52 Ancestors Week 37: On the Farm

 From Amy Johnson Crow: For Week 37, it's all about "On the Farm." This week, why not write about an ancestor who was a farmer or a farm laborer? Don't forget about farm wives and the work they had to do to keep things running!

And on his farm he had some figs. E-I-E-I-Oh....

   Farming is a human activity that dates back to before the first cities rose in Mesopotamia and the Nile river valley and it shouldn't come as any surprise that southern Italy had its fair share of agricultural activity dating back to before the age of the Roman Empire. For centuries there was very little in the way of industry in the southern parts of the country we now know as Italy as the north became centers for trade, commerce and industry. Coastal cities in the south like Palermo, Naples, Bari and Catanzaro followed their centuries old maritime traditions by continuing a mastery of the Mediterranean that persists to this very day. Meanwhile, in the interior farmers worked the land as they had been for centuries under the merciless heat of the hot Italian sun.

Scenic San Pietro a Maida

    For centuries they toiled and worked the fields in the hopes of producing goods for the market and of course food for their growing families. Crops such as figs were common and were a sought after commodity. Who doesn't like fig jam? I know I do! When it came time for Italians to immigrate across the ocean thanks to policies that favored the north in the late 19th and into the 20th century, a question everyone's mind often came up. Would they be able to keep their farming traditions alive in a strange land far from the farms of their ancestors? Would they adapt to the farming techniques used by the people of those lands? How would it be possible to keep the traditions alive? Would it be possible? The answer, of course, is a resounding "YES!" 

    As you know, half of my tree is Italian as my father's parents came from Calabria and Campania by way of San Pietro a Maida and Gesualdo. When Grandpa Marco and Grandma Olympia's families came to America, they brought with them the farming techniques and traditions their family had honed for centuries in the old country and it's something I always think about while I'm working in my parents' garden.

Garden or vegetable prison? Too close to call.

    For as long as I can remember, my family has always had a garden and it often felt like I was farming. We'd grow everything from tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, potatoes and peppers to hot peppers, green beans and zucchini. You name it, we grew it in there. Some years were better than others and I'm sad to report that the Ferraiolo garden of 2021 was just....okay. We blame the extremely cold May we had this year. That was just crazy! We broke the planet. We weren't too discouraged as we had plenty of basil to make great pesto sauce and enough tomatoes to make really, really good tomato sauce. Not gravy. I will never call it "gravy"!

    Persistence is key when you're growing produce in New England. That's true for everyone. When Italian immigrants came to America they had to contend with a climate that was very different from the one they were used to in Italy. Winters were harsh and yet they adapted by growing vegetables in the warm months of the year. I can tell you there was probably a lot of trial and error in those early days. But, it is likely they had help from locals. At least I hope they did!

 

Farmer Vincenzo!

    So, what did they end up growing? Would it surprise you to learn that my ancestors grew the same things they had been growing in Italy? Certain crops can withstand the soil of New England just as easily as they could in Europe. It's not hard even though timing is everything. 

    Starting with my great-grandfather, Vincenzo, he had a pear tree in the side yard of his house in Haverhill and a vegetable garden in the back yard. It was here that my father learned about growing vegetables like tomatoes and herbs like basil. Centuries old farming techniques were passed down to him and he wasn't the only one to have a green thumb!

    Grandpa Marco had a gorgeous fig tree which lived a good long time. Fig trees are remarkably hardy and can withstand cold winters. While they do typically grow in the southern parts of Europe, my grandfather's fig tree grew pretty well in the city of Haverhill!

Farmer Giuseppe!

    My great-grandfather, Giuseppe, meanwhile took things a bit further. While he did grow the Italian staple of grape vines he grew apples, pears and cherries in his yard. I have been told that the pears were quite delicious. The cherry tree was even alive up until a few years ago!

    Like the Ferraiolos, the Carrabs even had their own vegetable garden and in it they grew many crops and even some herbs like basil and garlic. In fact, we're attempting to grow some garlic this year that my father's cousin brought over. Here's hoping they grow!

    Using centuries old farming techniques, my great-grandfathers managed to bring their know-how to America. Through trial and error, they managed to grow the kinds of crops they were used to seeing in the old country and even grew crops seen in America. Granted these weren't farms as people know them. They still counted even though they were much smaller in scale and still managed to produce sweet fruits and veggies for all to enjoy.

