52 Ancestors Week 9: Family Secrets

From Amy Johnson Crow:  Week 9:

The theme for Week 9 is “Family Secret.” Have you uncovered a family secret? (A reminder that you do not need to post anything publicly.) A secret doesn’t have to be big or negative. (Like my grandpa not telling us grandkids that he was the one playing Santa at the Christmas party.)

This is the only time I'll ever use Comic Sans.

    Family secrets, huh? To tell the truth, I've shared many secrets here in the blog over the years and many of them have to do with my great-grandfather Vincenzo. I swear he was the undisputed king of the worst kept family secrets.  Anyway, not all family secrets need to be negative like Amy said in this week's prompt. Sometimes they can be fun and sometimes they can be worth talking about once the statute of limitations ran out . Oh, I can see you all getting comfortable right now. I have a good story to share with everyone so you might as well get cozy. Would you be surprised to learn that my great-grandfather Alfred Hamel helped rum runners in Newburyport during the Prohibition? 

Now we know why he has that
swagger....

    I'm not sure if I've told everyone this story before. But, it bears repeating because it's a fun story and since Prohibition ended almost a century ago I THINK the statute of limitations ran out by now. Before I get into the gory details, let me set the stage a bit.

    Alfred was a very popular man in Newburyport, Mass because he had his own "Fix-it" shop. There he would make keys and fix various appliances. You name it, he fixed it. That was how he became known as the city's "Mr. Fix-It". I didn't quite realize just what that meant until my mother told me one night over dinner.

    My mother and I would go out to dinner whenever my father would have a dental meeting and one dinner in particular stuck out to me because we were discussing this very blog. I send her links to my blog and she talks about them with me. Sometimes we talk about stuff I can talk about in future blog posts and somehow the topic of Alfred Hamel helping rum runners came up.

    The city of Newburyport sits at the mouth of the Merrimack River and because of that the city became famous for its mills much like other cities along the river like Haverhill and Lawrence. It was a major shipping port in the 18th and 19th centuries and an important stop on the Underground Railroad. By the time of Prohibition it became known as a spot where people could get their alcohol fix.  Rum runners in the 1920s made very good use of the river as they'd use boats to ship to other boats in international waters and there people would....well....you know. Party like it was 1899.

    Naturally, rum runners needed someone to fix their boats whenever there was a problem. And who did they call on to help them? Well, Newburyport's own Mr. Fix-It of course!  He was the man to see if you wanted your boat engine fixed with no questions asked!

The stories the river could tell....

    I'm sure the rumrunners trusted Alfred with their boats and made sure he didn't rat them out to the cops. These days he would have definitely been considered an accomplice. That begs the question. How involved with the rumrunners was he? Not only that....How did my Mom find out?! It's not something you randomly tell someone over dinner, you know. Wait....

    Well, maybe she found our when Alfred or her own father told her. I mean both guys were known to tell a story or two and by the time my mother came around I'm sure it was okay to talk about rumrunning. It wouldn't have been a big deal by the 1950s is what I'm saying.

    This secret is fun to think about because it gives me a bit of an insight into the man behind the "Mr. Fix-It" name. Not only was he a simple repairman who'd fix your refrigerator or icebox as it was called in those days. Alfred would work on a rumrunner's boat and not ask any questions. You might be wondering if he really knew he was working on a rumrunner's boat. Oh, he knew. He HAD to have known. The smell of alcohol on a boat is hard to miss. Trust me.

Hanging out on the river.

    It's really no wonder that he became a popular repairman in Newburyport. I don't mean it was because he fixed boats or anything. He was just the kind of guy everyone could trust. If a rumrunner could trust you not to rat them out, you're pretty much golden.

    Did he know what he was doing was illegal? Probably. Did he care? Probably not. We have to remember that our ancestors were people like us and they had their own faults and foibles. If I could, I'd probably ask Alfred just how he got roped into that world. Like I said. The statute of limitations ran out and I'm sure he'd tell me the tale.

    Here's how I picture it. Imagine Alfred was working in his shop one day and a guy comes in wearing a long coat. He might have smelled a little off. He says to Alfred "Hey. I need some help. My boat's engine needs some work done." Alfred agrees to help and notes that the man smells like alcohol.  He obviously figures out that the man was a bootlegger and the man offers to pay him double to keep his mouth shut. He agrees to help and thus a legend was born. That's how I see the story unfolding. Whether or not there's truth to it remains to be seen. I mean the guy running the booze might have been a friend, too! You never know!

Not running booze here. Nope. No way!

    The amazing thing is that he never got caught as far as I know. If he did, I don't think the city would have looked at him quite fondly. His reputation in the city as "Mr. Fix-It" would have taken a serious hit. He definitely wouldn't have gotten a glowing obituary when he passed away in the early 1960s.

    Sadly, there's no record proving that he helped bootleggers from time to time. It's not like they kept records of who they met up with out in the open ocean. Certainly repair logs at the fix-it shop would help. But, he could have easily omitted the times he repaired a boat. Sadly, those records are lost to time and the only records I have of his repair shop are electric bills. Those are not going to help anyone.

     Records or not it's still fun to think about those days. Did he ever join them out in the open ocean? How involved with the organization was he? All I can say is I bet he was relieved once Prohibition ended in 1933. The United States had uhh.....bigger problems at that time than just bootleggers. I suppose once it was lifted, he felt a great weight was lifted from his shoulders. There was no way he'd be prosecuted! He got away with everything!

    Family secrets don't always have to include drama or something really shocking. There's more than enough of that to go around. Sometimes there are fun stories that show your ancestor was more than just a photograph and stats on your favorite genealogical platform. They were human. They made mistakes and sometimes inadvertently found themselves entangled in major historic events of the time. I like to call it the "Forrest Gump effect". Someone just finds their way into interesting times through no fault of their own and these days that curse is still going strong.

See you next time and raise a glass!