The Del Grande and Paolini Families

The Del Grande and Paolini Families

written by

Armand Roderick Paolini

Original 2011
Updated 2020
 Prologue

As our two grown children, Nicole and Jared, have yet to start families of their own, they have been
able to join my wife and me on our family vacations: California, Wyoming, and our respective hometowns of
Bloomington and Chicago, Illinois. Wanting to take advantage of their freedom to travel, I proposed another
family vacation at Christmas, 2006. I was thinking of another national park in the United States, but Jared
proposed South America. My response was emphatic: if we were to consider foreign travel, there were only
two possibilities: Türkiye and Italy. The latter choice was unanimous.

In planning the trip, I started to read several travel guides to Italy, and so became overwhelmed at
the possibilities. I had no idea how to organize a trip that would not be a blur of train rides, hotels, piazzas
and churches. I discussed the problem with my wife Kathy, who immediately said that Nicole and Jared
would want to see the hometown of their great grandparents. I considered the possibility.

My grandparents were born in a town in the Abruzzo, a mountainous region on the eastern edge of
the Italian peninsula. Kathy and I had visited the town in 1973, and while quaint, it certainly was not
remarkable. My grandparents had moved to the city of Naples upon their marriage, and they lived there for
ten years before immigrating to America. To visit this city gave me apprehension to say the least. Kathy and
I had traveled in Italy in 2003, and we spent a day in Naples, terrified that we were going to be mugged and
our purses stolen. While no such event occurred, the warnings and stories of persons who had not been so
fortunate gave me pause.

To make the visits to both Popoli and Naples meaningful, I had hoped to identify the houses where
my grandmother, Maria Beatrice Del Grande, and my grandfather, Ildebrando Alfredo Paolini, had lived. I
thought that their birth and marriage records would have their family's address, and that such records were
maintained by both civil and church authorities. In Naples, Alfredo and Beatrice operated a tailor shop for
women's clothes, and they lived in an apartment above the shop. Since five sons were born in Naples,
records of their births would be recorded by both civil and church authorities. I therefore plunged into the
labyrinth of family genealogy.

I knew that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) has collected birth records
from all over the world so that their adherents could rescue the departed souls of their ancestors who had
never learned of Jesus Christ and who were languishing in purgatory. The Church had established the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City to coordinate and hold these records that had been captured on microfilm. I
located the film of the Registri dello stato civile (1809-1910) and began my search, but I was soon
overwhelmed. The quality of the image was poor, and I could hardly decipher, let alone translate, the Italian
script. I therefore turned to a professional in the field.

Residing in the city of L’Aquila in the Abruzzo region where the town of Popoli is located, Pierangela
Badia responded to my inquiry: "Popoli is not a large place. In some indexes I have I found the birth of Del
Grande Gilda in the year 1882, a Del Grande Donato in 1887, a Del Grande Ungaro (your Hugo?) in 1889."
She sounded as though she knew these people! She provided a report of her findings, mainly the birth
records of the Del Grande children, that is, the siblings of my grandmother, her father Francesco Paolo Del
Grande and her mother Gemma Castricone. She did provide addresses from their birth records, but none of
the streets could be found on a current map of the town.

For records in Naples, I employed the services of Joe De Simone who was able to locate the civil
marriage record of Alfredo and Beatrice, and the birth records of their children born in Naples.

i
 Apparently I wore out my welcome. I wanted to focus on identifying the churches of my
grandparents, and uncovering several mysteries and gaps in the histories of my immediate ancestors.
Pierangela seemed to want to identify Del Grande's and Paolini's back to the beginning of time. So I
employed another researcher, Carolyn B. Ugolini, who resides in Salt Lake City. She reads Italian, and of
course, has immediate access to the documents in the Family History Center. She provided information that
filled several gaps in the record, and also corrected some false conclusions that Pierangela and I had made.
But again, when requested to do research outside the bounds of "birth, marriage, and death," she demurred.
And so I was on my own.

I did receive enormous assistance through the local chapter of POINTers (Pursuing Our Italian Names
Together) called Il Circolo Filippo Mazzei, particularly from Donna Dengler and Daniel Else, who, in addition
to doing genealogical research, lived in the area of Naples while serving in the U.S. Navy. They were
especially helpful in locating the addresses of the residences in Naples, and in reading replies from inquiries
that I had made from Italian agencies. But most assistance was rendered and is still being received from
Norma Milas, whose mother was a Paolini from Popoli, and who I met through the Italian Genealogical
Group. As she pursues her research, we are constantly sharing our findings, stories, triumphs, failures and
always adding little bits and pieces of information as though we were putting a jigsaw puzzle together. She
is my mentor and a constant source of inspiration and encouragement.

After our trip to Italy in 2008, I wrote three papers: A Trip to Italy 2008: Tracing the Roots of our
Italian Ancestors, a travelogue; Tracing Our Italian Roots, the history of the Del Grande and Paolini families in
Italy; The Family of Beatrice and Alfredo Paolini, the history of the Del Grande and Paolini families in
America.

A genealogical history is never complete but in 2008, I wanted to get what I had on paper. Since the
trip, I have continued my investigation and have found errors in the first edition plus solved some of the
mysteries at the time of those writings. Among the most noteworthy was the elimination of non-existent
Marie Marie Paolini who was mistaken for Marie Ines Paolini; the discovery of the birth place and parents of
Donato(#2) Del Grande; and the identity and burial place of Arcangela Del Grande.

Over these past three years as my investigation continued, I have come in contact with several
hitherto unknown relatives. Before the trip to Italy, I had used a 14-day trial subscription to Ancestry.com,
and I had entered three names into its online database. Upon my return, I purchased an ongoing
subscription, and I deleted one of the names in the database. Within a day, I received an E-mail from Karen
Alfano, a second cousin and a descendant of Angiolina Del Grande, one of my grandmother’s sisters. As we
both searched census records of descendants, we found Robert Sirimarco, a second cousin once removed
and his wife Alice Roche, Kathryn Lynn Leuke, a second cousin and descendant of one of my grandmother’s
brother, and lastly, Ellen Ann O’Connor, a first cousin once removed and a descendant of my aunt Emily. As
we continue to share facts, stories, and photographs, we are deepening our knowledge and perpetuating the
history of the Del Grande and Paolini families.

The facts of this genealogical research are stored in a database management system called
RootsMagic that I maintain. Periodically, I upload the essential facts of birth, marriage, and death, to my Del
Grande - Paolini database that is maintained on the Ancestry.com website where it can be viewed publically.

Armando Rod Paolini

January, 2011

ii
 The Family of Alfredo and Beatrice Paolini

Ildebrando Alfredo Paolini

Beatrice Maria Del Grande

Armando
Adolfo (Adolph)
Arturo (Arthur Sr.)

Aldo Amelia (Emily) Attilio (Otto, Ottie)

iii
 Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Return to Italy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Ildebrando Alfredo Paolini.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3. Emigration of the Del Grande. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4. Life for the Paolini in Naples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5. The Del Grande in Utica, New York. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

6. The Del Grande Move to Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

7. Arcangela Del Grande. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

8. The Paolini Decide to Emigrate to America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

9. The Emigration of the Paolini. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

10. Donato Del Grande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

11. Early Years in Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

12. Discovery of Donato Paolini. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

13. Work and Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

14. The Great War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

15. The Family Reunited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

16. Five Weddings and Two Funerals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

17. Conclusion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Epilogue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Appendices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
A: Manifest of the ship SS Moltke
B: Italy’s Commissariat of Emigration
C: Ethnic Territories of the Near West Side
D: Arrigo Park
E: Italian Funeral Customs
F: St. Mary Training School for Boys
G: Observations and Opinions of Italy and Italians
H. Descendant List of Francesco Paolo Del Grande

iv
 Introduction

Quelli che manca di scrivere delle vite di loro antenati merita li è dimenticati.
(Those who fail to write about the lives of their ancestors deserve to be forgotten themselves.)

Genealogy has no beginning point save perhaps Adam and Eve–or Lucy–depending upon your
religious beliefs–and the end point is always a moving forward. My purpose was not to trace my pedigree to
some distant ancestor who, of course, would be of noble birth. I wanted to know more about the people that I
had known in my childhood: my grandmother, my aunt and uncles. Therefore this family history covers only
three generations: their life in Italy, their passage to America, and their life in America.

Genealogy is primarily concerned with three basic facts: birth, marriage and death. I have gathered
that data, and I present the essential in these pages; but I wanted to capture the storia of the Paolini and Del
Grande families – the Italian language using one word for both concepts. Over the course of my own life, I had
heard legends, stories, little incidents, and opinionated descriptions of my relatives. I heard the many stories of
my father so often that they became somewhat tiresome; now I worry that they will never be told again. And
so I decided to write them in order that they may be preserved.

As I began to gather the stories and write them, another purpose evolved: to put their story in the
context of time and place. I attempt to describe the historical events, movements, and conditions of the period
that impacted or at least influenced the decisions and the lives of these people. They lived in momentous
times! Their lives were emblematic of what some consider the largest mass migration of contemporary times.
They struggled out of poverty. They integrated themselves into American life and culture. No doubt the basic
theme of the struggle of immigrants in America has been told many times by many nationalities. But this is my
history. These were my ancestors. I knew them. Before this writing, I had not the awareness to express my
gratitude.

Most historiography is written about great men and women doing extraordinary things. This is the
storia of ordinary people seemingly doing ordinary things at the time and from their own point of view. It is
when we, their heirs and beneficiaries, look over such a life, we appreciate their extraordinary
accomplishments.

While much of the factual information comes from archival sources such as birth records,
naturalization petitions, census data, and ship manifests, the accounts of incidents and the description of events
stem from two principle sources: my mother, Isabel Flavia Daniels Paolini, who was thoughtful and kind enough
to inquire and listen to her mother-in-law tell her stories over the years; and my father, Attilio (Otto) Paolini
who told his stories to me since I was a child, but who also wrote them in his autobiography. Since my father's
story is part of the family's history, and because it provides a perspective of the family, I have included, to a
considerable degree, direct quotes from his autobiography.

v
 This is my third effort in trying to capture and report the storia of my Italian ancestors. My first
attempt was when I was a sophomore at Beloit College when I was given an assignment to interview a person
and write their autobiography. I attempted to interview my grandmother, but I had not the skill to conduct an
interview, and she was too modest to extol her own story. It was a lost opportunity I sorely regret. Over the
years, I did learn her story from my father and mother, and so I wrote her a card:

Dear Grandmother Paolini,

Someone suggested that I change my name. Paolini is a difficult

name to spell correctly, and no one can pronounce it. But after
hearing of all that you have done in your life, I'm very proud to
be a Paolini.

I hope that this storia explains why.

vi
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 Page 1 of 177

Chapter 1

Return to Italy

Reflection in Naples

The caretaker asked whether or not she wished to see her son. Beatrice1 thought a moment, and then
declined. When he died, his little body had been embalmed and supposedly preserved; but when she saw him
last–just before departing for America, she had notice a spot of decay. No, she thought She did not want to
see her child with any disfigurement. She asked to remain awhile in the little mausoleum as she wished to be
alone with her beloved son, Attilio, who had died at age six months.

Beatrice had returned to Naples after emigrating from Italy forty-seven years earlier in 1906. As she sat
in the quiet of this solitary space, she reflected on her life: its milestones, its tragedies, its great contrasts, and
the great events within her lifetime.

She was born and raised in this small town of Popoli in the mountainous region of the Abruzzo, and now
she lived in the second largest city in America–Chicago. She had worked as a little girl in her father’s tailor shop
cleaning the hems of ladies’ dresses. When only seventeen, she married, and she and her husband started their
own tailoring shop in Naples. After tens years, the family had joined one of the greatest flood of emigrants the
world has ever seen. In leaving Italy, she had crossed the Atlantic on the SS Moltke, berthed in steerage, and
now she had returned on the luxury liner, the SS Andrea Doria, in her own cabin. She had lost a husband and
two sons. She had endured deprivation and hardship through two world wars and the Great Depression. She
had been a union organizer and striker in the movement to improve working conditions in the great industrial
age while becoming head of the household and chief wage earner for her family of five sons and one daughter.
She had worked forty-three years in the garment industry, and now she was retired and could afford to take a
European vacation, including a trip to her country of origin and the two towns in which she had lived.

The Region of Abruzzo

Listen to him talk about the Abruzzi. There's more snow there than here. He doesn't want to see
peasants. Let him go to centres of culture and civilization.
Hemingway, Ernest, A Farewell to Arms

Beatrice had returned a few days prior from a visit to her hometown of Popoli, in the Abruzzo, which is
a region located midway along the Italian peninsula and adjacent to the Adriatic Sea; it is east of Rome and
northeast of Naples (see maps).

As the train rolled eastward, it began its slow ascent, first meandering through the valleys, and then
cutting directly through the mountains in tunnels that seemed to be miles in length. These mountains

1
‘Beatrice' is not a particularly beautiful name in English, but in Italian it is pronounced, "ba-ä-'tre-(,)cha,"
or "bee a' tree' che", which I think is quite beautiful. It is the name of the woman idealized by Dante Alighieri in his
masterpiece, the Divine Comedy. In a work by Paget Toynbee entitled, Dante Alighieri: His Life and Works, the
author mentions that Beatrice Portinari was called Bice (pronounced Bee’ che), and my grandmother was called by
this nickname as well.
 Page 2 of 177

surrounded the town of Popoli as the walls of her village. They reflected the seasons of the year: green in
summer, then turning bright red and yellow in autumn, then brown, and finally white when laden with snow in
winter. The mountains were dotted with little villages that made the scenery so picturesque. She wished she
could visit every one of them, but she was anxious to reach Popoli. The train lumbered through the Apennines
mountains, and then braced itself as it descended into the inter-mountain basin of Sulmona. The winding
descent of the train reminded her of a trip she had taken with her father when she was a child. Traveling by the
diligenza or stagecoach, the road switched back and forth, thus allowing the passengers to view the valley
below on one side of the coach and then the other. With each turn, they viewed the little town that was their
destination. Obviously unaware of this contortion, a woman passenger remarked: "My! There are so many
towns on this road!" Beatrice and her father just smiled at each other.

The mountains didn’t seem as high as when she was a little girl, but
she knew that they had greatly influenced life in the Abruzzo. Until the
building of the railroad, they had been a barrier to travel and to commerce
such that the Abruzzese were isolated. They lagged in economic development
and awareness of the changing social and political ideas. They were viewed
by their countrymen as provincials. Much of the poverty of the South of Italy
has been attributed to the large landowners who did not introduce modern
farming methods; but even if they had done so, it would have been impossible
to transport their produce to the markets of Naples, Rome, and Pescara
because there were few roads around and out of this mountainous region.
Diligenza

From time immemorial, the economy of the region had been based
on sheep farming and agriculture, practiced according to age-old methods.
Abruzzo was the summer feeding grounds for the great transhumance, the
seasonal movement of livestock, mainly sheep, that started in spring from
Foggia in the region of Puglia, almost 185 miles (300km) to the southeast.2
Now, since World War II, the transhumance has been replaced by sedentary
forms of sheep-breeding integrated with agriculture.3

Transhumance movement
After the unification of Italy in 1860-1870, there was a great
expectation of agrarian reform, but because of collusion between the large
landowners of the south and the industrialists of the north, the reform never took place, and many farmers lost
their property as they could not pay their taxes. Many, along with former soldiers of the army of Garibaldi (Red
Shirts) and the army of the Bourbons, turned to brigandage. Viewed by their supporters, past and present, their
activity was not just thievery but an insurrection. Reprisals were cruel and bloody on both sides, and often the

2
Luigi, “Transhumance in central Italy”, Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog, August 30, 2007.
http://agro.biodiver.se/2007/08/transhumance-in-central-italy/

3
Avram, Maria, “The Legacy of Transhumance in National Park of Abruzzo Lazio and Molise (PNALM):
Rediscovery and Exploitation,” GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, Year II, no. 2, vol. 4, 2009, pag. 153-159.
http://gtg.webhost.uoradea.ro/PDF/GTG-2-2009/06_OK_Avram.pdf, online November 30, 2009.
 Page 3 of 177

Italy and the region of Abruzzo Abruzzo region

poor were caught in the middle of fights; whole villages were destroyed and hundreds of peasants were shot
without a trial under the unfounded accusation of protecting the brigands. In the end, brigandage was brutally
suppressed ending about 1878–a year before Beatrice was born.

The isolation of the Abruzzo was finally

broken by the introduction of the railway
network which connected Pescara, Ancona and
Foggia, and later in the Sangro area, to Naples.

Map of Popoli
 Page 4 of 177

Popoli

Popoli in the Mountains

Popoli by the Pescara River

Photos courtesy of Giovanni Lattanzi at

www.inabruzzo.it/fotoabruzzo

Popoli in the morning

 Page 5 of 177

In ancient times, the Abruzzo was inhabited by several peoples, including the Equi, Marsi, Vestini and
Sabini while Popoli, Corfino and Sulmona were in the area of the Paeligni. All were conquered by the Romans
before the third century BCE. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the region broke up into small feudal
states, and during the early Middle Ages, the Abruzzo was under the control of the Lombard duchy of Spoleto.
In the 12th century the Normans conquered the territory, which became part of the Kingdom of Sicily and then
were subjects of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen which had the neighboring city of Sulmona as its regional capital.

After the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the 13th century, the regions of Abruzzo and Molise in
turn came under the control of the Anjou (Charles of Anjou), the Aragonese (Alfonso V of Aragon), the Spanish
Hapsburgs (Charles VIII), and finally, in the 18th century, the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples (1735-1796), under
whose rule the region was divided into sub-regions of Molise,4 Abruzzo Ulteriore I, Abruzzo Ulteriore II,
Abruzzo Citra–hence it was, and is, often referenced in the plural: Abruzzi. By the early 19th century, small
liberal groups were taking part in revolutionary activities, and in 1860 the region became part of the united
Kingdom of Italy.

The Town of Popoli

I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain
surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers in their
birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which
they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among
their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is this sense
of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they
may attach themselves. Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which
his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history.

– W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

After passing through the city of Sulmona, Beatrice could see in the distance, on Monte Rotondo5, the
ruins of the Castello di Popoli (see photograph), originally built in 1016. In a few minutes, she arrived at the
train station. When she was a little girl, she was at this very station when the first train came to Popoli in the
late 1800s. A smile came to her lips as she recalled an old man warning her: "Don't ever go on that
machine–that's the work of the Devil." The Catholic Church also did not have a favorable opinion of this
newfangled contraption, and it had forbidden its followers to use the railways as it was believed to promote

4
In 1953 there were five provinces comprising the region: L'Aquila, Pescara, Teramo, Chieti and
Campobasso, the latter being split-off to from the region of Molise in 1963.
5
Di Gregorio, Luciano, Abruzzo, Bradt Travel Guides Ltd, Bucks, England, January 2010, p.89.
 Page 6 of 177

public indecency.6 Pope Gregory XVI

(1831–1846) prevented the construction of
railways in the Papal States, and was reputed to
have said "chemin de fer, chemin d'enfer" ("the
iron road, the road to hell").7 Pope Pius IX (1792-
1878) was more sympathetic to modern times,
especially after independence and unification,
and allowed the introduction of railways--and
even gas lighting–in 1860.

Beatrice exited the station and walked

along the street that had since been renamed
Viale Bruno Buozzi.8 She crossed over the
confluence of the rivers Aterno and Pescara on
Photo courtesy of Paolo Mulazzani at www.fotomulazzani.com
the bridge called the Ponte Risorgimento. The
rivers ran as clear now as they did when she
lived here as there are numerous springs that form a small, crystal-clear lake, surrounded by woods and
reedbeds.9

She entered the town from the west, and stopped to rest in the Piazza Giuseppe Paolini (see
photograph), a public square dedicated to an infantry commander of the Italian Army and recognized for his
actions during the Great War. In addition to recognition by his countrymen, he was recognized by the United
States:

Army Distinguished Service Medal

Awarded for actions during the World War I

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9,
1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to
Lieutenant General Giuseppe Paolini, Italian Army, for exceptionally meritorious and
distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the
United States, during World War I. While Commanding the 11th Army Corps, 3d Italian
Army, General Paolini rendered services of inestimable value to the American
Expeditionary Forces and to the cause in which the United States has been engaged.

General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 45 (1919)

6
A more cynical explanation is that the pope opposed basic technological innovations because he believed
that they would promote commerce and increase the power of the bourgeoisie, leading to demands for liberal
reforms which would undermine the monarchical power of the papacy in the Papal States (central Italy).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_XVI
7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Vatican_City#cite_note-3
8
A trade unionist and Italian politician who openly defied fascism by leading strikes in 1925. He was
persecuted by the regime and threatened many times to death, forcing him to move to France. He returned to
Italy and was active in the Resistance; on the run, he was arrested and shot by the Germans in 1944.
9
The area is now the Pescara Springs Nature Reserve.
 Page 7 of 177

While she now bore the same name, Paolini,

she knew that it was doubtful that her husband was a
relation to so prominent of person.

She resumed her travel on Via Capponi.10 She

noted that there was a whole new section of the town
to the south, but she proceeded directly to the old
section and the main square: the Piazza della Libertà11
(see photograph).

Piazza Paolini and the

Monument to the Fallen circa 1950
Courtesy of Norma Milas

10
Marquis Gino Capponi (1792-1876) was an Italian statesman and historian.
11
http://www.tavernaducalepopoli.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/92/the-collection
 Page 8 of 177

Popoli

Sorgenti_del_Pescara
Courtesy of Viaggio in Abruzzo
http://www.viaggioinabruzzo.it/

Monument to the Fallen with a statue to Liberty

Courtesy of RABoe/Wikipedia; photo found at

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Popoli_36.jpg
License requirements at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/legalcode

Piazza della Libertà

Courtesy of Viaggio in Abruzzo
http://www.viaggioinabruzzo.it/

Piazza Duchi Cantelmo

Courtesy of Viaggio in Abruzzo
http://www.viaggioinabruzzo.it/
 Page 9 of 177

Popoli

Via Cavour

Scalinata Trinità dei Monti e Santissima Trinità

Courtesy of Antonio Di Bacco
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vulkan/136390017/in/photostream/

Campanile di Santissima Trinità

Santi Lorenzo e Biagio

Piazza San Lorenzo

 Page 10 of 177

It might have been called Piazza Margherita12 when she lived in Popoli, but it probably appeared much
the same to her then as it did when she was a little girl, having maintained its original 15th century character
with its apartment buildings, palazzi, and the church of San Francesco all surrounding the paved square with a
fountain in the middle.

Though she traveled lightly, her arm was beginning to ache from carrying her suitcase. She found the
hotel and approached the front desk: “Mi chiamo Beatrice Paolini. Ho una prenotazione.” Without hesitation,
the desk clerk replied, “Ah sì, sì, signora Paolini. L’ho!” It was such a pleasure to be able to say her name only
once to have it understood, and not having to spell it two or three times. She quickly freshened herself and
then resumed her tour of the town.

She walked up Via Cavour13 and past

the Piazza Duchi Cantelmo to the Scalinata
Trinità dei Monti (the Flight of steps of the
trinity of mountains) to view once again the
churches Santissima Trinità and the adjacent
Santi Lorenzo e Biagio (see photographs). The
flight of stairs seemed higher and longer now
than when she scampered up and down them
as a young girl. She gazed up at the campanile
of Santissima Trinità to read the date: 1648.
As she reached the top, memories flooded her
mind.

Via Cavour and the Scalinata Trinità dei Monti One day she and her sister Gilda
Courtesy of Viaggio in Abruzzo entered the bell tower and rang the bells.
http://www.viaggioinabruzzo.it/ They secreted themselves so that no one
could see them. When the townspeople
came to the church to determine who had rung the bells, they found no one, and then declared: “Un miracolo,
un miracolo!"

Beatrice and Gilda performed another miracle when they went into the church and hid behind the
statue of the Virgin Mary. When an old and crippled woman, walking with the aid of a cane, came to pray to
the Virgin, Beatrice and Gilda whispered from behind the statue in order to sound as though the Virgin was
speaking. The old woman became hysterical, and even though she was not able to walk, she hobbled and
stumbled out of the church. The old woman and townspeople again declared that a miracle had occurred.
Unfortunately, a week later, the poor women died. Beatrice thought sadly, but with a touch of whimsy: "We
killed that lady!"

12
Margherita of Savoy (Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna (1851– 1926)), was the Queen consort of the
Kingdom of Italy during the reign (1878-1900) of her husband, Umberto I; she was quite popular among the Italian
people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Margherita
13
Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour (1810–1861) was a leading figure in the movement
toward Italian unification.
 Page 11 of 177

Beatrice visited the many houses14 in which her family–the Del Grande–had resided. They were easily
remembered by the births of the Del Grande children, including her own:

Name Date of Birth Date of Death Address where born

Maria Beatrice 2 May 187915 6 Jan 1969 Via Offia, No. 30
Maria Gilda 30 Jan 1882 26 Aug 1944| Via Offia, No. 30
Maria Angiolina 8 Feb 1884 5 Jan 1968 Via Attoia, No. 5
Maria Nazzarena 6 Mar 1886 8 Dec 1887 Via San Lorenzo 20
Inez Guistina 29 Jun 1887 7 Feb 1889 Via San Lorenzo 45
Ungaro Tarquinio 31 Ju1 1889 3 Nov 1943 Via di Sopra 45
Maria Ines 14 Dec 1891 May 1971
Carlo Alberto 23 Dec 1893 4 Jul 1973 Vico Venti Aurelio Saffi, n. 10
Italia 24 Apr 1896 20 Jul 1887
Italia Arminda (Lillian) 27 Feb 1899 16 Apr 1987 Born in the United States
Donato 26 Jan 1904 6 Jan 1909 Born in the United States

None of the names of the streets now exist (year 2010), and they may have been changed even before
Beatrice returned in 1953. With the exception of Vico Venti Aurelio Saffi, all the addresses were probably
around the Piazza San Lorenzo (see map and photograph)
of today. It is surprising how many times the Del Grande
family moved in the course of twenty-five years.

