Stories
my father told me….
(recorded in May
and September 2002. NOTE - none of the following
can be reproduced in whole or in part without the
consent of the author)
Gaspare
Caradonna, my great-great-grandfather married Rosa Sanci in Vita, Sicily around
1820.
One
of their children was Rosario Caradonna, who at the age of 27 married my
great-grand-mother MariaAntonia Genoa (spelling varies over the years: Genua,
Genova) at the age of 17, on September 5th, 1851 with the church
marriage on September 7th.
Rosario and MariaAntonia had eleven children, the tenth one being
Giovanni, my grandfather. When Rosario
and Maria died, Paola (Giovanni’s sister) raised her younger siblings.
My
other great-grandfather, Filippo Cappello married Elisabetta Galiffi
in 1877, Vita. Filippo and Elisabetta
were first cousins (not so uncommon in that time). They had three children, the youngest a daughter named Maria, my
grandmother. Their oldest sibling died
at birth, his name was Salvatore. Their
second child, another boy was named Salvatore as well, who went by the nickname
Turriddu. Salvatore’s wife’s name was
Philippina Lombardy and her family was in the construction industry. Salvatore and Philippina had three
children: Philip, Elizabeth (who was
called Betty), and another daughter (?).
Elisabetta
was once a Castanet dancer, but once she married Filippo he forbid her from
dancing in public, she could only dance for family.
In
his native country of Sicily, Filippo was a very wealthy man
(inheritance). He had farms and
vineyards in Marcel, Corsica, Tunis, and France. He was called Don Filippo to the townspeople. His father acquired most of the wealth and
the town folk called him, El Turko, as everything he touched turned to
gold. Filippo’s half brother (same
father) was younger, his nickname was Chicho, and therefore he was referred to
as Don Chicho, his given name Francesco (?).
Don
Chicho immigrated to Newark in 1894 at the age of 34. His wife was a quiet, pleasant woman. Don Chicho’s profession (unknown) had him travel frequently to
many parts of the world. He was an
elegant man, soft spoken, with white hair and a moustache. When my Dad was ten, Don Chicho asked for
his assistance at the museum downtown.
Don Chicho had three roman coins, which he wanted appraised for the
possibility to sell them to the museum.
The curator explained to Don Chicho (via Dad translating) the museum had
many Roman coins in the vault therefore he did not consider them to be worth
much. To prove his point, he brought
them to vault and displayed all the Roman coins the museum had. Not too disappointed with the news, Don
Chicho treated Dad with a meal in New York City for his assistance.
When
Grandma Maria was young, she used to sing.
When people heard her they would approach Don Filippo and remarked to
him she could make money singing, but Filippo stated, “My daughter will never
go on stage.”
Grandpa Giovanni (he was called Pop-pop) came to America when he was 28. Only one Giovanni travelled from Vita to
America, 1905, yet Dad states his father said many times he travelled in his
teens (prior to 1895). His first job in
America was a labourer for a builder.
He rose in the ranks quickly, soon becoming the boss or foreman, which
apparently made him less than popular with his fellow workers. It got to the point where men would
‘accidentally’ drop objects from high up on the scaffolds, once barely missing
Giovanni (that would have nipped this story in the bud). Upon some reflection, Giovanni felt it wiser
to quit rather than be injured or killed in his new life in a new country. Giovanni held many jobs before having his
family, he dug ditches, and worked for the city, etc. until he stayed as a
presser at a manufacturing company, where he stayed to ensure he kept his
family fed.
Maria
arrived in America with her father from Vita, 1905. She lived with her brother Salvatore after their father returned
to Sicily.
Giovanni
and Maria
met again in Newark through mutual friends.
If Giovanni had tried to date Maria in Vita, her father would have
thrown him out on his ear (or worse), as Giovanni would not have been nearly
good enough for his daughter. Giovanni
was once at Maria’s parents house in Vita, it was a holiday (Halloween) where
the Cappello’s prepared a feast and permitted the less privileged people
(invitation only) from town to enjoy - this was an annual tradition. Giovanni received one such invitation and
this was the only time Giovanni, or anyone of his class, was allowed in the
house as guests. After Maria arrived in
America, she found a job, but after a few winters of trudging through the snow,
bundled against the cold to get to work, she was fed up with winter. It seems Maria was a tiny lady who had a
dislike to being wet and cold, so she told her friends she wanted to get
married to stay home. Once Giovanni heard
this, he sprinted to her door and started his romance, and (bitta-bing bitta-boom),
they were married. On June 7, 1908 in
Newark, NJ they tied the knot. In June
26, 1912, Maria returned to Sicily to register their marriage, which was
further amended on September 27, 1912.
Their Sicilian marriage certificate states they were single, but in
reality they were married in America, maybe not recognized by the Sicilian
government.
Giovanni
was a superb storyteller and when he would tell a story, he would get up and
dramatically act them out. Here is one
story Giovanni told my Dad many times:
When Giovanni’s parents died, his job was to watch the sheep during the
day though he slept most of the time instead of watching them. Giovanni’s family were peasants, very
poor. One time, when supper was called
(food was laid out on the table and you would take your food from the dishes –
at times with your hands – the setting was a buffet and you would find a place
to sit and eat), as everyone was eating and discussing their day, one brother
sashayed into the room. This brother
(do not know which one), spoke elegant Italian, which few people of the time
did unless they were rich and could afford proper schooling. This brother strolled around the room with a
superior attitude, demanding the food be prepared in a proper manner and served
in a more fitting fashion. For several
days he maintained this attitude over everyone in the family and
elsewhere. The family went about their
business in the hopes he would snap out of it.
After a few days, one brother suggested they all go for a walk through
the town. All the brothers went for a
walk, meandering towards the local church.
As they came upon the church, all the brothers grabbed their arrogant
sibling, who turned out to be very strong and managed to fight them off for
some time. Finally he succumbed
and was dragged into
the church where they dropped him at the alter. He gave a yell and collapsed.
After a short while, he woke up – he had lost his perfect speech and he
had no memories of his prior actions of the previous four or five days.
When
Dad was born, he was a premature baby, born at seven months. They placed him in a shoebox and kept him
near the stove to stay warm. Giovanni
was not impressed that a son of his would be so small. “Is this the best I can do… throw him out,”
he told his wife. Maria decided to keep
him (again, a good thing or this would be a short story). His parents call Dad Sasa.
Maria
took Dad to Sicily in 1912, where they stayed at her parent’s farmhouse. Filippo and Elisabetta (parents) were very
rich; Dad remembers him and his Mom riding a mule to go from the house to
another one of their farms, which would be a whole day event. Dad sat in front of Maria on the mule, as
she rode side-saddle to La Montagna, one of their many vineyards. The vineyard had many gardens, Dad remembers
walking in them, rows and rows of artichokes (and other vegetables) and how he
would strain himself to look up to the tops since they grew so high. The vineyard also had six huge vats for the
wine process. At the main farmhouse,
Dad slept between his Mom and his grandmother, his grandfather was in jail
(spent two years in jail) because he would not tell the police where the mafia
– or the Black Hands - were hiding on his property. The Black Hands was what the Sicilians called the mob and he had
a good rapport with the Black Hands and they respected him in return. They had plenty of food to eat from his
gardens and animals when they hid on his property. At the main house, the first floor was the stable with a dirt
floor where the cows, goats, hunting dogs, chickens, etc. lived. On the second floor was the kitchen, dining
room, and entertaining room. The third
floor was where the bedrooms were. It
was very common for houses in Europe to be above the stables - to keep a close
eye on their animals. On the third
floor was a pipe, which ran down to the garden below. This pipe was used the same as our present-day toilets except
there was no flush, still modern for the times. Occasionally, Maria would take Dad to the fish market, where the
fishing boats came in. Dad does not
remember where they were staying at that time, maybe on another farm of her
fathers’. Periodically, a cousin of
Maria’s would visit who wore an Italian Army uniform. He would instruct Dad “put your hand into my pocket and make a
fist and see how many coins you find” and Dad would try to pull out a
fistful. The man had blond hair and
blue eyes. There were a few other
relations over in Sicily who had blond hair and blue eyes.
