Giuseppe Stories #9:  Love, Marriage, and War

Thanks for waiting between stories, and for returning to the blog. For your reward, I will include the recipe for Italian Easter Egg Bread at the very end of this story. Each family looked forward to receiving one of Caterina’s Easter breads. It had a sweet dough, hard cooked eggs (usually uncolored), light icing, and non-pareil sprinkles.  I made it for my family when our children were young. Delizioso!

In 1936, the Great Depression continued to permeate everyone's life. As I once mentioned, it was curious that none of the family spoke in any detail of what it was like living during that time of hardship. In Guglielmo’s White on Arrival,*  “During the depression, 44 percent of its (Near West Side Chicago) population was on relief, and as late as 1940, nearly a quarter was still unemployed.” 

Each ethnic group, all neighborhoods, and every family suffered hardship. Steady orders at the trucking company were not reliable.  No one in the family spoke of bread lines, soup kitchens, or sending sons to the CCC. My mother remembered one of her brothers joining the CCC. He was assigned to log trees in the Pacific Northwest. Small payments were sent home to the workers’ parents or families. That money could make the difference between subsistence and starvation to Depression era families.

Vito auditioned for the WPA Civic Orchestra, but was not hired. He tried to get work copying blueprints with an architectural firm. There was no luck for him as a helper/jack-or-all-trades for a local violin maker. No one was buying musical instruments or building skyscrapers! But he would soon need a regular job. More on that later.

Through it all, the five families survived, buoyed by strong values and ties of blood, ethnic networking, hard work, determination, and each other.  Together they were a bulwark against adversity. Not only would they survive, they would thrive.

 

As most readers of “The Rose” already know, the family loved to get out of the city and have picnics at the Cook County Forest Preserve Dam 2. If anyone would like to visit the Dam 2 Preserve, it is located on Rte. 45 North of Golf Road (near Glenview). 

With the arrival of summer, the family was eager to exchange the fetid inner city air for food, forest, and competitive sports. The revelers got an early start, singing and joking as they were jostled in the families’ trucks. 

Young and old piled into Sam and Giuseppe’s trucks which were loaded with food for the grill, soda in small glass bottles (I even remember those from the ‘50s!) and a barrel of beer. I suspect some homemade wine made the trip too. It has been mentioned that they sang a song spelling out the family’s last name. I wonder what other songs they sang as they rode along?

Homemade Italian ice was packed in ice. Softballs and bats, and spikes and horseshoes were readied for “give no quarter” sporting competitions. Older family members claimed the horseshoe pitches. Women played softball alongside the men, holding their own every inning. Teams mixed members of different families. All players were serious contenders, wanting to win. Victories were hard won and well deserved. When the sport was over, cousins would share the soda, beer, wine and recapitulations. It was fun to be together, great to be in nature, lucky to have family. Study the families’ picnic photos to see how many faces you can identify!

Children gathered around. No one went home hungry when the family had their picnics. Life was good, Great Depression or not.

 

Young and old enjoyed the freedom of the outdoors.  They seldom had the opportunity to see nature so close up, to explore the river shore, to see the adults joking, laughing, telling stories, and hitting home runs.  The older men played their Italian finger game.The children took turns fetching water from the hand pumps, wondering who these adults were–Aunt Rose hit a home run. Did you see how Porky stole second base? gUncle Sam got three ringers in the horseshoe championship! 

Closer to home family members were playing in early versions of “Little League.”  I don’t know if they played 16 inch ball, but it was popular at the time. The “C” family was always ready for competition and conflict. It wouldn’t be too long before everyone got both for real. Trouble was brewing in Europe.

 

Recognize three “Joe DiMagio wannabes?” In the back row second left is Uncle Joey.  In the middle, Cousin Joe, and far right, leaning against the wall, is Cousin Eugene (I think). 

These are the Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins** stories that helped form our family’s history. These are the kind of experiences I urge you to keep alive as you create new stories for future generations.  Picnics and celebrations, joys and shared sorrows, each contribute to memories that establish a lasting sense of identity. 

The latter half of the 1930s brought new people into the family. The second generation was ready to marry and form young Italian-American families. Even in such hard times hope and love would win out! 

One of the first to marry was Dom.  The five families had been planning, plotting and promoting marriage within their close social circles: those from the same towns in Italy, companions on the arduous trip to America, business associates, friends of the family, close neighbors.  Photo ↑  Dom was a great catch for some lucky young woman!

Naturally, all acceptable candidates would have Italian heritage and would be Roman Catholic.  Marital arrangements required time, careful consideration, and suitability. A good match was soon found! Dominic and Marie P. were wed in 1936. A beautiful daughter, Joan, was born in 1938. 

For son Vito, an old family connection in the “D” family looked promising. Mr. “D” and Giuseppe had been friends since each’s arrival in Chicago. The families kept in touch. How fortunate that the “D” family had an eligible daughter.  The choice of Vito’s “intended” brought great joy to both sets of parents. Two sons would soon be settled.

