My Italian Roots Part One

I was watching the PBS special on Italian Americans.  It is reasonably done and I learned a little about my heritage. 

The Bank of America was actually founded as the Bank of Italy specifically to help Italians after the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco and did not become BOA until about 1931.

              The Italians in New Orleans had gangs who were part of the “Black Hand.” That is where 
              the  word “Mafia” originated.

Many of the Italian men made multiple trips to American, not just one.  Italian workers helped build the rail system and the subways in NYC.

     My own family came from 2 areas of Italy.  My mother’s side came from northern Calabria. The town is Bisignano.  The Lumias come from Villalba in Sicily.  In NYC the Sicilians lived on Elizabeth Street.  Italians from other areas lived on other streets in lower Manhattan.  Italians also settled in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx.  In Trenton the Italians from southern Italy lived in the area known as Chambersburg.  This area’s center was Butler Street where Saint Joachim’s Church was located.  This parish had Italian priests and Italian nuns (Filipini).  The parishioners were from Rome, Naples and Calabria, primarily. There was a Neopolitan Club with its own building and Roman Hall on Butler Street. The Sicilians lived in “North Trenton” between Brunswick and Princeton Avenue surrounding Saint Paul’s parish on Paul Avenue.  There were so many Sicilians from Villalba that they had their own social club and building (Villalba Hall on Paul Avenue).
     Technically, I grew up in Villa Park, on the other side of Chambers Street.  But, my world was bounded by Morris Avenue, Hamilton Avenue, Broad Street and Revere.  This section straddled the Burg and the part of Villa Park where we lived.  My elementary school, Washington was on Morris and Division Streets in the Burg.  Essentially, where I lived and grew up was a ghetto of Italian Americans almost exclusively.  There were less than a half dozen non-Italian families on our block and almost none attending Washington School.  I didn’t have a Jewish or Black person in a class until Jr. High (7^th grade).
     The first member of Mom’s family to emigrate was her Uncle Frank Viteritto who arrived in May 1890.  His wife, Zia Rosaria came in May 1896. She came with her daughter and had a son in 1897, Anthony, known as Tommy V. A second uncle, Umile Felcone arrived the month before Zia Rosaria in 1896 and his wife, Zia Concetta came with her son Joe 2 years later.  These families did not return to Italy.  I do not know what work Umile did but Frank and Rosaria had a store on the corner of Butler and South Clinton Avenue and lived in the apartment above the store.
     These relatives were very concerned with education.  Tommy V and the Felcone children went to school. The boys went to college and then to law school.  Joe, Tommy and Mickey Felcone were all lawyers.  Mickey went to college at Harvard.  He, of course, was very proud of that fact, but was impressed that I went to the University of Chicago.  The Felcone girls graduated high school.  Mary worked for the state and Fanny ran the law office.  Louis Felcone became a successful realtor.  These men eventually helped found Roma Savings and Loan, a bank by and for Italian Americans in Trenton.  Tommy V served as president of Roma and the Felcones were on the Board. Tommy V’s sister, Mary Concetta, married Vito Brenna (Viduch) who was a mortician and they moved to Hamilton Avenue in the 1930’s into the home that still serves as Brenna Funeral Home.  Their son Danny and their grandson Danny, Jr. followed in Vito’s profession.  In the 1920’s that building was the Italian Circolo Club and my parent’s wedding reception was held there.
     My grandfather, Frank Amodio arrived the first time in April 1899.  He had left his wife and baby daughter to emigrate.  They lived with his parents, since he was an only child.  He stayed with his in-laws above the store on Clinton and Butler and worked for Roebling’s.  He stayed until 1904 before returning to Italy.  His father had died in the meantime.  While in Italy, my mother was born in August 1905.  He had pictures taken before he left Italy again in 1906.  The picture of his mother is the basis for the front piece of this blog.  I painted that several years ago.  Pictures of my grandfather and of my grandmother with her 2 daughters have been published on this blog years ago.
     Frank was one of the men who traveled back and forth several times.  He stayed with the Viterittos each time and worked at Roeblings when he was in Trenton.  He returned to Italy in 1909.  Orsula gave birth to a third daughter, Maria Bambina before Frank returned to Trenton in 1911.  He asked Orsula to join him and she and her 3 daughters arrived on Ellis Island in May 1913 aboard the Verone.  They went to live initially with the Viterittos. Over the years they lived in several houses on Bayard and Butler Streets, before buying a house at 804 Roebling Avenue. When Orsula came to America she left 4 siblings in Italy and joined 3 others already here.
     Orsula’s baby brother Pasquale (known to the family as Uncle Charley) had come in July 1903.  He was 16 years old at the time.  He worked for the city water works department and married Anna Serafine in 1910.  They had 7 children, all of whom graduated high school.  Their baby, Delores, graduated college and now has a PhD.
     Mom’s relatives all lived in Chambersburg.  Uncle Charlie lived on Franklin Street; the Felones lived on Hamilton Avenue and the Viterittos above the store.  When the Viterittos were ready to retire and sell the store, they sold it to Frank Amodio’s cousin Rosaria’s widow, Josephine Territo Amodio who then lived above the store with her children.  Rosario’s relationship with Frank was never clear until I finally did my genealogy research but Rosario always called Frank “Zio” and Frank referred to Rosario as “nephew”.  In reality, Rosario’s father, Peter, and Frank were first cousins.  Peter was at least 10 years older.  His father had died in 1869 and I believe that he was at least partially raised by his Uncle Joe, Frank’s father.  In typical Italian fashion this distant cousinship was ignored and I grew up knowing Josephine and all her children and some of her grandchildren.  They were always considered close family. 