Beatrice searched for familiar faces, and asked

several people that she met whether or not they
remembered the Del Grande family. Only one old man
thought that he remembered them. No Del Grande reside
in the town now.

Family Legends

The ancestors of the Del Grande family resided in Scalinata Trinità dei Monti
16 Courtesy of Antonio Di Bacco
the hill town of Pacentro, southeast of Popoli and
Sulmona; but the family name may go back even farther. www.flickr.com/photos/vulkan/2179889009/
One legend is that the Del Grande were French aristocracy
and had to flee the country during the French Revolution (1789–1799), but a descendant of the family was
dissolute and dissipated the family fortune. As described, the legend is obviously false as the Del Grande, or De
Grandis as the surname is listed in several birth records, were residing in Italy as early as 1735–well before the
French Revolution.

14
The dates and addresses of the births in Italy were taken from the Registri dello Stato Civile, 1809-1910
by genealogist Pierangela Badia who lives in the capital of the region, L’Aquila.
15
Records that were created based upon declarations by Beatrice have the year of 1880, but her birth
record (Atto di Nascita) is in the year 1879.
16
The ancestral home of Madonna Ciccone–better know simply as “Madonna.”
 Page 12 of 177

It seems that many Italians retain their patronymic Latin plural ending "-is" and "-ibus", such as De
Amicis and De Fidelibus. Thus “de Grandis” is Latin for Del Grande.17

Another legend is that they came from Spain.18 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain,
gained control of most of Italy in the 16th century, and brought Spaniards to be administrators of territories and
cities, such as the famous Pedro Álvarez de Toledo who was appointed Viceroy of Naples. It is possible that a
Del Grande came for such a position or as a retainer to someone. How and why he and/or his descendants
settled in a poor and isolated town in the Abruzzo is a mystery.

The earliest record of the De Grandis is an atto di matrimonio for the son of Vincenzo De Grandis.19
Vincenzo, at the year of his death, was sixty-nine in 1804, and thus he was born about 1735.20 He had a father
named Paolo, so the De Grandis were in Pacentro at an even earlier date.

The son of Vincenzo De Grandis was Raffaele, and he married Maria Carmina D’Inocenzzo in 1823; they
had at least two children: Donato and Arcangela. Donato married Angela Moscia in 1849 and they had seven
children21:

Name Date of Birth

Marianna 18 Jan 1851
Maria Raffaela 5 Jul 1852
Anna 26 Feb 1854
Francesco Paolo 11 Mar 1856
Lucia 26 Dec 1857
Maria Grazia 30 Nov 1859
Angiolo 13 Apr 1862

The genealogist who was retained to provide extracts of the birth, marriage, and death records of the
Del Grande and Paolini families in Popoli stated “there is no Del Grande any more.”22 However, as further
research has shown and will be described later in chapter 10, there were other Del Grande from Popoli that
immigrated to America.

17
http://www.italyheritage.com/genealogy/surnames/regions/abruzzo/
18
This legend was told by Carol Jean Paolini [Tallon] in a private conversation with the author.

19
E-mail correspondence with Pierangela Badia, genealogical researcher in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, June
20, 2007: “12. 1823 10 July – marriage act of Raffaele de Grandis yo 43 born in Pacentro son of late Vincenzo and
late Francesca Paola Iezzi with Carmina D'Innocenzo born in Popoli of Silvestro and Gioconda Castricone.”
20
E-mail correspondence with Pierangela Badia, genealogical researcher in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, June
20, 2007: 15. 1804 18 December – death-extract of Vincenzo de Grandis of late Paolo, husband of Francesca Paola
Iezzi, age 69 birth about 1735 (attached in 1823 marriage acts).

21
E-mail correspondence with Pierangela Badia, genealogical researcher in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, June
20, 2007.
22
E-mail from Pierangela Badia, February 23, 2007.
 Page 13 of 177

A possible derivation of the Italian name – chiefly Venetian –stems from the meaning of the name:
literally ‘of’ or ‘belonging to the big one’ or ‘the great one' (see Grande), hence a name denoting the son,
apprentice, associate, or servant of such a man.23

Beatrice's father was Francesco Paolo Del Grande, but respectfully addressed as ‘Don Francesco.'24 The
title "Don" (and Donna for women) is an honorific originally reserved for royalty, select nobles, and church
hierarchs, possibly originating in Spain but adopted by other Latin countries. It was/is often used as a mark of
esteem for a person of personal, social or official distinction, such as a community leader of long standing or a
person of significant wealth.

Infant Mortality

Beatrice came to the cemetery. Her mother, Gemma Castricone, bore eleven children.25 Three of them
died before the age of two: Maria Nazzarena, Ines Guistina, and Italia. She still felt the loss as she had played
and cared for them all. She looked briefly for the graves but decided that their graves had been removed and
the site reused. Land for cemeteries in Italy is limited, and grave sites are reused.

Infant mortality was very high in Italy before the late 1900s. In 1911 it was 151/1,000 meaning that 151
babies out of 1,000 born had died before they were a year old; in 1950, about the time of Beatrice’s visit, the
figure had greatly decreased though still relatively high: 70/1,000. These high rates encouraged people to have
several children, especially those living in rural areas.26

There were several causes of infant mortality, the primary being intestinal infections, especially during
the summer.27 Infants were sometimes fed a formula of pabulum consisting of animal’s milk mixed with grain,
and if it were given repeatedly during a period of fourteen hours or more, there was an increased likelihood of
gastroenteritis, diarrhea, or constipation. The mixture should have been cooked until thickened in order to
soften the grain and kill bacteria. Were it not baked, either to conserve fuel and/or to not bother to make a

23
http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=del%20grande
24
In the course of my genealogical research, I discovered several names for my great grandfather. Of
course his birth name was Francesco Paolo Del Grande, but I remember that my father referred to him as Don
Francesco. This title was probably used in formal settings and before small children upon whom their parents
wished to instill a sense of respect for elders. On the manifest of his first voyage to America, he is listed as "Franc.
Del Grande" and on census sheet and on his tomb, his name is written as "Frank Del Grande." His grandson,
Robert Sirimarco, said that he was called "Chico Paolo," probably a nickname in informal settings among close
friends.
25
In the biography of Lily, it states that she "had three brothers and eight sisters.” Thus, there would be a
total of twelve children, including Lily. The eleven listed are confirmed by birth records.
26
John Davidson, The Demographic Transition Model: Italy and Kenya Compared, GeoActive Online, Series
14 Autumn issue Unit 276 The Demographic Transition Model: Italy and Kenya Compared © 2002 Nelson Thornes.
http://www.nelsonthornes.com/secondary/geography/geoactive/series14/ga276.pdf
27
Arlacchi, Pino, Mafia, Peasants, and Great Estates: Society in Traditional Calabria, Press Syndicate of the
University of Cambridge, 1980, p. 182.
 Page 14 of 177

fire, especially on a hot day, the pabulum would be even more difficult to digest and be more susceptible to
bacterial growth.28

Several studies found that the contamination of milk led to several medical complications:

Even sterile milk contains saprophytic bacteria, and if milk is left standing in warm
weather, counts rise very rapidly to more than one million per milliliter. One group of these
bacteria causes the souring of milk, which is harmless, but other strains evoke vomiting and
diarrhea. Even when death did not follow, the standard treatment of providing the infant
with no food until it recovered served to weaken further its resistance to a variety of
infectious diseases.29

In addition to contaminated food, there were infectious diseases: malaria, bacterial meningitis, cholera,
smallpox, and typhoid.

Lastly, and somewhat surprisingly, poor care by mother substitutes was found to be a factor in
contributing to infant mortality. Mothers sometimes had to leave the care of an infant and younger children to
that of an older child for a short time to either shop or tend the garden; or, in the case of a farmer’s wife, to
bring in the harvest, in which case, she may be absent the entire day. Incompetent or inattentive care might
include improper or inadequate feeding; failure to maintain sanitary conditions, such as not washing hands with
soap and water; and tying the baby with bands of cloth, either too tightly thereby cutting off circulation, or too
loosely so that the baby may have pried the band to its neck and then choked.

A case of poor care by a mother substitute was told innocently by Beatrice herself. As the oldest, she
was often entrusted with the care of her younger siblings. One day she was given the care of Ungaro, who was
a baby at the time. There was a shed for animals nearby, and she put Ungaro in a manger–“just like the baby
Jesus,” she said--and then went out to play. Forgetting all about him, she spent the entire day playing, and did
not remember her charge until it was time to return home. She rushed to the shed and found him completely
covered with hay. Fearing that he was dead, she frantically brushed away the hay only to find him well and
happy. She carefully brushed off all the hay and solemnly returned him to her mother.

Improvements in various aspects of infant health and care have greatly reduced infant mortality in Italy
and the world: “advances in medical knowledge of disease transmission, rising concern with public health,
widespread pasturization of milk (which alone may have cut infant mortality from 150 per 1,000 to less than
100 per 1,000), development of vaccination programs, and better nutrition due both to agricultural production
increases and reduced population pressure resulting from emigration.”30 Italy now has one of the lowest infant

28
Bell, Rudolph M., Fate and Honor, Family and Village: Demographic and Cultural Change in Rural Italy
Since 1800, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1979, p. 40.

29
Ibid., p. 41.
30
Ibid, p.56.
 Page 15 of 177

mortality rates in the world: 5.51 (compared 6.26 for the United States).31 As a consequence, Italians are now
having small families.

Beatrice thought about her own close call as a bambina. The family was returning home late one night
with a group of friends. With the exception of the driver, all were laying on the straw of the wagon with baby
Beatrice asleep on a white pillow. Lulled by the plodding pace of the ox and the swaying motion of the cart,
everyone dozed off. Someone awoke and noticed that the pillow and Beatrice were gone. An awakened Don
Francesco looked back down the road and saw a small white spot in the distance. Racing back, he found her still
asleep on her pillow.

Popoli the Name

The use of oxen, mules and donkeys were still in evidence as Beatrice proceeded on her tour of Popoli.
She came to the Taverna Ducale, also known as the Taverna Vecchia (see photograph), built in the 14th century.
It was originally built by Giovanni Cantelmo,32Count of Popoli.33 It was built to collect the decima, a tithe or the
tenth part of a property’s value, which the vassals (subjects) had to give to their suzerain. Later the building
became a taverna and then a hotel, using the rooms on the upper floor as guest rooms. It is one of the most
historical medieval buildings in Abruzzo with its remarkable facade full of emblems and decorations.

As a settlement, the town has pre-Roman origins, though its current layout dates from the 13th century.
Lying along the main transportation routes from the Adriatic coasts to Naples, the so-called Via degli Abruzzi,
the town has always had strategic importance. It was a prosperous town during the Middle Ages, with a
thriving wool industry and basking in the patronage of the wealthy families of the Kingdom of Naples.34

The name Popoli can be simply translated as ‘peoples', but the etymology of the name is uncertain. It's
name has been said to derive from the Latin word "populus" for the pioppo plant that grows in abundance
around the area. However, this theory is not widely accepted because the pioppo plant grows all over Italy,
making it an inadequate reason to name a town. Another theory is based on the ancient name of Castrum
pauperum, recorded in the Chronicon Casauriense, a document that links the name to the meaning of
"poor"–an impoverished or persecuted population. In the local vernacular, the town was often called
Puòpere.35

31
The World Fact Book, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Infant mortality rates as of February 19, 2010.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2091.html

32
“History of a family: the Cantelmos,” Journal of the Abruzzo World Club, Year II, No. 7, May 2001.
http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2001_05/0105_b.htm

33
“His remaining lands in Alvito and Popoli were assigned to his brother Giovanni Cantelmo with the title
of Count.” Article entitled, Duchy of Sora, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Sora
34
Di Gregorio, Luciano, Abruzzo, p.88.
35
“Abruzzo Today: The Abruzzo Travel Information,”
http://abruzzotoday.com/towns/towns-and-villages-in-abruzzo/popoli.html
 Page 16 of 177

Piazza della Libertà

Courtesy of Viaggio in Abruzzo
Taverna Ducale http://www.viaggioinabruzzo.it/

Reliefs of the Taverna Ducale

San Domenico
(now the city hall)

Salita Nicola Costantini

Taverna Ducale and Salita Courtesy of RABoe/Wikipedia; photo found at

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Popoli_18.jpg
License requirements at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/legalcode
 Page 17 of 177

Beatrice retraced her steps and returned to the Piazza San Lorenzo and then south along the street
named Giordano Bruno36 until she arrived at the monastery of San Domenico37 (see photograph). She rested in
the tranquil green that is enclosed by the surrounding buildings.

She had heard that Popoli was bombarded twice during World War II by the British Air Force. On the
th
20 of January, 1944, the bridge over the Aterno River was destroyed. It was the most important bridge in the
region, called the "Julius Caesar" bridge, because in lay on the road that connected Rome with the city of
Pescara on the Adriatic coast. Then on March 22, 1944 at noon, the city center and city hall were destroyed by
substantial bombing by the British. Unfortunately, it was a day that rations were being distributed to populace
at the city hall, and there were long lines of women and children, many of whom were killed or wounded. The
day is still remembered with sorrow by the Popolese.

Class Structure in Italy

Beatrice’s father, Don Francesco, was probably a ‘merchant tailor,’ that is, one who made and sold
clothes in his shop. It is not know whether the shop was on the first floor of his house with living quarters on
the second–a casa bottega–or he had a separate shop in the business section. If the latter, then it was probably
located somewhere along Corso Antonio Gramsci38 or Via Giuseppe Mazzini,39 or perhaps a little side street (a
vicolo) between these two parallel streets.

The class structure of Italy in the 1800's can be categorized as follows: 1) the nobility; 2) the large
landholders (also labeled the aristocracy when including the nobility); 3) the bourgeoisie or middle-class and the
nouveau riche; 4) the professionals, including the clergy; 5) petit-bourgeoisie composed of artisans and small
shopkeepers; 6) the contandini or small farmers; and 7) the giornalieri or day workers, the majority of whom
worked on farms of the large landowners or for the nouveau riche who had leased farms. Clearly the Del
Grande family were members of the petit-bourgeoisie or, in Italian, piccola borghesia.

Even as a little girl, Beatrice worked in the shop as she was first given the task of cleaning the hems of
ladies' skirts. Since women wore long dresses in those days, their hems dragged along the ground. It must have
been a laborious task for a little girl, one that would steel her for the future. Nothing is known about her early
adolescence but it is likely that she worked as a cucitrice or seamstress, the title of the profession of tailoring
performed by women as noted in the register of births, marriages and deaths of the town–the Registri dell stato
civile.

36
He was burned at the stake by authorities in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of
heresy.
37
In the 1960's, the complex was used as a barracks for the Carabinieri. In 1975, barracks were built at a
new location, and the complex was transferred to the comune and made the municipio (city hall).
38
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was an Italian philosopher, writer, politician and political theorist. A
founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy, he was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's
Fascist regime. His writings mostly deal with the analysis of culture and political leadership. He is notable as a
highly original thinker within the Marxist tradition. He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a
means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society.
39
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872), was an Italian patriot, philosopher and politician. His efforts helped
bring about the modern Italian state in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers,
that existed until the 19th century. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy
in a republican state.
 Page 18 of 177

Beatrice probably helped her mother in the garden as well. It’s quite likely that the Del Grande had a
little field or market garden outside the town so as to supplement the food that they had to purchase in town.
Often these gardens were not owned individually but held ‘in common’ by the comune di Popoli.

The Miracle Workers

Beatrice still had time to play with her best friend: her sister Gilda. They didn’t just provide miracles to
Popoli, but portents as well. Playing outside one day, Beatrice and Gilda went down to the corner house,
knocked on the door, then ran and hid. A man came to the door and looked out, but seeing no one, he
withdrew and closed the door. They did this a second and a third time with the same results. A few days later,
Beatrice accompanied her father to the corner house as he was making a garment for a lady in the family.
When the man answered the door, he said, "Oh, Mr. Del Grande, we have a tragedy in the family. My dear
mother just passed away. Of course, the Lord warned us–just a few days ago, there were three knocks on the
door, and we knew it was a messenger of death."

No one seems to doubt the existence of miracles–or at least there is no voice of denial. Perhaps the
belief in miracles stems for the need for help of a people who have little control of their lives. Miracles offer
hope; they offer explanation for events that are mysterious; and they provide a feeling of closeness with God.
To doubt these miracles is to negate a structural element of the society. And so it is necessary to believe even
when the evidence would normally cause doubt or denial. When Beatrice was a little girl, her grandmother
brought her to a religious shrine at which miracles were being performed. Beatrice wormed her way through
the crowd to the front in order see what was really happening. A man who could not speak was first to be
brought forward to the healer. The man mumbled a bit, and the crowd shouted, "A miracle, a miracle–he can
speak." Beatrice returned to her grandmother and said, "Oh Nonna, he didn't speak; he just went bluh bluh
bluh." Whap! Her grandmother had given her a sharp slap across her mouth. The voice of a disbeliever had
been silenced.

Beatrice did reveal one truth to the world–or at least to her mother. Gilda loved to eat, and she would
climb on a chair and help herself to the dried sausages, meats and cheeses that were hung from the rafters of
their home. When her mother Gemma saw that someone had been taking food and accused Gilda, Gilda
denied culpability and said that Beatrice had taken the food. Her mother knew that Beatrice had a very small
appetite, and Gilda was always eating, so she really knew the truth; but Beatrice wanted to prove that Gilda was
guilty. The next time Gilda climbed on a chair and held onto the rafters to take some delicacy, Beatrice pulled
the chair away, leaving Gilda hanging from the rafters so that when Gemma returned, Gilda was caught in the
act.

Education

Beatrice was the beneficiary of progressive legislation enacted even before the Risorgemento. “In 1859,
the Casati Law laid down the provisions for the organization of state education.”40 It made primary education
compulsory, having the goal of reducing illiteracy. This law gave responsibility for primary education to the

40
The Education System in Italy 2007/08, Eurybase: The Information Database on Education Systems in
Europe, European Commission, 2008, p. 1.
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/eurydice/ressources/eurydice/eurybase/pdf/section/IT_EN_C2_1.pdf
 Page 19 of 177

single towns, secondary education to the provinces (counties), and higher education, that is, the universities, to
the central government.41 The law specified only two years of compulsory education because lawmakers
believed that parents, especially in rural farm areas, would not have cooperated and that there was an
insufficient number of schools and teachers to meet a larger school population.42 In 1876, the Coppino law
made education free and compulsory for children between the ages of six and nine. Beatrice attended school
until she reached the age of nine and completed the fifth grade. This so-called elementary education included
reading the works of Dante Alighieri as required by law.

The law was quite successful in promoting the education of the middle class43 but seems to have failed
in the rural and southern areas as children often were not sent to school. In addition, the country lost the use
of its existing school system. Still smarting from the loss of its territory, and opposed to the whole notion of
liberalism and its concomitant, the liberty of the individual, the Catholic Church demurred at the spread of lay
education as a possible threat to the faith, especially as the Coppino Law abolished compulsory religious
teaching in elementary schools.44 Correspondingly, the Italian government enacted policies designed to reduce
the influence of the Catholic Church and made it illegal for any prelate, or religious person of any sort, to teach.
Consequently, many children in the south, for which the Church and its clergy were the only source of
schooling, though certainly limited, were denied an education. The rate of children enrolled in primary
education would reach 90% only after 70 years, and the illiteracy rate, which was near 80% in 1861, took more
than 50 years to halve.45

Beatrice achieved a small degree of education because her father and mother encouraged her and
allowed her to attend school, and the comune di Popoli provided the school and teachers, a relatively
progressive policy in a rural and isolated region.

It is unlikely that Beatrice was aware of the political concerns and conflicts of policy regarding the
education of Italians during this period. The liberal leaders of the new Italian state wanted educational
institutions to educate the populace not only to provide more skilled workers, but to engender feelings of
nationalism and patriotism. Italy was a new nation if not a new country; most people identified only with their
village or town, not the new notion of ‘Italy.’ As stated by the Italian statesman [Massimo Taparelli, marquis]
d'Azeglio (1798–1866) after Unification: "We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.” Therefore the
Coppino Law included a provision entitled First Notions on the Duties of Men and Citizens46 that defined the
content of education.

Return to Naples

Beatrice must have concluded her sojourn with a sad smile: so many wonderful memories in this little
town. Now it was time to move on; she had to return to Naples to relive the next chapter in her life.

41
“Education in Italy”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Italy

42
Smith, Denis Mack, Italy: A Modern History, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1959, p.55.

43
Cowen, Robert, International handbook of comparative education, Part 1,p.201.
44
Smith, p.114.

45
“Education in Italy”.
46
Cowen, p.201.
 Page 20 of 177

*****
Records in Italy

As mentioned in the introduction, the records that I examined were photocopied and put on microfilm
by the Mormon church. The photocopies of the register for Popoli were taken in the early 1980s.

As I perused the records of the Registri dello stato civile, 1809-1910 for the comune di Popoli, I came to
appreciate this record-keeping system in a country not known for its efficiency. By year, there are separate
records of:

• Birth (atto di nascita)

• Marriage (atto di matrimonio),

• Proclamation, allegations, or banns [notificazioni, pubblicazioni, memorandum]: These notifications

were made a few weeks before a couple planned to marry. The couple may have been required to
announce their intended marriage to give members of the community an opportunity to raise any
objections to the marriage.47

• Supporting documents [processetti or allegati]. These documents were often filed by the bride and
groom in support of their intent or “solemn promise” to marry.48 Often these were copies of the
birth records of the bride and groom, and the birth and death records of their parents.

• Death (atto di morte)

Since divorce was illegal in Italy prior to 1970, there were no records of divorce.

In some instances, I even found notations of the marriage of a man and a woman in the margin of their
birth records, even when they married in another city, and sometimes even in another country. The marriage
to Ildebrando Paolini is record on the birth record of Beatrice (see photo image).

Apparently this record-keeping system was quite uniform throughout Italy, though certainly with
exceptions, and I discovered that it originated with the conquest of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796-1799.
Napoleon abolished the feudalistic fiefdoms and created two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Italy in the north with
himself as king; and the Kingdom of Naples in the south, which by tradition included the region of Abruzzo.

Napoleon introduced centralized fiscal and administrative systems that brought Italy into the 19th
century. Most relevant for genealogical purposes, he introduced civil record-keeping; prior to that time, vital
records were maintained by the Church.

47
Research Outline: Italy, Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake
City, Utah, 1999, p.17.

48
Ibid.
 Page 21 of 177

Napoleon’s purpose was not to bring progressive government to the people of Italy as an end in itself,
but to enable him to draft Italian men for his army and to increase public revenue by making tax collection more
effective and efficient. These two goals–those of all empires–were to support his wars of conquest and
aggrandizement.49

After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, many areas discontinued civil registration, but in southern Italy, the
towns and provinces continued to keep civil registration records: Regno di Napoli (comprising most of southern
Italy from Napoli and Campania down to Calabria and Puglia), Toscana, and the Abruzzo region. Thus the
registri for Popoli has records dating from 1809.

Two sets of records were maintained: the original by the town, and a copy sent to, and filed by the
provincial capital. For Popoli, the regional capital was L’Aquila, but then changed to the newly created province
of Pescara in 1927.

Italian civil registration resumed throughout the country when Italy became a unified country, starting
in 1860.

49
Davis, John A., ed., Italy in the Nineteenth Century 1796-1900, The Short Oxford History of Italy, Oxford
University Press, 2000, p.35.
 Page 22 of 177

Birth Record of Maria Beatrice Del Grande (page 1 of 2)

Registri dell stato civile 1809-1910

*****
Page 23 of 177
 Page 24 of 177

Chapter 2

Ildebrando Alfredo Paolini

Ildebrando Alfredo Paolini was a close friend of the Del Grande family, and he frequented their home.
Perhaps he worked as a tailor in Don Francesco’s shop. Beatrice said that she sat on his lap as a child as he was
eleven years her senior. On May 1, 1897, they were married in Naples.50 She was seventeen years of age and
he was twenty-nine.

Following the custom of the time, Beatrice, as the oldest, was the first daughter of the family to marry.
It is not known whether or not the marriage was arranged, but more probably it was encouraged by her parents
though not for the purpose of advancing the family fortune or social prestige. Ildebrando Alfredo probably
brought little to the table and certainly no family legacy.

It was family legend that Alfredo51 was born in the Piedmont–the northeast portion of Italy; and that he
was a soldier in the Italian Army. This version of his background was related by Beatrice and by her son, Attilio
(Otto) Paolini, my father. Whether or not they were aware of his actual origin, or the origin was misinterpreted,
is not known. His atto di nascita (record of birth) reveals his true origin:

- Copy of birth declaration of Alighieri Ildebrando, 1867 21 december - act no. 250 - Complete
transcription: "before us Mancini Ciro mayor, appeared Camillo di Felice of late Antonio, 44, farmer
domiciled in Popoli who declared that on 21 december year 1867, at nine hours, alone, he found in the
street called Madonna delle Grazie52 an infant enveloped in white cotton bands, that he shows us. After
examining the baby, we acknowledged he was alive, male, approximately 2 days old, with no special
marks on himself. So we delivered the baby to the Commissioner of Foundlings, and gave to the baby
the name of Ildebrando and the surname Alighieri53"-- to the left side [in the margin] is the registration
of marriage: on 1 may 1897 in Napoli he married Del Grande Maria Beatrice act n. 46 - transcription
tribunal of Sulmona 6 Sept 189854

It is more likely that Ildebrando’s father was a soldier from the Piedment as it was common for a small
contingent of soldiers to be stationed in a rural towns.55

50
-MR #46 dated 24 MAY 1897, S.Lorenzo District, Naples: Ildebrando Paolini age 30, born in Popoli,
resident in Naples on Vico Francesco Del Giudice, son of unknown father and of Angiola Paolini, MARRIES Maria
Beatrice Del Grande age 18, born in Popoli, daughter of Francesco Paolo Del Grande and of Gemma Castricone. 2. I
also conducted a search of the church marriage records at the Archdiocese of Naples. I checked marriages from
1896 to 1898 but found no church marriage record for Ildebrando. This could mean that they didn't marry in
church at all, or that they didn't marry in a church in Naples.
E-mail from genealogical researcher Joe de Simone in Quadrelle, Italy, March 15, 2007.