    What's really interesting is that both men had different farming styles. Giuseppe used what was available and combined it with the crops from his native mountainous region of Campania. While Vincenzo and Marco's home region of Calabria was just as mountainous, they used more of a southern European approach to farming. They grew things in the warmer months and produced goods for the family when they could. Giuseppe on the other hand practically had a grocery store's worth of goods. Either way, they clearly brought their farming talent to America and passed it down to my father and myself. Yeah, even I have a green thumb. Didn't see that coming did you? 

    Italians have always adapted to new surroundings whether it's through learning a new language or simply farming in an urban environment like Haverhill, Massachusetts. Their determination and skill helped to feed their own families and was likely passed down to them through the centuries. That skill I'm happy to say lives on. 

    So, how was it possible to grow in such a different climate? With versatile crops, anything is possible. Using centuries old techniques like growing when it was warm in New England proved to be beneficial and chances are good that Italians shared the skills with other Italians. They adapted quite well and some like my 2nd great-uncle Giovanni Coppola had even opened grocery stores where Italian immigrants could sell their produce at. It makes me wonder if Giuseppe used the shop. Marco and Vincenzo likely did. Giovanni was Vincenzo's uncle.

    The farming traditions of the past are kept alive in America and in Italy today. People still work the land as they have been and though times changed, the heart of the tradition remains because great things can happen with a bit of luck and a lot of perseverance!

See ya next time! 

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 36: Working

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Monday was Labor Day in the US, so what better time to explore how our ancestors earned a living?

They work hard for their money!

    The daily grind can be enough to get anybody down and I can say with absolute certainty that things were not always easy for my ancestors. Whenever I would I ask my father how work was, the answer was always the same. "Work was work". That's true for anything you do even if you love your job. As I said last week, my parents valued hard work and education as things weren't always easy for their parents and grandparents when it came to making a living. Let's explore one example of why that was shall we.

Giuseppe and Clementina

    My great-grandfather, Giuseppe Carrabs ,was a prime example of an immigrant trying to make a living in the early 20th century while supporting his wife Clementina and their five children. He worked as a custodian at Pentucket bank for many years and while it may not seem like he was living the high-life of swimming pools and movie stars, it was what was available at the time because when he came to America in the early 1900s with his wife and  daughter, he did not have much in his pocket and was already a skilled laborer.

    Fortunately for him laborers were in high demand in the city of Haverhill. Mills and factories employed many Italians, French-Canadians and other immigrants from all corners of the globe. In the 1920 census, he was listed as a shoe worker. That tracks because many Italians did a LOT of hard labor in factories in their first few years of working in America.

    It was during this time that Giuseppe helped to form the Haverhill Italian American Credit Union, an organization which was dedicated to helping Italian immigrants such as him succeed in monetary issues and lend money when it was hard to come by as most banks were uneasy about lending immigrants money. Such a union came in handy during the most depressing days of the Great Depression. He wasn't just a member. He was also a past president!

    After the stock market crashed in 1929, we see Giuseppe and his family living in a five thousand dollar home in the 1930 census. This was a big deal. However, it had its drawbacks. Giuseppe at this point started working at the bank as a janitor. Clementina and Jenny, the oldest sibling, were taking care of the kids while they attended school.

    Luckily they managed to keep the house they were living in until 2010 when my great-aunt Louise passed away. How they accomplished this when many lost their homes and livelihood in the Depression is a bit of a mystery. However, I can safely say that perhaps the union and the bank he was working at helped the family during those times. That's just a theory I have and it makes the most sense now that I think about it.

Important historical artifact or battlefield between 
two warring factions of transforming robots. You
decide!

  Evidentially, my great-grandfather was well-liked at the bank because when he retired he was given this really awesome conference table that was converted into a coffee table. It's not a bad table and growing up I played on it not knowing the significance of it for many years.

    I remember one time I was rolling the heroic Autobot Optimus Prime on the table and grandma Ollie was watching me and smiled. I asked her why she was smiling and she told me the story behind the coffee table She said the table represented a lot of work her father put at the bank and that he would have appreciated me putting it to good use.

    She then told me more about her parents and being a kid I just listened intently.

The Carrabs house (1925-2010)

    My grandmother was right of course and she too knew the value of hard work as she worked for the phone company. But, here's the thing. She never brow-beat those values into my brother and I. She learned from her father that with hard work a lot can be accomplished and Giuseppe did accomplish quite a bit even though he was a custodian.