Giovanni,
who stayed behind in America, had been sending for a year all his money to
Maria to save for when Giovanni was to return to Sicily. He planned to move back and start a
business. Giovanni respected his brother-in-law,
Gaetano Renda (Paola’s husband) who owned a store (appliances, jewellery) in
Vita. Renda was a go-getter and
Giovanni wanted to be like him.
Giovanni’s intentions was to go to the farms around Vita and buy all
their produce (getting a better price if you bought the whole lot), ship the
produce to the city and peddle to the stores - this was his dream. Meanwhile, Filippo was freed from jail and
after some time Maria discovered her father was taking the money she was saving
to pay off his debts (both gambling and the loss of revenue from the time he
was in jail). When Giovanni learned
this from Maria, he sent them money to return to America. On January 12, 1914 they set sail on a ship
called the “Ancona.” They sailed the same ship both ways between
Sicily and America, they had their own cabin.
On the ship, Dad remembered swinging from the deck railing out over the
ocean. A man strolled by and noticed
Dad and yelled at him to stop. Dad ran
away, he was scared at the man yelling at him but was quite unafraid about swinging precariously out
over the ocean. When they docked at
Ellis Island, and cleared through immigration, Giovanni was there to meet
them. When seeing Giovanni, Dad did not
recognize his own father, so Giovanni actually had to bribe his own son with a
nickel to be called Papa, meaning Giovanni spent lots of nickels on his son
once Dad figured out how the reward system worked! On the ship from Sicily to Ellis Island, Dad is listed as Rosario
Cargdonna and Maria is listed with her maiden name.
At
one point, Don Filippo’s gambling debts became so high he eventually lost all
of his property. Even though his
father-in-law had stolen from him in the past, family was family, so Giovanni
sent money for Maria’s parents to come to America to live with them. This occurred after World War I. Dad remembers going to Ellis Island to meet
Filippo and Elisabetta. When he last
saw them they were rich, when they arrived they were poor and Dad grew and now
towered over his grandmother.
Maria’s
Mom, Elisabetta died three or four years later when Dad was ten or eleven years
old. When she died, she was laid out in
Dad’s bedroom and they moved Dad (and his bed, thank goodness) out for a week
while his room was changed into a viewing and mourning room. A couple of months after her death, Dad had
a vision of his grandmother Elisabetta.
She was in the kitchen, which he could see from his bed, and she was
walking around just as she always did when she was preparing a meal. She walked with her hand steadying herself
by touching a piece of furniture or the wall so as not to fall, just as she
used to do. Dad crawled to the edge of
the bed to watch her through the rungs on his bed frame and he knew while
looking at her she had been dead for months.
She was solid, he could not see through her. He turned to sit back onto the bed and when he looked back, she
was gone.
Filippo died about three years later, when Dad was around
thirteen. When Filippo arrived in
America, he found a job at Lionel Trains.
He was well respected back in Sicily and the men remembered him so they
found him a job quickly, and due to his age, they always gave him minor jobs to
do. One summer when Dad was young, he
got a job working at the same place as his grandfather. Filippo always prepared their lunches, the
best lunches Dad ever had, he wrapped them and he carried their lunches to work
– he called his sandwiches ‘sangwich’, his pronunciation was off. When they walked to work, Dad had to be
careful as Filippo was the type who would cross the street anytime, anywhere,
regardless of the traffic. They would
spend the entire day together, Dad doing his job and Filippo doing his. Filippo would frequently rise around 3 a.m.
and wander to a corner market, (places which sold bakery goods) and he would
pick through to select what he thought would be suitable for breakfast (he made
sure not to frequent the same places, he varied his route). This was his way to compensate - he was a
proud man and he wanted to contribute to the family. Filippo’s bedroom was at the side of the house, when he was dying
in bed, present in the room with him was Maria, Giovanni, and maybe Salvatore,
Maria’s only sibling. At one point,
Filippo started to gasp and gasp, this occurred for a few minutes. Dad peered from the entranceway, and
watched. Filippo gave one final loud
gasp and slumped. It appeared at his
last breath a royal blue mist was spirited from his mouth and snaked around the
room before disappearing up through the ceiling. He is buried in Newark, NJ.
Elisabetta had two cousins, brothers living in Newark,
New Jersey. Both were painters. They owned their own company and would paint
furniture, houses, and whatever else imaginable would need to be painted. The toxins from the paint eventually killed
them both. They died young leaving
their wives and children behind. It is
not clear what happened to them.
304 Morris Avenue, where Dad was born, was a tenant
building consisting of eight apartments, with four apartments per side. Each apartment had six rooms except for the
top floor, which was even further divided; making four apartments of three
rooms, and this is where they lived.
Giovanni wanted a six-room apartment so when the first one became
available they moved. The owner had the
first floor, he lived in his six-room apartment, and on the other side of the
first floor he had a store, sold nuts and other Italian items only available at
his store. Kitty corner from the
apartments was a fruit market and a butcher shop – in the same store. Maria never haggled for a better price; they
just knew not to cheat her. There was
also a macaroni store in the neighbourhood, which sold pasta for ten cents a
pound. On the first floor at 301 Morris
Avenue (which was next door to a tall building), there was a saloon. On the second floor, Mr. Calavarese (? the
owner) lived, and on the third floor lived Salvatore Cappello. He stayed at this boarding house when he
first arrived in America.
Another Rosario Caradonna lived in Newark. He was a cousin to Dad, a son of one of
Giovanni’s brothers. Rosario would come
visit them and he would sell eggs to Maria.
He had dark red hair. He loved
his wife as was constantly doting on her.
When Giovanni spoke about his relatives and would refer
to the other side of the Caradonna family, he would say, “that is the Baranca
side of the family, we are not related to them.” Dad never asked Giovanni whether he meant it literally, so he is
not sure if we are actually related to them or not.
Giovanni’s
brother Pasquale moved to Newark as well and the two of them worked together. When Pasquale arrived in America, his family
arrived a few years later. His wife’s
name was Rosalia Pipitone. Their
daughters were Maria, Rosa, and Rosaria . They also had a son, Rosario who moved in
with the youngest daughter after their parents died.
Mariano
(Giovanni’s youngest brother) traveled to America. He was listed as ‘married’ on the ship manifest. He and his wife eventually moved to Chicago
where he got a job in a bicycle shop.
Within two years of moving to Chicago he died suddenly.
When
Dad was young, he had a lump growing on his neck. Back then, health care had a more personal touch, and the doctor
would visit the neighbourhood once every few weeks. If you needed the doctor you would see where he stationed himself
on the street or you would send word and he would come to your home. Therefore, the doctor examined the lump on
his neck – it was the size of a small baseball. He recorded the information and stated he would return the next
week, and then he left. The next week,
the doctor returned. He sat in a chair
and had Dad stand in front of him. The
doctor pinned Dad’s arms and body between his legs and he spoke softly while
pinching the growth. He would pinch and
pinch it to deaden the feeling in the area.
