I guess I’ll keep this
as a title until I finish writing about family.
(Will I ever?)
My mother originally
had four sisters and a brother. Her
parents married in 1896 when her mother, Orsula Greco, was 16 and her father
was 22. Mom’s maternal grandparents had
died in 1890 and 1892. They were
apparently financially comfortable farmers.
Umile Greco, her maternal grandfather, built homes for each of his 7 children
who reached adulthood. My grandfather
Fedele Francesco Amodio was the only child of Maria Raffaela Ammirata and Giuseppe
Amodio. His mother was 40 when he was
born and his father was 46. I can find
no definitive evidence that either were married before. Giuseppe was a miller as were many in his
family. But, Frank was not. He learned to be a cobbler. When one visits
Bisignano today, one will find millers named Amodio and flour with Amodio label.
The first child of
Orsula and Frank was a girl, born on March 5, 1899. In Italian tradition she was named Raffaela,
after her paternal grandmother. Frank
left for American before the end of March, leaving his wife and daughter with
his parents.
Giuseppe died at 76 in
1903. Family lore reports that as he was
dying, he asked for 3 more months to get his affairs in order. On awakening, he found 3 ribbons on his
pillow. He lived 3 months more. Frank remained in America until late in
1904. He returned home and stayed until
1906. During that period, his wife gave birth to a second daughter, Rosaria
Genevra (my Mom). Apparently, the name
Rosaria referred to a saint’s statue in the local church that little Raffaela
liked. She convinced her Mom to name the
baby after it. Mom’s name should have
been Filomena after Orsula’s mother.
While in America, Frank
worked at John R. Roebling’s in Trenton and lived with Orsula’s oldest sister,
Rosaria and her husband Frank. When he
returned to Italy in 1909, Orsula quickly became pregnant and delivered a third
daughter on January 2, 1910. The baby’s
name was Maria Bambina. Frank returned
to America for the last time in late 1910.
In 1913 he sent money for his family to come to America. As I’ve mentioned before, his mother had
trachoma and was refused entry. Orsula
left behind a brother, Lucantonio, born 1876 who inherited their father’s farm
and 2 sisters, Annunziata, born 1883 and Maria Francesca born 1873. Orsula and her 3 daughters traveled on the
Verona, arriving in NYC May 8, 1913 after 2 weeks at sea. Mom remembered seeing the Statue of Liberty
as they came into New York Harbor.
The family settled in
with Orsula’s sister Rosaria. Later, they
rented a series of houses on Butler and Bayard Streets in the heart of the
Burg. By 1913 Orsula’s sister Concetta had 7 children and her brother Pasquale
(Uncle Charlie) was married and had a daughter.
He and his wife eventually had eight children. My mother was close to her Felcone cousins
growing up but remained very close to Uncle Charlie and his family always.
Orsula finally had a
little boy in August 1914, Joseph named for Frank’s father. During the next years, Mom started
school. Raffaela met a man she liked
very much. However, Concetta and Rosaria
did not like him and convinced Orsula to block the marriage. In October 1917, Raffaela married someone
from Bisignano, Carmine Aiello.
Raffaela, never let anyone forget that she did not really love
Carmine. The other man was her true
love. Yet they remained married for over 60 years. After Zitzi Carmen died, unfortunately Zitzi
Raffaela had a stroke and ended in nursing home. She died in 1987 at 88.
In December 1917, Maria
Bambina developed meningitis and died on the 10th. She was 7 years old. Orsula was pregnant at Raffaela’s wedding and
the funeral and had another daughter, Carmela born April 3, 1918. As with almost all Carmelas, she became known
as Mildred. Raffaela had a son, Frank,
born in the fall of 1918 named for both his grandfathers. Two years later in 1920, Orsula had another
girl, Philomena, born October 23 and Raffaela had a second son, in November,
named Joe. Raffaela continued to have
children every 2 years: Anthony, Peter,
Mary Grace, and Lucy.
Zitzi never worked out
of the home. She was an excellent seamstress and cook. Zitzi Carmen also was a
good cook. Margaret makes stuffed
mushrooms each Holiday modified from his recipe. They lived in a small row house. He had a garden in the back yard with a grape
arbor. They made bread which they gave
to nieces and nephews who visited. They
were very loving people. Zitzi loved to
frequent neighborhood stores, particularly a 5 and Dime on Hamilton
Avenue. She and Mom loved gadgets and
kitchen things. Once when Zitzi was
hospitalized the owners of the 5 and Dime sent flowers to their favorite
customer.
When I stayed with her,
we would go out on occasion to various stores.
She wore her hair long, plaited and in a bun in those days and she
always wore a hat. As a small child I would watch her ritual which ended with
her sticking a long hat pin into her head.
I knew that a hat pin did not go into my head, so I decided that women
must have soft heads that allowed them to stick pins into.
During the war (WWII)
Mom worked in a defense plant. I stayed
in Zitzi each day. Once I started school
I went there after school until someone came home. By the time I was in 3rd
grade I was a latch-key kid before the term was coined. My Dad was home with me for lunch and after
school I had about 30 minutes until Phil was home from work in the afternoon. I stayed with Zitzi until I was allowed to be
home alone from the time Dad went to work (2:15) until Phil came home in the
summer (@4).