51
His birth record and all subsequent records found in Italy refer to him as Ildebrando. While some have
thought Alfredo to be his middle name, it is more likely that he adopted it and thus it is a nickname.
52
The street name no longer exists but it was probably near the church of the same name.
53
Alighieri is the surname of the famous Italian poet, Dante Alighieri.

54
E-mail from Pierangela Badia, genealogical researcher in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy; sent February 23, 2007
2:42 pm. Attached was a photographic image in .jpg format of the atto di nascita.

55
Rose, Phillip M., The Italians in America, George H. Doran Co., 1922 p. 36.
 Page 25 of 177

One wonders whether a child ‘found’ in the street in

the morning in December in the Abruzzo would be alive. A
more probable scenario is that the farmer, Camillo di Felice,
was given the baby by the mother so as to avoid the stigma
of an unmarried mother and/or to have him placed in an
orphanage because she could not care for the him.

Since Beatrice married Alfredo Paolini,56 there had

to be a record of a name change as Alfredo would have had
to produce a birth record to the civil authorities for his
marriage. Such a record was found through an inquiry to
the Comune di Popoli which revealed a happy resolution:

Chiesa Madonna della Grazia

Pag. 2
(witness).. eligible under the law, Nicola Rico, son of Francesco, tailor, and Francesco Rico, son of
Nicola, shoemaker, both born and living in Popoli, by me notary personally known; appeared before
me Angiola Paolini, embroiderer, daughter of the late Cassiodoro, born and resident in Popoli, by me
notary personally known. The same person has declared that on 21st of December 1867 gave birth to a
boy, who was presented to the bailiff of the civil status in Popoli by Camillo di Felice, son of the late
Antonio from Popoli, on 22nd of that month and year at 6:00 p.m. and registered in the register of
births in the serial number 250, to whom was given the name of Ildebrando57 and the surname of
Alighieri. The same Paolini stated that really the afore-said Ildebrando Alighieri was born from herself,
so she kept him always with her and took care and felt responsible of his education, and by this Act
she recognizes him as a real son. As a result of this recognition the afore-said Ildebrando, just Article
185 of the Civil Code in force, will assume the name of the Paolini's family, called by the name of
Ildebrando and with the surname of Paolini. This was stated and accepted by Angiola Paolini. From
that it has been conceived the present act that is undersigned by me notary and the witnesses but not
by (Mrs) Paolini, having declared does not know how to write. Made and received by me, …...

Verified in this day 2nd of September 188458

56
A notation of the marriage was recorded the Registri dello stato civile on the birth record of Beatrice Del
Grande in both Sulmona, then the administrative district, and in Popoli. Two inquiries were made of the parish of
San Lorenzo Martire in Popoli as to the existence of a marriage in the church; no such record was found by the
parish priest.
57
In the book entitled, The Normans in Sicily by John Norwich (who also wrote A Short History of
Byzantium), mention is made of an Archdeacon Hildebrand, who later became Pope Gregory VII. A footnote
states: “Hildebrand, or Hildeprand, was a common Lombard name. The Piedmont is adjacent to Lombardy. From
the website “Behind the Name: the etymology and history of first names” Hildebrand is German
meaning "battle sword" from Germanic hild "battle" combined with brand "sword".

58
Copy of acts sent by Dott. Paolo Muzi, Director of the Ministero per I Benie Le Attivita Cultural, Archivio
Di Stato Di Pescara, June 5, 2009; translated by Prof. Gesualdo Carozza.
 Page 26 of 177

In short, she states that “she kept him always with her” and “felt responsible for his education.” How
she did this is unknown; perhaps a relative such an uncle or aunt were appointed guardian; or Angiola herself
had been appointed as his “foster” mother. In any case, he took the surname of his mother: Paolini.

In Alfredo’s application for a passport, his father is cited as “ignoto”: unknown. While his mother may
have told him the identity of his father, it is concluded that his father never publically acknowledge paternity
and probably never provided any financial support.

An illegitimate child at this period of time and place bore a stigma that was impossible to erase, even
though the child was completely innocent of any misdeed. An illegitimate child was not recognized as a fully
constituted member of society. To this injustice was added the lack of recognition by his father which also must
have been interpreted by Alfredo as a lack of worth and honor. The consequence seems to have been a
heighten sensitivity to slights and indignities, however unintended.

No records have been located to determine whether or not he was a ward of the Commissioner of
Foundlings.

Since every male is registered for the draft,59 there had to be a lista di leva, or record of conscription.
After several inquiries to various state archives, Alfredo’s conscription record was provided by the Archivio di
Stato di L’Aquila. Alfredo was conscripted in Popoli, probably between the age of eighteen and twenty or about
the year 1885. His occupation is given as falegname or carpenter. A written entry states: “Declared in review
or special inspection in the nearby [civil] District of Aquila to be lacking/failing in his measurements of height
and chest which were 1,69(80),” that is, height 5' 5" (chest: 31"). Thus he appears to have been rejected for
service for his lack of physical stature and/or, though unstated, because he may have been the sole support for
his mother who did not marry.

Sometime before the birth of their first child, Beatrice and Alfredo moved to Naples and opened a tailor
shop, probably in late 1896. To initiate this new enterprise in a large city would have required courage and
possibly some assistance. If Alfredo had been a tailor in the employ of Don Francesco, it is possible that he,
along with Beatrice, had learned the trade and business well enough to open a shop. He may have had some
savings that served as capital to start the enterprise. More than likely, they had some financial assistance from
Don Francesco.

For Beatrice, age seventeen, adulthood was reached quite early and in a very short interval of time.

59
“Conscription of all males at the age of eighteen was instituted in 1865. Every Italian male—even those
obviously disabled—was and still is required to report to the draft board for a physical exam. Therefore, draft
records list every native Italian male who was born from about 1850 to the present and do who did not leave the
country at an early age.” Italy Military Records, https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Italy_Military_Records
 Page 27 of 177

Chapter 4

Life for the Paolini in Naples

The History of Naples

Greek settlers founded a city they called Parthenópç60 along a bay on the west side of the Italian
peninsula in the 8th century BCE. Next to Parthenópç, they later they built a new city–a new polis or Neapolis;
hence the Italian name of Napoli.

The city became the capital of the Angevin Dynasty. When overthrown, it became a possession of the
Spanish Empire during which time Spanish viceroys were installed to govern the city and southern Italy, the
most notable being “Pedro Álvarez de Toldedo, who was responsible for considerable social, economic and
urban progress in the city.”61 During this period Naples became the second largest city in Europe and a center
of artistic creativity.

After a brief loss of control to the Habsburg Empire, the city returned to the rule and capital of the
Spanish Bourbons in 1738 under Charles VII. For a brief period, it was a republic when the pro-Republican
aristocracy revolted; however, it was overthrown by a counter-revolutionary religious army, and the Bourbons
were restored.

It again fell to Napoleon and was ruled by his brother-in-law Jochim Murat as the capital of the Kingdom
of Naples. Upon Napoleon’s defeat, it was returned to the Bourbons and the kingdoms of southern Italy and
Sicily were combined as the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and served as the capital.

Naples was a city with a little over a half a million population62 when Beatrice and Alfredo arrived in
1896. It was a city of great contrasts of rich and poor. The palaces of the rich and powerful were magnificent.
There were three large castles which probably could be seen from almost anywhere: Castello Sant'Elmo,
Castello dell'Ovo, Castello Nuovo. Looking down and south from Piazza Dante, one would see the port and the
Bay of Naples; looking up and north, one would see the Palazzo Capodimonte (the summer residence and
hunting lodge of the kings of the Two Sicilies). Downtown, one could walk in the grand Piazza Plebiscito, past
the Palazzo Reale (one of the four residences used by the Bourbon Kings) and the church of San Francesco di
Paola. A few steps away was the Galleria Umberto I, a public shopping gallery recently built (1887-1891) and
across the street was the Reale Teatro di San Carlo.

60
Parthenópe- was named after the siren in Greek mythology said to have washed ashore at Megaride
after throwing herself into the sea when she failed to bewitch Ulysses with her song.

61
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples#Quarters
62
“Largest Cities of the Earth” (includes the population of Naples in 1899: 544,057), The World Almanac
and Encyclopedia, Press Publishing Co., Pulitzer Building, New York, 1901, p.384.
 Page 28 of 177

Napoli

Palazzo Reale

Castel Nuovo

Palazzo Capodimonte

Piazza Dante circa 1956

Castello dell'Ovo Port’Alba

 Page 29 of 177

Naples about 1900

Bread Vendor

Provision Store

Washing Clothes

Photo courtesy of Mary Melfi at http://www.italyrevisited.org/

Tenements
 Page 30 of 177

Spaccanopoli

In contrast to the grandiose downtown, the area in which the Paolini family resided was the historic
center of Naples, where the pattern of the streets still reflects the Greco-Roman city of Neapolis. The main
street was, and is, Spaccanapoli, literally translated as the "Naples splitter". The street is relatively wide, as it
was the lower decumanus63 –the main east-west avenue of the city in its Roman period. When viewed from
on-high, as from Castello Sant’Elmo, the street seems to be a narrow chasm through the area. The street also
gives its name to this indistinctly defined area. It is a densely inhabited with apartment building, churches,
monasteries, convents, shops, piazzas, and fountains. With raised roll-up doors, the shops spill their wares into
the streets selling dolce and coffee, books, produce, jewelry, flowers, souvenirs, Christmas and nativity scenes.
Artisans work in their shops creating their wares, slowly shifting their attention to attend to potential buyers.
Men sit on stools and chairs planted outside their shops chatting with neighbors and fellow-shopkeepers.
Shoppers and tourist shuffle along the narrow streets as there are no sidewalks.

Three of the four addresses of the Paolini family are within this area. As in Popoli, the addresses are
given in the birth records of their children plus a certificate from the city regarding Alfredo:

Children’s Names64 Date of Birth Address/Country

Armando 15 Feb 1897 36 Via Salita Ventaglieri, [Avvocata quarter]
Adolfo (Adolph) 23 Feb 1899 6 Vico Francesco Del Giudice [San Lorenzo quarter]
Arturo (Arthur) 23 Dec 1900 29 Via Sapienza [San Lorenzo quarter]
Aldo 2 Feb 1902 29 Via Sapienza [San Lorenzo quarter]
Attilio 1904 died in infancy (about 6 months)
1906 2 Via Università [San Lorenzo quarter]
Amelia (Emily) 27 Oct 1906 Chicago, Illinois
Attilio (Otto) 31 July 1908 Chicago, Illinois
Donato 18 Jan 1910 Chicago, Illinois

Their first home was in the Avvocata (advocate or attorney) quarter and on a hill, hence the name
‘salita’ meaning ascent or climb (see map). Not far from Piazza Dante, it is a steep climb from downtown but
more easily reached by a funicular to Montesanto, built during the Paolini residency in Naples.65

63
In Roman city planning, a decumanus was an east-west-oriented road in a Roman city, castra (military
camp), or colonia. The main decumanus was the Decumanus Maximus.
64
As many immigrants to American in those days, foreign names were "Americanized", either because
non-Italians could not pronounce the foreign name and/or because the immigrant wanted to adopt a new identity
as an American. Adolfo and Arturo were Americanized to Adolph and Arthur, Amelia became Emily. My father's
name was Attilio but his family and friends called him "Ottie" (pronounced "Aha-tee) for short. When he went to
school, he gave the name of "Otto" as he didn't like "Attilio."
65
Naples has four funiculars. The Chiaia Funicular was built in 1889, followed within two years by the
Funicolare of Montesanto (Montesanto Funicular), and after some years by Central Funicular and Mergellina. The
most famous funicular in Naples was the Mount Vesuvius Funicular (1880–1944), the first railway track in the world
built on an active volcano, and destroyed various times by Vesuvius eruptions. It achieved worldwide fame, in part,
because the Neapolitan song Funiculì Funiculà was dedicated to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular
 Page 31 of 177

Napoli
 Page 32 of 177

Napoli 2008

Spaccanapoli

Via Benedetto Croce

Via San Gregorio

 Page 33 of 177

Adolfo was born at 6 Vico Francesco Del Guidice66 in the Quartiere San Lorenzo. Vico is short for vicolo
which means narrow street or alley, and indeed it is a narrow street with almost no entrances to buildings nor
shops. At one end is the Campanile of Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta,67 the bell tower of a church. Due
to the narrowness of the street, it is rather dark and gloomy. The building is recessed with two entrances. It
may well have been their home but it is doubtful that it had served as a tailor shop.

Arturo and Aldo were born at 29 Sapienza (wisdom),

about a block from their former residence at 6 Vico
Francesco Del Guidice. The name maybe derived from the
fact that the Accademia di Bella Arti is about a hundred
meters to the west, and the Universitá digli Studi di Napoli
Federico II68 is about two blocks south.

When Beatrice returned in 1953, she said that she

Spaccanopoli circa 1900
found the building of the tailor shop in which the family
lived; she specifically said that she recognized the door that
they had installed. It was especially heavy with pretty plate
glass. Their business and living quarters were in the same
building. Most likely it is the building at 29 Sapienza as it has
an enclosed courtyard with recesses that are now used as
individual garages for automobiles but which certainly could
have functioned as small shops.

Family and Business

When she was unmarried, Beatrice had to take care of her brothers and sisters which she seems to have
considered a demanding and unpleasant task; so much so that she vowed that she would never have children, or
at least no more than one. In the period of thirteen years, Beatrice had eight children.

Contrary to most men, especially in that period, Alfredo always wanted a daughter. Not only was he
disappointed at the birth of each of his five sons, he actually refused to look at them or speak to his wife for a
time. Beatrice had to endure this contemptible behavior despite the fact that she had extremely painful
childbirths as she was quite small (under 5 feet) and all her babies were large. My father Attilio weighed over 12
pounds at birth!

Alfredo's mother Angiola, who went by the name Angelina, accompanied Beatrice and Alfredo’s move to
Naples and lived with them. Beatrice said that her mother-in-law had been a professional cook, but did not
mention where she had been employed. She commented that Angelina was able to take a freshly killed chicken

66
A Roman Catholic cardinal (l (1647-1725).

67
The church was named after a holy stone (pietrasanta) that was said to grant indulgences when kissed.

68
It was founded in 1224 and is the world's oldest state university; it is also one of the oldest academic
institutions in continuous operation. The university is named after its founder Frederick II, king of the Holy Roman
Empire.
 Page 34 of 177

and debone it, and then put the parts back in place to form a whole chicken, then decorate it to make it an
attractive dish on the table.

Apparently Alfredo’s mother suffered some form of mental debilitation as she was somewhat inept, and
Beatrice could never completely trust her with the children. Angelina did help with household chores, and she
also worked in the tailor shop; but Beatrice had to keep an eye on her as well as her four young sons, and so it
must have been stressful for her at times.

As mentioned above, children between the ages of six and nine were required to attend school. In 1903
and 1905, Armando and Adolfo probably attended school.

Evidently the tailoring business went well–at least for awhile--because Beatrice mentioned that they had
a couple of employees. As the shop of the Del Grande in Popoli, Alfredo and Beatrice were tailors for women’s
clothing, specializing in women’s riding habits. Thus their patrons were of the middle class and aristocracy, who
deemed it their privilege to pay for their purchases when it suited them and not the shopkeeper. Knowing his
place, and not willing to embarrass or demean himself, Alfredo refused to request payment even when urged to
do so by Beatrice. They had debts of wages, rent and materials plus income for themselves to live; delay in
payment often put them in a bind.

Alfredo seemed not to have worried about these problems.

Apparently he enjoyed his status of ‘merchant tailor’ and owner. As
with many Italians, he was content to just get by and enjoy the
simple pleasures of life. For him, it was playing cards with his
friends, either in the piazza or at home. Social etiquette demanded
the serving of food and drink, to the annoyance of Beatrice, who
once remarked to one of his guests, “Just once I’d like to dirty a plate
at your house.”

Men playing cards in Naples

A Night at the Opera

In spite of these aggravations, Beatrice loved life in Naples. She

attended operas at the famous Reale Teatro San Carlo, enjoyed the many
festivals and religious celebrations, and had seafood dinner at restaurants on
the docks of the Bay of Naples. There was always some informal
entertainment on the beach. The famous tenor, Enrico Caruso (1873-1921),
started his career singing on the beach at Naples.

Beatrice liked to go to the opera and to go dancing. Alfredo had no

ability to dance and preferred to stay home with his card-playing friends. One
Phonograph Album Sunday after church, she passed the Reale Teatro San Carlo and bought two
tickets to the opera. She returned home, and laying one ticket on the table,
said to Alfredo, "I bought two tickets for the opera tonight. Here is your ticket if you want to come. I’m going."
In those days, it was unthinkable for a woman to attend a social function without an escort, and so Alfredo had
no choice but to attend.
 Page 35 of 177

Big-Time Players

As the cultural environment of Naples inculcated her love of classical music and opera, the political
culture must have influenced her orientation and attitudes as well. Politics in Naples, as in many large cities, was
a mixture of political ideas, political factions, and socio-economic groups. Naples added one that is less often
included: a criminal organization.

Naples was, and is, well-known for its criminal elements, which range from street urchins (scugnizzi) and
swindlers (imbroglione) to thieves (lazzaroni), and organized crime (the Neapolitan Mafia is called the Camora).
Beatrice never mentioned falling victim to these criminals when she lived in Italy, but she did relate an amusing
incident when she visited in 1953.

As she was walking, she spied a ring on the pavement, and as she approached it, a man came
forth and snatched up the ring. "Look what we found!" he exclaimed. “This is an expensive
ring, probably worth at least ^^^^ lire. Why don't you give me half as I'm sure that you can
sell it for more than twice that amount?" Beatrice smiled sweetly and replied, "They were
trying to pull that trick when I was here in 1906, and it was old then!"

One could outwit swindlers, parry street urchins, and ward off robbers, but Neapolitans could not, and
still, can not, avoid the Camorra.69 Many of their ‘enterprises’ pander to people’s foibles, such as, drug
trafficking, smuggling, bribery, prostitution, etc., but extortion takes money from any profitable business
enterprise, honest or otherwise. It may not make direct demands for cash but just impose the requirement that
materials be purchased from certain dealers which demand slightly higher prices due to an “excise tax.”

There are several historical versions as to how the Camorra came into existence. Suffice it to say that in
the period of Boubon rule in which there was some economic growth, albeit slow and lagging behind the North,
the lazzaroni seem to have become organized and earned money, not only from gambling and theft, but also
from extortion of goods arriving at the port and passing through the city gates–about 10 percent of the value.

At this time, there was a great influx of people to Naples because it offered the possibility of work.
However the supply of workers greatly exceeded demand, and so there was very high unemployment and
impoverishment. This was a dangerous and threatening situation for the aristocracy, and so they employed the
Camorra as a means of suppressing potential mob violence which was for many of the populace was the only
way to express their discontent and/or seek a living.

While the camorristi were of the poor, they became tools of the Bourbon [Ferdinand II] ruling class, and
were used to betray revolutionaries and liberal Republicans in the establishment of a Republic (23 January 1799
to 13 June 1799). Even after Italian Unification, the new ruling circle of middle class business owners and
professionals turned to the Camorra to maintain ‘law and order.’ This enabled the camorristi to learn the levers
of political power, in other words, more and more, they extorted money from persons wanting governmental
actions, such as contracts, building permits, etc.

“Their position as policemen naturally gave them greater freedom to manoeuver and they
quickly moved into the contraband industry, not only extorting money from those already
smuggling goods, but also obliging shopkeepers and merchants to take smuggled instead of

69
The description of the affect of the Camorra on Naples in the 19th and early 20th century is taken largely
from The Camorra, written by Tom Behan, Routledge, New York, 1996.
 Page 36 of 177

official goods. Once they had paid off the Camorra, traders found that they were still paying
far less than the official price.”70

In the post-Unification period, the Camorra infiltrated many sectors of Neapolitan society. The city’s
economy became increasingly dominated by council contracts, especially construction projects for rebuilding
many of the city’s oldest areas.71

During this same period, the policies and programs based upon socialism were transforming the political
discourse, and unions were organizing workers of trade and industry:

“The socialist tradition in Naples goes back as far as December 1868, when a branch of Karl
Marx’s First International was founded, with a reported membership in August 1872 of 800-
1,000 members.”72

The Camorra was often used to breakup strikes and protest marches.

Confronting the socialists were not only the owners of companies, governmental leaders, and the
Camorra, the Roman Catholic Church was opposed to most of the ‘-isms’ of the day73 and was particularly
scornful of socialism. “In 1904 the Camorra, led by a priest named Vito Vittozzi, managed to stop the election of
socialist deputy Ettore Ciccotti in the Vicaria area. A few years later Ciccotti wrote that the campaign: ‘had a
clear aim... of breaking the working-class movement and the Trades Council in Naples.’”74

70
Behan, p.18.
71
Ibid, p.20.
72
Ibid, p.22.

73
From the end of the 18th century the Papacy found itself in conflict with the liberal philosophical,
political, and economic theories flowing from the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the industrial
revolution, which all emphasized freedom from restraint. A series of popes from Pius VI (1775-1799) to Pius IX
(1846-1878) challenged what they perceived as liberalism's dogma of human freedom and its assumption that
society and state existed for the self-fulfillment on the individual. What the liberals praised as self maximization,
the Papacy perceived as selfishness and license.
Coppa, Frank J., "From Liberalism to Fascism: The Church-State Conflict over Italy's Schools," The History Teacher,
Volume 28, Number 2, February 1995, p. 135. http://www.jstor.org/stable/494482

“In December 1864 the papal encyclical Quanta cura appeared, together with a Syllabus of Errors. Among the
eighty propositions advanced, number 79 asserted that freedom of discussion corrupted the soul, and number 32
said that the clergy had a natural right to avoid military service. Religious toleration, freedom of conscience and
the press, the validity of secularist legislation, were all challenged along with socialism, rationalism, and Bible
societies, and it was denied that the Pope could or should come to terms with “progress, liberalism, and modern
civilization.” [Smith, Denis Mack, Italy: A Modern History, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1959, p.90-
91]

74
Behan,p.23.
 Page 37 of 177

This conflict among the government, the owners of businesses, the Church and the unions must have
formed Beatrice’s own values and judgments that would be the basis for her own involvement in the major issue
of her time in America. Chicago and Naples had much in common.
 Page 38 of 177

Napoli

Castello Sant'Elmo Napoli-Guglia

dell'Immacolata

View from Castello Sant'Elmo

Reale Teatro San Carlo

Cloister of San Gregorio Armeno

Church of Gesu Nuovo View of Mount Vesuvius from Castello Sant'Elmo

 Page 39 of 177

Chapter 5

Del Grande in Utica, New York

Don Francesco Emigrates

Francesco Paolo Del Grande sailed from the Port of Naples on the SS Italia about April 25, 1896. He was
good to himself, for rather than steerage, he booked himself on the upperdeck, which probably meant a second
class cabin.75, 76 He arrived at the Port of New York on May 7, 1896 and probably proceeded directly to Utica, New
York.

The City of Utica, New York

The city of Utica was built near the Mohawk River in

upstate New York. The river was a major transportation
route before 1800 that enabled the transport of agricultural
products to Albany on the Hudson River, and then on to
New York City. In 1825, the Erie Canal was completed
which enabled commerce to extend across the state to the
city of Buffalo on Lake Erie.77 It then grew into a major
textile manufacturing center and later a major player in the
A Busy Corner, Utica, New York (circa 1900)
tool and die industry, which thrived in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the
city grew because of the expansion of the railroads. With the great influx of immigrants in the late 1800s, many
Italians labored in railroad construction and brickyards.78 It was a boomtown with a sizeable Italian colony when
Don Francesco arrived in 1896. By 1900, the population of Utica was 56,383 making it the 66th largest city in the
United States79 with an Italian population of 1,66180 or about 3%.

75
Source Citation: Year: 1896; Microfilm Serial: M237; Microfilm Roll: M237_658; Line: 8; Page Number: 6.
Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations,
Inc., 2010.
76
He is not known to have traveled with anyone, but an Ang. (probably Angelo) Zaino is listed on the
manifest, and Zaino is a common name in Popoli, and the name Zaino is still found in the Utica telephone directory.
77
Gersmehl, Carol A., New York: Transportation Connectins Along the Erie Canal Route, Prepared by:
National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), 2009.
http://www.ncge.org/files/public/NY-TeacherGuide.pdf
78
Schiro, George, Americans by choice : history of the Italians in Utica, Arno Press, 1975 [c1940]
79
‘ U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003'
http://www.census.gov/statab/hist/HS-07.pdf
80
Briggs, John W., An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930, Yale University
Press, New Haven, 1978., p. 178.
 Page 40 of 177

Socio-Economic Patterns of Italian Immigrants

Much of the socio-economic history in this section is taken from a study entitled, An Italian Passage:
Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930, written by John W. Briggs. One of the cities studied was Utica,
New York.