He slipped a knife into his hands and quickly cut it open while Dad was
standing there. Once he drained it, the
doc inserted a tube into the neck and bandaged it up. The doctor came back a week later and removed the tube, bandages
and all was well.
Another
time, when he was six or seven years old, Dad had his tonsils removed. He remembers they placed heavy bags on his
legs to prevent him from kicking the doctor when they cut the tonsils out. The hospital was St. Barnabas. When he woke from the surgery, the lights
were on and he saw he was in a ward with many other beds. Some of the patients were moaning, others
were just talking. He also saw mice
running along the baseboards. He stayed
in the hospital for five days.
When
he was young, Dad would hitch rides on the back of cars and trucks. His family always had dogs, a terrier
bred. The parents spoke Italian to the
dog and the kids spoke English to the dog, and the dog understood both languages. When they moved to the Jewish area, no one
else in the neighbourhood had dogs so Giovanni said “no” to having any
dogs. He wanted to blend in.
They
had a cat once, but Maria found the cat sleeping on her bed one day and she
took a broom to it and chased it out of the house. That was the last they saw of that cat. Dad would at times be sassy to his mother, talking back to
her. When this happened, she would take
the broom to Dad as well. He would dive
under the nearest bed to hide from her jabbing broom. This continued until Dad did what she asked him to do in the
first place.
On
Memorial Day, Dad would take the landlord’s watering can and go to the cemetery
where he would fill up the can and wait until cars stopped. When the people were tending a loved ones
gravesite, Dad would ask them if they needed water for the flowers they had
just planted, or perhaps for the vase of flowers. If they said yes he would lug his watering can over and pour the
water until they said to stop. They
tipped Dad do this. He would spend the
whole day running for water and pouring it slowly over the flowers. He made pretty good money doing this.
When
the family went to the beach, Maria would pack a picnic lunch of sandwiches and
drinks. She liked to keep their picnics
simple and they would buy lemon ice afterwards. On hot days, Maria would sit in the cellar with the family. Both cellar doors (door at opposite ends of
the house) would be open and the kids would run in and out while she and the
other ladies sat and enjoyed the breeze.
A few times, Dad would sleep on the fire escape (a very small space) at
night to try and keep cool, the old fashion air-conditioner.
At
an early age, Maria would pour Dad coffee- a half coffee and half milk with a
side of bread which was heated on one side.
He remembers his first coffee at a young age in Vita.
Giovanni
would take Dad to the Public Bathhouse.
It cost a nickel to enter, and it had a big, clean pool. For the nickel you got a bar of soap and a
towel. You were required to take a
shower before entering the pool.
Everybody bathed naked on “men only” days and maybe the same on the
alternate days for women.
Here’s
an interesting tidbit. The old out
houses (bathrooms) were always in the backyard, and so were called the "back house." With a little Italian accent thrown in there
it turned into the "Backousa,” which is still used today. At Dad’s home, the backousa was on the back
porch. Everyone would use it in the
summer, but in the winter, it would freeze up and be unusable. Dad’s job was to collect the pots from under
the bed each morning and rid them of their ghastly contents. In order to rid the pots of their
“contents,” he would carefully toss them out onto the yard or onto the street
when nobody saw him. Dad said the yards
were littered with dogs business, though odds are good it was everyone’s
business lying out there on top of that snow!
Dad
often remembered being at his grandparents in Vita where they had the pipe
which ran from the top floor of the house to the garden, he wished his father
had that. The backyards were mostly gardens
in the summer, tomato plants, parsley, basil, pepper, eggplant, corn, etc., so
the business laying in the yard was just future fertilizer.
In
the hood where Dad grew up there was a man named Mr. Diadone (his mother’s
cousin) who would walk around with an umbrella on his arm. He was an elegant man with a moustache and
he talked softly. This man made lots of
money in America and he decided to retire back to Sicily to live out his life
in luxury. He had worked hard for his
money and he made it in America, now he wanted to be a big shot back home. After one month of living the good life back
in Sicily, he received a letter with the words ‘your life’ or ‘your money’ with
a Black Hand imprint on the bottom of the page, the mafia’s calling card. Immediately, he secretly packed up his wife
and daughter and took the next ship to America. The family speculated the Black Hands had a connection in the
bank and were able to determine the worth of this man’s life. Dad thinks Mr. Diadone got ‘his money’ out with
‘his life’, but he was young and not too sure.
Dad
had a baby sister who died when she was under a year old. She was a beautiful little girl and he did
not know her name or if she was even given one. Dad remembers her being laid out to rest on the sewing machine
table, and him barely being able to reach the top of the table to see her. She was in a white dress. Dad may have been nine at the time.
When
Phil (Dad’s brother) was a baby he was sick.
Maria put a leech over his heart while he lay in her arms – the
doctors told her this would help with his blood flow. He was between three and five years old at the time. Phil was ill when the Spanish flu epidemic
ravaged the city, killing hundreds of people.
The only person affected in the family was Phil and Dad thinks this is
when Phil got sick. As Phil grew, he turned into the athlete of the family, he
played baseball, football, running, golf, etc. Maria had a heart
condition most of her life (heredity)
Back
then, coal was used for heating, and it came in big chunks which Giovanni had
to break up into small pieces in order to burn it. Giovanni would break the coal once a week for his wife. Dad would select a piece of coal, the
largest piece, Giovanni would break it up, and Dad had to carry all the pieces
to the fourth floor from the cellar.
Giovanni would sit back and wait for his son to return to select the
next piece of coal. Coal cost 10 cents
and when it was delivered, it was Dad’s job to lug the coal down to the cellar.
On
Sunday, Maria made special meals, such as meatballs and homemade sausages. These were family meals, which included wine
for everyone, including the children.
One time, when Dad was nine, they were having artichokes for supper,
which made him very thirsty so he naturally drank lots of wine. When he stood up he ended up falling onto
the floor, face down, – the alcohol was too much for him. Giovanni had a good chuckle, picked his son
off the floor, and put him to bed.
At
Christmas, Maria went all out and spent lots of time creating special foods, such
as cookies in the shape of a seahorses and other creative designs, all covered with chopped
figs, nuts and raisins. Salvatore, Maria’s brother, would visit
Maria for her cakes (Cuicidades, fig cake), and suppers. Salvatore lived in Maplewood and he walked the
distance to Maria’s house every Sunday to visit, apparently a very long walk. He had worked with Giovanni at the tailor
factory and they would sit around and talk shop and argue. Salvatore died many years later when Dad
moved to Canada.
Maria
was very handy with a needle and she would make shirts and clothes for her
children. She would make Dad a new
white outfit for Easter, a white shirt, white pants, and white coat and she
would tell him to go outside to play but not to get any dirt on his new
clothes. Dad, on the other hand, was
more afraid of the kids in the neighbourhood laughing at him Maria worked
at home sewing men's suits for a tailor shop or factory, her speciality was
jacket sleeves. She was paid by the jacket or number completed. The
jackets would be delivered and then picked up every few days, many women worked
at home.