    He was well-liked, well-respected and was an important member of the community. He was president of a credit union! So, that was a big deal! You might say he "pulled himself up from his bootstraps". While that may be true, he had help along the way. After all the union provided assistance to him so that the family could stay in that house on Bartlett street for over eighty years. Did he show gratitude? Oh, no question! 

    Despite being a janitor, he showed some pride in his work and helped immigrants like him through the union. He was basically paying it forward as he didn't want them to struggle in the way he did. Sure it may seem like he didn't struggle. This was only a glimpse. There were still things he had to deal with and he came from a region of Italy that was still struggling at the time. 

    That is the crux of why Italian immigrants and immigrants in general worked so hard to better themselves and the lives of people around them. They did their best to ensure no one else would have to suffer as they did. Was it easy? Nope. Was it worth it? Probably. I mean we're here aren't we? They came to help make a better life than what was available back in the "mother country". They didn't ask for much and today's immigrants share the same sentiment. After all history has a way of repeating itself.

    So you could say that as an immigrant he improved his life greatly after coming to America. Was it glamorous? Probably not. Was it worth it? Definitely! His hard work helped other people in the long run and that's why helping people is probably more of a key to happiness than say wealth, power and prestige. 

See ya next time!

  Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 35: School

From Amy Johnson Crow: It's back to school time—one of my favorite times of the year! Have you thought about your ancestor's education? Any teachers or principals in the family? Have you ever visited your ancestor's old school (or maybe you attended the same school)?

Wow. I'm pretty strict.

   

     Going back to school every year was a always fun and enjoyable experience. My mother would take my brother and I to the mall and we'd get new clothes for the year. Growing up in New Hampshire meant that the first hint of fall was in the air the second we felt cool breezes while we put the boat away for the winter. Trees were starting to change color, too. When September hits New England, it hits it hard and without apology! By the '90s, my mom would play "Back to Life" by Soul II Soul on the way to school. It never failed! We'd be in the car and she'd start playing the song or sang it. My mother has a twisted sense of humor. 

    Recently, my parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary and in honor of that momentous occasion, I thought it'd be a good idea to talk about them since I rarely do so in the blog since they are living and have every opportunity in the world to read "All Roads Lead to Haverhill". Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!

Check out those 1970s sideburns.

    School has always been important to my parents Dr. James Ferraiolo and Diane Hamel. They met at Suffolk University in Boston where my father was studying to be a dentist. My mom was studying blood and was beginning her career as a lab technician. I don't have to tell you that seeing their medical journals as a curious six year old was an eye-opening experience. Some things you just can't unsee at that age. They met while attending a chemistry class. I guess you could say they had....good chemistry? I can hear the "boos". Your "boos" give me strength!

    Education was and still is a big deal for my father because he was the first in his family to go to college. His father, Marco, went right to the army and once he came home he didn't continue his education. My grandma, Ollie, graduated Haverhill High and didn't go off to college. So, it was a big deal for him to go to Boston and get that degree in dentistry.

    It didn't stop there. When I was little, my father would teach kids about the importance of dental health in either his office or at my school. I remember one time my father would talk to my class about why we should take care of our teeth. It's hilarious in hindsight because my dad doesn't just have a sweet tooth. He loves desserts! Still, it left a mark on my classmates and they would tell me about that time my father went to school to talk about dental health. I'd smile because they have no idea how many gross pictures I've seen. Thank you, New England Journal of Medicine.

She still talks about
"ratty sneakers". 

    My mom always felt that education was important, too. Her parents were hard workers and she needed to help wrangle....er....take care of her five younger brothers and sisters. She was the oldest and so she needed to help her parents out. She was also the first in her family to graduate college. While in high school at Newburyport High, my mother learned French while studying to be a medical technologist. Learning French would end up being VERY helpful.

    Later in life, her grandmother Henrietta Legault had a seizure and this caused her to only speak in French. Diane ended up communicating with her. The lessons she learned paid off. See! Learning a second language CAN be useful. Take that everyone who said learning another language was for "suckers"!

   

    Austin and Henrietta were actually at my parents' wedding in 1971 and I've seen their picture. Henrietta was wearing an eye patch and she looked okay despite her age. I imagine my mother greeted her in French on that special day.

1960s Dad needed sideburns.

   

     After the wedding, my parents didn't go right on their honeymoon. Although, they did end up going to Jamaica some years later. No, they got into the car and drove to New Jersey where they were living. Why? Well, they still had classes to attend and my dad was getting his doctorate. They clearly didn't waste time relaxing as there was science to do!  That doesn't mean they didn't have fun every now and then. They do. It's just that education was and still is a big deal for them given their backgrounds.