The settlement of Italians in Utica went through three stages in the period of 1890-1930: A settlement of
largely unmarried male laborers, a colony of families with young children, and a finally a mature community of
single men and women immigrants, families and second-generation adults.81

“Mens’ clothing was an important industry...”82 in Utica, offering both skilled and semi-skilled jobs; quoting
Briggs:

Textile production was the leading industry of Utica, and a number of manufacturers and
wholesalers of ready-made clothing were located within the district along Lower Genesee Street
during the nineteenth century.83

Combination artisan-merchants included seven custom tailor shops...84

Obviously Don Francesco saw the opportunities for himself and his family. In a little less than two years
after his immigration, he filed his Declaration of Intention ("first papers") on February 8, 1898 to become a
naturalized citizen.85 The decision was made three months before the arrival of his wife and children. Clearly, he
was not a “bird of passage”86; his immigration to America was permanent.87

81
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 187.

82
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 113.

83
“ Lower Genesee Street Historic District”, The Lower Genesee Street Historic District was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Portions of the text were adapted from a copy of the original
nomination document: John Harwood, New York State Division for Historic Preservation, Lower Genesee Street
Historic District, nomination document, 1982, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places,
Washington, D.C.
84
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 166.

85
Petition for Naturalization, and Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance of Francesco Paolo Del Grande,
September 26, 1906.
86
Historians use the phrase "birds of passage" to describe immigrants who never intended to make the
United States their permanent home. Unable to earn a livelihood in their home countries, they were migratory
laborers. Most were young men in their teens and twenties, who planned to work, save money, and return home.
“Italian Immigration,” http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/italian_immigration.cfm
87
Overall, 20 to 30 percent of Italian immigrants returned to Italy permanently. Many Italians emigrated
to America hoping to earn enough money to return to Italy and buy land. Among immigrant groups to America,
Italians had the highest rate of returning to the old country. http://wapedia.mobi/en/Italian_American
 Page 41 of 177

Manifest of the SS Italia

listing
Franc. Del Grande
 Page 42 of 177

Manifest of the Tartar Prince

April 3, 1898
Listing Gemma Castricone and Family
 Page 43 of 177

The Family Follows

Gemma and the children arrived April 3, 1898 along with Don Francesco’s aunt, Arcangela Del Grande. [Her
story is described in a separate chapter.] Their pattern of moving frequently in Popoli was repeated in Utica:

439 Bleecker Street [according to the manifest of Gemma and the family; 17 March 1898]

28 Second Street [according to the city directories of 1897 and 1899]

59 Jay Street88 [according to the 1900 census: 13 June 1900]

32 Devereux Street [according to the birth record of Donato Del Grande: January 22, 1902]

63 Catherine Street [according to the marriage record of a daughter: April 3, 1903]

The first address is characterized as an “Italian Boarding House” as listed in the Utica City Directory for the
year 1898.89 It is probable that Don Francesco resided in the boarding house, but rented an apartment or house just
prior to the arrival of his family.

All these residences are in what is now the old section of Utica, New York. According to the ethnicity of the
names on the 1900 census sheets for this area, it was populated mainly by Italian, Irish, and German.

While Don Francesco was in America, and Gemma and the children were still in Italy, their infant daughter
Italia died. She had been born the day after he sailed from Naples. He never saw her. As is a common Italian
custom, they gave the same name–Italia90 with the middle name of Arminda91-- to their next daughter who was
born March 1, 1899 in Utica. It is generally reported that her family called her Lily while her biographical records
giver her name as Lillian.

Preferred Positions

While Don Francesco stated that his occupation was a tailor in the 1900 census, there is no indication of
where or how he was employed, that is, whether he worked as a merchant tailor, a tailor in a clothing store, a
factory, etc. It is most likely that he worked in a garment factory for at least the first few years until he could
establish his reputation as a skilled craftsman.

Somewhat surprisingly, Italian immigrants were able to advance quite quickly either into supervisory
positions within large companies or to establish their own companies:

88
The census indicates that the house was rented.
89
Utica City Directory, 1898, The Utica Directory Publishing Company, Utica, New York, p. 92.
90
Her name is recorded in the 1900 census as Italy.
91
This name is very probably a misinterpretation or mis-spelling by the recorder as I have never seen it
listed in the Registri dello stato civile nor in any on-line listing of Italian names.
 Page 44 of 177

The prominence of the textile and clothing industries in Utica attracted skilled Italian
tailors, some of whom moved into entrepreneurial roles. These independent shops ranged from
one-person organizations which served a neighborhood clientele, to the sizable establishment of
Vito Pietrafessa in the central business district of the city. Pietrafessa came to Utica in 1899 to
serve as a superintendent in a large American firm, which by 1902 employed more than 300
Italian tailors.92

Utica, ..., had a prominent contingent of tailors who provided important leadership in the early
organization of the [Italian] colony.93

Briggs makes an interesting observation though he provides no hard evidence:

To be sure, Italians served as foremen and in similar supervisory positions in the textile and
construction industries, but they much preferred to be independent shop owners or
contractors.94

This characterization was also made by an Italian author, Giuseppe Marotta, in describing artisans in Naples:

Naples is poor in industries and rich in sun. It is a city of craftsmen, who have no need for
other quarters than a sunlit balcony large enough to hold themselves and their tools, their songs,
their debts and their ineradicable melancholy.95

Briggs continues: “Striving for success through moving up in the emerging corporate and bureaucratic
organizations of modern industrial society was delayed for Italians by this early reinforcement of more traditional
routes to status and power.”96

The 1900 census lists no occupation for Gemma Castricone but it was common for wives to contribute to
the household income by taking in laundry or helping their husbands run a small business or boarding house. If Don
Francesco was a ‘merchant tailor,’ she may well have assisted him in this enterprise. In all probability, she was the
primary caretaker of four children under the age of twelve.

The Del Grande children seemed to have adapted well and been received by the community, for their
daughter Gilda, now working as a tailoress and age 22, married Domenico Del Vecchio, a foreman in the Curlee
Clothing Company, in 1902. A year later, Angiolina, now probably called Angeline, and also a tailoress, married
Carmino Alfano, on April 3, 1903. Both men were Italian immigrants who had arrived in the prior ten years.

The extract of the birth record of the Del Vecchio’s first child, Francesco, born June 26, 1902, shows the
same address as the residence of Angiolina when she married; thus the Del Vecchio and the Del Grande were living
in the same building though whether they shared the same living quarters is unknown.

92
Briggs, An Italian Passage, 166-167.

93
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 113.

94
Briggs, An Italian Passage,, p. 190.
95
Marotta, Giuseppe, Return to Naples, E.P. Duton & Co., 1951.

96
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 190.
 Page 45 of 177

Map of Utica (2010)

 Page 46 of 177

1900 Census Sheet

for the
Del Grande Family
 Page 47 of 177

Italian-American Colonies: Community or Amoral Familism

Several researchers, both Italian and American, have proposed explanations for the poverty of Italians in
Italy, particularly for the period after Italian Unification from 1860 to the beginning of the Great War in 1914.
Among the explanations was the notion that Italians, especially the poor and uneducated contandini and braccianti,
held firm to the guiding principle of La famiglia sopra tutto–the family above all. Rather than being civic-minded
and working for the benefit of one’s community, region, nation, etc., it was believed that Italians evaluated any
prospective action or policy solely in terms of its benefits or liabilities for one’s family. This characteristic97 was
thought to persist in the Italians that immigrated. This hypothesis of immigrant behavior is often held by some who
view the immigrants of today, primarily of Latinos, as having the same attitude, commonly labeled amoral
familism.98

While not explaining the condition of poverty in villages in southern Italy, John W. Briggs99 presents
evidence that Italian villagers did not act solely for the benefit of their family, and that they did cooperate among
themselves to improve their condition and the future of their children. He identifies the types of people who did
cooperate and then documents the extent to which Italians in Italy cooperated in supporting the establishment of
schools for their children and expressing concern for attendance; he also identifies the existence of self-help
societies. He examines the extent of cooperation within Italian enclaves in America and the extent of involvement
in the wider community. In short, he provides evidence that Italians, both in Italy and America, were active in civic
affairs.

He also identifies the socio-economic structure from when these immigrants came and their socio-economic
classification. The following presents a partial picture of his findings for Utica, New York.

First, it was found that, as described in chapter 3, the type of property distribution explained or determined
the rates of emigration:

In areas of mixed property distribution, with a large proportion of small landholders and with
tenants participating through share-farming contracts in the capitalization and management of
the enterprise, rates of emigration were high [such as the Abruzzo]. In areas of highly
concentrated landholdings, large and rather discrete classes of landless laborers were at odds
with the magnates and developed greater laboring-class solidarity. The poor in these areas
resorted to militant defensive activities, such as strikes and political organization, and had low
rates of transoceanic migration.100

97
Banfield, Edward, The Moral Basis of a Backward Society, 1958).

98
Auster, Lawrence, “Exposing the Open-Borders Arguments Part Two: False Parallels with Other
Cultures,” The Myth of Hispanic Family Values, http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/006103.html
99
Briggs, John W., An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930, Yale University
Press, New Haven, 1978.

100
Ibid, p. 4.
 Page 48 of 177

Secondly, the émigrés were not solely contadini and laborers:

Larger size and high incidence of literacy and franchise holding also characterized the families of
emigrants of the artisan class, a group that provided more than their proportional share of the
emigrants.

The emigrants, then, came largely from the upper levels of the working classes in the town and
from the middle range of the agriculturalists (emphasis added).101

Here again, the Del Grande and Paolini families fit this description.

Outlook: campanilismo or country

Another commonly held belief was the Italian immigrants were very parochial, that is, they were concerned
only with local matters and compelled to maintained their local ways, an attitude and behavior labeled
campanilismo, that is, to be concerned with only that which is within the sounds of the church bells.

If such an attitude and behavior was so ingrained, then marriages of Italian immigrants would have been
restricted to spouses from the same village or town. There was even the option of returning to Italy in search of a
bride or by arranging to have a potential bride sent. Briggs found that when there was a significantly large
population from a village or town, endogamous marriages did occur, but since such large populations from a
particular village was rare, endogamy rarely occurred though Italians immigrants did tend to marry those of the
same region.102 Again, the Del Grande are illustrative:

Del Grande Married Same Paolini Married Same

Children Italian Region Children Italian Region

Beatrice Yes South Armando Yes Yes

Gilda Yes South Adolph No

Angiolina Yes South Arthur Yes Yes

Hugo n/a Aldo n/a

Maria Ines Yes South Emily No

Carl Albert Yes unknown Otto No

Italia (Lily) n/a

101
Ibid, p. 9.

102
Ibid., p. 81.
 Page 49 of 177

Mutual-Aid Societies

As in Italy, Italian-Americans formed local organizations to deal with social, economic, and cultural
problems, and provided a social framework for mutual assistance. They often grew out of the informal associations
fostered in the local saloon, which served as a social and recreational center, and as a union hall. It was here that
men learned of job opportunities, passed their idle time in conversation, and played card games such as briscola and
tresette, or bowled Italian style called bocce.

The first function of these organizations was to provide money that offered sick benefits and burial cost.
Many of them owned sections in cemeteries. However, unlike American worker societies, benefits were solely at
the discretion of the society and not by a fixed amount as an insurance policy.

They formed committees to promote benevolence and charity by visiting, aiding and caring for the sick and
destitute members. They encouraged each other in their businesses, and they provided points of contact for
obtaining employment–networking, in today’s parlance.

These organizations also sponsored self-improvement activities such as lectures and evening classes for
learning the English language. Finally, they sponsored social occasions such as an annual ball or dance, picnics,
sports competitions, and festivals.

The first such organization in Utica was called Società Italiana di Progesso ed Aiuto (The Italian Society for
Progress and Aid) in 1889, followed six years later by a second society called the Società Capi dei Famigli Italo-
Americana di Mutto Soccorso (Heads of Family Society for Mutual Aid). Briggs describes them “clearly worker
initiated and led.”103 Their leaders tended to have some employable skill and to be upwardly mobile.”

Boosterism

There were also organizations of Italian Americans that were formed in order to defend ‘the good name of
Italians,’ and correspondingly to improve the manners and morals of Italians so that they would not defame the
name but reflect positively on the colony. Creation of such organizations was in reaction to news stories and
editorials in the American press. At first, the Italian enclaves were treated as exotic tribal areas in the American
press, providing special interest stories; later, however, the press became more critical of Italians by emphasizing
crime, social dysfunction, crowded and ill-kept housing conditions, and finally radicalism, that is, anarchism and
socialism.

A primary example of this type of organization was and–and still is–the Order Sons of Italy in America. Such
an organization usually had a house organ, that is, a newspaper that published articles that refuted editorials in the
community-wide newspapers that were critical of Italians or that seem to overemphasize stories that reflected
negatively on Italians. The paper would also publish articles and editorials that urged its Italian readers to improve
themselves, and to behave in a manner that would reflect positively on the Italian community.

103
Ibid., p. 142.
 Page 50 of 177

There was also the issue of identity and acceptance that placed Italian immigrants and their succeeding
generations in a quandary. They were proud to be Italian, and they wished to maintain their heritage. At the same
time, they wanted to be accepted as part of American society. A focal point for this issue was that of language.
Those who had immigrated spoke Italian, and they wanted to learn English, not only to function in American society
but to be accepted by it. Their second-generation offspring104 learned Italian, as their parents spoke Italian in the
home, but they learned English in their school, play, and work. The second-generation often did not learn Italian.
Some urged that it be taught at home or in the schools or in a club or church while others believed that they were
Americans and should speak only English.

Proving Fealty as Italian-Americans

To be accepted as an American required some act of fealty by Italians, yet one that would not be seen as
rejecting themselves and their heritage. Cristoforo Colombo was adopted and promulgated as both an Italian and
American hero that both the local colony and the wider community could accept and which both could celebrate as
one people.

Relocation to Chicago

The birth of Don Francesco and Gemma’s eleventh child and third son occurred on January 26, 1902 in
Utica, New York while the baptism on August 2, 1903.105 The baptism was performed and recorded in the church of
Holy Guardian Angeles in Chicago. It is likely that the Del Grande family, along with Angiolina and Carmino Alfano,
and Gilda and Domenico Del Vecchio, moved to Chicago after the two weddings and the birth of Donato, probably
in 1903.

On September 26, 1906, after having moved to Chicago, Don Francesco became a naturalized citizen, and by
law, his wife and children became naturalized as well. Two witnesses listed on his naturalization card: Domenico
Del Vecchio, now his son-in-law, and Achille Ciferni, a fellow Popolese and tailor, both having emigrated from Italy
to Utica, had also moved to Chicago. Why did they move at this time and to this place?

104
I use the following categorization: those who emigrated are first generation; those then born in
America as second-generation.
105
Baptismal record of Donato Del Grande by the Church of Holy Guardian Angels, Chicago, Illinois; Family
History Library microfilm 1503304, Page 353, Entry number 1762.
 Page 51 of 177

Petition for Naturalization of Francesco Paolo Del Grande

(Page 1 of 4)
 Page 52 of 177

Del Grande Family

Gemma Castricone [Del Grande]

Francesco Paolo Del Grande

Gilda Del Grande

Maria Beatrice Del Grande

Ungaro Tarquinio Del Grande

 Page 53 of 177

Alfano Family

Carmino Alfano
Maria Angiolina Del Grande [Alfano]

Angeline (Nean) Alfano

Carmine Alfano
 Page 54 of 177

Alfano

Front row left to right: Delores Thurston, unknown, Carmino Alfano, Angiolina
(Angeline) Del Grande [Alfano]
Backrow left to right: unknown Angeline (Nean) Alfano, Anne Alfano, Guiseppe
(Joseph) Zegarelli, Grazia (Grace) Zegarelli

Front row: Annie Alfano [Thurston], Angeline [Nean] Alfano;

Middle row: Angeline Del Grande [Alfano], Delores Thurston, Carmine Alfano,
Alice Mallen [Fitzpatrick];
Back row: Florence Alfano [Pecheone], Red Thurston, Alice Fitzpatrick [Alfano], Kathleen
Fitzpatrick [Pettinelli]
 Page 55 of 177

Chapter 6

The Del Grande Move to Chicago

Changes in the Garment Industry favored the Del Grande

Having no written document nor any remembrance by a descendent, only the likely possibilities can be
considered as to the why the Del Grande moved to Chicago. It is doubtful that they were drawn by encouraging
reports of a mild climate, low crime rates, and little corruption. The most likely possibility was economic
opportunity much more favorable to that of Utica.

It is known that Don Francesco was a tailor by profession his whole life, but it is not known whether he was
self-employed or worked for a company. In Popoli, he worked as a ‘merchant tailor,’ that is, one who made and
sold the clothing on a made-to-order basis. He made women’s clothing, and he specialized it lady’s riding habits.
While it is quite likely that Don Francesco continued to make clothes-to-order for clients through personal contacts
in Chicago, it seems extremely unlikely that he would have moved to Chicago in order to operate solely in such a
fashion. He would have had no established clientele as he did in Popoli; and it would take years for him and his
family to develop such a clientele base.

He certainly must have been aware of the new methods of production, marketing, and selling. He must
have been aware of the growth of business opportunities in the city of Chicago. It is therefore likely that he moved
to Chicago in order to take advantage of the possibilities that it offered. Again, it cannot be stated exactly what Don
Francesco, Gemma, and the children did, for they were all tailors at one time. At best, only an outline can be drawn
as to the economic and business situation that existed at the time, and how that situation afforded them
opportunities.

The first general factor that favored the choice of Chicago was the size and growth of the city’s population.

As the city's population grew, internal multiplier effects came into play: more people meant
more construction, provisions, services, entertainment, etc., which, in turn, led to more jobs and
more people, and perforce to iteration after iteration of the same process. Chicago's population
grew from just under 30,000 in 1850 to about 300,000 by 1870 then to almost 1.1 million by 1890.
By 1910 the city's population had doubled again to almost 2.2 million, and Chicago's population
grew by another 55 percent or so over the next two decades, approaching 3.4 million by 1930.
Some of this growth came from annexation, but most was “real,” the result of natural increase
(an excess of births over deaths among the resident population), rural migration (from the
Midwest and, increasingly, from the South), and from foreign immigration (particularly from
Southern and Eastern Europe).106

The growth in the clothing sector was not due to just population growth. It was due to changes in the
method of production, in marketing, and in sales.

106
Encyclopedia of Chicago, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/198.html, The Electronic
Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2005 Chicago Historical Society.
 Page 56 of 177

Prior to 1860, clothing had been made at home or custom made by tailors in their shops. “After the Civil
War, an increasing number of companies began to manufacture ready-to-wear suits, and more men began to
consider these suits acceptable substitutes for custom-tailored clothing. One historian estimated that in 1880 less
than half of men's clothing was purchased ready-to-wear, but by the mid-1890s the figure had grown to more than
90 percent.”107 The process was described as being thoroughly systematized:

“... Charles Cist reported on a Cincinnati business that had subdivided the work of making a pair
of pants among seventeen people. And at the end of the century, Jesse Pope reported on a
company that used thirty-nine steps–and thirty-nine workers–to manufacture a man's coat.108

The company of Jesse Pope is a factory, but before the

introduction of factories, clothing companies often used middlemen
called sweaters that served as subcontractors to pay for the sewing of
garments or parts of a garment on a piecework basis to individual
workers or small groups of workers, sometimes families. The workers
were usually immigrants who had few other employment
opportunities and thus were forced to produce large numbers of units
of clothing for very small rates. The workers either worked in their
homes and/or in small rooms in tenement buildings that were
crowded and dangerous. There was no job security and the pay was
minimal.

The Jews and Italians do the finishing for the great clothing manufacturers, formerly done by
Americans, Irish and Germans, who refused to submit to the extremely low prices to which the
sweating system has reduced their successors. As the design of the sweating system is the
elimination of rent from the manufacture of clothing, the "outside work" is begun after the
clothing leaves the cutter. An unscrupulous contractor regards no basement as too dark, no
stable too foul, no rear shanty too provisional, no tenement room too small for his workroom, as
these conditions imply low rental. Hence these shops abound in the worst of the foreign
districts where the sweater easily finds his cheap basement and his home finishers.109

Factories were thought to be an improvement but it is obvious that they could be as demanding and as
uncomfortable as a sweatshop.

Another innovation in the marketing and selling of clothing was the introduction of made-to-measure suits
called “tailor to the trade.” Starting in the 1890s, these clothing companies supplied to local merchants in rural
areas with sample books and measuring instructions. The desired style suit and the measurements taken were then
sent to the company’s central location where the suit was sewn. By the turn of the century, hundreds of these
operations inundated small-town retailers with solicitations for business.110

107
Schorman, Rob, Selling Style: Clothing and Social Change at the Turn of the Century, University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2003, p. 22.

108
Ibid, page 23.

109
Addams, Jane, Twenty Years at Hull-House with Autobiographical Notes, The MacMillan Company,
New York, 1910.

110
Ibid, page 41.
 Page 57 of 177

The heyday of the mail-order business occurred between the

1890s and the 1910s, when it was dominated by Montgomery Ward and
Sears Roebuck which sold many types of products, but also included
strictly clothing manufactures such as Spiegel, Kuppenheimer and Harry
and Max Hart, Marcus Marx, and Joseph Schaffner (later Hart, Schaffner
and Marx), L. Abt & Sons, and M. Born & Co.

This growth in the garment industry in the United States is

reflected in the census figures for the occupation of tailor and
tailoresses111:

1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910 1900

Tailors & Tailoresses 71 43 86 120 169 192 205 134

Percentage change from prior year 65% -50% -2% -29% -12% -6% 53%
(In Thousands of persons 14 years old and over, except as indicated)

With the growth of commerce came a social revolution: employed women. No longer content to stay
on the farm or in the small home town, they flocked to the city to enter the workforce as administrative support
personnel: secretaries, typists, junior editors, etc. As a woman in business, they wanted to dress for business
and that meant a suit, albeit one designed for a woman.

Another garment sold ready-made to women by the end of the century was the “tailor-made
suit,” a special variant of women’s outerwear that borrowed fabrics, cut, padding, pressing,
and styling from tailoring techniques most associated with men’s wear. In fact, men made
most of these suits because the job required skills that dressmakers ordinarily did not
possess. Perhaps because making them had never been within the normal scope of the
homemaker or professional dressmaker, these garments gained earlier entrée into a factory
system of production. Advertisements occasionally featured ready-made tailored suits in the
1800s, and they appeared more frequently in the 1890s, though they did not achieve
widespread acceptance as ready-made goods until the early 1900s.112

Don Francesco’s specialty was women’s riding habits which is a suit. He would have been perfectly suited
[pardon the pun] to help design and tailor this new fashion. In addition, a corollary change in fashion also
matched the tailoring experience of Don Francesco:

The breakthrough garment in the women’s ready-made industry was the shirtwaist, a blouse
fashioned along the lines of a man’s shirt (“a man’s shirt transformed into a thing of beauty,”
according to one observer). The tailor-made suit had a removable jacket worn over such a
waist, and in the 1890s it began to be acceptable to wear the waist and skirt as a complete
outfit. The popular style had great advantages in terms of flexibility and economy, since skirts

111
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, Part I, U.S. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census, September 1975. Series D 233-682: Detailed Occupation of the Economically Active
Population: 1900 - 1970 - Con, page 43.

112
Ibid, p. 50.
 Page 58 of 177

and waists could be mixed and matched in ways that would expand a woman’s wardrobe
options far beyond what was possible when each costume needed to be complete unto itself.
The shirtwaist’s popularity surged throughout the 1890's and 1900s, achieving its peak
between 1909 and 1914.113

Based upon the above, what can we surmise as to the work of Don Francesco and the Del Grande family,
particularly his sons, Ungaro and Carlo Alberto who are also listed as tailors in the clothing industry in the 1910
and 1920 census?114 According to the 1910 census, they are tailors, and they all are working in a tailor shop.
Unfortunately, in the 1920 census, while they report their occupation as tailors, they specify only that they are
working in the ‘clothing’ industry.

The Encyclopedia of Chicago describes the Near West Side, where the Del Grande and Paolini families
located, as one of the three areas of the city that had a high concentration of sweatshops. Although most
sweatshops had been closed due to the opening of factories, it is possible that Don Francesco worked in a
sweatshop for a few years and possibly joined by his sons Ungaro and Carlo Alberto. It is more likely that they
found work in a factory which provided better working conditions, higher pay, and some protection through union
membership. Beatrice and her son Arturo also worked in a factory, first for Alfred Decker & Cohn and later Hart,
Schaffner and Marx. Perhaps later the Del Grande men found work in a tailor shop.

In the early years, many Italian women and girls also worked at home, sewing mountains of
coats or pants in dim light for pennies an hour. This was referred to as the "putting out
system" and helpless immigrants were often cheated by fast-talking agents. By 1900, large
clothing factories replaced the homework and sweatshops. Both men and women were
engaged in the needle trades at such establishments as Hart, Schaffner, and Marx. This
brought together on the Near West Side a critical mass of perhaps 40,000 clothing workers, a
good number of them of Italian background.115

Extended Family Members Move to Chicago

Domenico Del Vecchio and Gilda also moved to

Chicago with their two children, Francesco and Nancy. They
lived at 512 Centre Avenue (now Racine Avenue). They had
four additional children: Mary, Louisa, Carlo and Paul. They
then moved to St. Louis sometime between 1910 and 1920
as they are found on the 1910 census in Chicago and on the
1920 census in St. Louis. No reason is known for the move
to St. Louis.