I really know little
about life for Mom’s family in the 1920’s.
Mom went to work in HD Lee’s, making overalls in 1918. She had finished 6th grade. She was not happy about this as she wanted to
go to school. She always held this
action against her father but apparently never tried to go to school at night
as many other immigrants did. Mildred
did finish high school as did Joe. Phil
was intellectually challenged and was in special classes. At Lee’s Mom worked with her future
sisters-in-law.
It is always interesting
to get different siblings’ opinions of their parents. Mildred and Raffaela described their mother
as sharp and easy to anger. Mom said she
was never happy in America and missed her life in Italy. Life was not as she anticipated it would
be. Mildred claimed that my mother was
Orsula’s favorite. Mom sewed a great
deal, making clothes for Mildred and Phil.
I don’t ever remember
any of them saying nice things about Frank.
My mother adored Uncle Charlie, who was a wonderful man. She claimed her father drank a great
deal. He reportedly threw an alarm clock
at my father when he decided Dad had stayed too long at the house. Frank could read and write Italian and did
get his citizenship in 1937.
My parents met about 1927 at a
dance. Mom supposedly told her sisters
that she would never date/marry a bald man with a moustache who was
bowl-legged. Mildred remembers opening
the door when my father called, to find a balding, mustached bowl-legged man
standing there. Fortunately, Mildred
always liked my Dad. All of Mom’s family
did.
Mom was always
impressed with the Lumias, particularly the way Margarita was treated. She was Dona Margarita to her paesane. They married December 1, 1928, Frank’s
birthday. Orsula refused to dress
fashionably, wearing a shawl rather than a hat.
Margarita took Mom to NYC to buy her gown, a short one. Mom once said that long wedding dresses were
coming back into style and she wanted one but Margarita had bought a dress for
another daughter-in-law in September and would not do differently for Mom. The invitations were from Mr & Mrs. Frank
Amodio and Mrs. Margarita Lumia! Mom
asked her Felcone cousins to be in the wedding party and Dad asked friends. They had both been in Dad’s brother Ben’s
wedding in September.
My brother was born in
an apartment on Hamilton Avenue on June 17, 1931. Both Margarita and Orsula were in
attendance. Mom did not have an easy
time as Peter weighed about 9 pounds.
She also developed an abscess in her breast and was laid up for quite a
while. Margarita decided on the baby’s
name. He was to be named, Peter, after
her late husband. Mom did not like the
name. As Mildred reported, when
Margarita arrived the next day and Mildred opened the door, Margarita began
calling out, “His name is Peter! His
name is Peter! His name is Peter!” For a while as a small child Mom called him
“Sonny” but my brother was never one for nicknames. Until he died at 81, he was always Peter,
never Pete or any other nickname.
During the 1930’s, the
Great Depression, Mom and Dad moved in with the Amodios at 804 Roebling
Avenue. My Dad’s sister and
brother-in-law lived for a while with the Lumias. In the house were Joe, Mildred, Phil, the
older Amodios, Mom, Dad and after 1931, my brother. That was a crowded house.
In May 1935, Orsula had
a heart attack (according to her death certificate) and died. Mildred was to graduate from high school and
was to wear a white dress. Mom felt she
was now the mother in the house and told Mildred that she couldn’t possibly
wear white. Mom was always worried about other people’s opinions and what would
they say about wearing a white dress 6 weeks after Orsula died? Later that year, Mom, Dad, and Frank had a
major disagreement. They moved out in
December to the house on Commonwealth Avenue where they lived the rest of their
lives.
Frank developed colon
cancer and died on December 26, 1939.
Joe had married September 6, 1939.
He had met someone in Atlantic City.
Lillian was the first child born to John and Maria Barricelli after they
arrived from Italy. Lillian was a sweet
tiny woman whom I loved. They moved into
the Roebling Avenue house and had a son Frank born July 5, 1942. Mildred worked at HD Lees after high school
and met Anthony Scott who was a cutter.
Mildred worked with Dad’s sisters at the time. They married about 1941 or 42 and moved in
with his family. I never saw wedding
photos of Mildred’s wedding. I learned
as an older adult that my parents did not go.
She and Mildred had had another major blowout.
Towards the end of the
war, Joe was told he would be drafted.
He arranged for his wife and son to move back to Camden and sold the
house. His plans were interrupted when
the war ended. Meanwhile Mom said she
had a dream in which Orsula told her to “take care of her sister.” Phil moved in with us in 1945 and stayed
until she died. Mom never needed a baby
sitter and I always had a companion with whom to go to the movies at least once
a week.
Mom remained very close to her brother
and sister-in-law. My parents are godparents
to Joe’s youngest son, John. The two
families spent many nights and weekends together as my Dad worked nights and
Uncle Joe worked for the State during the day and as a bartender at night. He worked some of the posh places in town and
made good money. After John was born in
1949 they moved to Hamilton Twp.
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