Ep 9 - Opportunity Knocks in America

Starting a new family history story - some themes seem to run through a lot of family history.  Picture it - Italy - 1912 - There was this boy...........    Join us for a great story with twists and turns - good and bad.  

Transcript

Kim: 0:02

Welcome back to Chasing Hazel's Tales, a Family History podcast and Happy New Year 2023 is here. We all have tales to tell. I'm Kim McLaughlin.

Laura: 0:12

And I'm Laura Ireland. And since we wrapped up the story of Hazel, we took a little holiday break and now we're back. We've had some meetings with family members and others interested in our story and we've had some good times and got a little more, a little more information and background,

Kim: 0:28

a lot of information that we didn't know before, but very nice to know. And what I learned. Wrapping up with Hazel's Tales I've discovered a few things. Number one, I like the dinner table as a great spot to learn your history. And I wanna apologize right now to the Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro in Freeport, Maine for hogging. They were great We hogged the table for three hours, having a really great dinner conversation and catching up with some family. It was a great meal great service. And there was no pressure for us to wrap things up. No one was standing in the corner looking at us and thinking, boy, I wish they'd leave

Laura: 1:05

They might've thought it, but it didn't come across. So That's right.

Kim: 1:08

It was all good. Yep. So that's the kind of thing that, that we enjoy. But also another thing is while we were documenting Hazel's Tales, I learned how much I enjoy listening to other people's stories. Cuz normally what happens is I get so excited and I just wanna talk, talk and talk and talk no. And but, but everybody has a story to tell. I want to hear it and I enjoy it. So that's kind of where I was. That's

Laura: 1:34

anything for you Laura? No, I agree. I, I love the I love family stories and. We have a lot of similar type stories with other people, but, but each of them is unique in their own way. It's Right. It's kind of fascinating to me how we've all arrived here at this point through so many different paths and It's just, I'm very interested. Love, love all this

Kim: 1:57

stuff. All right, so since we kind of, you know, I'm, I'm gonna say Hazel's story is never over because we always continue to find out more things. But for now, we're gonna pause her story cuz I'm pretty sure that something else will pop up at some point. And we're gonna begin another family history story. We hinted at this in our previous episodes and want to tell you about my husband's grandfather. So my husband is Andrew, and for Andrew very much like us, he didn't know his maternal grandfather or grandmother. It's a sad theme. And here we are. We both had kind of the same theme, but when I asked Andrew what word he would use to describe his grandparent's story, he said romantic. So, we'll, we're gonna tell you the story and you be the judge, but I kind of, I kind of agree

Laura: 2:45

with him. Well that sounds like a pretty good lead in. So so we'll get started. So there was this boy picture it Italy. 1912, a young single man, eldest child in his family heads off to the United States for a new life. He's five foot five inches. They report him to have chestnut eyes and hair with a natural complexion. And this 17 year old has$22 to his name when he makes this voyage. And in today's money, that's about$645, which. That doesn't sound too bad for the times. I think people did come over with less right. In their, in their pockets.

Kim: 3:28

To me that sounds kind of a little bit of a cushion. Not much, right, but a little bit. Yeah.

Laura: 3:33

So on September 20th, 1912, Salvador Nicolai Disembarks the ship. Duca, I don't know how to say it. Yeah, I,

Kim: 3:41

I, Duca

Laura: 3:42

I think it's Duca Deta Deta Duka D'Aosta in New York. New York, It was a cloudy day with a high of 76 degrees and a low of 60 perfect weather to welcome the immigrants.

Kim: 3:56

And so you might, you might say, well, how did I know how to pronounce that? Well, here's an interesting tidbit because you never know what you'll learn While you're watching Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Lewis Gates on p b s I watched a show one time because I watch'em all, everyone beginning to end mm-hmm. and I watched a show and heard that ship's name and I immediately knew it was Salvatore's ship. I said, wait a minute, so, and that is how, I think how he pronounced it was the Duca D'Aosta. So it just so happens to have delivered Nancy Pelosi's grandfather in June of the same year to New York. His name was Nicola Lombardi. That's crazy. And no, I know I don't, because the name is so unusual. That's why it caught my attention. Mm-hmm. And I said, wait a minute, just hold on. I said, so, so, so there's, he wasn't famous at the time, but my, my thought was you just never know what legacies the immigrants are creating. right. So they came over and, and technically he, he created an Italian food empire. I believe he was very famous when he, I think it was either New Jersey or New York. Anyway, so his story was quite compelling. But I, that's why I like that show. And so you could be on the ship with someone right beside you, go different directions, but you'll learn later how much you, you know, how much you had in common right. But so like I said, you never know what legacy they're creating. And Salvador's legacy is one for the books as well. And another tidbit was that we wanna mention is in, this was 1912. And in 1912 the Titanic sank in April. And so I'm just thinking people crossing the Atlantic all must have known about the Titanic. Sinking. Right. So they