113
Ibid, page 51.

114
Gilda and Angela were also listed as tailors in the 1900 census in Utica.

115
Candeloro, Dominic Lawrence, Chicago's Italians: Immigrants, Ethnics, Americans, The Making of
America Series, Arcadia Publishing, Chicago, 2003, p. 13.
 Page 59 of 177

Angiolina (Angeline) Del Grande and her husband Carmino Alfano had their first child, Florence, in Chicago
on September 25, 1903. Their next child, Angeline Jean (Nean) Alfano was born in Utica, New York on June 8,
1907, and so it is concluded that they move back to Utica some time in this period. The rest of their children,
Marie, Ann, Patsy, Carmen and Lillian, were also born in Utica. The families maintained contact, and it is known
that both Carlo Alberto and Ungaro traveled to Utica for special occasions. Many of the photographs that are now
shared among their descendants are those taken by the families in Chicago and sent to the Alfano’s in New York.

There is no evidence to indicate whether or not the family of Achille Ciferni accompanied his move to
Chicago. All that is known is that he and the Del Grande family resided at 210 W. Taylor Street on September 26,
1906.116 Sometime between 1906 and 1910, he returned to Utica as he and his family are listed on the 1910
census. No reason is know for the return of the Alfano and the Ciferni, but in all likelihood, it was personal and
not financial.

Maria Ines Del Grande married Antonio Sirimarco in 1909, and they lived at 635 S. Centre Avenue (now
Racine Avenue) in Chicago along with Tony’s brother Saverio. Tony emigrated from San Sosti, Calabria, Italy in
1904.117 He had come alone when he was just a teenager. All he had with him was his clarinet.

His first jobs were playing in funeral processions at which bands would play as was the custom during this
118
period. He then worked in a theater orchestra for many years, that is, live theater--not a movie theater. Even if
a play was not a musical, there would be an orchestra. Attilo Paolini said that Tony played at the Erlanger
Theatre119 which performed musicals, and Isabel Daniels Paolini recalled that he played in "No No Nanette" which
had a long run. The theaters did well in the Roaring Twenties, and he made good money. Later on, he gave
clarinet lessons.

116
Petition for Naturalization, and Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance of Francesco Paolo Del Grande,
September 26, 1906

117
Ship's manifest for the Prince Adalbert that departed Naples, Italy on April 19, 1904 and arrived at Ellis
Island May 4, 1904 listing Antonio Sirimarco.

118
The only corroboration found was the following statement concerning Banda Ionica, an Italian folk
group focused on the brass band traditions of Sicily. The roots of the music played by the band can be traced to
Holy Week and funeral marches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banda_Ionica

119
Originally called the Palace Music Hall located in the City Hall Square Building, at 127-139 N. Clark
Street. Operated from the 1930's into the early ‘60s when it closed. The City Hall Square Building/Erlanger Theatre
was demolished starting in May of 1962. The site is now the Richard J. Daley Center. “Cinema Treasures,”
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/984/
 Page 60 of 177

Marie Ines Del Grande [Sirimarco]

Marie Ines Del Grande and Anthony

Sirimarco

Anthony Sirimarco with

Carol Jean and Patricia
Louise Sirimarco
 Page 61 of 177

Chapter 7

Arcangela Del Grande

My first awareness of Arcangela Del Grande was the appearance of her name on the manifest of the
Regina di Italia that arrived at the Port of New York on April 3, 1898. She had accompanied Gemma and the Del
Grande children on their voyage of immigration to America. On the manifest was the notation that she was going
to join her daughter and son-in-law. My Italian genealogist Pierangela Badia had found this record as well, and
she asserted that Arcangela was the mother of Gemma:

Gemma takes also her 70-year-old mother Del Grande Arcangela, 70 years old -
all dirested (sic) to Utica NY to Francesco Paolo.

I initially accepted this judgment as she was traveling with Gemma, but I wondered why she was listed as
a Del Grande. Normally Italian women use their maiden name, which I didn’t know then, or her married name
which would be Castricone if she was Gemma’s mother. I assumed that the name written was a mistake, and I
hypothesized that either Arcangela misinterpreted the question or the ship’s recorder misunderstood the answer;
after all, probably the Del Grande spoke no English.

I found the 1900 census for the Del Grande family living in Utica, New York, but Arcangela was not listed. I
assumed that she had died between her date of arrival and the date of the census; after all, it had been noted on
the ship’s manifest that she had been in the hospital at Ellis Island.

I requested a search of the records from the Registrar of Vital Statistics of the city of Utica, New York. A
search is purchased for three consecutive years at a cost of $20, so I requested a search for the years 1898, 1899
and 1900. No record of death was found. I then identified the churches in Utica and their location relative to the
address of the Del Grande family in order to locate the church that she and the Del Grande would have attended.
I assumed that there would be a record of the mass given in her remembrance at her passing. The most likely
churches were St. Mary of Mount Carmel, Old St. John’s Church in St. John Parish, and St. Agnes (now
incorporated in St. Anthony of Padua). I contacted each but none had a record of her.

I started to worry about this woman. Had she died alone? Was there no memorial for her? I was
surprised at my own feeling in this matter: that I cared about a woman who I never met and who had probably
died a hundred years ago. Genealogical research does strange things to the researcher.

I continued to formulate hypotheses to guide my search. If she was in the hospital at Ellis Island, perhaps
she passed away on the island. During its half-century of operation, over 3,500 immigrants died at Ellis Island.120
Where would she have been buried? I learned that persons who died at Ellis Island were buried in the cemetery
for Manhattan, and I wrote of letter of inquiry; again, the reply was negative.

For the sake of a complete genealogical record, I sought the birth record of Arcangela. I found the record
on Family History Library film number 1384889 containing birth records for the years 1827 and 1828. The index
lists an “Angiola Del Grande” which I noted but did not consider her to be Arcangela. However, an inspection of
the actual Atto d’Nascita stipulates il nome di Arcangela while in the column Indicazione, she is listed as

120
Hamblin, B. Colin, Ellis Island: The Official Souvenir Guide, Aramark, 1991, p.xx. Also found at
http://sydaby.eget.net/swe/ellis_island.htm.
 Page 62 of 177

“Arcangiola del Grande.” This indeed was the birth record of Arcangela, and that her maiden name was in fact Del
Grande! If she was the mother of Gemma, then this finding had an unfortunate consequence. Her father was
Raffaele Del Grande, and he was the father of Donato Del Grande, Francesco Paolo Del Grande’s father: Gemma
and Francesco were first cousins! I thought that I had better find the birth record of Gemma to make certain of
this conclusion.

I found both the birth record of Gemma and her record of marriage to Francesco Paolo: both identified
one Carmina Giovani as the mother of Gemma. With relief, I had determined that Don Francesco and Gemma
were not first cousins; Arcangela was an aunt to Don Francesco.

Carmina Giovani had married Berardino Castricone. I therefore hypothesized that Carmina had died, and
that Berardino had married Arcangela; Gemma had ‘adopted’ Arcangela as her mother, or perhaps Carmina had
died at childbirth and Gemma did not even know that Arcangela was not her birth mother. My imagination knew
no bounds.

I again returned to a year-by-year search of the atti di morti of the Registri dello stato civile for Popoli,
and–ah-ha! I was right: Caterina Giovani died thirteen years after her marriage on March 24, 1869. Now to find
the marriage record of Berardino and Arcangela! It didn’t take long; Berardino had overcome his grief quickly: he
married in the same year–September 17, 1869. Unfortunately for me, he had married Anna Rosa Liberatore.

I had hit a brick wall. I didn’t know where Arcangela had died or been buried; and I had no idea of her
relationship to Gemma. I needed a fresh perspective. I called for help.

When I embarked on my adventures in genealogical research, I became aware of several websites that
invited membership, but only one had a local chapter of members. Il Circolo Filippo Mazzei is the local chapter of
Pursuing Our Italian Names Together (POINT). I joined in 2007 where I met the couple Donna Dengler and Daniel
Else. Over the years, we have shared dinners and travel adventures in Italy as well as our investigations of our
Italian ancestors.

I explained my puzzle to them. “Perhaps Arcangela was just accompanying the Del Grande family. Maybe
she wasn’t joining them but another family–her real daughter and son-in-law,” suggested Donna. “I see,” said the
blind man.” A whole new pathway opened.

At about this same time, I pursued another avenue to finding Arcangela: a daughter of Don Francesco and
Gemma who had married and settled in Utica rather than Chicago. Her name was Maria Angiolina (Angeline) Del
Grande, and she had married Carmino Alfano. Through an obituary of Angeline, as she was known in America, I
learned the names of her children, and I began to contact them, though most had passed away or were mentally
incapacitated. Also about this time, I subscribed to www.Ancestry.com, a website that provides access to records
such as the Social Security Death Index, census records, naturalization records, etc. It also provides an online
genealogical database that enables a subscriber to record information and store records found. About a year
early, I had started a database of the Del Grande - Paolini family in a fourteen-day trial period, but I had not
subscribed. The database was still there when I returned as a subscriber one year later, and I made a minor
modification to it–deleting an erroneous record to be specific. Within a day or two, I received an E-mail from one
Karen Alfano, inquiring whether or not I was related to a Beatrice Del Grande. I had a new cousin!

Since the discovery of our kinship, we have shared our genealogical research findings, photographs,
questions, and leads. She was unaware of Arcangela, but I now had an ally. I told her about Arcangela, and she
did a search of Ancestry.com. Instead of finding just the manifest record of Arcangela’s passage with the Del
 Page 63 of 177

Grande family in 1898, she found a manifest record in 1899. Arcangela had sailed with Lucia Del Grande, her
niece and a sister of Don Francesco on the ship Saale; and this time she and Lucia stated with whom they were
joining in Utica: Achille (undecipherable). The last name was indecipherable but–and this is difficult to explain but
after reading hundreds of handwritten records of the style of that time period, one would understand–I would
recognize it if I knew it.

Left side of the ship’s manifest showing names of Arcangela Del Grande and Lucia Del Grande

Right side of the ship’s manifest showing to whom Arcangela and Lucia were going to join

I began to search for Arcangela’s marriage record and the marriage record(s) of her daughter(s). In
searching for Del Grande earlier in my genealogical research, I had found a birth record of Antonio d’Aurelio of
Stefano d’Aurelio and Arcangela Del Grande, though I wasn’t sure then that he was related to my Del Grande
family. Antonio’s birth was in 1858. I proceeded to search backwards. In the year 1855, I found the birth record
of Maria Grazia d’Aurelio. Since Stefano and Arcangela could have additional daughters, I continued my search
but I also then began to search for a marriage record of Grazia, starting seventeen years after her birth.

I found it: June 3, 1881–but to Gennaro Di Pillo. The name Achille whatever could not be read as
Gennaro Di Pillo. Maybe it was another daughter and son-in-law of Arcangela. [I later confirmed that Gennaro
died in 1883.]
 Page 64 of 177

In every great mystery or detective story, the investigator needs a break–some unexpected piece of luck
to bridge to the next step; and now mine came. Karen Alfano had receive a trove of photographs from her
mother and aunts, and she was passing them to me and other new cousins that we had contacted in our search
for long-lost relatives. We were trying to identify persons in the photographs as most of them had no
identification, and it was difficult to determine whether one picture of a man of about age twenty-five was same
man in a picture of a man of age sixty-five. The man in question was Don Francesco, and so Karen asked me to
send her a photograph of a younger Don Francesco.

I knew that I had such a photograph in my computer folder of

images. Mixed with images of people were images of documents in a
format called .jpg (jay-peg). These were documents that I had
gathered over time in my research. Rather than reading the title of
each image, I simply invoked the image viewer and looked through the
folder. The image of Don Francesco’s naturalization card appeared – a
small, 2" x 3" document. I glanced at it, and then my eyes slowly
focused on the name of the second witness for Don Francesco: Achille
Ciferni–in typewritten print! I had my man! Naturalization card of Francesco Paolo
Del Grande
I immediately notified Karen, and then I began to search the
census records on www.Ancestry.com. Bang! A 1930 census record for 608 Second Street in Utica, New York for
Achille Ciferni and Grace Ciferni. The Italian name for Grace is Grazia. I was getting close.

Before I could start the search again for an earlier census record, Karen sent me an E-mail: she had found
the 1920 census record for Ciferni. I clicked the link she had sent, and up came the record; the third member of
the Cirfeni household was Arcangela Del Grande! The indexed name was misspelled, and so Karen had used some
creative alternatives to retrieve the record. I thought that there even might be a 1910 census record and indeed
there was; I had found it by perusing each census sheet in the same ward as the 1920 census.

Since Arcangela’s name hadn’t appeared in the 1930 census, and she was ninety-two years of age in 1920,
I assumed that she had died between the two decennial censuses. I fired off a request for a genealogical search of
death records with my $22.00 money order to the Registrar of Utica, asking for the standard three-year search of
the years 1920-22. Within a week, I received a verified transcript from the register of deaths: Arcangela Del
Grande, age 81 (sic) years121, 9 months, 26 days, had died on April 28, 1920; her place of burial is Calvary
Cemetery in Utica, New York.

I have no doubt that she was buried by her daughter and son-in-law as they are buried in the same
cemetery. She is with family. Now she and her second great grandnephew can both rest peacefully.

Peace be upon her!

121
The number of years is incorrect as the birth record clearly states: L’anno mille ottocento ventisette, il
di ventitre del mese di luglio": the year 1827 of the 23rd of the month of July. She was 92 years old when she died.
 Page 65 of 177

Chapter 8

The Paolini Decide to Emigrate to America

It is not known exactly when, but probably about 1905, Alfredo Paolini suffered a serious illness -- a fever
of some sort. The doctor did not know the cause or nature of the problem. In any case, he inquired of Beatrice as
to whether she had family that could provide support for her and her family in the event of his incapacitation or
death. “They are all in America,” answered Beatrice. "Then I think you should be near them," replied the doctor.

Getting Papers in Order

On March 24, 1905, Ildebrando Paolini submitted an application for a passport122 to the headquarters of
the Casellario Di Polizia Amministrativa which in turn requested approval that a passport be issued from the
governmental and police offices of Sulmona, the administrative seat for his home town of Popoli. Signed by the
mayor of Naples, the passport was valid for three years; the noted destination was Chicago. Alfredo is described
by his date of birth, (21 Dec 1867), occupation, (tailor), and parents: “figlio di Ignoto” (son of unknown father)
and of Angiola Paolini.

Included are the émigrés that will accompany him: wife, sons and mother:

-wife, Maria Beatrice Del Grande (daughter of Francesco Paolo Del Grande) born in Popoli on 2 MAY 1879
-son, Armando Paolini age 9, born in Naples
-son, Adolfo Paolini, age 7, born in Naples
-son, Arturo Paolini, age 5, born in Naples
-son, Aldo Paolini, age 3, born in Naples
-mother, Angiola Paolini age 71, born in Popoli, daughter of Cassiodoro

Also listed on the record are Ildebrando’s physical traits:

Height: 1.65 mt. [5' 5"]
Age: 39
Forehead: normal dimension
Eyes:
Nose: "Greek" form
Mouth: normal size
Hair: dark brown
Clean shaved with brown moustache
Body size: normal
Noticeable signs: scar on his forehead

122
The requirement of a passport was established by a law establishing the Commissariat of Emigration in
1901. Foerster, Robert F., The Italian Emigration of Our Times, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1919.
 Page 66 of 177

Descriptions of Italian emigration often give the impression of a rather unregulated and haphazard
procedure–that emigrants were solely on their own and that they were at the mercy of miserly shipowners and
uncaring bureaucrats. Certainly there were abuses, but based upon legislation of the Italian and American
governments and the experience of the Paolini family as will be described, there were regulations and procedures
that aided and protected emigrants before, during, and after passage.

The process was initiated by the submission of a Domanda di Passaporto per L’Estero, a request to the
mayor of Naples for a passport for foreign travel. Inquiry by the Naples police department was then made to the
administrative district for his home town of Popoli which was the city of Sulmona. It asked whether there was any
“impediment” to his leaving, with a specific inquiry as to whether he owed taxes. The response was “Nulla
Osta”–no impediment.

Ildebrando was then issued a Certificato Municipale from the pretore (magistrate) of Naples in which he
declared the following:

Paolini Ildebrando, natural son of Angiola Paolini is resident in Naples on 2 Via Università and
that he is poor and doesn't own any kind of property nor does he contribute to the tax system
and he doesn't do any kind of business activity (shop, etc.), nor has a profession or trade; nor
shop, no manufacture, nor an artist, but lives only with day to day work with his own arms
and hands. The certificate is dated 7 Mar 1906.

This statement is in direct contradiction to that which Beatrice described as to their profession and
financial position. Did the family experience some financial set back? Or did they just sell their business in
anticipation of their emigration and move to 2 Via
Università? Was Alfredo incapacitated? Did he declare
that he was poor and worked only as a laborer because
he thought that only in this way could he obtain a
passport and receive permission to leave? There are no
answers to these questions.

A Last Visit

When their departure was certain, Beatrice

visited the mausoleum of her beloved son Attilio. He
was/is entombed in a mausoleum which is believe to be
in Poggioreale Cemetery,123 located on the east side of
the city in an area also called Poggioreale124.
Poggioreale is more that a cemetery: it is a necropolis –
Cimitero Poggioreale
a city of large tombstones and mausoleums.

123
Two earlier built cemeteries, Santa Maria del Pianto and the adjacent Cimitero Monumentale, were
combined to become the Poggioreale Cemetery.

124
“Poggioreale” means “royal hill”, and there was a Villa Poggioreale begun in 1487.
 Page 67 of 177

Attilio had died two years prior in 1904; he had lived only about six months. His body had been
embalmed so that it would be preserved.

As she held her son, she must have pondered the future. She was pregnant, and the voyage would be
about ten days. They would be in steerage, and she probably had heard of the discomfort of that
accommodation. They would then be processed for admittance at a place called Ellis Island. Would they be
allowed to enter? Would Alfredo hold his temper? Then a two-day train ride to Chicago, hopefully into the home
and comfort of her father and mother.

Napoli - Panorama da S. Martino

Departure

It must have been one of the most heartbreaking points in the journey, for surely below on the dock were
friends who had come to see them off. One such description is more than the heart can take:

One picture of that day stands out more strongly than all the rest. It is the picture of two
women waving a last good-by to some loved one aboard. I shall never forget the agonized expression
that came over the younger one's face when the ship began to move. Hiding her head on her
companion's shoulder, she wept as though her heart would break. Then, suddenly calming herself, she
lifted her brave little face, smiled through her tears, and waved us out of sight125

To see Naples fading in the distance; to think of all the friends and familiar faces; to think of the sights,
sounds and smells of that vibrant city; to wonder if she were doing the right thing; all these thoughts must have
crossed Beatrice’s mind as the Moltke set forth from the Bay of Naples.

125
Ibid.
 Page 68 of 177

Chapter 9

Emigration of the Paolini Family

The Voyage

Unlike most of the passengers that day, the Paolini family had only to walk to the Port of Naples to embark.
It must have been crowded, because the number of Neapolitan émigrés had grown in the past few years: from
3,165 in 1876, to 76,000 in 1901, to 90,000 in 1906.126

Their ship was the SS (steamship) Moltke, a modern ship of the time, built for the Hamburg-American Line in
1902, and sailed under a German flag.127 The ship could accommodate 2,102 passengers: 333 first class; 169
second class; and 1,600 third class.128

The ship’s manifest does not use the term of class but rather the terms “saloon, cabin and steerage
passengers.” The word ‘saloon’ seems to be an Americanization of the British term ‘salon,’ meaning elegant or
fashionable apartment. A cabin, obviously, was a single room accommodation. Steerage, the name derived from
the place that housed the steering mechanism of sailing ships, was, for the most part, an open, dormitory space in
the lowest part of the ship.

The price of a ticket varied according to the class. In one account, a passenger sailed from New York to
Naples, booked in steerage, for $30 while first class cost $90. Accounting for inflation to the present (2009), $30
and $90 has the ‘purchasing power' of $738 and $2,210, respectively.129 Based upon the photographs of the SS
Moltke, it seems to have been quite elegant and spacious–at least above the waterline. No photographs or written
descriptions of its steerage were found.

Most of the descriptions of the passage on ships and the processing of Ellis Island are based upon
descriptions by other émigrés. Beatrice never complained about the conditions nor her treatment, and so what
follows is only a suggestion of the conditions the Paolini family might have encountered and/or was typical for other
immigrant passengers.

Based upon several descriptions, the long narrow compartment were divided into separate dormitories for
single men, single women, and families. It is quite likely that there was a common eating area with tables. There
may have been chairs or benches and tables, affixed to the bulkhead by cables to prevent their shifting with the
rolling of the ship. One male passenger, sailing in 1898, described his accommodations:

126
Behan, p.23.

127
Flying under a flag of a country means that it operates under the maritime regulations and inspection
of that country.

128
“Ellis Island Ship List,” hosted by RootsWeb,
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~knappdb/ships_M.htm]

129
Measuring Worth: Purchasing Power of Money in the United States from 1774 to 2000,
http://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/
 Page 69 of 177

The remaining space is filled with iron bunks,

row after row, tier upon tier, all running fore
and aft in double banks. A thin iron rod is all that
separates one sleeper from another. In each
bunk are placed « a donkey's breakfast (a straw
mattress), a blanket of the horse variety, a
battered tin plate and pannikin,130 a knife, a fork,
and a spoon. This completes the emigrant's «
kit,» which in former days had to be found by
himself.131

Before getting underway, a manifest of the ship’s Open Berths in Steerage

passengers was completed through interviews with each
passenger. As additional regulations were instituted so as to improve conditions for passengers and improve the
efficiency of the processing upon arrival, the forms were changed to some degree. In the case of the Paolini’s
passage, form 1500B designed by the Immigration Service, Department of Commerce and Labor, was used to record
the names and various personal information. For a more thorough description and use of the manifest, see
appendix A.

The names of the Paolini family are listed on lines 22-28. In the column entitled, “Whether going to join a
relative or friend; and if so, what relative or friend, and his name and complete address,” entered is the name
Francesco Paolo Del Grand at 321 A [nothing more], Chicago, Illinois (see image of manifest on next page). The
manifest also indicates that Don Francesco paid for the passage of all members of the Paolini family.

Rather than the immigration officials at

Ellis Island, it was the recording the names of
émigrés by the ship’s personnel that most likely
was the cause of change in name, or the
misspelling of names. Most likely, the person
recording the information was of a different
nationality from that of the émigré; in this case,
German and Italian.

Prior to casting off, all passengers were

inspected by the surgeon. This procedure was
instituted by the shipping companies so as to
avoid having an émigré rejected by the
Immigration Service as the émigré would have to
be returned to his/her home port at the
company’s expense. SS Moltke

130
A small pan or cup.

131
Whitmarsh, H. Phelps, “The Steerage of To-Day - A Personal Experience by H. Phelps Whitmarsh with
13 Illustrations by A. Castaigne.” 1898 Century Magazine, Volume LV, Number 67, Pages 528-543.
http://www.gjenvick.com/Steerage/1898-SteerageConditions-APersonalExperience.html
 Page 70 of 177

Photos courtesy of Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

http://www.gjenvick.com/Steerage/index.html

Deck life on the SS Moltke, steerage passengers approaching the wharf

in New York
Photo purchased from Norway-Heritage: Hands Across the Sea

Promenade Deck of the SS Moltke

Cupola and Main Saloon

Smoking Room
 Page 71 of 177

Steerage Accommodations132

It is quite likely that the Paolini family were assigned these third class cabin accommodations in steerage as
opposed to the open birth area that was assigned to single men.

“Passengers are now allotted

enclosed cabins with berths of
modern type for two or four
persons, while there are also a
number of six-berthed rooms for
the use of families. These cabins
are all lighted by electricity, and
the light can be switched on or
off as required by the occupants.
In addition to a washstand the
rooms are also provided with a
mirror, towels, and a plentiful
supply of other toilet requisites.”

Four-berth Cabin in Steerage Cunard Lanconia I and Franconia I Rare 1912

Brochure

Washroom for Steerage Passengers

Italian Immigrants Aboard Ship

Photos courtesy of Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives

http://www.gjenvick.com/Steerage/index.html
Steerage Dinning Room

132
None of photographs on this page are of the SS Moltke.
 Page 72 of 177

Treatment

The servicing of people en masse is a situation that can easily lead to indignities, real or imagined. The
procedures of loading people onto the ship, directing them to their accommodation, providing amenities, etc. are
fraught with potential errors in conduct that can disgruntle the most patient persons. Add to this situation the
human element of distinctions of class, ethnicity, language, status (émigré versus citizen), and relationship
(passenger versus crew), behavior can change, both real and perceived.

The class distinction was quickly revealed to Phelps H. Whitmarsh, probably a British gentleman. He was
traveling from Liverpool to New York to determine conditions in steerage, probably with the intent of writing a story
for a magazine. As he stepped aboard, he was greeted pleasantly enough:

“Second cabin, sir?” said the master-at-arms by the gangway.

“No; steerage,” I replied.

His polite tone changed, and he invited me to “Step for'ard lively!” in a manner that left no doubt in my
mind as to what part of the ship I belonged.133

Rather than being served at a table, steerage passengers passed in a line, cafeteria-style but without choice.
It was not the food that were the subject of complaints, but the manner in which it was served. As one passenger
explained:

The first steward was a dirty, middle-aged Italian in a filthy shirt. A hand soiled with all kinds of
dirt -- ship dirt, kitchen dirt and human dirt -- pulled a great "cob" or biscuit out of a burlap sack
and shoved it towards me. There is no complaint about the quantity of the food, but the quality,
and the way that it was served was not fit for human beings.134

To which he added:

The great drawback was the way in which, to quote one of my friends, it was slung at you.135
And
The steerage is not provided with means for sitting down so usually the meals are eaten on the
floor.136

133
Ibid.

134
Durland, Kellogg, “Urgency of Improved Steerage Conditions 1906,”
http://www.gjenvick.com/Steerage/1907-11-UrgencyOfImprovedSteerageConditions.html; original source:
Durland, Kellogg, The Chautauquan: The Magazine of System in Reading, Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New
York, November 1907, Volume 48, Pages 383-390+.