    Since their parents didn't continue on with their education and everything, it made sense that they would place a high value on that and in time they became very successful in their respective fields. My father eventually became president of the New Hampshire Dental Association for a few years and my mother became a lab supervisor at Merrimack Medical Labs. Not too bad, right?

    Learning about why my parents valued school allowed me to understand why they put some pressure on my brother and I to do the best we could in our academic efforts. They never forced us to buckle down and study or anything. But, they did explain why it was important. Their parents and those before them didn't have the opportunities for school like they did. That's why they encouraged my brother and I to learn as much as we could.

    In the end it worked. My brother works as a IT specialist at the University of Virginia and I take care of the billing for my father. We both value hard work and though we clearly didn't go into the medical field like our parents did, we still liked helping people out in any way we could. It's pretty obvious why they valued education and thinking about it more makes me realize just how lucky my brother and I were growing up in an age where there were many opportunities waiting for us that generations before them did not have.

See ya next time! And happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

52 Ancestors Week 34: Characters

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Characters — there's at least one in every family. Who in your family could be described as a character, someone who marches to the beat of their own drum? Or maybe you have an actor or writer in the family? Share their story this week

I STILL probably play way too much "Super Smash Bros".

    

    When the topic of "characters" came up last year, I wrote about someone who I've known since I was a kid. The blog was about my family friend, Alfred Coppola. He was definitely a character. Come on. He gave me twenty-one one dollar bills for my twenty-first birthday! Who doesn't look at that and just laugh?! There are a number of people in my life who were like that and I'd like to write a blog about all of them. But, we'd be here a while and I do like to keep these blogs short! You can read all about Alfred and the Salami Club here.

Marco and Cammie!

    This year, we're going to switch it up a bit because character doesn't just mean someone who's a joy to be around. Character, especially good character, can be a trait someone has which makes them a good person. As it turns out, my grandfather Marco had that in spades because he and my grandmother Ollie dared to defy societal norms in an age where the Civil Rights movement in America was in its infancy.

    For many years, my grandfather would invite a man named Charles Haigh into his home. Charles, as you might have guessed, was an African-American man. I haven't had much luck finding information about Charles. All that I know about him came from my father who clearly remembers him as he grew up around him.

    My father was never sure where his father met Charles. I assume they met at work. He had to have lived somewhere in the Merrimack valley. Where? I'll have to do some more digging because I would definitely like to find him. Genealogy isn't just about finding your direct ancestors after all. It's about finding your ancestors friends and neighbors, too. This is known as "The Fan Club" and Charles was definitely a member of that club!

    I think I'm getting ahead of myself because some context definitely matters. Marco, Ollie, my father and Charles all lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts. During the 1950s and 1960s, segregation occurred all over the United States. Even in Haverhill. It should also be noted that during that time Italians weren't considered white, either. Did the two families find some common ground and unite? It certainly seems that way. Or was this just one big coincidence?

    Regardless of intent, Grandpa Marco proved that he had great character and it was a trait passed down to my father and to my brother and I. Marco and Ollie were definitely progressive for their time and it's something I even noticed about my grandmother while I was growing up because she never had a mean word to say about anyone regardless of who they were or where they came from. I just wish I could remember Marco. =(

    What about my mother's side? Surely there are some great character traits from the Hamel and Felker clans, right? 

   

    It honestly goes without saying that my other grandparents were people of great character, too. Robert Hamel and Natalie Felker  were two of the most generous people I ever knew in my life. As my brother put it, grandpa Hamel was basically the model for what a grandfather should be. He never raised a voice to us or at his eight other grandchildren even though we probably got a little rowdy. 

   Their generous spirit extended out from the family and were always nice to friends regardless of where they came from. Sound familiar? I suppose this could be attributed to my grandfather's time in World War II where he saw action in Europe and even went to Japan in the post-war era. He saw how people lived. Not soldiers. People. And that probably had an effect on him.

Lookin' dapper!

    Not to be outdone, my grandmother was pretty amazing, too! She was the type of grandmother who cared about everyone. EVERYONE. Sometimes I swore she was a second Italian grandmother! She would knit sweaters for all of the grandchildren. We'd all get one. Every one of us. There was no escaping it regardless of age. From six to sixteen you were getting a Felker sweater. There was no getting away from it. And it wasn't just sweaters she made! She would make afghans and everything else you'd need. My mother's linen closet is full of blankets she made. It's really amazing! And yes I totally made forts out of them on cold New Hampshire nights!

