52 Ancestors Week 7: Immigration

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 7

The theme for Week 7 is "Immigration." For many people, genealogy starts with a desire to know where our family came from. This week, consider an immigrant ancestor: where they came from, why they came, or how different their life was between their "old country" and their new one.

Neil Diamond's "America" intensifies.

    Immigration has always been a genealogical topic that's been near and dear to my heart for as long as I can remember. Makes sense. I'm a grandson of a relatively recent immigrant. All four of my father's grandparents came from "the old country" aka Italy. I even have immigrants on my mother's side of the tree and most of them came from Canada and before that they came from France. (Insert Coneheads joke here.)

   The bottom line is everyone came to America from somewhere. It doesn't matter if it was in the 1600s or in the 1920s. The United States is a nation of immigrants and today I plan on sharing the story of my last two immigrant ancestors, my great-grandmother Maria Tedesco and her son, Marco Ferraiolo.

Vincenzo and Maria

    Maria was born in the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida on December 14th, 1900 to Antonio Tedesco and Maria Domenica Gullo. I'm not sure if she ever dreamt of pulling up stakes and moving clear across the Atlantic. But, I am sure she heard of the strange new land from her boyfriend Vincenzo Ferraiolo, who she ended up marrying in the January of 1921.

    Vincenzo had returned to San Pietro in 1920 after living in Haverhill, Massachusetts for eight years. His intention upon his return to Italy was to take a wife and start a family. Many Italian men did the same thing. They went back to the "old country" to get married. That's when he met Maria and where our story began.

    Vincenzo stayed in San Pietro until at least 1925 when my grandfather Marco was born. He then left San Pietro and went back to Haverhill, Mass. It would be some time before his wife and two children again. Chances are good that he helped to pay for their eventual trip to America on October 30th, 1929.

La famiglia di Ferraiolo

    It's pretty obvious to anyone reading this week's blog that Maria left for America to be with her husband. The kids needed their father and conditions seemed right for her to take the kids and go join him in Haverhill. However, there might have been more to it than that. Maria may have heard that her Tedesco relatives moved to Woburn, Mass and wanted to be near them. You never know. I don't want to put words in anyone's mouths. But, it's a nice thought isn't it?

    Anyway, Maria and the kids left for Haverhill aboard the Roma in late October and arrived in New York on November 8th, 1929. The adventure didn't stop there. They weren't going to stick around New York for long as their final destination was 12 Bedford street in Haverhill, the home of Vincenzo's first cousin once removed, Giovanni Coppola.

    Hopefully, Vincenzo met Maria and the kids in New York. It would have been bad form if he didn't show up and she was in New York with two small children. Yeah, I'm going to say she was picked up by her husband because the alternative is just too creepy to imagine.

    The trip to Haverhill from New York took roughly eight hours depending on if they went by train or by car. Cars didn't go 70 mph in those days so the drive must have taken forever.  Along the way, I'm sure Vincenzo and Maria caught up while the children napped. They likely also went over some of the cultural differences, what to do in America and assorted odds and ends. From what I've been told, Maria was pretty smart and likely understood everything by the end of the trip. 

No names were changed here. Ever.

        After arriving, her life in America was dramatically different from her life in Italy. Maria, Marco and Nicolina likely didn't know anyone in Haverhill aside from Vincenzo and his relatives. So, they likely stuck with them as they were in the neighborhood. It worked out well, I think. The kids called Vincenzo's aunt Concetta "Aunt Zia" I like to think that Concetta probably helped Maria adjust to life in Haverhill.

    I'm actually picturing the two in my head talking while the kids all played together. It's a good scenario to imagine and it's definitely a believable one. After all Concetta was born in San Pietro and was in Haverhill a long time before Maria and her children moved to the city. It stands to reason that she and the other former townspeople of San Pietro a Maida lended a hand or two when Vincenzo wasn't at home.

    Italian communities often rallied together when a new immigrant arrived on the scene and Maria and the kids were no exception. The people around them likely made the transition from living in Italy to living in America much easier by sharing what they went through and the experiences they had when they first arrived. They basically paid it forward in order to help Maria and her two kids.

Marco's first communion. No idea
who the girl behind him is.

   Maria's life may have been vastly different from what she was used to back in San Pietro. However, she had new friends and family around to help her and think that made a world of difference. Having people around who speak the same language and know where you came from can make the transition so much easier because let's face it. It's not easy to immigrate from one area of the planet to another.

    I really think that Maria and the kids were lucky in that they had the big community around them to help with their struggles. The help allowed them to assimilate and make friends a lot faster than the ones who came before them. Paying it forward to other immigrants can make a world of difference and make the struggles not  be so harsh.

    Did they still struggle? Of course they did. They were still "fish out of water". Again, they had the added benefit of those around them showing them the ropes and because of that, their lives in America would be so much better. To be honest, it probably helped any feeling of homesickness, too.

    The immigration experience was clearly different for Maria, Marco and Nicolina than it was for other immigrants who came to America a decade earlier. More people were around to help them assimilate into their new surroundings.  Every immigrant's experience is different, though and I'm glad family was around to help when they could.

See ya next time.