By the summer of 1937 the two families decided that it was time for the young couple to meet and see if they would be a good match. A chaperoned visit was arranged. Vito and other family members picked up the young woman and were driving to Giuseppe’s home when the young Lothario, Vito, discovered that he had lost his comb. Since they were on Roosevelt Road, near the 12th Street Store, he decided to make a quick stop at the store to buy a new comb. After all, he wanted to make a good impression. 

Vito left his “intended” in the car with family members while he rushed into the store to make a quick purchase. At the Notions Counter he encountered Ceil who was selling combs that day. Vito was thunderstruck–it was “Love at First Sight!” His “intended” and other family members were left waiting in the car because Vito would not leave the counter until the store closed. He wanted to walk Ceil home. (I assume that those waiting in the car found their own way home that evening!) 

But back to our story. Day and night Vito walked past Ceil’s house on Halsted. They dated in secret. There was, however,  a slight problem. Ceil was NOT ITALIAN. Her parents were not too pleased either, because Vito was NOT IRISH. The two immigrant nationalities did not get on well together. 

And a second problem: Vito was “practically engaged” to another woman. Her family was expecting a request for permission to marry any day. Vito had been playing duets with the young woman, Goldie, for some time. He was often at her home, sharing music and Jewish food with her family. There were great expectations…

Ceil had a Jewish boyfriend of her own (Bernie), although they had not reached the proposal of marriage stage yet. Her family didn’t even know about the young man.

But the “Notions Counter” lovers persisted. They decided to elope with the help of Vito’s fellow violinist and friend, Shottsi, who drove the couple to Indiana and served as their best man. The secret marriage was performed in mid-November 1937, but their secret did not last long.

Ceil’s mother became suspicious. She wrote a letter to the Justice of the Peace in Indiana stating that she was the girl’s mother. She asked if a marriage had been performed. The JP answered that there had been such a marriage performed on such and such a date.  (I actually have this correspondence after almost 90 years.) 

All h– broke loose.  The two families met with no love lost between them. An IRISH bride?  An ITALIAN in the family? Take it from me, neither of the families was cool, calm, and collected in ordinary circumstances, but an elopement?!?!  A church marriage was set for early July. The photos of the mother of the bride, mother of the groom, and various family members resemble those going to a funeral, not a wedding. Their union was now officially recognized by the Catholic Church. Vito’s brother, George, was best man; Ceil’s friend, Ann, served as maid of honor. Brother-in-law, John, found Vito a job working nights at a bakery.

 

But even two weddings did not crush the expectations of Vito’s lady friends. Forty-five years later, at my mother’s wake, I met the abandoned “intended” in person.  She told me, “I was meant to be your mother.”  (No comment)

As for Goldie, in the 1930s, when a couple applied for a marriage license, notice of the application was published in the newspaper. Someone spotted Vito’s name and told Goldie’s father. Vito intended to continue duets and dinner with her family as usual–until her father mentioned the marriage license application... 

But back to the great out-of-doors. The family never lost their zest for picnics, fun, and fresh air.  Vito and Ceil enjoyed camping in Wisconsin. They would invite some of Teresa and Nick’s sons to come with them. Decades later Eugene wrote of the camping trips and the opportunities they provided. He acknowledges this benefit in the preface of his book, The Golden Touch:  Frankie Carle*** which was published in 1981. 

It was the summer of 1939 when I first heard Gray’s recording of “Sunrise

Serenade”  at the Chateau at Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin…I had heard the

Gray rendition the night before, when my aunt and uncle made the momentous

decision that I was really old enough to go alone to the Chateau by the lake,

about one-half mile down from our campsite…I never learned the piano, but, by

golly, I could still finger “Sunrise”--forty years later! That tune was my baptism into

music consciousness. I joined the ranks of the public, who, at that time, had already

effected a craze in popular music…

     Here is a copy the book’s cover and Gene’s inscription on the flyleaf:

         

Wauconda 

Whether Giuseppe purchased the family cottage in 1939 or in 1941 is not entirely clear to me. Joe Benedict said that his father bought the cottage two months before the war started. Did he mean our entry into the war after Pearl Harbor or did he mean when war was declared in Europe after Poland was attacked?  In the latter case that would mean it was purchased in the summer of 1939. If the purchase was made before Pearl Harbor, then it happened in the fall of 1941.  Giuseppe became aware of its availability through his long-time friend, Mr. Martino, who had a cottage nearby. gUncle George also bought a place a few blocks from Giuseppe’s.  Bangs Lake provided fun for fishing, swimming, and sunbathing. Caterina now had a garden to grow vegetables and a mini-orchard for apple and pear trees. She loved it in Wauconda and the family did too.

Giuseppe’s family continued to grow. Even though a new European war was threatening, Mary and Joe D. were wed in 1939. Their baby daughter, Lisa, was born in 1940. Mary would leave her baby girl with Caterina until the war’s end. Mary wanted to be near husband Joe, stationed in southern California.  

Wauconda was the ideal place for children enjoying the warmth of the sun and the splash of lake waters. The picture below depicts Teresa with Letty, Rita, Joan, and two year old Lisa dipping their toes at the lake’s shore. But the idyll would soon end.