    Natalie, like my grandfather, was also equally progressive. She didn't judge anyone and let people live their lives. They were both not shy about giving advice either whenever I had a bad day at school and I told them about what was going on. My other grandmother, too. They were just really good people and great role models to be around. Nothing else needs to be said.

    So, there you have it. My grandparents were progressive people who let everyone into their homes and were people who quite literally gave you the shirt they personally made or gave good advice. That shows what kind of people they were and by extension it shows who their parents were. Good character is often a product of a good environment. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it comes about when you see bad things happen and you want to do better. Regardless, they were great people of great character and I like to think it's been passed down through the generations. You never know. People who have kindness in their hearts all the time are the best people to be around and I think these stories definitely reflect their good character.

    How do you know for sure if they had good character? Well, stories like these help you decide for yourself if they did or not. That's why it's always a good idea to talk to your parents or relatives about your ancestors. This way you get to find out more than just the name, dates and places. The people you put on your favorite genealogy software are more then just stats. They were people and they will have faults and foibles despite the character they portray. Kindness goes a long way and these just small examples of the kind of character my grandparents had!

52 Ancestors Week 33: Tragedy

 From Amy Johnson Crow: There isn't a family tree that doesn't have at least one tragedy in it. What have you discovered? Did it change how you thought about that ancestor and his or her circumstances?

It was this or a sad clown and I couldn't find a free one.

    Normally I would post a story about some tragic event in my family's past and make some jokes. We'd have some fun along the way and I would sign off knowing that eventually something good did come from whatever tragedy I was going to write about and man do I have some whoppers. Sometimes something good does happen. Tragedy brings out the best in people and drama is everywhere. Don't kid yourself. Your family history has drama in it. Everybody's does. Yours. Mine. Mr. Perfect's. Everyone.

Gertrude Stevens, front and center (Senter).

    Today's blog post is actually ripped from the headlines on WMUR.com, the local ABC affiliate here in New Hampshire. It concerns an ancestor of mine and yet it doesn't. It's hard to explain. Let me share the link courtesy of WMUR.com.

   Are you back after clicking the link? Are you angry? Good. GOOD! I can feel your anger! Now to sum up. Approximately 100 headstones, monuments and obelisks were destroyed or damaged at Pine Grove cemetery in Farmington, New Hampshire. The incident occurred in the wee hours of August 11th, 2021.  

    Vandals destroyed many stones dating back to the 1800s and many of them were the final resting place of  people who did something for the town. The article wasn't very specific about whose stones were destroyed. Thousands of dollars worth of damage was done and it would take some time to replace, repair and restore the stones to pristine condition. That's a tragic event in and of itself. What does that got to do with me?

    As it happens, my 2nd great-grandmother, Gertrude Stevens, is buried there. She was born in 1875 and passed away in 1944 in Farmington. According to various articles I've found on the Internet, she was very well known and well liked in the small town. When I found out about the incident, I was pretty mad. I wondered. Was Gertrude's stone damaged in some way? There was no way for me to know for sure. Months ago I found where she was buried and I created a profile on Find a Grave for her. You can see it here. I also put in a photo request because I have never seen the stone before. I've never even been to Farmington and I have no idea where in the cemetery she was buried. The article did say it was a big cemetery. Where would her final resting place be?

Farmington News
March 17th, 1944

    Those are all very important questions on my mind. My 2nd great-grandmother already had some great tragedy in her life since she went through a bitter divorce, lost her second husband and a daughter who was born premature. If anyone should be resting in peace right now it's her! Leave her alone!! There's no sense in making her descendants depressed by messing up a stone, right? One of her grandchildren, my great-aunt, still lives and I don't know how I could tell her about the incident. I don't think she'd be thrilled.

    Odds are very good that Gertrude's stone has been untouched. She died in 1944 and the vandals targeted old stones with statues atop of them. There's a chance, albeit slim, that her stone is intact. There is a bit of good news on that front at least. One of my friends on WikiTree is located in the area. She's close by and offered to help me find her grave, take a picture and give me and by extension the family some piece of mind. See what I mean by tragedy bringing people together? You gotta love it when people are willing to go that extra mile to help someone. I still worried because I had no idea if her stone was effected and it's better to be safe than sorry.