135
Ibid.

136
Ibid.
 Page 73 of 177

On his return voyage, he complained:

There was no dining room at all provided, and we had to wash our own dishes -- which were of
tin -- and absolutely no other provision was made for this than a barrel of cold sea water !
Sometimes I tried to scrape the greasy macaroni off my plate with my finger nails. Several times I
was lucky enough to pick up a bit of newspaper somewhere for a dish cloth.137

Of course seasickness was the most prevalent affliction to all passengers, but due to the location of
steerage, its chances of affecting these people were more likely as the rolling of the ship was magnified. The
consequence made for a fetid atmosphere. Even the best efforts did not prove effective:

To the credit of the ship, it must be said that everything was clean. Sweet it was not. Spotless,
sanded decks, scrubbed paint-work, and iron bunks could not hide the sour, shippy, reminiscent
odor that hung about the steerages, one and all.138

Another reported:

...the air in steerage became rank with the heavy odor of spoiled food, sea-sickness, and
unwashed bodies. There was little privacy, and the lack of adequate toilet facilities made it
difficult to keep clean.139

It shouldn’t be surprising that there were complaints of crude behavior towards single woman–what, today,
would be called sexual harassment.140

Lastly, apparently on some ships, there were definite restrictions to where steerage passengers could
wander, though it is doubtful that they had to remain below deck the entire time. Beatrice was pregnant with
Amelia at the time that she was on ship, and she was permitted to come up and stay on the deck to get some fresh
air.

Declaring restrictions as to areas of the ship might inhibit adult steerage passengers ‘who would know their
place,’ but children are usually unaware nor inhibited. As Beatrice was taking the air on deck, people began looking
up and saying, “There’s a little boy way up there on the superstructure.” Beatrice looked up, and sure enough,
there was a little boy: her son, Adolfo. One of the seamen climbed up and brought him down safely.

137
Ibid.

138
Whitmarsh, “The Steerage of To-Day.”

139
“Ellis Island” http://sydaby.eget.net/swe/ellis_island.htm Excerpted from Ellis Island: The Official
Souvenir Guide, by B. Colin Hamblin, published by Aramark, 2004.
140
“Women in Steerage Grossly Ill Used,” New York Times, 14 December 1909, Page 3, Column 2.
http://www.gjenvick.com/Steerage/1909-WomenInSteerage-ConditionsCalledAppalling.html
 Page 74 of 177

While there were reports of unhealthy and uncomfortable conditions for steerage passengers during the
period of immigration, plus personal tales of wretchedness and abuse, one is often left with the impression that
little or nothing was done to improve the situation nor aid the immigrant traveler. In my readings, I did find
evidence that the governments of both Italy and America did much in both regards (see appendix B: Italy's
Commissariat of Emigration).

Arrival at the Port of New York

The SS Moltke docked at the Port of New York on June 1, 1906.

The ship docked at either the Hudson or East River piers. By the time it
arrived, the first and second class passengers had already been
inspected on board and, if cleared, allow to disembark; if not, they
joined the steerage passengers who were to be processed by the U.S.
Statue of Liberty (1900-1910)
Bureau of Immigration and the U.S. Public Health Service at Ellis Island
where they were to undergo medical and legal inspection.141

As Ellis Island is surrounded by relatively shallow water, the

passengers were discharged at the main dock, and those requiring
processing at Ellis Island were transported in a ferry or barge.

Since other ships may have recently

discharged their steerage passengers, a ship’s
passengers may have had to wait, possibly for
several days, before debarking. The handwritten
entry, probably by the ship’s purser, has the date of
arrival of June 1st, while above is a stamped date,
probably by an immigration officer, of June 2. Thus it
is concluded that the Paolini family had to wait a day
in port before being transported to Ellis Island.

Immigrants walking from the barges to the main building. In the

background is a hospital where ill passengers were treated.

141
“Presidential Arrivals Through the Port of New York,”
http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_presidential_arrivals.asp
 Page 75 of 177

Processing Through Ellis Island

At some point in this process, each passenger was affixed with a name tag that included the name of the
ship, the manifest sheet number or alphabetic letter, and sheet list number. Beatrice’s tag stated: SS Moltke, Sheet
213; List No. 23.

They entered the Registry Room or Great Hall where the inspections took place. The Great Hall was divided
by steel bar fencing that created twenty-two aisles. As each batch of thirty-two immigrants entered the hall, they
would have been shunted by ushers into the aisle corresponding to the manifest number or letter on their tag. A
doctor would perform a cursory inspection of each person, and if they passed, send them down the aisle to the desk
of an inspector for consideration. It was said that doctors at Ellis Island soon became very adept at conducting "six
second physicals."142

At the end of the aisle, there was an inspector who interrogated the would-be immigrant regarding his/her
legal standing and moral character. The ship's manifest, which had recorded the immigrant's name and his/her
answers to twenty-nine questions, was used as the basis for the cross examination, which was to determine
whether or not the immigrant would be law-abiding and able to support himself/herself so as not likely to be a
public charge (with the acronym LPC), that is, welfare.

Imagine the cacophony of sounds of perhaps a thousand people talking in a multitude of languages trying to
communicate in the most earnest manner their answers to question, while in the background babies cried, small
children ran hither and yon, and mothers screamed for their children to obey. Imagine being eyed suspiciously for
having some contagious disease, mental defect or moral depravity. Imagine having to wait in line–sometimes sitting
but mostly standing, not just for minutes, but for hours. At best, the process took five hours. Imagine the worry of
your luggage being lost or stolen – not only your most valuable possessions but now your only possessions. And
then to fail to be admitted! It had to be a most stressful and exhausting experience.

Alfredo is suspected of having an illness or condition that prevented the family from proceeding to the legal
inspector. On each line number of the manifest is a handwritten abbreviation of “SI” meaning Special Inquiry (see
manifest), probably for a medical examination and then an appearance before a Board of Inquiry. This probably
caused Alfredo much embarrassment, and for Beatrice, uncertainty, worry and fear. Quite likely they had disposed
of their household goods and sold their business. Beatrice’s father and family were in America and would be of
limited assistance if they had to return. They had staked their future and their fortune to come to America, and
now it was in jeopardy.

The doctor had noted that Angiola, Alfredo’s mother, was “cert. senile disability & double cataracts;”
however, this illness does not seemed to have denied her entry, probably because the inspector believed that her
family would take care of her.

Rather than being processed in the normal five hours, the family was delayed for three days. A separate
listing entitled, “Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry” indicates Alfredo’s referral. His entry is listed as: “[age]
39 m[ale] 40 [entry] Paolini, Ildebrando, 4ch mother and wf(Del Grade (sic)) LPC” (See appendix A: Manifest–Special
Inquiry Register).

142
“Ellis Island - History,” http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_history.asp
 Page 76 of 177

Ellis Island

Immigrant Tag

Main Registry Building on Ellis Island

circa 1905
National Park Service
www.nps.gov

Immigrants Debarking from Ferry

http://www.old-picture.com/

Great Hall
www.Oocites.org
http://www.oocities.com/thereillyfamily/ellisisl.jp Eye Inspection
g Library of Congress

Mental Test
Inspectors’ Desks
www.Ellis Island.org
National Park Service
http://www.ellisisland.org/photoalbums/Album1/
http://www.nps.gov/elis/photosmultimedia/Ellis-Islan
14.jpg
d-Photos.htm
 Page 77 of 177

Manifest Sheet of the SS Moltke showing Paolini Family

Manifest with middle section cutout

Left side of manifest showing names of Paolini family

Blowup of right side of Paolini family

 Page 78 of 177

It is possible that the illness Alfredo suffered in Naples had lingering signs, although it is difficult to
understand how a further inspection could have taken three days. Medical conditions could be a cause for rejection
as it could incapacitate a person and thus “likely to be a public charge” (LPC). It is possible that there were so many
immigrants needing to be examined that they simply had to wait three days for Alfredo to be examined. There is
also the possibility that he was simply sick and needed three days to recover, and perhaps admitted to the 125-bed
hospital.143 If the Board of Special Inquiry suspected that the Paolini family would become a public charge should
Alfredo be incapacitated or die, they might have requested evidence that Beatrice could be supported. Perhaps a
telegram was sent to Don Francesco requesting assurance that he would be responsible for the Paolini family.

Obviously there was a happy ending as Alfredo was given a medical certification as noted: (“Dr. Cert.”).
The next column indicates the name of the doctor (“English”) and the next three columns indicate the date of the
hearing (“6/5") as June 5th; the page number of the recording secretary/stenographer’s notebook; and the initials of
the recording secretary; and the time of day (“305"). The final three columns for which there are entries “21, 28, and
21" indicate the number of meals–breakfast, lunch and dinner– had by Paolini family for which the steamship
company would have been charged. Companies were charged by the Bureau of Immigration for delays and
deportations as an incentive for applying standards meant to reduce the number of rejected immigrants.144

Ellis Island was known both as the ‘Island of Hope’ and the ‘Island of Tears’ depending upon whether or not
a would-be immigrant was admitted. For Alfredo, it had been a degrading process to be poked and prodded, forced
to wait in long queues, asked embarrassing and demeaning questions, examined for illnesses and deformities, all by
immigration authorities who were probably impatient and brusque given the enormity of their task.145 To Beatrice
and to the children, this was the ‘Island of Hope.’ She was grateful for the food provided during their detention, and
because they were allowed entry to the United States of America on June 5, 1906. Their line number of the
manifest were duly stamped “ADMITTED.”

143
Hamblin, op.cit.

144
Explanation of annotations on manifests found in article entitled, “Record of Aliens Held for Special
Inquiry,” http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/Manifests/bsi/

145
Approximately 5,000 émigrés were processed each day. Hamlin, op.cit.
 Page 79 of 177

Blowup of left side of Paolini family

Special Inquiry Sheet listing Paolini family

Blowup of right side of Paolini family

On to Chicago

To leave the island, they would have taken a ferry to the mainland, either Manhattan or New Jersey, and
then a train to Chicago. Quite probably they telegraphed Don Francesco in Chicago as to when they would arrive, as
it was planned that he should meet them at the train station. It is not known whether it was at Ellis Island or at the
train station, most probably the latter, that they lost Arturo in the crowd and confusion of boarding; and so they
missed their train. The travel time to Chicago was about eighteen hours, and there were only two trains per day.146
Thus they did not arrive as scheduled, and no one was there to meet them at the station when they did arrive.

Having no means of contacting Don Francesco on short notice – there being no telephones at this time –
and not knowing how to reach his residence once they reached Chicago, they found transportation with the
Parmelee Transfer Service,147 a company that carried baggage by horse drawn carriage from one train station to
another, for in those days, each railroad company had its own station. Again Alfredo found himself in the
demeaning and undignified position of sitting in the back of a baggage carriage and being paraded for all to see
through the streets of Chicago.

One has to admire Beatrice for her fortitude and endurance during this journey of at least 17 days. She had
to shepherd four small boys, a senile mother-in-law, and a disgruntled husband while being four and a half months
pregnant.

146
“Railraod Speed: Notable Fast runs of Passenger Trains for Long Distances,” The World Almanac & Book
of Facts, Facts on File, Inc., p. 242. “Chicago Passenger Stations,”
http://www.ominousweather.com/ChicagoRailCapital.html

147
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/p/parmelee/parmelee.htm
 Page 80 of 177

Chapter 10

Donato Del Grande

I knew exactly where he was entombed. I had seen the vault with my own eyes. He rests in the same vault
as Don Francesco in the little mausoleum that also contains Don Francesco’s wife, Gemma Castricone, and another
son who predeceased his father, Ungaro (Hugo) Tarquinio Del Grande. The mausoleum is in Mount Carmel
Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.

Donato Del Grande died on January 6, 1909 of endocarditis, an infection of the lining of the heart chambers
and heart valves.148

The only other evidence of Donato Del Grande is an entry on a manifest of the ship Regina d'Italia, that
embarked from Naples, Italy and arrived at the Port of New York on October 24, 1908. It states that he was four
years of age.149 Also listed on the manifest is Franc. Del Grande, age thirty-one. Under the heading of “whence alien
came” is the name “Grazia Del Grande,” who is known to be a sister of Don Francesco. Strangely enough, the last
permanent address is given as “Aquila”–not Italy–while the town is, as expected, “Popoli.” In the last column of the
second page, under “Place of Birth,” is entered: Utica, N.Y.

My initial interpretation of his manifest was that Donato was immigrating. Don Francesco had immigrated
twelve years prior in 1896; his wife and other children born in Italy had immigrated in 1898. If Donato was born in
America, why had his supposed father taken him on a trip to Italy when he was only six years old? If he was
immigrating, that is, coming to America for the first time, how could he have been conceived and born in Italy as
Don Francesco and Gemma were in America? I could only hypothesize that Donato was the son of someone else,
probably a relative. Perhaps he was the child of an unwed mother who wished to save him the embarrassment of
being an illegitimate child; or perhaps the mother or family were too poor to keep him. On the other hand, I knew
that Grazia Del Grande and her husband, Camillo Di Giulio, were childless and wanted a child; they surely would
have adopted Donato. I had no hypotheses that explained the immigration of this child.

In my initial phase of genealogical research, my mother had listed the children of Don Francesco and
Gemma, and she included Dante, perhaps an Americanization of Donato. She believe that Donato was about age
twelve when he died. Soon thereafter, my genealogical researcher in L’Aquila, Italy reported the birth record of a
Donato Del Grande, born in 1887. She also reported an entry on a ship’s manifest, the Manilla, that had arrived at
the Port of New York on June 8, 1901, bearing the name Donato Del Grande, age 13, from Popoli. Was this Donato
the son of Don Francesco and Gemma? I decided to label him Donato#1, and the one that arrived in 1908 as
Donato#2.

148
The Undertaker's Report of Death for Danato Del Grante (sic) issued by the Bureau of Vital Statistics,
Department of Health, City of Chicago states, January 6, 1909.

149
He was actually six years old at the time of his voyage.
 Page 81 of 177

I then obtained a copy of Don Francesco’s passport application, dated 21 August 1907 in which he stated:

I, Francesco Paolo Del Grande, a NATURALIZED AND LOYAL CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, do hereby
apply to the Department of State at Washington for a passport for myself and wife and my minor
children as follows: minor child Donato Del Grande born at Popoli “Italy, on the 7th day of July 1903...

So rather than Utica, New York as stated on the manifest, Don Francesco was stating that Donato was born at
Popoli, Italy. From the 1910 census, it is recorded that Gemma bore eleven children, seven of whom were still
living. By my records of date of births and deaths [which was incorrect at the time], I accounted for all the children
save one; and so I continued to hold my hypothesis that Donato was not the child of Don Francesco and Gemma.

I then began to search for birth records, both civil records and baptismal records in churches in Popoli, Italy
and in Utica, New York. No civil record was found in Popoli nor in Utica. I wrote to the parish priest in Popoli but
“niente.” I obtained a list of churches in Utica and located them on a map of the city along with the residences of
the Del Grande family in an attempt to determine their parish church which I concluded to be either St. Mary of Mt.
Carmel or St. Anthony of Padua. I contacted both, but neither had a record of a baptism for Donato Del Grande.

I considered the possibility that Donato was born in Chicago, the final residence of the Del Grande. I was
especially hopeful that I would find a baptismal record at Holy Guardian Angels church in Chicago because my father
was baptized at this church in 1908, only four or five years after the birth of Donato. The church had been
demolished in the late 1950's in order to allow the expansion of the Illinois Medical Center; but its records were
held by the Archdiocese of Chicago; and so I requested a search of their records for which I received the following
response:

Dear Mr. Paolini,

This office recently received your email of April 5. I checked the baptism records for Holy Guardian Angeles
from 1903 to 1905 and found nothing. It is possible that if the child was born in Italy, it was baptized there
as well.
I searched the parish for death records and found that none existed from 1903 to 1930.
Sincerely,
Julie A. Satzik
Assistant Research Archivist
Archdiocese of Chicago's Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives and Records Center

I had hit the proverbial brick wall.

By this time in my genealogical research of the Del Grande and Paolini families, I was ordering microfilm of
records from the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), mainly the
Registri dello stato civile 1809-1910 for Popoli, Italy. If the Mormons were microfilming records of churches in Italy,
might they also have microfilmed records of Italian churches in America?

Indeed they had! I had intended to contact the churches in the Italian section of Chicago where the Del Grande and
Paolini family had resided, but now I could examine the records myself and not ask the indulgence of church officials
who had better things to do than look up records a hundred years old. Best of all, these records would be written in
English.

I ordered the film for the church Our Lady of Pompeii and Notre Dame de Chicago. The catalogue also listed
film for Holy Guardian Angels. At first I demurred as I had already checked this source through the Archdiocese; but
after a few weeks I thought, “Why not? It’s only $5.50” I ordered the film.
 Page 82 of 177

I received a call from the local Family History Center that the film had arrived, and so I walked into the
Center at about 8:00pm that evening, only to be told, “We’re closing early tonight.” I was obviously somewhat
upset and disappointed, but I started my search through the films. I found no records of the Del Grande nor the
Paolini in other films.

The records of Holy Guardian Angels had an index that was unusual but logical: alphabetical and then by
year. I started with the year 1904 and found no entry for Donato, so I then began systematically going through each
year.

About 8:30pm, the staff and other patrons began to leave, but a new staff member had arrived. He was
there to install new software on each of the computers, and it would take him quite a while. He said that I could
stay until he left; and so I continued my search long past the normal closing hour of 9:00pm..

I found no entry in the index for Donato, and so I scanned through the individual, handwritten entries,
usually five or six per page. Again, no result. I decided to abandon my effort, but since I had the film, I thought that
I would look for the entry for my father, Attilio Paolini. I turned the crank of the microfilm to scroll forward. I
reached the end, but the entries did not extend to 1908. Then I thought that I would look for the entry for my aunt
Amelia who was born in 1906. I twirled the crank in reverse and stopped. Since there were no demarcations by
year, I had to read an entry to determine the year for the entries in that area of the film: Not back far enough.
Whirl, whirl! Another check: not far enough. Whirl, whirl! I picked an entry a random to determine the year. I
read:

Entry for the Baptism of Donato Del Grande

I was stunned–transfixed. I starred at the record for at least a minute. I had found him, and yet I had
difficulty believing it. All those hypotheses and systematic searches, and in the end, I found him by pure chance.

I decided to make a copy of the image of the page, and so I had to switched the film to another machine.
I’m sure that I had a rather dazed look on my face. I was tremulous, and I couldn’t think straight causing me to
fumble in threading the film into the machine. The technician installing the software must have recognized my
look. “Find something,” he asked. “Yes,” I replied, my voice somewhat shaky. “I’ve been searching for this child for
over two years, and tonight I found him.” “He wanted to be found,” said the technician.
 Page 83 of 177

I was overjoyed with my finding. I concluded that Donato had been born and baptized in Chicago, and so I
put the matter to rest. About six months later, I started writing this history of the Del Grande and Paolini families,
and I carefully noted the dates of marriages and relocations. Gilda was married in 1902, and Angiolina was married
in 1903; and by newspaper accounts, Don Francesco had attended the weddings. It would have been a long trip
back to Utica for those occasions. I had also read about baptisms: some denominations believe that infants should
be baptized while others believe it should be delayed until the age of accountability. In reviewing the records of
baptisms in the Registri dello Stato Civile for Popoli, I noted that there were intervals of several months and even
years between birth and baptism. Lastly, in the beginning stage of my search for the birthplace of Donato, I had
requested a search of the birth records of Cook County which included the city of Chicago: no record had been
found. In short, I suspected that while he was baptized in Chicago, he was born in Utica. Now, at least, I had a date
of birth on which to focus a search. The new date was two years earlier than the previously used date.

I requested a search by the Registrar of Vital Statistics of the city of Utica. Within a week, my hunch was
confirmed. Donato was born January 22, 1902 in Utica, New York.

It is likely that Don Francesco returned to Italy in order to accomplish some business transaction, possibly
the sale of his house (and possibly his shop) as his family resided there for two years after his departure. It still is a
mystery to me as to why Don Francesco would take his six year old son on a visit to Italy.
 Page 84 of 177

Chapter 11

The Early Years in Chicago

I have struck a city–a real city–and they call it Chicago...Having seen it, I urgently
desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages.

Rudyard Kipling, cc. 1900

Americanization of Italian Names

At some point in their lifetime, most Italians adopted an “American sounding name.” Hereafter, I will use
the name that my ancestors called themselves with the exception of Francesco Paolo Del Grande whom I will
continue to call Don Francesco.

Italian Name American Name Nickname

Del Grande Family

Francesco Paolo Frank Chico Paolo

Gemma Gemma

Gilda Gilda

Angiolina Angeline

Ungaro Hugo

Carlo Alberto Albert

Italia Arminda Lillian Lily; Sister Wilma

Donato Donato possibly Dante

Paolini Family

Ildebrando Alfredo Alfredo

Beatrice Beatrice Bice (Bee-chay)

Armando Armando

Adolfo Adolph

Arturo Arthur

Aldo Aldo

Attilio (I) Attilio

Amelia Emily

Attilio (II) Otto Ottie (Aah-Tee)

Donato Donato

Angiola Angelina
 Page 85 of 177

Italian Enclaves

As in Utica, Italian immigrants had proceeded the Del Grande and Paolini families and had coalesced in
some twenty150 neighborhoods, both in and around the city of Chicago. The largest of these enclaves was on the
near west side151 relative to the downtown area and was called ‘Little Italy’ or ‘Taylor Street.’ This Italian section
started on the west side of the South Branch of the Chicago River, and over time, it spread westward. The area was
bounded by Harrison Street on the north and Roosevelt Road (12th street) on the south, and eventually reached
Ashland Avenue on the west. It was roughly coincident with the 19th ward (see map) and had an Italian population
of about 15,000 by the 1920s.152 For a description of the area and it surroundings, see appendix C: Ethnic
Territories of the Near West Side.

The Del Grande moved often as they did in Utica as shown in the following table:

Date Indicated on
Document Address Source of Data

26 Jan 1902 247 W. Polk Street Baptismal record of Donato Del

Grande

26 Sep 1906 210 W. Taylor Street Naturalization card of Francesco

Paolo Del Grande

21 Aug 1907 388 S. Halsted Street Passport application of Francesco

Paolo Del Grande

24 Oct 1908 127* Vernon Park Place Manifest of Regina d’Italia;

Francesco Paolo and Donato

22 Apr 1910 1114 Vernon Park Place 1910 U.S. Census153

1910-1920 921 S. Wenonah Avenue, Oak 1920 U.S. Census

Park, Illinois
*The streets of Chicago were renumbered in 1909. Thus the addresses of 127 and 1114 Vernon Park Place are for the same
house.154, 155

150
“Italians,” Encyclopedia of Chicago. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/658.html
151
During the 1920s, the Social Science Research Committee at the University of Chicago designated
seventy-five areas of the city as communities based on common social characteristics, such as ethnicity, race,
religion, and income. These community names and boundaries have not changed and thus do not reflect the
characteristics of the population of the areas since that time. The community containing the Italian section was
and is called the Near West Side.
152
Pero, Peter N., Images of America: Chicago Italians at Work, Arcadia Publishing, Chicago, 2009, p. 9.

153
Also listed at the same address are Oliver and Conado De Granditz (probably De Grandis which is a
common surname in Popoli; also in the 1910 city directory are listed four Del Grande: Antonio, Conado, Frank and
Olive, all with the occupation of tailor.

154
“Rationalization of Streets,” Encyclopedia of Chicago,
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/410052.html

155
Plan of Re-Numbering City of Chicago: Table Showing New and Old House Numbers, August, 1909, p.
161.
 Page 86 of 177

The Taylor Street area156 was never exclusively Italian as indicated by the names on the census sheets. Its
population was quite mobile, and as one ethnic group moved into the area, the older, former ethnic group moved
out, though a few residents of the older group remained.157 As residents became more prosperous, they moved
further west, both within the area and to outlying areas. This western movement is illustrated by the relocations of
the Del Grande [and the Paolini family] within the Near North Side, culminating in their final settlement in Oak Park,
Illinois, a town adjacent to the western border of Chicago. Oak Park had, and still has, a significant Italian
population.

These Italian neighborhoods attracted compaesani, that is, people from the same village or at least the
same region of Italy. For example, the Near North Side was mainly settled by Sicilians while the Taylor Street area
was settled mainly by Italians from the South: Naples, Salerno, Bari, Messina, Palermo, Abruzzo, Calabria, Basilicata,
the Marche, and Lucca.158

Having been poor in Italy, and having spent most of their savings for their passage, the Italian immigrants
were extremely poor. As most were unskilled and illiterate workers, they had to take the toughest and meanest
jobs. They worked long hours and under poor conditions for small wages. Consequently they resided in the
neighborhoods that afforded the most inexpensive housing that was the most run-down and poorly maintained.