Carlo and Aurelia Foggia Amodio (my great-great Grandparents
Joe Amodio (my great-grandfather)	Fedele Amodio (Joe’s brother)
Frank (my grandfather)	Peter (Fedele’s son)
My mom	Rosario
Me My children	Rosario’s children Rosario's grandchildren including a favorite cousin Bill Zoda

      Mom always tried to do Christmas Eve with multiple fishes, including eel, smelts, baccala, flounder, etc.  The number of fish decreased as we grew older and grandchildren appeared.  I remember smelling the baccala rehydrating in the basement.  That’s how I knew Christmas was approaching.  My Lumia aunts did not eat fish dinners on Christmas Eve.  Their family came from central Sicily and I guess sea food was rare and/or expensive so the custom never developed.  Overall, Sicily was poorer and had higher infant mortality than Calabria.  My Lumia great-grandmother lost half of her 12 children, while my Greco great-grandmother lost only 2 of nine.
 On my father’s side, his father, Peter, who was born in Villalba, Sicily  came to the USA about 1891.  Actually, there are 3 men named Peter Lumia who entered the US between 1891 and1892 and I cannot determine which one was my grandfather.  He went to western Pennsylvania, apparently.  There he met my grandmother, Margarite Vitrano who was born in Lecara, Sicily in 1873.  I cannot determine when she arrived in America.  Nor have I been able to learn anything about her parents, except their names.  The first definite fact I know is that she delivered a baby girl on February 2, 1897.  The baby was named Rosaria and her father was Vincenzo Mastrosimone, who was born in Villalba and emigrated in 1894.  Rosaria became known as Aunt Sarah!  The next fact I know is that Margarite and Peter Lumia were living on Elizabeth Street in NYC by January 1900 when they had a baby boy, Joseph (my dad).  Margarite and Peter stayed in NYC for a few years before moving to Trenton and settling in North Trenton.  They finally settled at 235 Ellis Avenue.  That was the family home until Aunt Kate moved away in 1978.  There is a photo of the Lumia family taken in 1908 published here in 2011.
     As a child although I lived in/near the Burg and had Mom’s relatives there, I also traveled very often to the other side of town to visit my father’s relatives.  In those days, one visited by dropping in.  There were no appointments or phone calls beforehand.  (We didn’t get a phone until about 1947 and then it was four-party line.  Four families shared the same phone line.)  People were invariably home.  We visited each of my aunts at least once a month.  Some older married cousins were part of the visiting routine, too.   By the time we visited everyone, it was time to start again.  In addition to Dad’s 6 siblings and Mom’s four, by the time I was 10 or 12, I had 25 living first cousins--10 on my mother's side and 15 on Dad's, not including their spouses or children.  Two cousins had already died.  My oldest cousin, Al, was 26 years older than me and had a daughter a year my senior (Saranne and I are able to pick up a conversation where we left off, no matter how long since we saw each other. ) His sister, Vita, had a son older than me and later a daughter, Kathleen, with whom I often played.  Fourteen cousins were born between 1915 and 1931 and the rest were born between 1937 and 1949.  There were the old cousins and the young ones.  Since my brother was born in 1931, he was one of the old ones.   As of now, I have 9 surviving cousins, 3 over 80 and the rest close to me in age.  The family has been decimated. 