    Right. So, what happens now? What's going to happen in Farmington? Well, if you read the article it goes on to say they collected some evidence and have some leads. However, if anyone has any information, they are invited to contact the cops and tell them everything they know. The Farmington Cemetery Association is left to clean up the mess as each stone has a hefty price tag of one grand to repair or replace. Many of the stones were heavy and very old. It will take time to repair everything. 

    

    Vandalism in cemeteries is nothing new, sadly. You see it all over the news whether it's a Jewish cemetery in New York or an African-American cemetery in the deep south. It's unfortunately something cemeteries have to deal with because it is an open space. The communities have to be mindful of what's going on. Some cemeteries have hours and yet that didn't seem to deter whoever vandalized Farmington cemetery. It boggles my mind why someone would actually go out in the middle of the night and trash a place. What's the point? In this case, there is no point. I have no idea what message they were trying to say and to be honest I don't really care. They committed a crime and they are so going to be haunted.

    See ya next time! I'll keep everyone posted when I get a picture of Gertrude's stone!

52 Ancestors Week 32: In the City

 From Amy Johnson Crow: "They went and built a skyscraper seven stories high / About as high as a building oughta grow!" (Sorry -- it's been awhile since I've thrown in a random song lyric.) Were any of your ancestors "city folk"? Did your farming ancestors leave any tales of trips to the big city? What was the "big" city they would have visited -- and how is it different today?

The irony of using the "Friends" font over the Boston skyline.

   I see Amy's "Kansas City" and raise her "Beat City" from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Before we get into the meat of the blog, I should mention that I have two new pages of content for readers to explore. First up we have a breakdown of my family tree. On that page I have outlined how many people in my family tree I've discovered and some notable ancestors I've found along the way. The next page is all about resources and what I've used in my genealogical arsenal. The big five (Ancestry, FamilySearch, WikiTree, Geni and MyHeritage) aren't mentioned because let's face it. Everyone knows what those five sites are and they're already linked on the sidebar. I hope everyone enjoys the pages! I will be adding more amazing content soon! Stay tuned! Onto the blog!

Home of "Benedetti's Deli".

    It was bound to happen. It's as inevitable as the tide. What else was I going to write about when this prompt was announced? Sure I could have written about Newburyport, which is another city near and dear to my heart. I decided to go with Haverhill because it's in the blog's name and I have a one place study dedicated to the "Queen Slipper City". Perhaps there will be a sequel for 52 Ancestors 2022? Hint! Hint! Nudge! Nudge!

    Haverhill is a city with a very long history. It was established in 1640 and one of the men who helped settle the area was actually my 11th great-grandfather, Tristram Coffin! How's that for an amazing coincidence? I was absolutely floored when I found that bit of trivia because I've lived in the area all of my life. That's pretty amazing and there's no doubt in my mind that Haverhill changed so much since his time.

    Where is Haverhill located anyway? Haverhill is just thirty-five miles north of Boston, Massachusetts in Essex county. The city is situated on the banks of the Merrimack river, a river which became very important in the city's history. Surrounding the city are the towns of West Newbury, Merrimac, Groveland, Boxford, Methuen and North Andover, Massachusetts. The city also borders the New Hampshire towns of Salem, Atkinson and Plaistow.

    As you can tell by the chart, the population exploded by the time of the 1870 census. There's a very good reason for that because around that time the Industrial Revolution came to Haverhill and forever transformed a quiet riverfront town into an industrial powerhouse. The 1870s gave rise to factories up and down the river from as far north as Franklin, New Hampshire to the mouth of the Merrimack in Newburyport.

    The factories needed workers to help run things and so the owners encouraged immigrants from all over the world to put their skills to good use. In doing so, the population of the Merrimack valley exploded and kept rising exponentially well into the twentieth century. Immigrants such as my 2nd great-grandfather Antoine Legault and my great-grandfather Vincenzo Ferraiolo raised their families and thus caused a great population boom. The population grew so much that in between 1910 and 1920 the children of those immigrants began to spread out all over the valley bringing with them the customs and traditions of "the old country".

    One of the major ethnic groups in the area of course were the Italians. I really think Tristram would have been shocked to see how much of an impact Italians had on his own city. Italians in his day weren't even called Italians because in the 1600s the Italian peninsula was divided into several areas such as the Kingdom of Sicily. And while the Renaissance was booming in the northern part of the nation we call Italy, conditions were still poor in the south.

Mi nonno and nonna.