Laura: 5:36

must have been a

Kim: 5:37

little nervous. Right. So I, I doubt that they had the same path because they were going from Italy to New York, but nonetheless, you know, it would still be on your mind. It would still be on your mind. And that was just another thing that's happening, happening in, in New York, you know, in, well in New York. And I wonder if there's still a buzz, you know, six months later mm-hmm. or whatever. Mm-hmm. there was still. People thinking about it, talking about it, I don't know.

Laura: 6:00

I'd be willing to bet there were people up on deck looking out for icebergs.

Kim: 6:04

I bet there were

Laura: 6:05

That's what I would've done if it were me. right? Oh, and as we said in Hazel's story, you know when we talked about why would anyone leave Deer Isle? The same could be said for Salvatore. Why would you leave Italy? But it appears that that was a time period of a lot of immigration from Italy. In 1912, there was a war going on between Italy and Turkey over the lands and Libya, and it's over by the years. And, but political unrest keeps ongoing, as it always does. And Mussolini was around then and he was rising to power. and, you know, would become famous for being Prime Minister during World War II and so, but there was a lot, a lot of other things going on in Italy as well. At that time. There were they make mention of a lot of natural disasters and, you know, some earthquakes that caused economic devastation in the early 20th century. There was one in the Strait of Messina that caused 200,000 deaths by extreme damage in a tsunami. And it also mentions poverty, you know, a lot of, a lot of poverty in different areas. But so it, to me, it, it would be just such a difficult time and I think that all these young people with a lot of energy, you know, and wanting to make a successful life might jump at that opportunity to start the new life in America. But then of course you're leaving all that, you know, and. behind for the big unknown. So, and you know, that's, that's what all of these immigrants have done. You know, when coming to America, you always have to think about how they left their people behind, and what that did to the family. That was the story for many, many, many families. And these people were really brave to get on that ship and go and, and try to build a new life in a new world.

Kim: 7:58

Right. And, and not know if you'll see your family again. You don't know Right. you can't predict. Yep. So he showed up in 1912. In 1917 is the next time that we see him in any paperwork that I could find. And he was in Mariden, Connecticut. working as a laborer, and he was in the Connecticut military census, which was gathering information about residents to see how many able-bodied men there were preparing for World War I, his draft document for World War I showed him at the same address, 1 72 Grove Street, Meriden. Hmm.

Laura: 8:31

It's, it's interesting to hear his progress where he went. Right. You know, over time. Yeah.

Kim: 8:39

Like trying to find his place. Yeah. So an interesting thing on the draft card that was after the census showed that he was, it said that he was responsible for a family at home in Italy, a mother, a father, a brother, and a sister. And they only report siblings under 12. As if in order to be responsible for them, they have to be under 12. But Salvador had five younger siblings. my thought was if, if he documented that on his draft card, if he was sending money back to Italy to help his family, cuz he felt he, he noted that he was responsible for them. So perhaps that was maybe some of the conversation before he left Italy was, you know, you'll make money over there and maybe,

Laura: 9:24

you know, he could help. Right, right. And at this point he would've been, what, 22? Because it was five years after the voyage, so, okay, so you 22,

Kim: 9:32

you're doing math. You're doing good,

Laura: 9:35

I'm always doing the math. Oh. So then the next mention of him is in 1919 and it shows him living in Philadelphia, working as a rigger, and he had applied to become naturalized. And we'll get more into that subject later. But the question is what are, what were his plan? Was he sending money home to help? Did he intend to become an American citizen in order to get more family over here? We're not sure. And we don't know of anyone that has these answers.