Their
meal, for most days of the week, was pasta with a meat or fish dish. They had salads, but not everyday, their
salads were served before, during, or after the meals. All meals had bread, for soaking up the
gravy on the plate when done – the word sauce had never been used in their
household – Dad never heard sauce until he started working. Dad would brag his Mom was the best cook in
the whole world, a terrific cook.
Pasquale
(Giovanni’s brother) lived across the street
– he owned a duplex on Morris Ave and 14th Ave. That is, until Giovanni moved his family
from the Italian neighbourhood to a Jewish neighbourhood. Seems Dad’s brother, Phil, along with the
kids from the neighbourhood were always looking for adventures. One night, they were on a roof of a one story high row of stores, one
store a ladies hat store had an open skylight - armed with string and hooks,
they carefully picked the hats up through the skylight. When Phil brought
two hats home to his mother, Giovanni found out about his sons' escapades
he moved his family
away from the Italian area and friends. After the move, Giovanni had to take a couple of buses to get to
work and as a result he eventually lost touch with their families. Very seldom did anyone from Giovanni’s
family come to visit on Peshine Avenue, where Giovanni had bought a six tenant
building. They lived in one apartment
and rented the others out. Dad attended
Avon Ave School. Phil was no longer
getting into trouble and he was always on the honour role as he applied himself
at school (Phil was very smart). Phil
sent an application to West Point and the Senator in Newark wrote a letter of
referral on his behalf – unfortunately, he was later turned down. Phil did, however, make it into the Air
Corps as a navigator, he served for three years. He had a sinus condition
and was made a navigator instructor, he taught all areas of navigation.
Phil never flew in the war but he
stayed with the Air Corps.
Dad
never knew anyone whose last name didn’t end in a vowel. Same as most kitchen utensils, everything
ended in a vowel, such as coojara, cadello (my spelling is more than likely
off). Lunchmeat varieties seemed to end
in a vowel also.
Dad’s
sister, Ann, she was called Antoinette by her teachers and eventually everyone called
her the same – though she wanted to be called Ann. Ann would play the old pedal
piano which the family had. She
displayed from an early age a gift for drawing -a natural talent. When she finished grammar school, Ann wanted
to attend a technical school. Giovanni
was against this and had to be convinced to let her go, he figured there was no
career in drawing. While in school, Ann
went to Bamberger Store and applied for a job to draw hats for
advertisements. The manager gave her
four hats on a Friday and told her to come back on the Monday. She came back on the Monday with her
drawings and the man was so impressed with them he paid her $25. She eventually worked for Patterson’s and
then on to Macy’s.
Maria’s
mother, Elisabetta, had always complained there was no child named after her,
so when Maria was pregnant, she prayed and prayed for a girl with every
breathe. When Elisabetta saw the baby
girl and learned she had a namesake, she took Lee (everyone called her Lee when
she became older) into her arms and held her high in the air and danced around
the room. The midwife had to shoo
Elisabetta out of the room so the baby and new Mom could recoup. Elisabetta continued her dance out of the
room and all around the house.
A
tenant lived on the top floor of Giovanni’s apartment building. Her name was Rosie and she was in her early
twenties. She told Dad’s sister Lee
(who was under ten years old at the time) she would give her a nickel to sing
the Kate Smith song “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain.” When she sang, the lady was very impressed
and she gave Lee the nickel.
During
the depression, there were Marathon Dance contests where contestants danced
continuously for hours and hours - the last couple dancing won. There would be a live band to which people
danced. The audience would sit around
the border of the dance floor, watching, drinking, and cheering on their family
or friends. Periodically, they would give
the dance couples and the bands a break, and during the breaks, singers and entertainers
would perform free. If the audience
liked you, they would toss money onto the stage, if they didn’t like you…well,
lets not go there. Anyhow, Dad would
take Lee to these shows when she was around nine years old and she would
sing. People threw lots of money when
she sang and Dad scampered about to pick up the money as his sister belted out
the tunes. (This turned out to me even
more lucrative than the ‘graveyard at Memorial Day’ gig). The audience loved her so they did this a
few times.
One
time, Dad went to see Eddie Cantor’s (singer) manager on behalf of Lee. When the manager heard her sing, he was very
impressed but they did not have an opening because they just hired a singer. Dad went to see Benny Fairbanks who owned a
movie house. Benny had an orchestra,
which played during the film intermissions (in the old days, there were
intermissions during a movie – to change the reels). When he heard Lee sing, he hired her to sing during the
intermissions. Dad believes she made
$10/week.
Near
the movie house was a big Presbyterian church – the oldest in Newark. The wife of the church music master had once
dreamt of becoming an opera singer but her dream never came to be. One day, she went to the movie house and
heard Lee sing. She sought Lee out and
said she would train Lee free but she was not allowed to sing for money
anymore. Lee was twelve. Giovanni and Maria agreed and Lee started
her training. Dad would take Lee to
this woman’s house and wait for her while she rehearsed (continuously). Her voice blossomed. When Lee was older, she
was hired by the New York Opera House, and she had her name changed around this
time.
At
one point in her career Lee met a man (name unknown) who wanted to take her to
Hollywood and make her famous. Lee’s
parents refused to allow her to go because she was still young and single and
it was not appropriate. This man went
on to Hollywood and became the agent and husband of Doris Day.
When
Lee performed an opera, Giovanni and Maria would go see her. Giovanni would stop and tell people when
they walked by and whoever he was seated next to “That’s my daughter in
the show.” He would brag about her to
everyone he saw at the opera.
In
the apartment house in which they lived, 14th Ave and Main Street,
there was no room for Giovanni to prepare his batches of wine, as a result, he
had to do the cleaning of the wine barrels and such on the street. This was a yearly tradition held every
spring. He would painstakingly
disassemble five big barrels, slat by slat, clean them meticulously, and then
re-assemble them, one slat at a time.
This task would take several days.
Once completed, he stored them in the cellar and began the process of
making his wine. He’d purchase a small
truckload of grapes and rent a grape squeezer (a man ahead of his time). In the cellar he would grind them into the
barrels until ¾ full. He slowly mixed
the green and red grapes together – his own blend, which people loved. After the wine had been fermenting, he would
burn sulphur in the barrels, to add to the flavour. A steady clientele would stop by to purchase a jug or two from
Giovanni during the course of the year (again, just a little ahead of his time…
could have been the Kennedy’s). When
they moved to the Jewish neighbourhood, he seldom made wine as he no longer had
his clientele.
The
family served wine with supper and it was Dad’s job to retrieve a bucket of
wine from the cellar. He always made
sure he got the wine before darkness fell, but when they had company or if
Giovanni had customers who wanted to buy wine, Dad was sent to the cellar to
pour the wine in the dark. One hand
held a candle to guide him around in the pitch-black cellar (which had two
entranceways) the other held the empty
bucket. As he filled the bucket, he
would stand, listening to the noises of the cellar and watching the candle
flicker against the walls, which created many illusions for a young boy’s
imagination. With the sound of the
bucket getting full, he’d turn off the tap and run back upstairs as fast as he
could, without spilling a drop though he burned his hair a few times.
Giovanni
liked to compose poetry though he never attended school. He was unable to read or write. He would compose his poems during his
workday and when he returned in the evening, after supper, he would dictate a
poem to Maria who would write them (these poems were in Sicilian). Giovanni loved the fascist leader,
Mussolini, and had composed about 70 poems in dedication to him. Maria recorded these in a special book. Once the book was completed, Giovanni
proudly sent his book of poems to Italy for Mussolini to read. Apparently he received a reply back from
Mussolini’s administration thanking him for the poems. Giovanni was taught to
read by Maria, each day, Philip would bring him the Italian paper called "I
Progresso".