At the time, Chicago in general, was not a city beautiful:

"According to English journalist William T. Stead, who lived in the city for five months (until
March 1894), ‘The first impression which a stranger receives on arriving in Chicago is that of the
dirt, the danger, and the inconvenience of the streets.'"159

Taylor Street was described in a newspaper article of March 30, 1893, under the headline, "Foul Ewing
Street:160 Italian Quarter that Invites Cholera and Other Diseases:”

The street is lined with irregular rows of dingy frame houses; innocent of paint and blackened
and soiled by time and close contact with the children of Italy. The garbage boxes along the
broken wood sidewalks are filled with ashes and rotting vegetables and are seldom emptied.
Heaps of trash, rags, and old fruit are alongside the garbage boxes already overflowing. The

156
The area was also called by the intersecting streets in the center of the Italian population: Halsted and
Taylor or just Taylor Street.
157
Candeloro, Dominic Lawrence, Chicago's Italians: Immigrants, Ethnics, Americans, The Making of
America Series, Arcadia Publishing, Chicago, 2003, p. 16.
158
Ibid, p. 22.
159
Nelli, Humbert, The Italians in Chicago: A Study in Ethnic Mobility, Oxford University Press, New York,
1970, p. 9.
160
Ewing Street was later named West Cabrini Street and ran parallel between Gilpin Place and Polk Street
according to a website that pictures a sculpture of a child and flowers on the exterior of the Mary Crane Day
Nursery building, located at 782 Ewing Street; also a PDF map in my possession entitled, chicago1.pdf. The nursery
was part of the Hull House Settlement. [Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, 1902-1933.
 Page 87 of 177

dwelling houses and big tenement buildings that line Ewing Street are occupied by thousands of
Italians. Every doorstep is well alive with children and babies dressed in rags and grime, many of
their olive skinned faces showing sallow and wan beneath the covering of dirt....Some of the
dark complexioned men sit around tables through the day time hours and gamble at cards or
dice with huge mugs of beer beside them.”161

It was not uncommon for Chicago newspapers to exaggerate and use plaintive and demeaning language in
describing the Italian neighborhoods, ascribing the refuse and crudely built dwellings to ethnic characteristics. The
Chicago Herald stated, for example, that “it is not abject poverty which causes such nasty and cheap living; it is
simply an imported habit from Southern Italy.”162

There is little doubt that Italian immigrants lived in over-crowded housing with poor sanitation:

The Near West Side contained some of the worst housing in the city. Structures facing the
street (most of them brick and three stories high) were unsoundly constructed, inadequately
lighted, poorly ventilated and dangerously overcrowded. Owners and managers utilized all
available space for living purposes. Each floor (including the basement) generally contained two
apartments of four rooms each, although the district also provided many one- and two-room
apartments. Each apartment, in turn, housed one or more families, and frequently lodgers or
boarders as well who shared kitchen and bedroom facilities. Inhabitants often ate and slept in
shifts.163

In the same vein:

A survey by the Commissioner of Labor in 1892-93 studied conditions in the district bounded by Halsted,
Newberry, State, Polk, and Twelfth streets, an area containing a large Italian element. The Commissioner reported
serious overcrowding in tenements, high rents for inferior housing, barely adequate sanitary conditions, and
extremely poor social relationships.164

Indeed, Taylor Street must not have been a pleasant place at this period. Alfredo certainly thought so as he
expressed his disgust. The great Chicago Fire of 1871, supposedly had started in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn at 137
DeKoven, was in the southeastern section of the 19th ward and probably about six blocks from the house at
127/1114 Vernon Park Place. It had occurred not less than thirty-five years prior, and there were still vacant lots,
burned abandon buildings, unpaved streets, and only wooden sidewalks in some places. Overall, Taylor Street could
only be viewed as somewhat disheveled and desolate, and so Alfredo thought they had come to an uncivilized
place.

161
Ibid, p. 22.
162
“In an Italian Patch,” Chicago Herald, July 16, 1887, as found in Nelli, Humbert, The Italians in Chicago,
p. 11.
163
Jane Addams, "The Housing Problem in Chicago," Annals, XX (July, 1902), pp. 99-103 as found in Nelli,
Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930, pp. 33-34.
164
U.S. Commissioner of Labor, Seventh Special Report, and Ninth Special Report. The Italians in Chicago,
a Social and economic Study (1897) as found in Nelli, Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930, p. 13.
 Page 88 of 177

Chicago

Quotation from an Italian immigrant upon reflection of his

immigration to America: ”When I was coming to this
country, I was told that the streets were paved with gold.
When I arrived, I learned three things: One, the streets
weren’t paved with gold; second, the streets weren’t paved;
third, I was expected to pave them!”

Parmelee Transfer truck

F. Parmalee & Co.
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/p/parmelee/parmelee.ht
m

http://reference.findtarget.com/search/Little%20Italy
,%20Chicago/

Near 12th & Jefferson Street circa 1906

www.publishing.cdlib.org

Courtesy of Taylor Street Archives Courtesy of Taylor Street Archives

www.taylorstreetarchives.com www.taylorstreetarchives.com
 Page 89 of 177

19th Ward (circa 1915) encompassing ‘Little Italy’Addresses for Map of 19th Ward

In Chicago, even numbered addresses for North/South streets is on the West side of the street and for West/East
streets it's on the South side of the street.
Notre Dame de Chicago
Del Grande Addresses 1335 West Harrison Street
210 W. Taylor Street Chicago, IL 60607
388 (now 923) S. Halsted Street (312) 243-7400
247 W. Polk Street
127/1114 Vernon Park Place (renumbered in 1909) Holy Guardian Angel
178 Forquer Street (renumbered 717 in 1909)
Paolini Addresses
127/1114 Vernon Park Place Hull House 800 South Halsted Street in 1856
635 S. Centre (Racine) Avenue
1209 Gilpin Place (formerly Ewing; now St. Cabrini) Columbus Hospital Extension (now St. Cabrini
1423 Plum (Flournoy) Street Hospital)
1739 W. Polk Street Entrance formerly at 1220 Gilpin Place; now at 811 S.
5232 W. Altgeld Street Lytle Street
Chicago, IL 60607
Institutions
The Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii McLaren Elementary School
1224 Macalister Place (now W. Lexington St.) 1500 Flournoy Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607 Chicago, IL 60607 US
 Page 90 of 177

By most definitions and characteristics, the area was a slum. What is startling is that most newspaper
reports and social commentators, including some reformers with advanced college degrees, seem not to have a clue
as to why immigrants in general, for Italians weren’t the only residents of the area, lived as they did. First, they
wanted to be among residents with whom they could communicate, that is, speak Italian, and who could help them
deal with the normal transactions of living: finding a job, finding a place to stay, buying food, clothing and furniture,
finding a doctor, etc.

Second, they need to live near their job in order to reduce the time and cost of travel. At the turn of the
century, Taylor Street bordered the factories along the South Branch of the Chicago River where most of the Taylor
Street residents had employment.

Third, they couldn’t afford housing for only one family, and so they could expend less money by sharing an
apartment with other families.

The enclave served as a staging area in which the immigrants became acclimated and “Americanized” while
accumulating resources to improve their situation. Immigrants were not unaware of the housing conditions under
which they lived. When they had learned how to find their own way in the city, and they had accumulated sufficient
resources, they relocated to better housing which explains the high rate of mobility, not just of the Del Grande and
Paolini families, but of the most single persons and families. While the Italian community of Taylor Street seemed
stable, or more negatively stated, not improving, the opposite was true. There was a constant relocation of
residents, both within the area and outward to other areas while new Italian immigrants took their place.
Reformers and social critics often despaired as they saw no improvement, which was true of the area but not true
of the people who, as they prospered and/or followed employment opportunities, left the area.

While mobility reflected movement from an undesirable neighborhood and housing to one that was more
pleasant, less crowded and with better accommodations, the daily commute to jobs dictated one’s relocation. In
the decades after 1900, improved and expanded mass transportation facilities, first surface street cars and then
elevated trains, made it possible for the lower income class to live beyond walking distance.

Housing and Family Expansion

When the Paolini family arrived in 1906, they moved in with the Del Grande family.165 At this time, the Del
Grande family consisted of Don Francesco, Gemma, Hugo, Albert and Lily. The Paolini family consisted of Alfredo,
Beatrice, Angelina, Armando, Adolph, Arthur, and Aldo; Emily was born four and a half months later in October.
Thus there were five adults and eight children in the household. No doubt that it was crowded, a common
complaint of immigrants by those who are well-established and able to afford ample accommodations. However, it
was not a violation of a zoning ordinance: the city didn’t have one.166

165
Personal conversations with the author’s father, Attilio (Otto) Paolini.
166
The city adopted its first zoning ordinance in 1923. The Encyclopedia of Chicago: Zoning,
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1401.html
 Page 91 of 177

Two years later in 1908, Otto Paolini was born. His birth certificate states the family’s address was 127
Vernon Park Place, which is the same house as the Del Grande family. Thus another member was added to the
household. Thirty-three years later in 1941, at the outset of World War II, my father had to register for the draft,
and he had to obtain a copy of his birth certificate at city hall. In the process of making the request for the
document, the clerk mentioned his “twin sister.” He knew full well that he didn’t have one, and so inquired of his
mother as to what might have happened. She explained that, unlike today when most births take place in a
hospital, in those days the birth of a child took place in the home and delivered by a mid-wife. The mid-wife was
suppose to register the birth. It was surmised that she forgot to register Emily’s birth in 1906, and so when she
went to the registrar’s office to report the birth of Otto, she also reported the birth of Emily but was unable to make
clear–probably not having great command of the English language–the fact that Emily had been born two years
prior. Their births were recorded as happening at the same time, that is, as twins.

Beatrice was about five feet tall, but all of her children were born late and of abnormally large size. Otto
was over twelve pounds at delivery!167 Such large-baby births are recognized now as a sign of a pre-diabetic
condition which Beatrice did develop in her later years.

One wonders whether or not such crowded conditions imposed a stress on the adults, particularly Alfredo,
who was use to having his own place and being the head of the household in Naples. He was also the proprietor of
his own business and a craftsman at his trade. Now he resided in the house of his father-in-law, and he probably
worked in a factory doing routine, piecemeal tasks rather than making an entire garment. His actual working
conditions are unknown, but before 1910, there was no union of garment workers, and thus the garment
manufacturers were able to extort their employees. One writer described the length of the workday as an
explanation for the creation of the union:

Since their take-home earnings in season for a 56- to 72-hour (6 day) week averaged around $3,
it's not surprising that workers began organizing the Garment Workers and the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers with a strike in 1910.168

Alfredo went to work each day while Beatrice stayed home with the children. She said that each day, when
it was time for him to come home, she would be cooking dinner and constantly looking out the window in order to
see him coming so as to assess whether or not he was in a terrible mood–which he usually was. When he brought
home his first earnings and dropped the money on the table, he curtly remarked, "I earned this much in Italy."
Beatrice retorted, "In Italy, you worked, I worked, and your mother worked to earn this much money."

167
No more than 5' 6", he often quipped that he had his growth spurt in the womb.
168
Candeloro, Chicago's Italians, p. 13.
 Page 92 of 177

By the time of the 1910 census,169 the Paolini family had moved to their own apartment at 635 S. Centre
Avenue,170 since then renamed Racine Avenue.171 In December 1909, they had their eighth child, a boy named
Donato. It should have been a happy time with an optimistic outlook; but it was not to be.

Family Losses

Beatrice said that Alfredo suffered severe headaches and high blood pressure; and his temperament didn't
help his condition. The stroke left him with a slight limp and mentally impaired at times, even paranoid to the
extent that he went to the Italian consulate in Chicago and told the officials that he wanted to return to Italy but
that his wife and mother were preventing him. Apparently the Chicago police were called, and Beatrice was
summoned. She explained that her husband had suffered a stroke, that he was ill, and not of sound mind.
Consequently, no further action was taken by the authorities.

The next incident was probably decisive for Alfredo: he came at Beatrice with scissors. One report is that
he did not harm her, but Carol Jean Sirimarco recalls that her Aunt Ann (Angelina Sirimarco) related the incident,
saying that Beatrice had been working on her sister’s (Maria Ines Del Grande) wedding dress at the time, and that
he did stab her with the scissors and hurt her quite badly. No other details of the incident are known except that
Alfredo was confined to an institution for a period of time. He hated being confined, of course, and appealed to
Beatrice to have him released to her care. With her great forbearance, she had him released, and he returned
home. For how long is not known.

Whether he despaired of his situation, and/or realized that he was a danger to his
own family, he took his own life. His straight-razor had been withheld from him, but he asked
his mother for it, and she acceded, but failed to stay and watch him. He slit his own throat.
His daughter Emily found him ‘sleeping'. "He won't wake up,” she announced to the family.
Emily later recalled that he warmly embraced her not long before he took his life as he always
showed great affection for her. Ildebrando Alfredo Paolini died September 4, 1910 at the age
of 44.

My father regaled me with the many stories of his childhood throughout his life, yet he never mentioned
how his father died. The story was revealed by my Aunt Emily and confirmed by the coroner’s report.

169
1910; Census Place: Chicago Ward 19, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T624_261; Page: 1B; Enumeration District:
1579; Image: 273. The exact date of the interview with the Paolini family was April 27, 1910.
170
This is the same address as that of Antonio Sirimarco and his wife, Maria Ines Del Grande as recorded
in the 1910 census. There were fifteen households at this address and so it must have been a tenement building.
171
Newman, Scott A., [Map of] Central Chicago and the Loop District: Chicago, Illinois, 1907-1917,
copyright 2006. http://www.jazzagechicago.com/
 Page 93 of 177

Inquest No. 55848, upon the body of Alfredo Paolini County of Cook, State of Illinois, on the 8th day of

September 1910

VERDICT: The said Alfredo Paolini now lying dead at County Morgue in said City of Chicago County of

Cook, State of Illinois, came to his death on the 4th day of Sept. A.D. 1910. In the Cook County Hospital. From

shock & hemorrage (sic) due to external violence, self inflicted, cut in his throat with a razor on Sept. 3rd 1910 in house 635 Centre
Ave, from the evidence offered at Cook County Morgue in the City of Chicago suicidal. while the deceased was in a deranged

state of mind.

At the time of his death, the local Catholic church at first refused to have a mass for him nor allow him to be
buried in "sacred ground," because he had committed suicide. The policy of the Catholic Church was and is well
established:

That suicide is unlawful is the teaching of Holy Scripture and of the Church, which condemns the act as a most
atrocious crime and, in hatred of the sin and to arouse the horror of its children, denies the suicide Christian
burial.

Further, Christian burial is to be refused to suicides (this prohibition is as old as the fourth century; cf. Cassian in
P.L., XL, 573) except in case that the act was committed when they were of unsound mind or unless they showed
signs of repentance before death occurred.172

Beatrice appealed the initial ruling and convinced the church authorities that Alfredo was ill and not
responsible for his actions, and so they finally relented. He was interred with ecclesiastical rites in the consecrated
ground of Mount Carmel Cemetery, a Roman Catholic cemetery located in the Chicago suburb of Hillside, Illinois.

Alfredo’s life and death reminds us of the stanza in a poem of A.E. Housman which might serve as his
epitaph:

And how am I to face the odds

Of man's bedevilment and God's?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.

May peace be upon him.

A month later, on October 21, 1910, Donato Paolini, their youngest son, died at the age of nine months.

172
New Advent: The Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14326b.htm
 Page 94 of 177

The Courage of Beatrice

The tragedy of these two events must have been crushing for the family. For Beatrice, it must have been
that and more. Alfredo may have been peevish and self-centered, but he was the head of the household who
provided an income, and, by his mere presence, a sense of family and stability. Now her children had no father–no
one to serve as a male role model and to protect and guide them, especially the boys. The loss of a second child
would have aroused the memory of the lost of the first Attilio to double the pain. These were two losses that could
leave a person numb and wanting to withdraw from the world. At age thirty-one, Beatrice Paolini had no income,
no job, six children ranging in ages from two to thirteen, and an aging and somewhat senile mother-in-law. A lesser
woman would have despaired and possibly surrendered.

Beatrice sat alone at her kitchen table and took the money from her purse -- $6.00 was all she had in the
world. She said to herself, "I have $6.00 here - $1.00 for each child, and I'll never ask anyone for a dollar again."
 Page 95 of 177

Chapter 12

The Discovery of Donato Paolini

In writing this chapter, I wanted to identify the addresses at which the Paolini family resided, and I realized
that I did not have the family’s census sheet for the year 1910. In the initial stage of my genealogical research, I
used the fourteen-day free subscription from Ancestry.com to search and retrieve census data for various
ancestors, but I had not found one for the Paolini family for 1910 and decided to do without it. Now I was a fully-
paid subscriber, and so I renewed my search.

After entering known search criteria, such as name, age, nationality, and location, Ancestry.com retrieves
the records that are ‘close’ matches. About the fiftieth name listed was ‘Alfreds Pauline.’ I didn’t immediately
recognize ‘Alfreds’ as a possible transliteration of ‘Alfredo’, but I thought it worth pursuing, and so I examined the
image of the census sheet. Indeed the Paolini family was listed, albeit with transcription errors: Alfreds, Bessie (for
Beatrice), Amando, Adolph, Arthur, Ado, Amelia, Atthtis, Donat, Ayyda (Angiola or Angelina). Obviously the person
who had done the transcription was not familiar with Italian names. [I entered corrections to each of the names so
that any future searches will retrieve the census record.]

“Why was Donato listed,” I wondered– thinking he was Donato Del Grande. Perhaps he was in the daily
care of Beatrice since she had young children–Emily and Otto–and perhaps Gemma was working outside the home,
though I never heard that she did. Then I realized the sequence of dates: the year was 1910. Donato Del Grande
died in 1909! Obviously it wasn’t him. My mind reeled. Did I have a ‘new’ uncle? In the past six months, I had
been finding new cousins which I knew must have existed, but to discover a ‘new’ uncle was astonishing.

I read the entry for his age: “5/12". The census was taken on April 27, 1910, so Donato must have been
born in December 1909 or January 1910. My father always claimed that he was the baby of the family, and so he
must not have known, or at least forgot about this younger brother. There was only one inescapable conclusion:
Donato had died at a very early age.

About a year prior to this discovery, my mother and I had traveled to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside,
Illinois in order to visit the grave site of the Paolini family. Marked by a large granite tombstone are buried: Alfredo,
Beatrice, and Aldo. On each side of the tombstone is an urn (see photograph). I recalled reading the symbolism of
the urn as a grave marker.173 Researching the computerized files of the cemetery, we discovered ‘Baby Zickgraff,’
born of Emily Paolini and Charles Zickgraff and who had lived only ten minutes according to the burial records.174
In E-mail correspondence with the cemetery’s administrative staff, the burial notation is explained:

173
Keister, Douglas, Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography, MJF Books,
New York, 2004, p. 137.
174
E-mail from Susana Vazquez, Susana, Queen of Heaven & Mount Carmel Cemetery, sent: Monday,
August 10, 2009 9:46 AM.
 Page 96 of 177

Mount Carmel Cemetery: Grave WT2; Lot S18; Block 7; Section 23. WT2 means West Top of grave
2. Usually when it dealt with babies they listed which part of the grave the baby was buried in
since they didn’t occupy the whole grave.

There was no mention of a second child in that previous correspondence. I now sent an E-mail of inquiry to the
Mount Carmel with the specific name of Donato Paolini. Within ten minutes, I received the following reply:

From: Susan Vazquez [mailto:SVazquez@queen.cathcemchgo.org]

Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2010 4:35 PM
Subject: RE: Donato Paolini
Mr. Paolini,
I am showing a Donato Parolina (sic) interred on this lot he was buried on October 24, 1910 at the age of 9 months. I
am guessing it is the baby you are inquiring about just an incorrect last name. Thank You.

The Certificate and Record of Death states that Donato Paolini, born January 18, 1910, died October 21,
1910 of chronic gastroenteritis.

My father was only about fifteen months old when Donato was born, and a little less than two years old
when he died; it is not unexpected that he would not remember his younger brother if he was even aware of him. It
is likely that this tragedy was never mentioned by his brothers and sister for fear of upsetting their mother.
*****
 Page 97 of 177

Chapter 13

Work and Play

Beatrice Becomes Head of the Family

After Alfredo's death, Beatrice did receive some welfare funds for the care of the children, either from the
city or the county. It was very little, especially since the welfare case worker was pocketing part of the money.

Her main concern was the care of her children as she needed to work and earn
money to support the family. She consulted her parents who advised her to put the
children in an orphanage. She was urged to do the same by Mother Cabrini,175who had
started an orphanage and apparently wanted to fill it. She suggested to Beatrice that
she place all the children in the orphanage of the Church, but Beatrice refused as she
wanted to keep the family together. Though her mother-in-law was not completely
reliable, Angelina provided justification to keep the children at home as Beatrice could
claim that they were supervised by an adult. Believing that her daughter needed more
protection, she sent Emily to live with her parents, the Del Grande, who had moved to
Oak Park, Illinois. Sister Francesca Cabrini

It is not certain but it is probable that Beatrice began working in a garment factory as a seamstress, that is,
sewing parts of garments using a treadle sewing machine. In this period of time, the workday was considerably
longer than today. She probably had to work about ten hours each weekday and a half-day on Saturday,176 but her
day started much earlier: getting the children dressed for school, preparing food, and parceling out chores, etc. She
then took a streetcar in order to commute to her job. Not surprisingly, she was sometimes a little late. The work
area was on an upper floor, and a part-owner of the firm, one Mr. Goldstein, would stand at the elevator to identify
any late workers and dock their pay. Even though the workers were probably paid piecework, they could still be
penalized. Beatrice could not afford to lose any money, and so she would run up the backstairs–or possibly it was
the outside fire escape–and a fellow worker would open the door for her. She would quickly assume her position at
her sewing machine as though she had been there for quite some time, much to the puzzlement of Mr. Goldstein.

175
Francesa Saverio Cabrini, aka, Frances Xavier Cabrini, (1850-1917), later canonized.

176
“... the establishment of the 54-hour week, and the payment for overtime work at the rate of time and
a half.” Documentary History of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 1918-1920: Proceedings of the
Fourth Biennial Convention of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, held in Boston, Massachusettes,
May 10 to 15, 1920, p. 51.
 Page 98 of 177

Later on, Beatrice went to work for Alfred Decker & Cohn, a manufacturer of high quality men's suits. It was
a small firm, and she actually worked with Mrs. Decker. The firm prospered and made Society Brand Clothes. She
sewed the buttonholes of the coats, a more skilled job of the clothing trade.

At some point, Beatrice became a forelady, that is, a supervisor of the seamstresses. There are two contrasting
views of foremen/foreladies:

If a worker was too good to lose, but yet showed a

tendency to rebellion and toward arousing the discontent
of the others, he or she would generally be made foreman
or forelady.177
versus:

After the passage of the 10-hour law, for instance,

foremen in several shops managed to evade the law by
requiring the workers to work before and after punching
the time clock, and the workers did not dare complain.178

She obviously knew her trade. When my father was a young man,
he bought a coat for what he thought was a terrific bargain: $17. He
showed it to his mother, and asked, "How much do think I paid for this
Courtesy of The New York Public coat?" Beatrice examined the coat a moment, turned over the skirt to look
Library. www.nypl.org at the lining and then said: "$17."

The Garment Industry and Unionization

The Del Grande and Paolini were typical of the major social
patterns and movements of their time. Italians were the largest
majority of immigrants during this period, and they also became
the largest ethnic group in the garment industry with the possible
exception of Jews. This industry was a major commercial
enterprise of the time. By the end of the first decade of the 20th
century, the garment industry was Chicago's third largest employer
and the single largest employer of women.

As in Naples, socialistic ideas and its political movement Garment Factory Works
at Hart, Schaffner & Marx
were demanding improved working conditions for workers. Soon
Photo courtesy of Carolyn Faber at
Chicago became a leading center for organizing the garment www.CarolynFaber.net/blog/
workers. Ultimately, the Women's Trade Union League (organized
in Chicago at Hull-House), the Amalgamated Garments Workers, and the National Garment Workers Union were
formed here. A most famous strike occurred from September 22, 1910 to February 18, 1911, sometimes called the

177
Ibid., p. 24.

178
Ibid.
 Page 99 of 177

Hart, Schaffner, and Marx strike, the company at which the strike was mainly directed. It was a massive strike that
was started and led by women of diverse positions in the garment industry, and it demonstrated their ability to
organize across ethnic lines in an industry notorious for low wages and bad conditions.

This Chicago strike marked the start of what became the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America of which Beatrice was
an active member. Such activity was very courageous as she and
her family were very dependent on her job. She did her part on
the picket line. Once, she said, the police harassed them and put
them in the paddy wagon, but then just drove around the block
and let them out rather than putting them in jail.

The results of the strike of 1910 were mixed, but its

primary feature was the establishment of “an arbitration
committee of three to be chosen, for the purpose of considering
adjusting all other grievances, and their rulings were to be
binding.”179 This seemingly small concession was de facto
Garment Workers Strike (1910)
recognition of the union which was the foundation for an ongoing
means of negotiating and resolving differences such as:
arbitration of grievances; union representatives at grievance hearings; reduction in working hours; standards of pay
for positions; limitations in overtime; union preference of workers.180 All these rules and standards of behavior
between employee and employer seem almost “self-event” but in reviewing the conditions of the time, one can
appreciate the legacy of those who fought for worker rights.

While Beatrice and her fellow-workers were successful in organizing the union, working conditions were
never pleasant, but job opportunities were available and wages increased. With the income she made as forelady,
the family lived quite comfortably, even to extent that they were able to buy a car when my father was in high
school. She even had a little money to invest in the stock market, as so many people did during this prosperous
period. She invested in the utility stockholding company promoted by Samuel Insull. The holding company
collapsed during the Great Depression, wiping out the investment of the 600,000 shareholders. This was a scandal
that was in the newspapers for years, and Insull fled to Greece and then Turkey to escape prosecution. He was
extradited back to the United States by Turkey to face federal prosecution on mail fraud and antitrust charges. He
was found not guilty on all counts. In any event, Beatrice, along with the thousands of others, lost all they put into
this stock.181

179
Ibid. p. 44.
180
Ibid, pp. 69-70.
181
Samuel Insull (1859–1938) was an Anglo-American innovator and investor based in Chicago who was
prominent in the development of Edison Electric. He invented the holding company which he controlled, owning
shares in several utilities and railroads. Ironically for Beatrice, he was also responsible also for the building of the
Chicago Civic Opera House in 1929.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Insull
 Page 100 of 177

The Paolini on Gilpin Place

About 1912, the Paolini family moved to 1209 Gilpin Place. My father said that it was across the street from
the Columbus Extension Hospital,182 also known as the Mother Cabrini Hospital183 at 1220 Gilpin place.184 It was
here that my father had his famous tricycle incident:

This incident happened when I was living on Gilpin Place. My godfather and godmother
presented me with a tricycle, and after learning to ride it, I would race up and down the sidewalk.
I noticed that the older boys were riding their bicycles on the street and occasionally go over the
sidewalk curb with the greatest of ease. I had been instructed never to ride my tricycle in the
street, but since in those days there were few automobiles, it didn't seem to me that there was
any danger.

