52 Ancestors Week 41: Changes

From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 41 is "Changes." They say life is change. Think about the changes that your ancestors saw during their lifetime. (I think about my grandmother who went from using a horse and wagon to seeing Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon.)

Ch-Ch-Changes.....

    Last August, I wrote a blog about how an ancestor of mine would have viewed the changes in Haverhill since he lived in the 1600s. Check out the blog here as I talked about how a riverside village became one of New England's most diverse communities. A lot can happen in several hundred years! This week, I think it might be a good idea to focus on something a bit more recent. So, let's narrow down the time scale a bit and see how Haverhill and Newburyport changed from my grandparents' points of view. We all know about the huge world-changing events of the 20th and early 21st centuries. What about the subtle changes they experienced? How would that have impacted their lives?

Robert and Natalie Hamel.

    When I think about how times changed for me in my forty plus years of existence, it's really only a drop in the bucket when I compare it to the lifetime my grandparents all lived. True a lot has changed in forty years. But, think about this. My grandfather Robert Hamel lived to his nineties. Can you imagine how many things changed for him? He even had his own e-mail address! Granted his computer wasn't exactly a state of the art Apple or Windows computer. It just had one function: e-mail. It was as bare-bones as you could get! Hey. He liked it and that's what matters. At least he probably got way less spam than I did.

    I digress. He was born in 1920s Newburyport and at the time it was a bustling hub of activity. Nestled at the mouth of the Merrimack river, Newburyport was an important hub for goods shipped from up the river from mills in Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell and Methuen. The mills didn't rise overnight. However, they did help boost the economy even if the river itself became horribly polluted.

    

    In his day, the city reeled a bit from the Great Depression much like Haverhill did. Wages were down and to make ends meet many people ended up working in those mills or had their own shops like Robert's father Alfred had. Walking around Newburyport, I can sometimes imagine what it must have been like for him as a child growing up in the city because little actually changed atmosphere-wise. I'll get to the reason why in a bit. Even though there are obviously no gleaming skyscrapers like you'd see in Boston, changes took place here as well.

The Merrimack on a good day.

    At the mouth of the river was a US Coast Guard station. I don't remember ever being there personally because it was long gone by the time I came around. But, my grandfather and my mother always told me how much of an important post it was. I can tell you from personal experience that the mouth can get extremely choppy. I've bumped my head more than a few times. That's why you always need to wear a life jacket and hang on for dear life! It still didn't stop speedboats, though. These days, the Coast Guard station is around Water Street in Newburyport as they moved further inland. There was even a lighthouse at the mouth that eventually became a restaurant. 

    That's not all that changed. Newburyport once had a railroad bridge connecting the city to the town across the river, Salisbury. By the time I was growing up, the bridge had long since fell into disuse because a drawbridge for vehicles was constructed nearby. It was that same bridge I used to walk over the river from the marina to go to the historic downtown area where the shops were located.

    Speaking of the downtown area, you can bet there was a lot of urban renewal even when my mother was living there in the 1950s and 1960s. Historic buildings were removed or replaced. Some were actually redone to look like they once did in the 1920s and 1930s. That's pretty impressive because as the world changed around the city, some things remined the same. Many people worked hard to keep that aesthetic alive and you can definitely feel like you're back in time if you walk around downtown Newburyport today.

    As time marched on, the city eventually grew and though the mills of Robert's youth were long gone, the city still thrived on tourism in the form of whale watching, town houses you could rent on nearby Plum Island and other ventures. Like Lawrence and other mill towns, the factories themselves eventually became apartment buildings and office parks. Had he seen Newburyport in his later years, I'm pretty sure he'd be impressed with how much the city changed because now it's easier to get from point a to point b. The only thing is, I think he'd be disheartened to learn that the house he grew up in was torn down because of the rampant urban renewal projects. Luckily, his grandparents' house still stands on Bromfield street!

    Despite Robert's home being lost to time, he handled the changes in Newburyport pretty well as he moved around a lot thanks to his duties in the US Air Force. Regardless of all the advancements and urban renewal, he still called the city home. My only regret is that he never got a chance to visit Newburyport again. He often spoke fondly of the city and New England itself. I suppose he was never really overly shocked about the changes because he readily accepted change and that's a good thing! Change can be hard for people and he took it in stride.

Marco and Ollie

    What happened in Newburyport also happened in Haverhill, too. My grandparents, Marco Ferraiolo and Olympia Carrabs saw many rundown buildings get revamped over time. To go along with all the renewal, they saw firsthand the rise of the Italian-American neighborhoods. Many of their family members, distant cousins and friends settled in Haverhill along with people from all over Italy forming a neighborhood much like the Little Italy that emerged in Boston and New York City.

    Marco's story, of course, is a little different from Ollie's because he immigrated in 1929 and she was born in Haverhill in 1920 to Italian immigrants. Despite that subtle difference, they made it work and still shared a similar experience.

    They saw Italians become an important fixture in life in Haverhill despite there being anti-Italian sentiment during World War II and into the 1960s. Despite the prejudices, important businesses began to thrive such as Marco's great-uncle Giovanni Coppola's grocery store. The Coppola family didn't just leave an indelible mark with just a grocery store, though. Nope. Giovanni's son, Frank, founded the Coppola bus company in Haverhill in 1936 and remained in business until parts of it were sold in 1984 and in 2004. The Coppola buses, however, still run with his name on them.

    Banking in Haverhill also changed during their lifetime as Ollie's father, Giuseppe was a founding member of the Haverhill Italian-American Credit Union. The union made it possible for Italians in the neighborhoods to have the money they needed to support their family. I often wonder if my great-grandfather Vincenzo benefited from the union since he moved around Haverhill quite a bit as evidenced by the 1930 and 1940 census.

Great subs here! Seriously!

    So, how did all of this impact their lives?  Well, having a lot of Italians around meant that they were never truly far from the culture of the mother country. Yes. Many people came to Haverhill from all over Italy not just Gesualdo and San Pietro a Maida. However, there's a certain culture that unites them whether they came from Milan or Sicily. There's just this bond that unites them all. Having a neighborhood or two of immigrants sharing similar experiences can unify a community and make them feel more at ease. Especially when the world seemed to be against them.

 

    Witnessing the rise of Italian neighborhoods in Haverhill was Natalie Felker, my other grandmother. She was a daughter of Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault. By all accounts, they were pretty accepting of Italians showing up and didn't really seem to mind the changes taking place in the city of Haverhill. This might be because Henrietta herself was the daughter of two French-Canadian immigrants who came to Haverhill around the same time the first Italians moved in in the 1870s. There was no culture clash as they were basically in the same boat if you think about it. Life went on as it usually did. However, if you think about it. the Felkers were witnessing the birth of what Haverhill was about to become--a city home to many cultures from all over the world. Was it scary? Probably. 

    Change can be a scary thing. In this case, many immigrants came in and created Italian neighborhoods in Haverhill and French quarters in Newburyport. Life changed drastically for people whose ancestors lived in those cities for centuries. Eventually, they had to learn to live and work together in harmony. Today, the cities take the lessons of the past and apply them to present-day immigrants. 

Change can also be good. Without change, the Merrimack river would still be polluted. Without it, people from various cultures wouldn't call the cities home. To evolve as a culture, one has to change. It may be scary. But, if you find common ground anything is possible. Like the song says....

 "Time can change me, but you can't change time."

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.

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