Dad
was sometimes involved in incidents at school. During some type of an in class exercise, one girl stumbled and
fell, causing everyone on her team to lose whatever was the prize. This one bully decided he was going to teach
the girl a lesson but Dad stepped in and popped him one, and the bully turned
and fled. One other time, a fellow
student in class, whose father was a tailor, was wearing an army uniform his
Dad had made him. Some of the other
kids in school were jealous when this boy proudly wore his uniform and they began
to torment him and bully him. Dad popped
those kids too.
Dad
learned to drive automobiles at an early age.
Sam, a man in the neighbourhood who earned his living from organized
crime, offered Dad a job as his chauffer.
Giovanni would not allow Dad to accept the offer. Giovanni always told Dad “join the mob and
you’ll end up dead.” Sam died a few
years later under questionable circumstances; he was in his mid thirties. At the time, Giovanni worked in a factory,
(one factory made suit coats and another factory made pants) and he made good
money as they were paid by how much work they did, and he was a very fast
worker. He was able to afford to buy an
old seven passenger Buick when Dad was around 15 or 16. Giovanni had Dad drive him around to all his
relatives and friends to show off his new car.
Eventually, Dad taught Ann and Lee how to drive; he never taught Phil
who knew how to drive.
Avon
Avenue School was the school which Dad went to. There was also East Side High School in the Ironbound section of
Newark, where the factories were. For
the first year Dad did okay. In the
second year, Myrere, a fellow student, sold baseball gambling tickets to other
students, and Dad helped. Somebody
complained at the end of the school year, at the start of the third year of
high school, on the very first day of class, his teacher told Dad she was going
to flunk him and tore into Dad stating she was not going to have this type of
behaviour in her class. “If you don’t
behave I will flunk you right now,” is what she said. Dad told her he was quitting school. He went to the principal and told him what the teacher said. The principal never tried to stop Dad when
he left the school (like that was going to happen – the guy was happy to see
the racketeering mobster go). His
parents did not mind this turn of events; Dad would be working and bringing
home money.
After
living four years in the Jewish neighbourhood, Giovanni moved his family closer
to the Italian neighbourhood, to a town called Irvington, north of Newark. He sold the tenant building and bought a
single-family house. He had missed
visiting with family and friends.
Giovanni was a very dependable man, always ensuring his family was fed,
and everything was provided for. When
his job at the factory was cut back to part time during the depression,
Giovanni found another part time job.
He always worked, his family’s care being of the utmost importance. He had many friends who respected him and
would help him if he ever needed it, and vice versa.
Dad’s
first job was at Texta Leather doing the mail work and switchboard relief, an
office boy. He progressed into
accounting and eventually he was the Keeper of the Chemical Recordings for the
Dyes. One day they received a huge
order, Book of Knowledge, and the boss said to Dad, “Okay kid, you handle
it.” Their boss was from Europe who
thought he was a big shot and carried an umbrella on his arm.
After
one year on the job, Dad was told he was aggressive in his job. During an office meeting (held once a month
in the boss’s house) Dad reported the completion of orders and how far behind
they were. Dad proceeded to tell the
president of the company his boss was a liar and the union boss’s did not trust
him either. To say the least, his boss
turned beat red as Dad went on. Dad
suggested implementing a bonus pay to spur people to work faster and get
productivity and profits up. The
president listened and the company implemented the plan, and sure enough
production was increased. The workers
were happy to be making extra money and made Dad the leader of the working
guy. Dad continued to give his pay
cheques to his parents while any bonus money he kept for himself. He made $65/week.
Dad
had to get his wisdom teeth out when he was in his late twenties, a fellow from
work had to take him to the dentist and drive him home afterwards, he couldn’t
talk for days.
When
Dad was young, he remembers Maria
and Giovanni would have big fights.
Maria would flaunt her class status at the end of the fight and tell
Giovanni he was not worthy to have her, he was just a peasant. Giovanni would get so mad he would leave for
long walks and return home and pretend as if nothing happened. Maria’s temper could subdue the whole
family. At times, Giovanni would provoke
his wife to get her riled up – maybe an excuse to leave the house. Ann and her father, Giovanni, would have
fights; Ann struggled for her independence while Giovanni wanted to maintain
the culture of the old country.
Giovanni
spoke English but he never mastered the language. He relied on his children when he needed assistance. Once Dad started school, his parents spoke
to him in Italian but he answer in English.
Giovanni
traded his old Buick in and bought a new Buick; though Giovanni never drove he
still bought a new car. It was very
difficult to buy a car during the depression, a friend of Dad’s helped them
out, and they were able find a vehicle to purchase in Virginia (they had to
travel to pick it up). Giovanni had Dad
drive him and Maria around to show off his new car at his friends’ houses. Coincidentally, at each friends house there
always seemed to be a single daughter in the family, so Dad finally figured out
his parents intentions were to introduce him some ‘good Italian girls’. Dad says they were beautiful, but they were
not for him. When he started to date my
Mom (Kay), Dad and his Dad had big arguments over dating a non-Italian
lady. Giovanni would tell Dad right in
front of Mom, “You have to marry an Italian girl,” he would also say, “she is
not good enough, only a woman of Italian blood would do.” Kay never said a word, but he spoke it in
Italian but Mom got the jest of what was being said.
Dad
proposed to Mom at a New Year’s Eve party at her friend Mary’s house. He led her into the hallway and popped the
question. They were married on July 26th. Dad’s bonus cheques paid for Mom’s rings,
while Kay’s bonuses were used to pay for the wedding. Dad’s brother Phil was the best man and he flew in from Des
Moines, Iowa to attend. Kay’s brother
(Bud) was the usher, Dad’s sister Ann and Mom’s friend Ruth were the
bridesmaids, and Mary was the maid of honour.
They all wore pink dresses.
Dad’s sister Lee sang Ave Maria at the wedding. Catherine, (Mom’s Mom) had a former high
school classmate who once told everyone at the school, “whenever one of your
children get married, call me, and I will marry them.” This man joined the priesthood, and by the
time Mom got married, he had risen up in the ranks to bishop - a bishop
performed the wedding ceremony for Mom and Dad, very prestigious.
On
the wedding day, the guy who was supposed to pick up Mom never showed up, so
Dad flagged down Big Joe (a friend from the plant) before he entered the church
and asked him to go get Mom and the bridesmaids. Dad invited everyone from the plant to the wedding, so there were
a couple of hundred people attending.
In
the evening, they caught a train to New York City, carrying four bags of
luggage each. Guy Lombardo was playing
at the hotel where they were staying.
The evening was very hot (and not just because it was their honeymoon),
so they moved their bed to the open window and listened to the music. They stayed in NY for 3 days and nights
before taking a train to Martha’s Vineyard where they stayed for a week. Dad did not care for it there because there
was nothing exciting to do. One
afternoon they were out bike riding and they came across James Cagney, who
invited them to his house for a rest in the shade. His wife and daughter were there as well. James told Dad there was nothing to do in
Martha’s Vineyard but Dad should be ok because he was on his honeymoon, and
then nudged him and winked. I even had a photograph of James Cagney from
Martha's vineyard.