    Poverty in the south was commonplace and after unification in 1861, Italian immigrants left in droves. Many of them went to places like New York and New Jersey. However, a fair few went to Haverhill and it left such a huge mark on the city that there was even a book published about the changes they made! Of course I made a free-space page on WikiTree about this topic. Check it out here.

    The Italian immigrants went on to establish credit unions, societies to help immigrants, bus companies and more. All of this went on to service the growing population in the city and the valley as a whole.

    The city gave them and other immigrants from around the world to thrive in a new environment free from the constraints back home. Because of this feeling of freedom more people were brought over from their old home and neighborhoods were formed. We normally think of these "Little Italies" as being only in places like Boston or New York. The truth is even Haverhill has it's own Italian neighborhood. Newburyport even had a French quarter! It was there that people like my grandparents, Marco and Olympia met and connected despite Marco's family being from Calabria and Ollie's from Campania.

Bonjour!

    Sadly, there were some stumbling blocks along the way. Italians and French-Canadians suffered a great deal of prejudice and were not always welcome with open arms. People who had far-flung roots in Haverhill weren't always quick to accept anyone different from themselves.

    Luckily, that didn't stop my great-grandfather Austin Felker from marrying Henrietta Legault in the early 1900s. She was a daughter of two French-Canadians, Antoine Legault and Lucie Cadran. Austin's roots were very much tied to America's past and Henrietta's family was new to Haverhill. They still managed to make it work. Hey. He even helped her own in her twilight years when a seizure caused Henrietta to only speak in French. Good thing my mother was always on hand to help translate!

    In three-hundred and eighty-one years, Tristram's city of Haverhill transformed from a quaint farming community on the banks of the Merrimack to an industrial powerhouse that supplied footwear to most of the nation to a city that is home to many different cultures from around the world. Today, Haverhill, Massachusetts is seen as one of the most diverse cities in New England. Abandoned factories from the dawn of the twentieth century have ironically become housing units for immigrants. Riverfront boardwalks opened up and the city continues to grow. Travel to Boston now takes mere minutes instead of hours on horseback. 

    Who knows where the "Queen Slipper city" will go from here. Tristram Coffin's city of Haverhill no longer exists and yet monuments to his time remain as the city celebrates its roots and moves forward. Museums dedicated to Haverhill's past exist and he'd have to visit them or even the old burying grounds to see something---anything familiar to him. Time travel is great and all. But, even the Doctor would warn you about changes to the timeline. Imagine what will happen tomorrow!

    Would he have liked the changes? It's hard to say. In many ways Haverhill's transformation reflects America's ongoing transformation today. There would definitely be a culture shock because Haverhill in those days was definitely more British and Puritanical than it is today. After all a small farming community can transform in the blink of an eye. For good or bad, change is inevitable and the city of Haverhill is proof that change can be a good thing. Just keep that river clean, guys!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 31: Favorite Name

 From Amy Johnson Crow: People sometime ridicule celebrities for the "unusual" names they choose for their children. Clearly, they haven't looked at some ancestral names, like "Strange Powers" or "Preserved Fish." Who's name in your family tree makes you smile? (Of course, feel free to interpret this theme however you'd like!)

Zebulon Caterina. If only I had the space for a third name....

    What's in a name? Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Probably. It would still be one of the most shockingly expensive flowers on the planet. Over the course of my genealogical adventure I've definitely come across some names which are probably my favorites out of the whole tree. I have picked four names to talk about from each corner of my family tree so as to not play favorites with my favorites. Does that sentence even make sense? Let's get started. These are just four of my favorite names that either make me laugh or are just REALLY common. 

1. Zebulon Drew

    When I first came across the name "Zebulon Drew" after correcting a Smith line, the first thing that came to my mind was that he sounded like he was the lead singer of a Nordic death metal band from the 1980s. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Zebulon wasn't Nordic and probably did not have big '80s hair. To make matters worse he probably didn't even play the guitar or had legions of groupies.

    My hopes weren't all dashed, though. Zebulon here was born in 1721 and was one of the ten soldiers of the American Revolution I have hanging out in my tree. He is a DAR ancestor and that means he's on the DAR website. 

    Drew is one of my 7th great-grandparents and was a son of a selectman in Dover, New Hampshire. I think that fact would have come in handy during high school as I had cross country meets in Dover....

    Zebulon may not have played heavy metal. BUT! He did work with metal as a blacksmith! That's another point in his favor! He did alright for himself, it seems. He married a woman named Sarah Chandler and had seven children. The name certainly left an impression on me because of how cool it sounds when you say it out loud. Is it shallow? Probably. It's still a cool name and aside from being the frontrunner for a metal band, Zebulon Drew sounds like a great name for a detective!