Dom and Marie would soon add a son, Joe, born in January of 1942–the first grandson named after Giuseppe and the first born during World War II.  By the end of  the conflict in 1945, the “C” family had added seven more children–Terry, Diane, Sheila, Carol, Skippy, Saverio, and Andre. (We were the babies with cardboard baby-buggy wheels.) They would be the last children born until 1946 when the post war baby boom began.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. 

Our country was now at war. 

The country was transformed into a battle ready entity. On December 8, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2527.**** I’m sure we are aware that those of Japanese origin and/or ancestry were declared Enemy Aliens. They were moved to detention camps and their possessions were confiscated.  German and Italian Americans were included in Proclamations 2526 and 2527 respectively.  The greatest impact affected Japanese and Italian immigrants was on the west coast. Attorney General Francis Biddle removed all Italians from alien enemy status on Columbus Day, 1942. 

 

Want to learn more? “Proclamation 2527 and the Internment of Italian Americans” from the New Orleans National ww2 museum is available at https://www.nationalww2museum.org/search?keys=proclamation+2527  

In the Notes section of White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago 1890-1945, author Thomas A. Guglielmo reports, “There is no consensus on how many Chicago Italians were arrested and/or intered. L’Italia reported in December 1941 that federal agents in Chicago picked up forty-eight aliens, most of whom were Germans and Italians…”*****

In David Taylor’s Smithsonian Magazine article of February 2, 2017, he describes Executive Order 9066, which FDR signed on February 19, 1942.****** This order placed innocent Japanese-Americans into internment camps. EO 9066 “called for the compulsory relocation of more than 10,000 Italian-Americans and restricted the movements of more than 600,000 Italian-Americans nationwide.” The order applied to Italian-Americans aged 14 and older. “Executive Order 9066 was never successfully challenged during the war. It stayed on the books for more than three decades until 1976, when President Gerald Ford rescinded the order.

According to Guglielmo “Only a handful of Chicago Italians were interned.”******* Apparently the enthusiastic welcome with which Italian-Americans greeted Italo Balbo in 1933 did not go unnoted. (See Story #3)

In next month’s story, we will explore life during World War II.

ON THE HOME FRONT: 1942 - 1946

* Reference for Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins can be found in the Introduction and Story #1. 

**Guglielmo, Thomas A.  White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890 - 1945. NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. (See story #8 for more.) p. 149.

***Catrambone, Gene. The Golden Touch: Frankie Carle.  NY: Libra Publishers, Inc., 1981. Page xiv and flyleaf inscription.

****Proclamation 2527 and the Internment of Italian Americans. Stephanie Hinnershitz, PhD. "Proclamation 2527 and the Internment of Italian Americans" https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/proclamation-2527-internment-italian-americans  Published December 13, 2021. Accessed March 25, 2025.

*****Guglielmo. Page 238, Note #11.

******Taylor, David. “During World War II, the United States saw Italian-Americans as a threat to Homeland Security,” Smithsonian Magazine Online. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/italian-americans-were-considered-enemy-aliens-world-war-ii-180962021/   Accessed September 21, 2024.

*******Guglielmo, pg. 174

      Here’s the Easter Egg Bread recipe!

Soften 2 packages of active dry yeast in a half cup warm water (110-115°). Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes. 

Pour ½ c. warm water into a large bowl. Blend in 1 ½ c. sifted flour. Stir in yeast mixture. Mix well. Beat until smooth. Cover and let stand in a warm place (free of drafts) for 1 ½ - 2 hours. 

In another bowl, cream ¾ c. shortening with 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp grated lemon peel. Add 1 c. sugar and 1 tsp salt. Beat all together. Whisk 2 whole eggs and 1 egg white. Add egg mixture to the risen yeast mixture.

Measure 4 ½ - 4 ¾ cups sifted flour.  Add ½ of this flour to the yeast/egg mixture and beat until smooth. Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead until smooth. 

Form dough into a ball and place in a large bowl that has been lightly greased. Insert the dough, then turn the dough over and cover the bowl. Put it in a warm place, without drafts, until doubled. (About 1 ½ to 2 hours)

[Remove 5 eggs from the carton and allow to reach room temperature, about 15 min.   There is no need to pre-cook eggs, or to dye them unless you really want to. The eggs will cook in the oven and you will be covering the bread with icing and non-pareils sprinkles.]

Shape the dough into two balls. Let stand for 10 minutes (covered). Roll each ball into approximately 36 inch “ropes”, 1 - 1 ½ inch thick. Braid the “ropes” and seal the ends. You can form a large circle, or if desired, make a bunny shape. Allow room to insert the 5 eggs into holes. Place bread on a greased baking sheet and let stand (covered) until dough doubles.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Brush bread with a mixture of 1 egg yolk, 1 Tbs. milk, and non pareils.  Bake 40 - 45 min, or until brown. Remove from the oven and cool. [If you prefer you can omit the sprinkles] Remove from the oven when the bread is golden brown. While baked bread is still slightly warm, make an icing of Powdered sugar, milk and ½ tsp vanilla. Sprinkle frosting with nonpareils.