52 Ancestors Week 27: Family Business

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 27:

The theme for Week 27 is “Family Business.” Do you have an ancestor who ran his or her own business? What about a trade that seems to run in the family? This is a good week to write about them!

"On this the day of my daughter's wedding...."

   As strange as it sounds, I don't really have any family businesses in my family tree unless you count the laborers in Italy. I do have people who owned a business or two, though. My great-grandfather Alfred Hamel had a fix-it shop in Newburyport and none of his children ever took over the business. When Alfred passed away in 1962 that was the end of the Fix-It shop. For true family businesses, we're going to have to cast a wider net to the rest of my family tree because there's one collateral relative or two who definitely meet the criteria for family business. 

    Two of Giovanni Coppola's children had businesses of their own and only one of them has lasted to this very day.  For those of you keeping score, Giovanni was the first cousin of my second great-grandmother Caterina Coppola. He was responsible for inviting several people to Haverhill, Mass including my great-grandfather Vincenzo, his wife and their children.

    To make a long story short, he had two children who went on to have very, very different family businesses. His son Frank owned and operated the Coppola bus company in Haverhill until his death in 1979. His children continued the business and they ran it until 2019 when it was sold to North Reading Transport.

    Meanwhile, Giovanni's daughter Concetta married a man named Guido Pitocchelli who started his own funeral home business with his brother in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts and as amazing as it seems that funeral home still operates today albeit under a slightly different name. These days it's known as the Pitocchelli Bros & Joseph A Langone Jr Funeral Home. Times change, I guess. But, back in the day my family had a close and unfortunate connection with the funeral home.

    When my great-grandmother Maria Tedesco passed away in the March of 1943, the Pitocchelli funeral home hosted the funeral and almost every single Italian in Haverhill at the time was there. At least that's what it feels like when I look at the list of who all went to the service.

    When I first found the list in my great-grandfather's toolbox, I wondered why the funeral was in Lawrence and not in Haverhill. You would think they'd have gone to one of the many places in Haverhill to have a service. After all, Maria was buried in Saint Patrick's cemetery in Haverhill.  So, why did they go to Lawrence for the service?

    The only thing I can think of is that maybe it had to do with the familial connection? Vincenzo was a cousin of Concetta and Concetta was married to the funeral director. Because of that link, Vincenzo and Guido were likely friends. So, he might have offered to have the service in Lawrence rather than in Haverhill. I'm sure there's another reason for it. But, that's the only thing I can think of at the moment.

Giovanni Coppola in his grocery store.

        Even though Concetta and Guido's son, Sabatino didn't go into the family business, the Pitocchelli funeral home does count as a family business. It was owned and operated by the family and they provided a tremendous service to Lawrence and of course nearby Haverhill much like Giovanni's grocery store.

    I'm not sure when the name changed. I would think it happened shortly after Guido passed away in 1995. Concetta passed away in 2007. She likely had to deal with the sale, name changes and all the headaches that come with a business changing hands.  It is nice that the name is still there after all these years as it gives the funeral home a lasting legacy. Though, I will admit I had to check the spelling of Pitocchelli more than a few times as I was writing the blog.

    It's good to know that there are some family businesses somewhere in the tree as there's a legacy surrounding them. When you look at a restaurant that's been open since the 1920s, you want to learn more about its story. Who started it? Why? Who owns it now? It's nice to see some legacy companies around and it makes me want to learn more about it. Sadly, I haven't been able to find much on the funeral home. Their website doesn't go into their history that much and it's a shame because I bet it's got a long and storied history. To each their own, I guess. At least the funeral home was there for my grandfather's family at a very sad moment of their lives and that it was run by family as well. I think that maybe helped with their loss since family was around to support them in their time of need.

See ya next time!

Picture of the Coppola family is from O'Malley, Patricia Trainor. "Italians in Haverhill". pg 98