In
1926 Dad’s first office job at a downtown industrial section called
Ironside. He had a big desk in the
corner of the office. He became good
friends with a man at work named Joseph Boil who did the payroll. Joe was a very congenial man. Whenever Dad finished his work early, he
would help Joe do the payroll by stuffing the paycheques into the envelopes. One man on the board of directors, Mr
Walker, made a grand a week and Dad would marvel someone could make so much
money in just one week. If Joe had
already completed the payroll, Dad would instead spend his free time in the
plant, as he was fascinated at how the machines worked.
Dad
completed high school by taking night courses and then he went to night school
at the college (which was bought out by the University). He took accounting classes, and when Texta
Leather learned of this, he was promoted to keeping the chemical records, which
involved 13 coding machines. One day, a
new man was introduced to the staff and his function was to evaluate the worth
of company because another company was looking at buying it. This man was the treasurer of the “General
Tires Company.” One day he said to Dad,
“Sario, I’m having my furniture moved this week from Ohio to New Jersey, will
you help me.” Dad said yes, and this
gentleman was impressed Dad would give up his Saturday to help him. Afterwards, this man would invite Dad to his
house frequently. He discovered Dad was
taking night courses in accounting and encouraged Dad to work hard at night
school. The man assessed the worth of
the company (took him about a year to do so) and a sale price was agreed
upon. He offered Dad a good paying job
as his assistant when he moved the company to Toledo. When Dad told his parents, Maria cried and cried even when Dad
explained he would be making lots of money if he moved. Maria was relentless however; she did not
want her son gone. To stop her from
crying, Dad agreed to turn down the offer and stay. Shortly thereafter, the stock market crashed and Dad could not
find a job for over a year, he brought in no money. Dad was furious at his mother for making a fuss over his
opportunity in Toledo; so to spite her he would tell her he was going to move to
South America to grow cotton. She cried
at first but after a year she learned to stop listening when he spoke like
that. After some time, a friend in the
neighbourhood told Dad about a new company starting up, selling cosmetics by
mail. Dad got a job as the assistant to
the manager who made $50/week while Dad earned $23/week. Dad would get mad because he did all the
work and the boss did very little, even though the paycheques did not reflect
this (welcome to the real world pops).
After some objections Dad got a raise to $28/week. Over time, many complaints were made to the
government about this particular company so the government shut it down – the
company offered ‘prize money’, which was illegal, once again Dad was out of
work.
Joe
Boil’s girlfriend (an Italian who lived in Dad’s neighbourhood, everyone called
her Scotty) told Dad there was a job in customer relations (sales) opening up
at LE Carpenter and Co. She got Dad an
interview and he was hired with a salary of $45/week. With the Depression in full force, Dad was very happy to have a
job even though he made less than he did year’s prior. About a year later, Dad was at the
switchboard when Kay came in to interview for Scotty’s position (who was leaving
to marry Joe). The whole time Kay sat
in the reception area she never looked around, she was very shy. Mr Lucas ended up hiring her and Scotty
trained her. Mom and Dad eventually
dated four or five years later, after Dad was tired of the hotels and the girls
- he wanted something more. He decided
to call Kay up one Friday night and she said, “Well, it’s about time.” On Saturday, they dined and danced the night
away at a place out in the country, called Meadow Brook, which had a huge
building. Big bands, like Frank
Sinatra, Jo Stafford (female singer), and the Jimmy Dorsey band would play
there. Mom would love to hear Connelly
sing the Irish songs.
At
LE Carpenter, Dad installed the same bonus system he devised at his other job
and production was increased by 300%.
During the war, the company had many army contracts. The company’s plant was going to relocate to
another state but by then Dad was tired of working in the plant. He was having chest pains and he thought
they might be from the chemicals and such in the plant. During his time working at LE Carpenter, he
was called to enlist twice. One time it
was the “navy call”; the navy was in desperate need of recruits because of all
the lost ships and men at Pearl Harbour.
Dad went, but due to his broken eardrum, the navy did not want him,
however, the army said, “we’ll take him.”
He told his boss he would be leaving to join the army, but his boss
contacted the general who gave them the contracts and Dad was given a reprieve
because what Dad was working on was for the Army. This happened again the second time the Army called.
Dad
left LE Carpenter in 1949 and after some time he decided to set up his own
plant with two other partners. The
plant was in Verona, NJ, and they lived in a house on the same property as the
plant was located. My brother remembers
the trees that lined the drive leading up to the house. This new company had a patented coating
fibre which was coated onto nylon to shed rain. They were trying to get the Army to place an order as one of the
partners had a contact in the Army.
After a year (or two), the Army had still not placed the order, so Dad
ended up losing all his money in the new company, as did his partners. In the meantime, there were three children
and another one on the way. They sold
the company to a man named Hugo who bought the machines and hired Dad. Dad sold leather to many companies, one
being a company in New York that manufactured hats. The owner of the hat company was insulted Dad was selling
products to him yet he was not wearing a hat, so he gave Dad a hat and
instructed him to wear it into his shop at all times, or no sales. From that day on, my Dad always wore a hat.
In 1955, Dad overheard Hugo talking on the
phone to someone about getting a partner in Canada. He approached Hugo and informed him he wanted to be that person
in Canada. Dad would get 10% of the
business, while Hugo did all the paperwork, etc. Dad travelled between New Jersey, Quebec, and Ontario for a year,
coming home once a month. After a year,
he decided it was time to move north permanently. In August 1956, the whole gang moved to Canada.
Approaching
customs at the border in the early evening, Dad told everyone in the car to
pretend to be asleep so customs would wave the car through, which they
did. The car was packed with kids and
suitcases and boxes tied to the roof, my father did not want the hassle of
unpacking the car for an inspection.
My
oldest brother was born just after midnight, and the next day Dad bought
everyone at the plant champagne.
Giovanni wanted Dad to call the first-born son Giovanni, but Dad refused
saying he wanted his son named after himself, so he told his father he was
breaking with tradition. Unbeknownst to
Dad, the Sicilian custom is to name your first boy after the husband’s grandfather,
second boy after the wife’s grandfather, first daughter after the grandmother,
etc.… therefore Dad was actually following the custom as his grandfather’s name
was Rosario.
Phil
worked with Dad in the plant and this is where Phil and Jean met. Phil eventually left the company and started
to work in the theatre business. They
were married at St Rocco's Church in Newark NJ, one block away from Morris Ave
where Phil lived as a small child along with his family. Phil and Jean
lived in a two family house, Giovanni and Maria lived on the second
floor. Giovanni
and Maria were not too sure of Jean at first, as she was much younger than
Phil, but Phil was so happy with Jean they could not say no. Jean was the only girl in her family of four
brothers. Her father died when she was young therefore her stepfather was
the one who gave her away at the ceremony. Her stepfather was a wonderful
man and a true grandfather to their children.
Before
Dad worked at LE Carpenter, Ann was working in Patterson’s, which was fifteen miles
south of where they lived. Dad
would drive Ann to work as he was not employed, so he would drive her there,
wait around during the day, and then drive her home when she finished her job. After Dad started to work, a man in the next
town, who worked with Ann, would drive her back and forth. After some time in Patterson, Macy’s
approached Ann and hired her to illustrate their products for newspaper
ads. This is where Ann met her future
husband, Joe, who also worked at Macy’s as an artist, where he drew furniture
to be placed in newspaper ads. Joe was
an Irishman who grew up in Bloomfield.
