52 Ancestors Week 32: Neighbors and Community

 From Amy Johnson Crow:Week 32:

The theme for Week 32 is “Neighbors and Community.” Our ancestors didn’t live in a vacuum. They were part of neighborhoods, congregations, social groups, and more. (Bonus: Those neighbors might be extended family!) This week, explore an ancestor’s neighbors or a group that they belonged to. What do they reveal about your ancestor?

This looks like a friendly neighborhood!

    I kind of like this week's header. I just wish I was able to find a free image of one of those Italian neighborhoods in New York or Boston to use that didn't have a watermark on them. Some of them were pure gold! When I saw those, I kept picturing there was some lady screaming for "Anthony Joseph Marco" in there!  Just thinking about it gives me 'Nam-like flashbacks. In my experience, you were dead meat if someone used your full name when they were calling for you and if your name is as long as mine is you had better pray whatever God you believe in has mercy on your soul.

    With that in mind, I think we all know where this blog is going to go. I've written about the Italian community in Haverhill, Massachusetts a million times and I'll write about it a million more times. Why? Because it's fun to talk about and this is my blog. I can do whatever I want! It's that and I don't really know much about the French-Canadian community in Newburyport except that it existed, they had a church and there were some festivities thrown in there. Moving on!

Makin' my way downtown....

    As readers of the blog are aware, the area around Washington Street in Haverhill was basically the Italian neighborhood in the city and was just as influential as Little Italy in places like Boston and New York. Why? Well, everyone and their brother lived either on Washington Street or on one of the side streets that came off that road. There were grocery stores nearby like the one owned by Giovanni Coppola, Loconte's and others in the area. Banks were close by as well. Churches, restaurants, tailors and schools were there, too! It was basically a community within a community and it was pretty special.

     My grandmother Ollie lived on Washington Street in a house that once belonged to my great-grandfather Vincenzo. She grew up just around the corner on Bartlett Street where her parents' house was. Her friends and family were always nearby and it was especially true for her parents and my grandfather Marco's parents. Everyone knew what everyone else was doing every minute of every day and from what my father tells me it was a little chaotic but in a fun way. 

    I can understand why. There'd be little to no privacy because everyone talked and everyone knew each other. In order to get a real understanding of what the Italian community was like, I suggest checking out the Italians in Haverhill book by the late, great Patricia Trainor O'Malley. I actually tried to contact her a few times since my family is in the book. I found out she passed away a couple years ago and that was pretty upsetting. I really wish I could have talked to her.

    However, the show must go on. Her book is a great starting point when it comes to understanding the Italian neighborhood in the city and this blog will serve as my take on everything! Okay, that's a bit much. Still, it's only fitting.

    Anyway, Trainor never really discussed all of the Italian families in Haverhill like the Ferraiolos or the Carrabs. She apparently reached out to my great-aunt Louise when she was working on the book and my great-aunt said she didn't want to take part in for some reason. I never knew why. She was still mentioned because her husband's family, the Villanuccis, are in the book! Talk about a loophole.

    I think I got a little sidetracked. Now that we know that there was an Italian neighborhood in Haverhill we can talk about the groups they belonged to. Many Italians in the area joined the Sons of Italy Victor Emmanuel II lodge. That was a fraternity of Italian men who looked after each other, played cards in smoke filled back rooms (Not joking. It was a thing.) and just socialized with their paisanos in a strange new land. 

   The Italian community tended to take care of one another whenever there was a problem. It didn't matter if your ancestors came from Sicily, Calabria or Campania. You needed help, they'd give you the shirt off their back. It is funny, though. Most of the Sicilian Italian immigrants in the Merrimack valley went to Lawrence rather than Haverhill. No idea why. Maybe the mills up the river paid them more? I'll have to ask my friends from Lawrence.

il famiglia di Ferraiolo

    I would have loved it if Vincenzo, Maria, my great-aunt and my grandfather were mentioned in the Italians in Haverhill book. We'd have sent in that picture and it would have wrapped up the San Pietro a Maida section of O'Malley's book with a neat little bow. Seriously, she spent at least a dozen pages talking about the people who came from San Pietro to Haverhill and several of those people I am related to! She should have looked up my father since there were no Ferraiolos in Haverhill when she published the book in 2001.

    It's all good. At least I know people are in the book and that I'm connected to them either genetically or through marriage. 

     Sadly, none of my ancestors were part of that Victor Emmanuel II lodge. My great-grandfather Giuseppe Carrabs was a president of the Italian American Credit Union and that was mentioned in the book and my family had family who were members of the lodge. I'm not sure why they never joined. Maybe they just never saw the need to join since the community was already well connected? Perhaps.

    Overall, I think the best part of the Italian community in Haverhill is how close they were to the North End of Boston. The North End is the Italian neighborhood in Boston and it's where a lot of people go to get authentic Italian food if the shops in Haverhill didn't carry it or if you can't afford a plane ticket to Italy. Haverhill is about a half an hour from the big city and it is considered to be a fringe suburb of Boston. This meant that people could go to the North End, get some food, bring it to Haverhill and no one would complain. After all, there were paisanos there.

    The Italian neighborhood in Haverhill was born from immigrants who worked in the mills along the Merrimack River. The community still thrives today with some notable changes, of course. The famous Saint Rita's Parish is now part of All Saints Church for example. Saint Rita's was were all the Italians worshiped and all the Catholic churches in Haverhill eventually became one church.  Despite its many changes, there is one thing that will forever be constant in Italian neighborhoods. It's that lady screaming for you to come home and if she uses your full name---RUN!

See you next time!!!!!!!

The map of Washington street is property of Google Earth.