snow during the winter and built fires in a pot-bellied stove. Walter Smith was one of the teachers. He boarded at the Schimelpfenig farm. Mr. Smith taught English to Mrs. Pasetti and the children, and he enjoyed Emelda’s cooking. 

“Speed” was 15 years old when he came to live with the family on the Batavia farm. He worked hard building the silo, a granary, a much larger garage, and added a large porch to the house. He had learned about pattern-making from his uncle in Italy. Later, Speed opened his own pattern-making shop, Central Pattern Works, with Hank Pierson in Batavia. He worked for Holy Cross Church in downtown Batavia and made its communion rail.

The Pasettis enjoyed good times during their farm years. Lottie and Florence rode their bikes to Evelyn Pahnke’s house (Site 17) for piano lessons for 25 cents an hour. During harvest the neighboring farmers, the Schwahns, Holters, Pahnkes and Schimelpfenigs, helped one another. The Holters hosted barn dances and Chris Feldott from Site 43 played the accordion. When Mr. Pasetti’s health failed, his family continued farming with Peter Tyioran, a Romanian farm hand. 

In 1934, Emelda asked Speed to manage the farm and the family moved to Geneva. Irene married Angelo Arbizzani in 1930 and they had three daughters, Gloria, Anita, and Joyce. Florence married John Piccinini and they had two daughters, Janet and Rita. Speed married Ann Forni and they had three children, Ramona, Diane and William. Lottie became an Army Nurse in World War II, and met her husband, John Bolle, a pharmacist. They worked at Cook County General Hospital in Chicago. Lottie and John had five daughters: Mary, Jeanne, Patricia, Linda and Loretta. Lottie still lives in the Fox Valley area and fondly recalls her days on the farm.

In 1947 Peter and Rose Tyioran purchased the farm and lived there with their children, Louis, George, Peter and Sylvia until 1968, when they sold their land to the State of Illinois and moved to Aurora. Louis’s children: Robert Tyioran, Diane Tyioran and Mary Anne Ryan recall the happy summer days spent on their grandparents’ farm where they collected arrowheads left by Native Americans hundreds of years before. They are proud of their grandparents’ contribution of their home and land to the state of Illinois for Fermilab and attend the annual Farmers Picnics and have enjoyed touring their old farm site.