52 Ancestors Week 36: Labor

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 36's theme is "Labor." How did your ancestors make a living? Have you found an unusual occupation in your family tree? Don't forget about the often unsung labor of female ancestors.

This week's header took five minutes to make. Not exactly labor intensive.

Hard work pays off. It doesn't matter if you're building a house or editing a video for millions of people on the Internet. Hard work ALWAYS pays off in the end. Of course for the latter it does help if you have a ton of subscribers, social media accounts, a Patreon or even an online store. Making money on the Internet is not for the faint of heart. Then again making money in the past before the invention of the Internet wasn't easy, either! 

Many people in my family tree have been laborers from my great-grandfather, Vincenzo Ferraiolo who was a laborer in Haverhill to my great-grandfather, Alfred Francis Hamel who had his own fix-it shop in Newburyport. Every one of my direct ancestors seemed to have this drive to do hard work and to make a better life for themselves and their families. I've discussed the reasons why in other blogs. However, it wasn't always just the ancestors who worked hard. In fact, many collateral relatives did their fair share of labor.

Rocco, his wife Caterina, James (son of Pasquale), Dolores and Pasquale

Meet Rocco Carrabis.  He's the guy on the far left in this picture with the bushy Mario-style mustache. Rocco was my 2nd great-uncle and was the brother of my great-grandfather, Giuseppe. Their brother, Pasquale, is on the far right. 

Like his brothers, he was born in the town of Gesualdo in the Campania region of Italy. Everything I know about the man came from stories I've heard from my grandma Ollie, my father and my cousins who all descend from him. There's actually a lot to cover. So, let's get started!

One of the things Rocco was most known for was building all of the homes on Windsor Street in Melrose, Massachusetts. His eleven children and grandchildren all lived in those houses. Can you imagine how long it must have taken him to build those houses from scratch?! Keep in mind that these were in the days before sections of houses were built off-site and later connected to the foundation like LEGOs.  My father and his father built the house I grew up in and that alone took a couple years to finish. Working on the houses must have taken a lot of time, dedication and hard work!

That isn't to say he was all business. Apparently, he was known to make Italian ices for the grandchildren and visit his family up in Haverhill. From what my father and several cousins remember, Rocco spoke fractured English. He would almost always speak in Italian. With that in mind, I often wondered who worked with him. Clearly someone had to have known Italian in order to help him build houses!

Rocco's wife and fam

A light bulb immediately went off in my head. His sons must have helped him build the houses! And he had many sons. His oldest, James, most likely helped the old man with everything. Rocco had a large family. So, it's entirely possible that he enlisted the aid of pretty much everyone in the household.

Not only was Rocco an accomplished carpenter and architect. He also made his own wine. I've had some experience with people making their own homemade red wine before. The little vino was a little strong! From what relatives have told me, that was definitely the case with Rocco.

I've gotten mixed accounts related to who he was as a person. Some say he was very tough. Some say he was very nice. It's hard to get a read on his personality because everyone in the family seems to have their own take on the matter. I think for sanity's sake I'll go by what my father remembers of him. My father has said he was tough but he was always good to his family. Family meant a lot to him. It had to have since he built everyone's houses! You don't build people you hate houses! It just doesn't work! Unless you have some seriously evil plan cooking.

Rocco lived a nice, long life and passed away a year after I was born. Growing up, I heard all kinds of stories about how hard of a worker he was and apparently he told great stories about Italy, too. That's always a good thing and I wish I could have met him. But, there's always my cousins who descend from him who could tell me stories! 

So, it seems like everyone in my family knew the value of hard work and they weren't just ancestors. I think that's pretty cool to think about. The best part is that the houses Rocco built are still standing today so the families that live there now can appreciate his work. That's very cool to think about, too! See ya next time!