Giuseppe’s Stories #4 : The Early Years: 1903 through 1914

Although he was not the first in the family to come to America–Aunt Helen gets that honor–Giuseppe arrived in Boston in July of 1903. He left his heart, Caterina, and la bambina, Teresa, in Calabria. He had plans and connections. There were cousins and former Gasperines in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He had his documents in order as well as a sponsor, a little money, and a promised job.  These three factors were requirements for entry into the United States in the early 20th century. Most importantly, Giuseppe had self confidence, determination, and physical strength in almost unlimited quantities. He also had a very quick temper. 

This story was repeated often in oral histories and in reminisces. We were told that shortly after his arrival in America, Guiseppe was involved in a fight with another man. The fight was vicious. Giuseppe thought he had killed his adversary. He fled to Chicago. 

He liked this growing, vital city but needed to put more space between himself and the “dead man.”  So he sought work that would take him farther west. He worked for the railroad, a job that took him all the way to California. When Giuseppe reached California he was not impressed. The arid climate reminded him too much of Calabria and c’e miseria. He had no intention of working the parched California soil. The bustle and hustle of Chicago was more to his taste. He declared, “If a man can’t make it in Chicago, he can’t make it anywhere!” 

Guiseppe settled on the Near West Side of Chicago. Day labor jobs were plentiful if a man was strong and “hungry.” He worked hard.

Giuseppi, like many immigrants, provided the labor that built Chicago’s streets, sewers and tunnels. He is listed as a laborer in the 1910 Census, earning his bread with a sciabola (shovel) and picco (pick). In “The Chicago Poems” Carl Sandburg described this type of laborer:

 “The Shovel Man”

    On the street

Slung on his shoulder is a handle half way across,

Tied in a big knot on the scoop of cast iron

Are the overalls faded from sun and rain in the ditches;

Spatter of dry clay sticking yellow on his left sleeve

And a flimsy shirt open at the throat,

I know him for a shovel man,

A dago working for a dollar six bits a day

And a dark-eyed woman in the old country dreams of him

    for one of the world’s ready men with a pair of fresh

       lips and a kiss better than all the wild grapes that

    ever grew in Tuscany.*

Our family’s stories describe Giuseppe’s early days in the city. He was a boarder, living in one of his patrone’s subdivided flats with another man (I’ll call him Dan because we will meet a member of his family later.) Both men were common laborers.

Il patrone has been described as a doctor or a lawyer, or, maybe he owned a drug store. I think he was a lawyer, in a special sense. There is a tradition–even today in some Hispanic neighborhoods–of employing the word “lawyer” when what is actually meant is a “notary.” Notary is nearer the description of the services provided. The “lawyer” would often be the person responsible for getting money sent to old country families. He would arrange passage for incoming family members. Il patrone ran interference for the immigrant when there was trouble. In a later story, we’ll see that he did just that for Giuseppe. Immigrants were very respectful to their patrones. 

Someone suggested that Giuseppe’s patrone might have been gUncle George’s godfather in the old country. All I know for sure is that he existed and was influential in the community and helpful to the immigrants he represented.

In 1904 Guiseppe was joined by his brother Saverio (Sam). Sam lived in Pennsylvania for a while before coming to Chicago in 1910. Both had one thought in mind:  to bring their wives home to America. By mid 1907 they were able to arrange passage for their wives!

Caterina and Maria Theresa arrived in New York in 1907. They were reunited with their loving husbands. For the time being, four-year-old daughter, Teresa, stayed in Gasperina with her grandparents and an aunt. Note: I am making the distinction between my great aunt (gAunt) Maria Theresa and my aunt (Aunt) Teresa by spelling their names as shown here.

The 1910 census shows that Giuseppe (a laborer) and Caterina lived on Taylor Street with their two children, Dominick and Marianna, and a number of  boarders, one of whom seems to have been related to Caterina.  For some reason the census was taken at their address in April and again in June of 1910. In April four borders are listed, all men.  In June there were only two listed. 

The ethnic makeup of the neighborhood was mixed. Poverty was universal. The flats were in tenements–cramped, dank, crowded, unhealthy, and unsanitary. (See photos above.)

