52 Ancestors Week 46: This Ancestor Went to Market

 From Amy Johnson Crow:

The theme for Week 46 is "This Ancestor Went to Market." There are all kinds of way to interpret this theme! A few that come to mind are farmers (who had to take their crops and livestock to market), storekeepers, ancestors who liked to shop -- be creative!

After church the market is where everyone in an Italian community gathered to gossip and of course purchase all types of goodies. The odds of finding a friend or family member hanging around there are very high. If a marketplace is centralized, you can bet that everybody goes there. In Haverhill, there was been several of those places. Back in the day, you could find yourself at the market run by Giovanni Coppola or even at Benedetti’s Deli.

 My great-aunt Louise Carrabs-Villanucci once worked at Benedetti’s. I may have mentioned the place a few times in the blog. It’s the home of subs named after various Roman emperors like Nero and Caligula. Trust me. The “Caligula” lives up to the name of the emperor it is based on. Loads of cutlets, cold cuts, sausages and sauce crammed into a large loaf of Italian bread. It’s good. It’s just very filling. I recommend the Nero instead! You won’t feel like you were partying with Caligula afterwards!

 Anyway, the market was founded in 1961 by Joseph “Bobo” Benedetti and he ran it until his passing in 2009. Today, his children have taken over the business and it remains one of the best places to get an Italian sub in the Merrimack valley. I may be a little biased. But, the subs are so good! If you are ever in the area, I highly suggest picking up one of their subs. You won’t regret it!

  With the way I described Benedetti’s founding, you might think it was a family affair. While that’s true, they hired many other people to work in their shops. Wait. Did I say “shops”? That’s right. I did. Not only did the family have the famous sub shop. They had a clothing and shoe shop as well! Not bad! It’s not at all uncommon for multiple family members to open up shops, though. Talk about the “American dream”.

  Aunt Louise likely worked in the deli and the funny thing is her connections there may help sort out how a DNA match connects with my other geat-aunt, Nicolina. Get ready for some mental gymnastics!

A while back, I got an email from someone who descended from Santa Amelia Gullo and she saw her page on Wikitree. To make a long story short, the lady who emailed me and told me how she was connected with the Benedettis. Here’s how it all works. Be sure to take notes.

 Basically, Bobo’s mom, Mollie D’Agosto had a sister named Julia who was married to Joseph Francesco Medaglia. Joseph was one of Santa’s sons. That is pretty wild, right? If I could find my connection to Santa Gullo, I could be connected via marriage to the Benedetti family. I mean I do have Gullos in the tree starting with Domenica. 

I’ve been doing a lot of research on the Gullos and Medaglia families. If there’s a connection, I am sure I’ll find it. It will just take some time. I just need to be patient.

Still, you can imagine my surprise when I heard the story about how Santa was connected to Benedetti’s. There are a ton of other stories like that. Long before Benedetti’s even opened, Bobo’s uncle Nazarene was at my great-grandmother Maria Tedesco’s funeral in 1943.

That was an unexpected connection. But, it shouldn’t be at all surprising. The Italian community in Haverhill was tight back in the day. Everyone knew everyone and regardless of where they came from in Italy, they forged solid relationships with each other.

When the market opened in 1961, you can bet that those Italians all gathered there for food and to catch up on all the latest gossip in their community.

Benedetti’s deli was just one of the many markets in Haverhill where everyone gathered. It’d take a while to talk about them all. It’s just really cool how my great-aunt has a connection to the place. I’m not sure how long she worked there. Does it matter? The point is she was there and she took part in helping to make one of Haverhill’s many landmarks what it is today. People still go there to dine and have a good time. Do they still gossip? Probably.

It shouldn’t be surprising to me that I even have a connection or two to the place considering how tight the community was and still is today. Now, my mission is to see how I am connected to Santa Gullo and the Medaglias! Will I find it? Of course I will. In the meantime, go have yourself a Nero on me.

See ya next time!