His parents were subsistence farmers in Newtown, whose only income was sale of firewood to the Arcade Bakery in downtown Placerville.
On February 4, 1895, Raffetto and a friend named Potts saved up enough money to buy the Conklin Academy in Placerville, which they turned into the Ivy House Hotel.
)[1][2][6][8][9] Historical figures known to have stayed at the hotel include Mark Twain (who used to write for the Mountain Democrat in Placerville), President Ulysses S. Grant and John Studebaker.
[1] In 1917, in the name of the Cary House, Raffetto became one of three founding members of the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, based in Placerville.
They had six children, four of whom survived early childhood, all born in the Ivy House Hotel with only a midwife: Raffetto was registered as a member of the Democratic Party (United States) and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Native Sons of the Golden West.