They were married in a small wedding ceremony in Irvington, and they
lived in an apartment in Fort Lee, on the 20th floor. They moved to New York on 60 (something)
Street, and eventually, they bought the condominium which Ann still lives in to
this day. Mom, Dad, and kids would
visit them. Joe was a paratrooper
during the war and he received the Purple Heart. He was an easygoing, soft-spoken guy. He died of a heart attack in his bed. My oldest brother loved to be around his Uncle Joe, and he took
the middle name of Joseph in honour of his uncle.
In
between jobs, Dad ran numbers for a man named Mike, who owned a bar. One day, Tony Bananas approached Dad and
asked if he wanted to help with a hotel in Florida, Tony had heard Dad was
doing a good job running numbers for the bar.
Obviously Mike must have told Tony.
Dad told Tony he wanted to think about it, but later decided his wife
would be furious if she ever found out he was running numbers. Years later, Dad found Tony Banana’s
mentioned in a book, The Philadelphia Mafia.
It seems Tony became a capo and he decided another capo in Philly was
not doing a very good job. When this
Philly capo showed up dead, Tony claimed to have gotten the okay from a second
in command to ‘off the capo’. A few
days later, Tony was found dead in the trunk of a car. It seems he was either set up or he was being
paid back for the other murder. There
was speculation he had never really gotten permission to do the hit.
When
Dad lost all his money on the plant in Verona, he moved the family to a rooming
house owned by Aunt Erma, who was a very nice German lady. She was Kay’s aunt through marriage – so to
speak. She was Uncle Ed’s girlfriend
and Uncle Ed was Kay’s uncle (her father’s brother). The rooming house was one street below where Pop Sheridan
lived. Pop Sheridan’s house was very
small, one bedroom with a pull away cot set up in the parlour, a kitchen and a
small hallway. My oldest brother stayed
with Pop Sheridan while the rest lived in the rooming house and he remembers
the pull chain toilet in Pop Sheridan’s place was in the basement, in the very
back of a dark corner. Kay was pregnant
during this time. Ed and Erma lived
together above Pop Sheridan - Ed owned the duplex and Pop Sheridan rented from
him. It was then Dad was hired by Hugo
to work and he rented a house in Scotch Plains at $100/month. Dad traveled to Newark every day to
work. Mom and Dad would have parties in
their backyard; the whole family would attend except for Lee as she was
travelling with her opera company by then.
When
living in Scotch Plains (1951), my sister was involved in an accident when she
was 5 years old. She was playing follow
the leader, with my oldest brother being the leader. The game found itself next door where the owner was building or
renovating his house. My brother placed
his fingers on a machine which nicked his finger, my sister never noticed and
when she placed her finger on the machine her finger was sliced off. The police rushed both of them to the
hospital where Kay insisted the doctor sew the finger back on, even though the
doctor said it would not work. After
seeing the determined look on my mothers face, the doctor sewed the finger back
on - Mom had ‘a look’ (don’t mess with them Irish). Dad sued the neighbour next door and won a settlement. Dad sold his stock in Hugo’s company and
used the settlement for a down payment on the house in Canada. On August 31, 1956, they packed up their
belongings and drove to Canada. The
family arrived before the movers, so people
Dad knew came and brought mattresses for everyone to sleep on. The car Dad bought to drive the family and
the valuables to Canada turned out to be an old taxicab. The place where Dad traded the car in was
not too pleased about this when they found out a week or two after the trade
(buyer beware!). Giovanni came to visit
once; Maria had already passed away by then.
Giovanni and Maria are buried at Hollywood Cemetery, Newark.
Catherine
(Mom’s Mom) had a tragic fall when she was little which caused her to walk with
a limp for the rest of her life.
Catherine (everyone called her Katie) had a sister named Rose - who was
Kay’s godmother. Rose had two girls, a
daughter who later joined a convent in New Jersey. Catherine died quickly in 1959.
She spent her last days in an oxygen tent, though during most of the
time she was unconscious.
My
mother’s favourite flowers were white gardenias; Dad would buy her these all
the time.
Dad
was not fond of Kay’s dad, Leo; he thought Leo was disrespectful to his
wife. One time Dad attempted to punch
Leo when he was being nasty to Catherine, but Mom stepped in. She told him Leo once had a disease (he was
sick when he worked for the railroad) before Dad met him, and how they had to
care for him. She even had to shave and
sponge bathe him and his mind had never fully recovered which was why he was
the way he was. Dad never questioned
what she said, and he has no idea what sickness his father-in-law had. Dad was making good money when he was dating
Mom and when Dad’s parents visited Mom’s parents in the Sheridan home (and they
only went once), Giovanni and Maria were taken aback at how poor and simple
their home was.
Leo
came to visit in Canada frequently, but one time he took the night train from
Elizabeth to Canada and he fell asleep.
He woke when the conductor yelled, “next stop Elizabethtown.” Being suddenly awoken, he was confused as he
heard the name Elizabeth and got off the train. The police picked him up when they noticed he was the only person
on the platform when the train pulled away from the station, and it was around
one in the morning. The police placed
Leo in jail and called Dad. Dad dressed
and drove for many hours to pick him up.
When he got there, the police explained how Leo acted on the platform -
dazed and confused, and when they questioned him Leo would not answer them
except to give them his daughter’s phone number. Dad asked what would they have charged him with if Dad never got
him, they said “vagrancy.” Quietly, Leo
opened his wallet to his secret compartment, and pulled out a twenty-dollar
bill and waved it in the police officers faces as he left the police
station. Dad says Leo was a
character.
Dad
met Leo’s brother, Eugene, once. They
called him Gene and he was a shorter man with red curly hair - he did not live
near Leo or his brother, Ed.
When
Ed died, Mom’s brother, Bud arranged for the funeral while Erma, Ed’s long time
girlfriend cried her eyes out in Ed’s room at the funeral home. Bud buried Ed by the Anheuser Busch Beer
Brewery, at the closest plot to the brewery and he told Ed when he laid him to
rest, “I got you this close to the place, it’s up to you to tunnel the rest of
the way.” Apparently Ed liked his
alcohol.
Ed
had worked at a hardware store and lived within walking distance from the
store. Dad always thought Ed owned the
store because Kay would say “that is my uncle’s store.” Ed had a German shepherd named Rex. When Dad moved the family to Canada, Ed
passed on to Kay some of his old furniture.
Seems when they were packing the moving truck, there was space left so
Ed told Kay to come to his house and he would fill it up. Years later, Kay would restore the pieces
her uncle gave her. Leo’s sister,
Alice, and her husband Tom owned a cabin at Tom’s River. Leo’s other sister, Madge (or Marcella), was
a chiropractor who married a doctor.
Her practice was near a soldier’s camp in Georgia and later she retired
in Florida. She came to visit us in
Canada once. Ed, Alice, and Madge never
had children. Leo was the eighth child
out of a family of 13, and when he was born, 3 had already died.
Across
the street from Kay when she was growing up, lived her best friend Mary
Porter. Mary married a man named
Ralph. Another one of Kay’s best
friends was Ruth Derkin, who married Joe (?) after he graduated from West
Point. Ruth’s family was wealthy and
they lived in a family house – everyone Kay knew lived in duplexes, etc.,
seldom did someone live in a house to themselves. Dad brought them up to Canada when Mom was dying in the hospital. At Ruth and Joe’s wedding, Dad took the
wedding pictures and when the film was developed not one wedding picture turned
out (which must have strained their relationship). Before Ruth and Joe were married, the four would always go on
dates together. Mary was already
married with children at this time, and did not go out with them.