     By the time I was born, 3 of my grandparents had died.  Margarite was still alive but she died in December 1946 when I was 5.  I have very limited memories of her.  I do remember her doing a Saint Joseph’s Table about 1946 and being with her a couple of times.  Saint Joseph’s Day was always a special event in North Trenton.  Immordino’s Bakery made special bread for the occasion and people came from all over to get it.  The crust was mahogany in color, hard, and covered with sesame seeds.  The interior was pure white, soft and rich in taste.  It was only made for this Holiday. It was in 2 shapes:  round to symbolize St. Joseph’s crown or long to represent his staff.  Reportedly, the older women from Sicily, including Margarite went to the bakery to help/supervise the baking of this special bread.  Unfortunately, the art was lost as the older generation passed away.  The bread is no longer available.
After her death Dad’s family still tried to stay close but they had an uncanny ability to feud about the silliest things.  As Mom’s sister Mildred commented when she worked with the Lumia sisters in HD Lee’s, one had to check to see who was talking to whom before saying “Hello” in the morning.  I wrote about Dad’s sister in this blog, entitled “The Aunts.”
     Mom’s family was less fractious.  We were very close to my Uncle Joe, his wife Lillian and his children who were slightly younger than me.  We spent a lot of time together.  Mom’s baby sister came to live with us in 1945.  She had lived with Uncle Joe in the family home on Roebling.  Uncle Joe was in the process of being drafted in 1945.  He sold the house and made arrangements for Aunt Lil to move to Camden to be with her family.  Then the war ended!  Mom claims she had a dream in which her mother told her to take care of her sister.  Phil moved in that summer and lived with us until her last year.
I did spend many days with my Aunt Raffaella who took care of me when Mom worked during the war (WWII).  She and her husband were called Zitzi, a diminutive for Zia and Zio, by all the nieces and nephews.  Although Zitzi Raffe was only 6 years older than Mom, she always seemed much older.  Her children were adults, she spoke broken English and Zitzi Carmen spoke even less, though none of us had any difficulty understanding him.  I spent a good deal of time with their daughter, Lucy and with their son Peter, when he was on leave from the Navy prior to his being at Normandy.
Mom was very close to Uncle Charley and Aunt Anna.  Growing up she had been close to her Felcone cousins, especially Mary and Mickey.  However, Uncle Charley was her surrogate parent, I think.  He was my surrogate grandfather.  To this day, his daughters will greet me with, “My father loved you!”   We visited them as often as my parents’ siblings.
     Because my grandmothers were gone, the family had moved away from big family dinners or sharing Holiday meals.  I did not experience that part of being Italian as a child.  I do vaguely remember once being at Grandmom Lumia’s house.  It was either Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve and just before midnight the Aunts starting cooking pork chops.  Otherwise, Holiday meals were at home for individual families while visiting during Holidays was strictly required.  All my aunts baked for Christmas.  Each had specialty recipes.  The most special was Aunt Frances’ cream rolls which she made on clothes pins and filled with a heavenly white cream.  She always made sure to save some for me!  Anise biscotti, lekvar cookies, and sesame cookies were also frequently part of the Christmas goodies.