Kim: 10:06

They're good questions. Mm, I don't know. So then the next thing we find him in 1922 and he has a certificate that he had completed a course and he was now designated as a second class fireman. underneath in small prints said that he was able to operate boilers. So he was a boiler operator. and what I gleaned from this data is that we have a young man. Working in the trades, which was smart, a smart thing to do. And he was working either as a rigger or a boiler operator. And these are jobs that just might afford him maybe a little extra money if he wanted to send some home. So he arrived in 1912. He had lived in two different cities until he settled in Boston. And the question for me was, why did he leave Connecticut and then leave Pennsylvania? My one theory is that Boston provided good jobs and an Italian community. And not that the other places didn't have good jobs, but I, I believe maybe also there was an Italian community already in place in Boston. Mm-hmm. There were plenty of people there. And perhaps that might have been a little more comforting or maybe he could in something more to his liking, I'm not sure. But he did get his license from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to be a boiler operator. So perhaps that was something else that he was trying to get into so that he could do have a good wage and mm-hmm. and support his family either in Italy or maybe think about settling down here.

Laura: 11:30

Right, right. And, you know, and doing a little research for about Italian immigration and life in the United States in the early 19 hundreds the New England Historical Society, their webpage said that New England was the most Italian region in the United States. And I found that unusual. but, you know, and it makes sense that he would stay here and do that because just like in our Hazel story where Hazel's dad left the beautiful coast of Maine and moved to where there was a more Germanic population in Lewiston perhaps that's what Salvatore found in Boston with a you know, an Italian culture that maybe felt more like home or, or you know, something, something was very appealing. To him, also from the the Boston College website they said that conditions in the United States during this era appear to be very favorable to many from southern Italy. Wages for both skilled and unskilled laborers in the industrialized US could be three times greater than the wages that they would work for in the Italian economy, which was depressed at the time. And even illiterate day laborers could find better paying jobs with better working conditions in cities like Boston. in the late 19th century, the, I thought this was pretty interesting. The Italian immigrants were often referred to as birds of passage. I like that.

Kim: 12:51

Yeah. For some reason it caught my, yeah,

Laura: 12:53

right. Young men who migrated alone earning money to buy land and support their families at home, and many eventually returning to Italy. But it seems that after World War I, a lot of the immigration patterns changed and more Italian immigrants began to bring their families over and put down permanent roots here. So it sounds a lot like, maybe that's what Salvador did, but hard to know. And I think there was quite a few I, I saw mention of Italians working in the Granite quarries of Maine in Hollowell. Right, right around the turn, around the early 19 20th century and that there are skills they had from Italy working in the marble quarries Right. Translated perfectly to coming over here and working in the granite quarries. That's

Kim: 13:37

right. And even in. Towards Northern Maine. Millinocket had a huge Italian they did population for and they worked in the mills when, when paper was king. And the industry was just booming. There

Laura: 13:49

was a lot of, I think they helped to build the mill, didn't they?

Kim: 13:52

They probably did, but we should have researched that We probably

Laura: 13:55

should have, but I, I do know because of my Millinocket connections that an area of the town is called Little Italy Right.

Kim: 14:03

So the Italians had something to give and the United States needed it. Yep. They had

Laura: 14:07

plenty of skills to bring over

Kim: 14:08

with them. That's right. And so I would say that probably Salvador took well advantage of that, mm-hmm. but he was only 17 when he got here, so he developed his skills here. I would say most of them. But Right. But you have to have a little bit of drive and a little bit of gumption mm-hmm. to get out there and just get it done and come into the, you know, I wonder, my, one of my questions I always ask is, I wonder. English he knew coming over and my guess is not much

Laura: 14:32

I bet, but I bet pretty, pretty

Kim: 14:34

nil right? So it was reported, it was reported to me last week. I asked someone and they said that he did know quite a bit of English by the time he was older. Yeah. And so he, I think he just came here, was serious, got to work and wanted to get things done. So that's my impression. And

Laura: 14:51

then there was a girl,

Kim: 14:57

Oh, then there was this girl. Yeah. There always is. Yeah. And, thankfully,

Laura: 15:03

thankfully, cue, cue the Italian restaurant music. Yeah. Okay.