Today the area is a popular destination. Caterina should see it now! Here are two photos of what the property looks like today–the garden of a popular Taylor Street restaurant, Chez Joel.**

       

Shortly after 1910, the family moved to Gilpin Place (now known as Cabrini Street in honor of the American Saint). They had another mouth to feed because son Vito was born after the census was taken. Son Gregorio (the first Gregorio) was born in 1912. He died the following summer.

Their home on Gilpin Place was across the street from the Hull House which was on Halsted. The story of Hull House is amazing and uplifting. Most think of it as just a “settlement house.” The neighborhood was a mix of factory and tenement. But it was so much more!

The Hull House was an amazing social experiment, while also serving as a school dedicated to making life better for thousands of immigrants and the poor. 

Hull house was vital to its neighbors, teaching basic living skills, Cookery and English language classes. It provided a respite for women and vocational training for immigrants who were unaccustomed to urban industrial work. It was both shelter and hope.

The Hull House provided cultural affirmation. It was a place to play sports and learn to dance; a venue to experience the music, arts, and customs of former homelands. It provided a day nursery for the children of working mothers, supplemental nourishment for children. Hull House was an oasis for youngsters who knew only poverty, want, and ignorance. Laughter and fun were on the menu too. 

Hull House acted as an advocate for education and the health, safety, and betterment of the community as a whole. The Ladies of Hull House swept out into the neighborhood calling for garbage cleanup, the removal of unsanitary garbage boxes. In the late 1800s tenements had placed communal privies in the alleys behind the buildings. These were seldom, if ever, emptied.*** Hull House worked with the sanitation department of the city to eliminate these conditions. 

The first public playgrounds were created and public baths built. Education was encouraged for immigrants’ children who were often sent to work at a very early age. The public baths were especially popular with the working men in the area. Hull House was in the forefront of public health reform, fighting malnutrition in children, establishing TB cottages for the afflicted, providing safe milk for families, a babies’ hospital, and contagious disease sanitation.****

             

    Hull House helped immigrant families and provided activities for boys.

Giuseppe’s family grew and flourished. The family’s Italian members continued their emigration. Cousin Nicola arrived in Boston in 1909. Giuseppe’s brother, Gregorio (gUncle George), arrived in New York two years later.  In 1913, brother Francesco, brother-in-law Giuseppe G. and long awaited daughter, Teresa, arrived at Ellis Island. Great Uncle Frank’s papers were in order and his enthusiasm at its peak. He rushed away to Chicago, leaving Teresa and Dominick to be detained on Ellis Island. When gUncle Frank reached the family, Guiseppe menacingly asked, “Where’s my daughter?” …I can only imagine!  

Frank was Teresa’s travel guardian. Without him, her documents were incomplete. In an Oak Leaves***** (newspaper) feature from 1985, “Ellis Island first stop for early immigrants,” Teresa relates her experience. She was given a bath and hair washing. She “hated the clothes they gave (her).” Women slept in one large dormitory, men in another. They were fed bread and butter. Teresa had never tasted butter, “We didn’t have it in Italy. I liked it.”  When the three-day waiting period passed, Teresa and gUncle Dominick G. were released and made their way to the family in Chicago. Giuseppe’s la bambina finally met her American brothers and sister.   

Soon there was another family member. Son Gregorio (the second), better known as Uncle George, was born in 1914, which was the same year that gUncle Gregorio’s future wife, Giovanna (gAunt Jenny) entered the country.   

Giuseppe’s dream, to bring his wife, brothers, and daughter to America, had finally been accomplished!

                     Next: The Early Years: 1914 - 1916

* Sandburg, Carl. The Selected Poems of Carl Sandburg. New York: Gramercy Books, 1992, p. 30.

** Thank you for the photos, cousin Kathy!

*** ”Angelo’s Saturdays” Great Chicago Stories. Chicago History Museum. By Katherine San Fratello and the Museum. Accessed 23 February 2008. www.chicagohistory.org/greatchicagostories/Angelo/story.php 

**** Chicago’s Hull House - circ. 1910. VCU Libraries (Virginia Commonwealth University) Social Welfare History Project, published by the Russell Sage Foundation of New York in 1911. https://socialwhp.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/pres_hull.jpg   

***** ”Ellis Island first stop for early immigration” by Harriet Vrba. A 4th of July special (n.d.). The Oak Leaves, 1985.