2. Caterina

    One of the most common Italian names in my tree is the name "Caterina". My second great-grandmother, a third great-grandmother, a fourth great-grandmother and several living relatives share the name all over my father's paternal side. You'd think seeing the same name over and over again would be annoying. Not really. It's cool seeing the name pop up as it's usually part of various Italian naming traditions.

    The name "Caterina" is actually important to me as it helped me figure out a few issues I had on the Tedesco branch. For a while, I had the wrong parents of Antonio Tedesco attached to the branch and over on Ancestry I was not getting any Thrulines for him and the parents I had attached to the tree beforehand. Now that was annoying because I KNEW I had Tedesco cousins. Over a dozen DNA matches from that line and no Thruline up to the fifth great-grandparents? Yeah. Someone messed up and it was probably me!! I know Thrulines are only as good as other peoples' trees. But, I think I can trust ones that are well sourced. That and DNA doesn't lie. 

    I did a little researching and changed the parents to Giuseppe Tedesco and Caterina Rocca. The Thrulines I looked for popped right up and things began to make SO MUCH SENSE! My mind was blown away! Why? Well, Maria Tedesco's sister was named Caterina and that's the name of a cousin in San Pietro. My great-aunt's middle name is Caterina. It's also the name of her daughter. Everything made sense! The answer was sitting in front of me this whole time! I know I probably talked about this before. But, it bears repeating ! I honestly don't think it's a coincidence because of the naming traditions in my family and several other factors. So, "Caterina" became one of my favorite names because it helped me solve a mystery. I just wish I had a pic of her. I had to use Caterina Coppola who is from a different part of the tree. They were born in the same area of Italy, though!

3. Jean Picard

    Jean Picard. I....There are a few things you should know about me. I read comics and I am a HUGE Star Trek fan. I grew up watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine", "Voyager" and "Enterprise". When I first saw the name of my 9th great-grandfather, I immediately thought of the captain of the USS Enterprise during that time. His name was "Jean-Luc Picard". 

    While Jean here did not have the "Luc" added to his name, my mind still went for the pop culture reference. It can't be helped. Certain names are going to sound like real people who really existed. I bet anything that there was a real Clark Kent or Peter Parker running around. That reminds me. I need to check the 1910s census in New York for Steve Rogers.

  I digress. If you really think about it. Both men are remarkably similar to each other. Jean-Luc Picard was a noted explorer and diplomat. Jean Picard left his native France and helped to explore Quebec. Not much of his diplomatic skills are known and I honestly doubt he was the most British sounding Frenchman ever. No disrespect to Sir Patrick Stewart, of course! The man is a legend. 

   

    As far as Jean goes, that's probably as far as the similarities go and I probably hurt myself by stretching that far. It's funny to see names you associate with pop culture show up in your tree. You might have an ancestor whose name is synonymous with a very evil character or a hero. It's just a fun thing to find every once in a while. Now, if only I had a Peter Parker....

4. Capobianco 

    Capobianco is a very interesting Italian last name. Maria Giovanna Capobianco was my 2nd great-grandmother and she was born in Frigento in 1856. Her last name means "white head" in Italian and it turns up quite a bit with her extended family because she was one of six children. Her father, Angelo was one of nine children and Angelo's brother, Giovanni Antonio actually came to America.

    While in America, Giovanni Antonio changed his last name to "Whitehead" for unknown reasons. He had at least two children and not much is known what happened to them after the 1910 US census in Michigan. Did they have children? I'd have to look. I haven't come across any DNA matches from this line, yet. But, I hope they are out there.

    I picked Capobianco to talk about because it's a fun Italian last name and I kind of wonder how it came about. Did an Italian guy have a head full of white hair? That's a possibility. The name sparks the imagination and I hope there are connections to the Capobianco family out there. To date I haven't found many Capobianco cousins. You never know. I did find Ferraiolo ones!

    Those four names are just a few that either have a great story behind them, make me laugh or have helped me solve a genealogical puzzle. I have many other favorites in my tree. It's honestly hard to pick one. But, these are the four that have either helped me in my research or had some entertainment value. Either way, they stuck with me and I'm sure everyone reading this blog has names that have done the same for them. Think about the names in your tree that make you smile as you do your research. Make it so!

And see you....out there.