When
Kay was born, she had a sibling who had already died. Kay’s only other sibling was Frank (called Bud). Bud went to chiropractor school in
Pittsburgh (paid for by his Aunt Madge).
He and his girlfriend (whom the family did not like) decide to have fun
instead of going to school. He
eventually dropped out of school and had to sell his blood for money in order
to live. Katie
(Mom’s
Mom) asked Dad to check on Bud as no one had heard from him in weeks. Dad flew to Pittsburgh to see Bud; Dad’s
first time on a plane. Bud dropped out
of school on his last year and Dad talked him into coming home. Bud later completed his schooling and went
to work at Illinois, but eventually he had to give this up to go home to
Elizabeth to take care of his father.
He then found work at Ford Motor Company where he worked for the rest of
his life and met Aunt Ruth. Leo did not
like Ruth; he would say, “She is a New Yorker,” and Ruth would laugh at his
remarks. Ruth is a direct descendent of
Daniel Boone. In 1976, Bud suddenly
died from a heart attack. Dad went to
the funeral and stayed with Ruth. Late
one night, Dad heard loud banging against the house. When he looked outside he saw nothing. The next night, he heard the same noise again, he checked again,
nothing, so Dad yelled out, “Bud, you’re dead, you can’t come into the
house.” The noise stopped.
Tony
Caradonna lived in Ontario and he was related to us, maybe a second cousin to
Dad (?). Dad would visit him when he
was in town. Tony had two sons one son
ran the confectionary store. Tony’s
brother, Jack, and his own son ran a fruit and vegetable stand.
Dad
met Pauline a few years after Kay passed away.
They would dance and dine at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in the
Bonadventure room. When Dad was dancing
with Pauline, management would send over a bottle of champagne to his
table. A man in a uniform, who was
eating alone, joined them uninvited after their meals were finished and he
started to flirt with Pauline. Dad
confronted him by saying this is my wife and the man left shortly
thereafter. Pauline worked as a
bookkeeper’s secretary at a shoe plant when she met Dad. When Dad asked her out the first time, he
asked if she would go for dinner and dancing.
She replied ‘no’ she wanted to go somewhere quiet and talk. Dad said okay and they went for a long
talk. She told him twice before she was
to be married but both times the men cheated on her. She had asked her boss about Dad after he asked her out and her
boss said Dad was okay. She also told
him she did not want someone who would cheat on her and asked Dad up front if
his intentions were to date and eventually marry if they were compatible - and
no cheating. Dad agreed so they dated. They eventually eloped to Florida to get married. Pauline and Dad went to Old Orchard, Maine
for holidays.
Pauline’s
father had died in an auto accident before Dad met her. Pauline’s Mom was Lucette and had three
daughters. Pauline was the middle
child; Monique was the youngest and Huegette was the oldest. When Lucette could no longer live alone, she
moved near Huegette’s, who went there every day to visit with her and take care
of her. Lucette died a few years later.
Background
information:
Giovanni
arrived Ellis Island Sept 23, 1905, ship: Sicilian Prince his destination
address: Paolo Internicola –
brother-in-law 243 Elizabeth St NY (seems this was a popular place for
Sicilians from Vita, it was a rooming house)
Maria
Cappello arrived Ellis Island first time:
May 16th 1905 with her father, their destination on the
ship’s manifest: Salvatore’s (her
brother) on 301 Morris Ave, Newark, Maria was listed as 22 and a dressmaker,
Filippo was listed as 52 and was with Agriculture, he had grey eyes, ship
Piemonte
Salvatore
Cappello (Maria’s brother) arrived Ellis Island, March 27, 1904, his
destination on the ships manifest:
Uncle Francesco (his uncle Don Chicho – Filippo’s half brother) 301
Morris Ave Newark, age 24, single, ship: Citta di Milano. He traveled to Sicily and back to America: arrived
November 27, 1908 his destination: Giovanni Caradonna, 49 14 Ave., Newark, age
29, single, ship: San Giovanni, scar on
cheek
Filippo
Cappello and Elisabetta Galiffi (Ellis Island has her name as Galifi) arrived
Ellis Island August 25, 1921, ship: San
Giovanni, her age 70, his age 69, destination:
Salvatore Cappello (son), 257 9 south St, Newark
Don
Chicho – Francesco Cappello – arrived 1894, age 34
Pasquale
Caradonna (Giovanni’s brother) arrived at Ellis Island: October 24, 1912, ship: Konig Albert, age
44, and listed as married, destination: 49 14 Ave Newark:
family arrived: Sept 5, 1916 ship:
Giuseppe Verdi wife: Rosalia
Pipitone, age: 43, destination: 251 Elizabeth NY, Maria: 18 yrs old, Rosa:
11 yrs, Rosario: 2, Rosaria: 6
Mariano
Caradonna arrived at Ellis Island:
April 22, 1909, ship: Ancona age
30, and listed as married, destination: cousin Giuseppe (M) Chorchello at 314
Morris Ave NY
_____________________________________________________________________
This
is an actual article in a Newspaper- reflects what people of Italians:
Flying Post, Paterson, NJ Nov.
21, 1893
Small-Pox in Elizabeth - Stringent Measures Are
Being Taken to Stamp Out the Disease
Elizabeth, Nov. 20
The spreading of small-pox was the cause of a
special meeting of the Board of Health to-night. Ex-Captain of Police William Brant was appointed special health
warden and Mayor Rankin will to-morrow appoint special policemen to guard
infected houses. It was resolved to
exclude all Italians from the public schools.
All the houses were renovated and disinfected today. Dr. O'Reilly, of the State Board of Health,
has tendered State aid. The 12-year old
son of Austin F. Knowells, a prominent citizen, was taken down with the disease
today. He had been a pupil in the
public school where the Italian children attended. City Physician Green is sick and there is some alarm he is a
victim of the disease.
_______________________________________________________________________
Other
Caradonna’s listed on Ellis Island – not sure if related, if anyone recognizes
these names, please let me know….
Pietro
Caradonna may 23, 1906 39 years,
Vita
Pietro
Caradonna may 6, 1906 39 years
Rosario
Caradonna – Uncle Mariano 49 14 Ave,
scar on face The Berlin, may 3, 1911, age 19
Francesco
Caradonna Oct 1, 1912 brother in law, Antonio
Antonino
Caradonna, Sept 27, 1907 – uncle Giuseppe Ditta age 16
Salvatore
Caradonna, Dec 1, 1922 Toronto
Giovanni
Caradonna 39 years old, married, 1913, relative Merlocca Pietro
Giovanni, Caradonna married, 32 years old, march 15,
1906, cousin Vito Ditta and Piserbato
Rozario
Caradonna march 30, 1913, Toronto Ont. 48 centre Ave, uncle Giglio Antonino
Ma.
Antonia Caradonna 25 years, brother in law, 621 Ave Elizabeth, Emanuel Dospota
Elisa
Caradonna 7 years and Rosaria Caradonna
– 5 years, no image available, May 6,
1909 , other vita’s are Gucciardi, Gassiria, Leonuzzo
Giuseppe
28 y, and Sebastinao 31 going to Detroit, 1913
Filippo
Caradonna march 15, 1906 reality and security, 216 Christie S, NY
Vita
Caradonna march 2, 1913, Italia, 35
years old, married, no manifest