Kim: 15:08

I should have had that too. I should have researched that. So then there was this girl, and her name was Ruth Elizabeth Broad. And she was born in Bath, new Brunswick in Canada on September 13th, 1904 Oh. And there's no birth certificate for her because I've looked and the people, the vital Statistics office in New Brunswick has looked and they cannot find her birth certificate, but her date of birth is well known and it is on her death certificate. But nonetheless, It's

Laura: 15:34

not formally recorded,

Kim: 15:36

right? Not formally recorded. Okay. But nonetheless, we have Ruth Elizabeth. So her parents were Albert Prince Broad and Ella Mott Giberson of New Brunswick, Canada. And in 1911 they were living in Plaster Rock, which by the way, is where our Burgoynes lived. So did they like, know each other and all that stuff? Many, many Burgoynes Plaster Rock, put that in your hat and store it. one big small town. That's right. even spreads into Canada. Mm-hmm. So in 1911, they were in Plaster Rock In 1921, they were in the Kent region, which is really just about an hour away. She was 17 in 1921 and she was working as a housekeeper, the, as the census reports. And in 1922, she lost her mother and her mom was only 48 years old after graduating from high school. Next we find her. She had left Canada and went to Boston to work as a waitress

Laura: 16:34

and while we don't know the details of how they met, but somehow this boy and this girl met and we've just recently obtained a copy of a formal picture of them and the picture had been seen before, but this one has writing on the back, making it so much more valuable as a family. Heirloom heirloom. I, yeah, this would be the right word. And the writing is in real handwriting, and it seemed to be reporting to her father, who was now a widower in Canada. She writes here is one of Sammy and I. We were fooling in the yard and had this taken. My hair is roughed up, but I was feeling well. That was just a little while after I came out here. I gained a little weight weighed 1 32 then. And Papa. He is awful good to me. That's all I ask for. He's 28 years old.

Kim: 17:28

Yeah. It's almost like she's reporting to her dad. Mm-hmm. You know that, look, I found a guy that kind. Yeah. And he probably enjoyed hearing that, or I can't speak for him, but I'm just saying, you know must have been nice to know that she had found.

Laura: 17:42

Right, and that she thinks that he treats her really well. I think that's pretty top on the list of most parents wants for

Kim: 17:49

their kids. It is. So in 1923, Salvador lived in Norwood. The next document shows these two are married in July 29th, 1923. So from there they go on to have four children. First came Phillip in 24, then Rosella in 25. Then Ruth Lugrezia, that's the Italian part of her name, And in 1926 and Silvia in 1927. Salvador and Ruth Elizabeth had a fine family with one son and three daughters, and they lived on Coney Street in Norwood, Massachusetts, in a small family home. And the, so this to me sounds like the beginning of the American dream. The average wage for Americans was about$1,300 a year, and the average cost of a model T was$290. The average home price was around 7,700. and 35 to 40% of American homes owned a radio by 1929. And so that's only interesting for us because how much of a stink one of our relatives used to make about not having a radio Remember? Oh, oh yeah. I remember. If you all remember Hattie, she always wanted that Humphrey guy to bring her a radio. Yeah. As you can see by these statistics, only 35, 40% of Americans owned one in 1929. I don't know if Salvatore did, but that was the American dream. so this year is 2023. This year is the hundredth anniversary of their marriage in July. Just saying, just putting that out there into the universe

Laura: 19:27

yeah, that's, it's quite a, quite a milestone. Or not really a milestone, but you know, quite an anniversary to remember,

Kim: 19:35

right?

Laura: 19:36

All right, so tune in with us next week to see how the Nicolai family is doing. This story has twists and turns, but is scattered with love. and also remember to take a minute to listen to someone's story or tell your own, and it's just the purest form of connection and, and you won't regret spending the

Kim: 19:58

time doing that. And if you have to take three hours at the Tuscan Bistro in Freeport at a table, just by

Laura: 20:04

all means do it.

Kim: 20:05

Do do it. But tip the waitress. But nonetheless, yeah, do it. and if you have any questions or comments, please send them to chasinghazelstales@gmail.com. We'd love to hear. But until the next week. Thanks for tuning in. All right. Take care. Goodbye. Goodbye.