52 Ancestors Week 7: What the Census Suggests

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 7:

The theme for Week 7 is “What the Census Suggests.” Census records are part of the foundation of genealogy research. This week, what is something surprising that you’ve found in the census? Is there something that helped break down a brick wall or give insight into the family?

Probably the most disappointing census ever. We all know why.

       

    Where would we be without the United States Census? For almost as long as the US of A existed there's been someone walking around taking a headcount of every man, woman and child living in every city and town from sea to shining sea. Personally, I haven't found anything earth shattering in the census save for people being enumerated twice or the confirmation of someone's place of birth. I did find out that sea gulls once terrorized a poor enumerator in the 1950 census in Newburyport. Going by the notes in the back of the book he said certain pages were stolen by sea gulls and that he had to redo a headcount of a neighborhood on Plum Island. I think that census suggests that sea gulls have always been jerks. I could have told you that. I once saw a sea gull steal a French fry from a guy's hand and fly away! They really are rats with wings!

    Of course that's not the only thing the a census ever suggested to me. They've also confirmed what I've always known about a certain area in Haverhill around both Washington Street and Bartlett Street. Growing up, I knew those streets to be the homes of my grandma Ollie and her sisters. When you look at the census, you quickly find that they were part of a much bigger picture. The house on Bartlett Street was once home to my great-grandparents Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione. Grandma Ollie's house was built by my great-grandfather Vincenzo. And that wasn't all. Both houses were part of a huge Italian neighborhood within the city. Talk about being part of a larger universe.

The 1920 Census in Haverhill

    Granted, the neighborhood was far from being a Little Italy like in New York City or Boston. It was still a close knit community with many Italians leaving in the same area. It was like that for decades and at the center of it all was a "little" road called Washington Street. 

Follow the red road.....

    As you can see from the map, it is a very, very long road running parallel with the Merrimack river. I suspect many people settled along the river in order to easily get to and from work quickly. Makes sense, right? Haverhill had factories all along the river and they employed immigrants from all corners of the globe. Among them were Italians and in order to get to work quickly, they built or bought houses on Washington street and on the surrounding roads. If you look closely at the map, you might even see a landmark I've talked about from time to time that's still in operation--Benedetti's Deli. It's right on the road! Talk about convenience! 

    Everyone in Haverhill lived in the vicinity of that road. Everyone. In its heyday it was basically Italian central. You live on that road, chances are someone ten doors down might know your parents! It was that densely populated! I've found several articles in area newspapers that refer to the area around Washington Street as a village. I can see that. More on that in a minute.

    After a while, I thought I would take all the locations in Haverhill I collected from various censuses and see what they all looked like on a map. Using Google Earth, I put in each address and pinned them. Thankfully, the streets are still there along with the houses. I wish I could say the same thing about Newburyport. Sigh....They tore down my grandfather Robert's first house!!!  Let's go back to Haverhill before I get depressed.  At least the house on Bromfield street is still there. My mother once told me that the house had one of the old timey toilets with the pull string. .

  

      As you can tell from the first map and all of the pins in the second one, there's a lot of Italians living in that same general area. Most of the houses are located on several roads either on Washington Street or on roads perpendicular to the main road. Washington Street was clearly the place to be to find Italians. There's no doubt about it. If you were an Italian living in Haverhill, that's where you were living!

    This is just the tip of the iceberg since I only added my relatives' houses. Imagine if I put in every Italian whoever lived in Haverhill on the map! Chances are the whole map would be covered in little pins. I don't think I have enough time to put ALL of them on there!

Grandma's house on Washington St.

    In the end, the censuses' suggestions were correct. All of the Italians in Haverhill lived in a neighborhood in and around Washington Street. They settled in the area in order to be close to work and once the families grew, they bought/built more houses. This led to the creation of an Italian neighborhood that more or less still exists today.

    Another interesting thing to note is that the houses also center on High Street where Giovanni Coppola had his grocery store.  If you look at the map, you'll see that High Street meets Washington Street right near Benedetti's. Again, that's pretty convenient!

 It makes sense for an Italian neighborhood to have a grocery store.

    If only I knew where exactly on High Street the grocery store was. You're not going to find that in the census. You'll find that in the city directory for sure. 

    It was great confirming that the area around Washington Street was an Italian neighborhood. I always suspected that was the case when I was growing up. Family lived nearby and people always talked about how someone with a very Italian last name lived a few blocks away. When I looked up everything in the census, I learned right away that yes there was a vibrant Italian neighborhood in Haverhill. Does it still exist today? That depends on who you ask. Many people unfortunately passed away or moved from the area. Despite that, the people who lived on Washington street all those years ago undoubtedly left their mark on the city and made the area a great place to live!

See ya next time!

Photos and maps are property of Google Earth.