52 Ancestors Week 46: An Ancestor Who Took a Risk

 From Amy Johnson Crow: This week's 52 Ancestors prompt: Week 46:

The theme for Week 46 is “An Ancestor Who Took a Risk.” There’s an adage that says that with great risk comes great reward. But that leaves out the “risk” part – the part that if it doesn’t pay off, it’s a great disaster. Who is an ancestor who took a risk, either on themselves, their livelihood, their fortune? As always, there is no risk in interpreting this prompt wrong!

Personally, I prefer Sid Meier's "Civilization" over this game....

   I honestly don't know of anyone who hasn't taken a risk at one point or another. It was risky for people to cross the Atlantic ocean in search of a better life. It was risky for my second great-grandmother Gertrude Stevens to file for divorce from Wilfred Felker in the early 1900s when laws were stacked against her. It was risky for Lucie Cadran to raise many children by herself before she married her second husband,  Paul Lahaye. The list goes on and it's a testament to my ancestors who risked everything just to survive in the times they lived in. It seems like everyone was running in expert mode..

    Of course, when it comes to Italian immigrants, the story doesn't end with the boat ride. Once an immigrant arrives in America, there's going to be a language barrier, a lack of a support system and a long list of other problems. My blog is already full of those stories of those hardships. What's one more tale, right? Let's settle in and talk about how the Italians in Haverhill risked everything to create a community that stood the test of time.

From "Italians in Haverhill". Available on 
Amazon!

    Italians started coming to Haverhill when the first factories opened up along the banks of the Merrimack River in the 1870s. At first, the workers were mostly from northern Italy and it didn't take long for Italians in the south to follow. Conditions in the south of Italy were especially difficult after unification since government policies favored cities like Milan and Genoa over places like Naples and Palermo. This prompted a huge worldwide migration of Italians.

    My great-grandfather's cousin  Giovanni Coppola was one of the first Italians from the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida to arrive in Haverhill. When he and his wife arrived in the early 20th century, he found many northern Italians in the area still struggling to form a  real community there. What could he do for his paisanos?

      He opened a grocery store on High street. That shop, along with another called Loconte's, became the nerve center of what would grow into a lasting Italian neighborhood. Soon an Italian credit union was founded,  along with various fraternal societies like the Victor Emmanuel III Sons of Italy lodge. Steps were were being taken to ensure that the Italian community could look after itself in this strange new world.

     Giovanni risked a great deal by helping to create a community within a community. Anti-immigrant feeling was common at the time, and success was never guaranteed. Still, he and others made real progress in creating a new home for themselves. The only problem was that they were starting to feel lonely. So they sent letters back home--and that is where my great-grandparents come in.

    Around the time my great-grandfather Giuseppe was working with the credit union and as a janitor at the Pentucket Savings bank, my great-grandfather Vincenzo Ferraiolo sailed to America. Like many Italians, he risked a lot crossing the ocean. However, he ended up going back and forth several times. Was he homesick? Did he just like the ocean blue? Who knows? It was still a risk he was willing to take.

    What I do know is that he stayed with his aunt Concetta and uncle Vincenzo when he first arrived in America in 1913. He was only eighteen at the time and he saw the beginnings of a great new neighborhood being constructed along Washington Street and surrounding areas. The Italians were taking great strides in emulating the successful community that was being formed in nearby Boston. Having family already there made the risk of coming feel more worthwhile.

    In 1920, Vincenzo left the United States with a clear goal in mind:  to get married. He did so on January 15th 1921 to Maria Tedesco. That was a quick courtship.

    Vincenzo stayed in Italy for a number of years before returning to America. He worked as a laborer and soon he made enough money that his wife and two young children could cross the Atlantic and join him in the Queen Slipper City. In 1929, Maria, my grandfather Marco and my great-aunt Nicolina risked it all to join Vincenzo. The rest is history and it should be noted that the first place they went to upon arriving in Haverhill was Giovanni's home on Bedford Street.

Hey, paisanos!

       The story of the Ferraiolos' arrival in Haverhill is one of many, and they were not alone. I lost count of how many Italian families owed their arrival to Giovanni. I honestly think he helped to build the Italian community in Haverhill and made it what it was. Yes, he was a grocer but he was a grocer with connections! He had family in Italy who wanted a better life, so he invited them to America. Their friends told their friends and so on. The community grew in such staggering leaps that it wasn't long before everyone knew everyone else in town or was related to them in some way. The only thing that stopped them was the intense immigration laws that took effect by the end of the 1920s.

  

    

    That was the real risk the immigrants all took. They left everything familiar behind, crossed an ocean, and bet on a future they couldn't see yet. They took a chance in creating a community within a community and they didn't just succeed. They thrived! All of those bets paid off. Credit unions, grocery stores, tailors, restaurants and other Italian-run businesses didn't just thrive in Haverhill. It happened all over the Merrimack valley in cities like Lawrence, Lowell and Methuen.  The tight-knit neighborhoods lasted for generations and one simple gamble paved the way for not just my family story but for everyone who had an Italian relative who lived in Haverhill.

See ya next time.

"Italians in Haverhill" by Patricia Trainor O'Malley is property of Arcadia Publishing. All photos are property of their respective families.