My mother was watching me from our front room window, but because I rode with such speed
(It is amazing how a child of that age could travel so fast!), it was impossible for her to come
outside to warn me not to try to ride the tricycle over the curb. I decided to follow the older
boys with their bicycles and ride over the curb. On down the street, and at full speed, I hit the
curb. You can imagine the result. I landed head first over the tricycle and received two large
black eyes and a large lump on my forehead. My mother's warning was too late. I still can hear
her shouting, "No! No!" It's an experience I'll never forget.

The Passing of Angelina Paolini

It was at this period of time–about 1913-- that Angelina Paolini died. For some years she had been in poor
health and ate very little, so she was just "skin and bones." She died peacefully in her sleep. It had been Adolph's
habit to take a cup of tea with some rum in it to his grandmother in her bed each morning, and when he went in
that morning, he thought she was still sleeping, but then realized she had passed away. My father recalls the events
that followed:

I don't remember very much about my grandmother's funeral, but I do remember

certain parts of it. I noticed one morning that all the family was up unusually early and
talking very quietly and walking around in a confused fashion, so I got up and went to see
what this was all about. When I entered my grandmother's bedroom, I thought she was
asleep but was told that she was dead.

182
Not to be confused with Columbus Hospital, also founded by Mother Cabrini and her Missionary Sisters
of the Sacred Heart in 1905 and located at 2520 N. Lakeview Avenue.
183
Later known as Mother Cabrini Memorial Hospital, and still later, probably after 1946 when she was
canonized, as St. Cabrini Hospital.
184
Later renamed Cabrini Street.
 Page 101 of 177

Several features of the funeral I do remember. I remember the horse-drawn black

buggies (at that time few automobiles were used for funerals) to transport the mourners
and my family to the church service. The next thing I remember was the railroad station.
The Mount Carmel Cemetery was about 30 miles away and at that time places of such a long
distance were reached by railroad. Lastly, I remember the casket on a caisson was drawn by
horses to the grave.

For more information about Italian funeral customs, see appendix E.

The Del Grande in Oak Park

It is thought that the Del Grande family moved to Oak Park, Illinois after 1910 (they are listed at 1114
Vernon Park Place, Chicago in the 1910 census), and rented a second floor flat of a two-flat building from friends.
My father remembers that the owners of the building gave parties, and at one party, he saw an elderly man with a
very long white beard speaking Italian–something he had not seen before. The only men he had seen before
wearing beards were Jewish.

Don Francesco had a house built at 921

South Wenonah Avenue at the cost of $3,000
according to the building permit. It was a large,
two-story residence–and it had to be large
because it housed Don Francesco, Gemma,
Hugo, Lily, Albert and his wife Mary Laframenta,
their two daughters, Ethel and Bernice, and
Anthony Sirimarco and his wife Mary Ines Del
Grande, and Emily Paolini.

Emily reported that Aunt Mary always

called her "the orfana" in a very condescending
manner. My father always thought it was
921 S. Wenonah Avene, Oak Park, Illinois Albert's Mary who was insulting to his sister,
and consequently was rather cold to her
through the years. About 1983, when Emily
and my father were recalling their childhood, Emily declared, "Oh, no, Albert's Mary was very good to me–after all I
babysat for her. It was Mary Sirimarco, (Beatrice's own sister) who was so mean." After seventy years, the record
was set straight.

The Sirimaro family then built their own home next door at 919 S. Wenonah. Their first daughter was
Angelina Yolanda who was delivered by a midwife and was stillborn. Anthony was naturally very upset and said any
further children of theirs would be born in the hospital. Their son "Bobby" was born in 1920, and Tony was a doting
father. His wife Mary said that when he went to work each day, he would say to her, "Don't make Bobby cry." Later
they had a second daughter and named her Angelina as well.
 Page 102 of 177

The Paolini Moving to Plum Street

A short time after the passing of Angelina Paolini, the family moved to 1423 Plum Street [later renamed
Flournoy], which was not very far from Gilpin Street (see map). It was only a block long, bounded by Laflin Street
on the west and by Loomis Street on the east.185 My father noticed the many fruit trees in the neighborhood –
probably plum trees – and was told that the area was once an orchard.

Most of the neighborhood residents were of Italian origin, but there were also Irish. At one time, the area
was mostly occupied by persons of French descent, and there were a few French families still residing in the
neighborhood. The parish church was named Notre Dame, and for years the homily was given in French [the mass
at that time was given in Latin]. My father said that he preferred to attend the French church after his terrible
experiences at Our Lady of Pompeii.186 So what were these terrible experiences?

Our Lady of Pompeii versus Notre Dame

I assume that attendance at Our Lady of Pompeii was my father’s first school experience, and that he was in
kindergarten or first grade; he had not learned the masculine art of bladder control. He had to use the lavatory
during class one day, and he asked the teacher – a nun – to be excused. Apparently suspecting some mischievous
intent, the nun refused permission. Fortunately, my father did not have an ‘accident.’ On the next occasion, after
again being refused, he did have an ‘accident.’ When Beatrice gathered the laundry that night, she noticed his
soiled underclothing and asked him what had happened. My father told the truth which apparently dismayed and
displeased Beatrice. She went to the school and confronted the nun who did apologize.

I think it safe to say that my father was not overly studious nor particularly concerned with the mysteries of
religion and the doctrine of the Catholic Church. He was certainly not one to spend time memorizing prayers and
the answers to questions of the Catholic catechism. Yet he was expected to attend a catechism class that followed
the nine o’clock mass, specifically designated for attendance by children, every Sunday morning. The nuns were
insistent, and children were expected to obey. And the nuns were watchful! My father conceived a scheme for
avoiding catechism class, and it worked for a while. When all adults and children were leaving after mass, he would
walk closely with a couple – a man and woman – so that the nuns would think they were his parents. But after
several Sundays, one of the nuns noticed that his parents were a different couple than previously. His escapades
were ended, but it also ended his regular attendance. He was prohibited from attending mass and catechism
classes, so later he wasn’t able to make his First Communion.

185
Loomis and Laflin streets still exist.
186
Two of the more significant landmarks of Little Italy were the Catholic churches of Our Lady of Pompeii
and Holy Guardian Angel founded by Mother Cabrini. Holy Guardian Angel was the first Italian congregation in
Chicago. The parish was established in 1898, and the church was built on Arthington Street in 1899. Due to the
burgeoning population, a second major Italian church, Our Lady of Pompeii, was founded in 1911. The Holy
Guardian Angel Church was razed for the construction of the expressway system. The Our Lady of Pompeii Church
is now a the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii.
 Page 103 of 177

At school the following Monday morning, it was the procedure for the nun to ask those who had missed
Sunday mass to raise their hand. Being honest and trusting, my father raised his hand as did another boy. The nun
told them to go to the cloak room and wait for her. When she arrived in the cloak room, she instructed them to
kneel down and extend their hands upward. My father thought that the nun was going to say a little prayer for
them or perform a rite that would absolve them of their sin, which may have been true from her point of view. A
loud “thwack” and then searing pain was sensed by my father as the nun had struck them with a large ruler. My
father said that the pain was extreme, but that he was more shocked than physically hurt. He couldn’t believe that
this nun, who he thought was supposed to be a saintly person, would do such a cruel thing. My father said that he
kept this incident to himself and told no one until many years later.

Being so unhappy at Our Lady of Pompeii, he begged his mother to cease attending this Catholic school and
attend a public school. Beatrice agreed even though it meant losing a full grade. He therefore attended John
McLaren, an elementary school only a block away from his new home on Plum Street. An additional attraction was
that most of the kids on his street attended John McLaren.

The difference in approach to discipline between Our Lady of Pompeii and Notre Dame de Chicago is
exemplified by an incident reported by my father. In the basement of the Notre Dame was a grotto with a cascade
of holy water.

“This water was a blessing (no pun intended) because, after playing in hot weather, this cold
and refreshing water satisfied our thirst. I remember one of the rituals before drinking was to
kneel down in front of the waterfall and say a prayer. Naturally, the prayer was very short.”

The boys noticed people praying at the base of a saint’s statue and then placing a lighted candle in front of the
statue.

“We failed to notice that these people were also placing coins in a box by the candles. Later, a
young priest noticed that we were placing candles at the base of the statue without placing
money in the coin box. He gathered us and explained the purpose of the ritual. He was
understanding and kind, and because of his kindness, we respected him and behaved properly as
we grew older. What a difference from Our Lady of Pompeii Church! Because of this incident,
my friends and I decided to attend mass at the French church instead.”
 Page 104 of 177

Life on Plum Street for Ottie

My father was given the Italian name of Attilio, but he didn’t like the name and so he used an American, or
perhaps more accurately, a German version: Otto. One day while playing, he hurt himself. His brother Arthur
accompanied him to Columbus Extension Hospital where he was treated by Mother Cabrini. He gave her the name
of his brother, ‘Arthur.’ When asked by Arthur why he used his name, my father replied that he didn’t like his.
However, to his family and friends, he was Ottie.

Because Plum street was not a through street, that is, it was only a block long, and because there were few
cars in those days, it was safe to play in the street. Among the activities and games my father mentioned were
roller skating, tops, riding bicycles, and a game called “peg and stick.” He described it as follows:

“A peg is made from a piece of broomstick, about six to eight inches long. The peg is tapered
at each end like a pencil when sharpened at each end. The other part is the stick or bat. The bat
could be about 24 to 30 inches long, and also made from a broomstick. A goal is marked, usually
on a spot on the sidewalk or in any clear area. By using the stick/bat when striking the peg at
one of its ends, the peg would bounce up into the air. The batter would then swing and try to hit
the peg while the peg was in the air. His opponents would place themselves in the open area
and try to retrieve it. The retriever would throw the peg toward the goal where the batter had
placed the stick upright. If the peg was thrown and landed within the length of the stick, or if it
struck the stick, the retriever would win the point and become the next batter. But if the
retriever failed to hit the stick or come within one length of the stick, then the batter would
count the number of lengths of stick from the goal and where the peg had landed. Whoever
reached 200 points first would be the winner.”

My father made many friends, and was able to appreciate their individual talents. As often the case, there
was an initiation ritual:

“After we moved to Plum Street, I met Chuchu, who was about my age. Each day, when he
first caught sight of me, he would immediately wrestle me and pin me to the ground. He never
caused any injury, but it made me feel so helpless. At first I thought he disliked me, but this
didn’t seem to be the case. After he wrestled me to the ground, he would play with me, and we
enjoyed each others company. I tried to avoid this morning ritual, so when I came out to play, I
would open my door slightly and look carefully up and down the street to see if I could spot him.
This was a useless effort because sooner or later the inevitable happened. Chuchu really took a
great delight in this ritual.”

“The exception happened on my first day at John McLaren School. My mother had dressed me
in a new white outfit. The other boys wore knickers and black stockings, but my mother insisted
on me wearing shorts. It made me feel like a sissy. I rebelled, but to no avail. My mother
accompanied me on the first day at school, and she instructed me to behave and to keep clean.
When the teacher met us, she complimented my mother on having such a nice boy, and she also
commented on my white outfit.”
 Page 105 of 177

Mother Cabrini Hospital (circa 1930) Notre Dame de Chicago

(built 1887)

Columbus statue in Arrigo Park (2010)

(statue made for Columbia Exposition 1893)

Otto Paolini in front of 1423 Plum Street

(circa 1973)

Our Lady of Pompeii

(Erected in 1923-1924)
Flickr user hedgehog3457
 Page 106 of 177

“At the first recess, there was Chuchu waiting anxiously to confront me. I warned him not to
start anything, remembering my mother’s admonition to behave and keep clean, but before I
knew it, he had pushed me down in a dirty puddle of water. This infuriated me so much that I
jumped up and with a great charge, I nailed him, and down he went with me on top of him.
Almost immediately I felt someone yank my collar, and when I turned, there was the teacher
who was supervising the playground. She gave me a severe lecture. When my classroom
teacher saw the mess, she became very upset and instructed me to tell my mother that she was
not in charge of the schoolyard at recess.”

My father was always quite conscious of his appearance. He dressed for the occasion. This personal trait
may have stemmed from the fact that all members of the family were tailors at one time, and therefore all were
able to make their clothes and were conscious of fashion. This trait was in evidence in my father’s childhood and
continued to adulthood. My mother told me of an incident described by my father. He was late to school one
morning, and gave the excuse that he had to iron a shirt that morning before coming to school. When he gave this
excuse to the teacher, she was very sympathetic–“You ironed your own shirt?” Very touching! When Beatrice
heard him tell this story one day, she hit the ceiling. “There was never a day when you didn’t have a clean shirt to
wear to school. You mean you didn’t have the shirt you wanted to wear.” My mother commented:

“I’m sure she was right. She not only kept the clothes washed and ironed, she made many of
them. I can particularly identify with this situation as there have been instances in the past
where there might be at least six clean shirts in the closet, but Dad wanted the one that was not
ironed, or maybe even not washed, in which case he would wash it, work at getting it dried as
soon as possible, and iron it.”

As time passed, my father developed a group of friends on Plum Street, and it is obvious from his
description that he appreciated each in their own way:

“Our bunch was small at first: Rocky, Chuchu, Tripoli, and Johnny Bear. Each one of us had a
certain ability and talent. Rocky, for instance, was a brilliant boy; he skipped a couple of grades in
grammar school, and we all respected his knowledge of the subjects of history, mathematics,
etc. Chuchu was the strong boy of the bunch. He was very athletic and very active, but he was a
not a bully. Tripoli was the great swimmer. When he was only about twelve years old, he swam
from the south end of Oak Street Beach to Belmont Harbor, quite a feat for a boy of that age.
We all admired him as this was about the time that Johnny Weissmuller187 was making his name
at Oak Street Beach where he was a lifeguard. Johnny Bear was the best athlete of all of us–a
good baseball player. He became a professional ballplayer; though he never made it to the big
leagues, but he came close. We always followed his career and admired him. Johnny Bear never
forgot his old gang, and occasionally he would come over and talk about the good old days. He
was very modest and never showed any conceit. As for myself, I seemed to enjoy all sports and
adapted so that I wasn’t left behind, but I was never exceptional at any one sport.”

187
Johnny Weissmuller (1904 - 1984) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor.
He was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze
medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. After his swimming
career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictures. Dozens
of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is by far the best known. His character's distinctive,
ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films.
 Page 107 of 177

“I was able to organize the group, and was looked upon as a leader as they respected me and
followed my suggestions. In those days, we entertained ourselves, and we never seemed to be
bored. We played a lot of games, and we seemed to enjoy each others company and friendship.
There were many games that we played, and at very little expense and equipment. We played
tops and marbles, and we flew kites. We made our own kites as there were none to be
purchased. We played a little baseball although we were too young to play any organized
baseball.”

Much of the play took place in the street as automobiles were not prevalent as today; most of the baseball was
played in Vernon Park, latter named Arrigo Park in 1974, but commonly called Peanut Park by my father and his
friends as it is today. For a brief history, see appendix D: Arrigo Park.”

Technologically Challenged

“The telephone was a wonder in my early years. I remember when the telephone was installed in
our home. I observed members of my family using the phone, and one day, when I was alone, I
decided to try to phone my friend Rocky. I proceeded to lift the receiver and immediately heard the
operator ask, "Number please." I answered, "1423." I didn't know there was such a things as a
telephone number, and I thought she wanted the house number of his street address. What I didn't
realize is that I couldn't have talked to Rocky anyway: he didn't have a phone!”

Shopping with Mom

Apparently Italian immigrants continued their native custom of negotiating the price of a product rather
accepting that which was shown or initially stated. My father recalled that as a boy his mother would take him
shopping, and remembered one instance in which Beatrice was shopping for a new pair of shoes for him. After
finding a suitable pair, she inquired of the price. The quote not being acceptable, she grabbed my father's hand and
started for the door. The salesman argued that the price was reasonable for the shoes of such high quality. As each
point in his argument was being made, Beatrice would pause, then at it's conclusion, she pulled my father to the
door. Halfway out the door, the salesman finally relented: "Okay, okay, lady. You win! How much?" Finally an
acceptable price was quoted, and the sale consummated.

Justice or the Lack Thereof

“I have mentioned previously that Plum Street was lined with beautiful trees. Unfortunately
after a few years, most of these trees became diseased, and the city removed them and planted
new young saplings. Each home owner had the responsibility of caring for the tree in front of
his/her property. In fact, Rocky's father, Mr. Pacenti, not only watered his tree faithfully, but
built a guard around the tree trunk and carefully watched and tended the tree. It just so
happened that across from Mr. Pacenti's home, there was a house owned by an absentee
landlord, and therefore no one cared for the newly planted tree in front of this house. We kids
would play on this property and would reach up and grab hold of the top branches and bend the
trunk. We would then place our caps on the upper branches and then let go the branches which
would catapult our caps into the air. You would think that treatment of this sort would damage
the tree, but on the contrary, and much to the consternation of the neighbors, this tree became
the fastest growing and largest of the trees, while Mr. Pacenti's tree which received love and
care looked sickly and grew very little. Ironically, situations of this sort happen to many of us in
 Page 108 of 177

our lifetime. You follow a certain, proper procedure very carefully while another person is
careless and ignores all the rules and ends up with better results than you do.”

Life’s Mirror

“One of the sports that I enjoyed a great deal and became quite skillful was the spinning of
tops. I learned to spin tops without the top landing on the ground. After winding the string
around the top, I would throw the top downward and just before the top reached the ground, I
would pull the string sharply upward so that the top would land on the palm of my hand. Once
the top was spinning in my palm, I could perform several tricks. I was so proud of my
accomplishments that I decided to show my mother.”

“I was in the living room when I called my mother to come and see my trick. She immediately
warned me not to spin the top inside the house. I disobeyed her instruction and proceeded to
spin the top. I was very confident of my skill as I had always been successful in performing this
trick. However, this time, instead of the string making the top spin, the string slipped from the
top, and top shot straight forward and struck a large mirror which shattered. I can still see the
expression on my mother’s face. I dove underneath the couch because I feared that she would
strike me. She never did hit me, but she lectured me severely–a lesson I learned the hard way.”

How to Make a Golf Ball

“Another thing I can remember is the golf ball incident. One day, while playing in the street,
some of the older boys were playing with a golf ball. Golf was not really popular at that time,
and scarcely known to us in the inner city. It was the first time I had seen a golf ball, and I was
amazed by this little white ball that could bounce so high. The boys were having a lot of fun with
it. I asked one of the boys where I could get one, and he said, "Well, you can buy one." I said,
"Where could I buy it?" None of the boys knew where to purchase one, but one of them said,
"Why don't you make your own?" I said, "make my own? How do you do that?" Well, it just
happened that down the street they were repairing a roof and the workers were using black tar.
He suggested that I go over there and get a ball of black tar -- the same size as the golf ball, and
then take it home, put it in a glass and fill the glass with milk, and after a few days you would
have a nice white golf ball.”

“I ran over to the workers and asked for some tar. At first they told me to go away, but when I
told them I wanted to make a golf ball, they seemed amused and told me I could have some tar.
I shaped it into a ball and dashed home, put the ball of tar into a glass which I filled with milk as I
had been instructed, and put the glass on the bathroom window sill. My brother Art noticed this
glass of milk on the window sill and asked, "What the heck is this?" My other brothers knew,
because I had told them of this project. They all laughed when I told them that this ball of tar
would turn into a golf ball. My mother didn't want them to hurt my feelings, and she told them
to stop laughing. They stopped making fun of me as they realized that sooner or later I would
find out that this was an idiotic thing to do.”

“Of course, every morning the first thing I did was to rush into the bathroom to see if my ball
of tar had been transformed into a golf ball. After a week or so, I became very discouraged and
 Page 109 of 177

my brothers seemed to sense it. This I didn't know until later on. My brothers talked it over and
decided to do something about it. They went and purchased a golf ball, and in place of my tar
ball, they put this nice new golf ball. Well, that morning when I woke up and discovered this real
golf ball, I was elated and started yelling and shouting, "Look, look, -- it did turn into a golf ball."
My mother was quite amazed as she knew it was impossible, but the boys explained what they
had done. She thought it was a wonderful gesture on their part. They knew that later on, I
would realize it was a big joke.”

A Close Call

One of the often stated platitudes of football is that it is a game of inches, by which it is meant that the
difference between success and failure is quite close. It has been my experience that the same is true of death: it is
only a few inches away, though we hardly notice it.

Adolph found some small bullets, and the boys tried to explode them by striking them with a hammer. One
of the bullets finally did explode, and struck Arthur in the leg. In my father’s telling of this story in his reminisces, he
does not specifically identify who struck the bullet that hit Arthur, but Arthur’s daughter, Carol Jean Paolini, says
that she was told it was my father. I believe that deed was too painful and embarrassing for him to admit.

Arthur did not heed Shakespeare’s advice that discretion was the better part of valor: he often took
chances. Once he was playing leapfrog over the hitching posts, and, being of small stature, failed to clear. He fell on
his arm and dislocated it. Later, he bought a motorcycle for which he had to run along side to start and then leap
forward in order to mount; in so doing, he again once broke an arm.

In both cases of the dislocated arm and bullet wound, Arthur was taken to Columbus Extension Hospital at
which Mother Cabrini was the head official. Beatrice was again
confronted by Mother Cabrini who strongly suggested that the boys be
The Daily Catholic ranked Frances
sent to the orphanage; but again Beatrice refused. th
Xavier Cabrini the 45 of the top 100
Catholics of the century, and is
considered the "Patroness of
Saintly Immigrants" as Pope Pius XII declared
on November 13, 1950 when he
As Beatrice was pressured to place all the children in an established her feast day for the
orphanage, she had to be quite strong to resist. In any article about Church in the United States. Pius XII
Mother Cabrini, she is always described as a saint who answered God’s had canonized Saint Frances Xavier four
years earlier on June 7, 1946. Daily
call to aid the poor in the most loving and kindly manner. From my
Catholic, October 8-10, 1999 vol. 10,
mother’s conversations with Beatrice, one gains a different impression: no. 192.
that she practiced the type of charity that assumed that she knew best.
I’m not sure that Beatrice would have
When my father had his tonsils removed, and it came time for ranked her that high.
him to be discharged from the hospital, Beatrice had to get an
authorization slip signed by Mother Cabrini. Talking to another nun,
Beatrice waited patiently though she could understand that they were just having an idle conversation in Italian.
Finally, Beatrice interjected, “Mother, my son is very tired. Could you sign this paper?” Mother Cabrini just waved
her aside, and in a very annoyed tone said, "Don't interrupt!"
 Page 110 of 177

The Church and Italian Immigrants

The local church had been the a mainstay of the villages and towns in Italy, and so the Italian immigrants in
America supported the construction of a church for their ‘village’ in the city. The notion of campanilismo–that the
boundary of one’s home or neighborhood is that which is within earshot of the church's bell– included the festivals
and church ceremonies and were instituted in America as well.

Holy Guardian Angel (Sant'Angelo Custode) was the first Italian congregation in Chicago, established in 1898,
and the church was built on Forquer (later Arthington) Street in 1899.188 When the population grew to such an
extent that an additional church was needed, Our Lady of Pompeii was built on Macallister (later Lexington) Street
in 1911. Both these churches were assisted in their foundation by the Scalabrini Fathers.189 As indicated above,
Notre Dame de Chicago was also in the area, and though built by French-speaking immigrants in 1887, it also served
the Italian community. See map for locations. These were ‘national’ churches meaning they were established to
serve a national/ethnic population; as such, the sermons and confessions were spoken in the national/ethnic
language.

On the other hand, while Italians had a strong allegiance to their parish, they were suspicious and often held
anti-clerical attitudes toward the Catholic Church and the papacy due to the latter’s support of the feudalistic and
oppressive regimes over centuries in Italy, plus opposition to the unification and creation of the Italian state. This
adverse attitude changed over time, and by the 1930s, allegiance to the Church was quite was strong.

Beatrice did not quickly forgive and forget the Church’s initial denial of the mass and burial in sacred ground
of her husband Alfredo. She said that she ceased attending church until the baptism of her granddaughter, Carla
Zickgraff, in 1937–twenty-seven years later. Still, she had maintained her religious views and belief in the need for
religious instruction of her children as they were sent to Catholic schools.

The Catholic Church was one of five ethnic institutions that served the Italian community initially, that is, for
those who had immigrated:

• the padrone: persons who assisted Italian nationals in immigrating, securing housing, find a job, etc.
while charging a fee or taking a percentage of earnings;

• Italian ‘banks,’ which may or may not have been incorporated and legally constituted but lent money;

• mutual aid societies and fraternal organizations: while sometimes offering a variety of services, it was
primarily constituted to provide for a decent burial or temporary financial support due to illness or
injury;

• Italian-language newspapers, e.g., L’Italia, La Tribuna Italiana Transatlantica, La Parola dei Socialisti, La
Fiaccola;

• the Catholic Church

188
Churches listed in the 1900 Chicago Directory (also called "The Lakeside City Directory"),
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/cook/churches.html
189
An order founded by John Baptist Scalabrini (1839-1905), bishop of Piacenza, Italy.
 Page 111 of 177

As native-born and next-generation Italian-Americans left the Italian enclave and became more familiar with
American institutions–American newspapers, banks, insurance companies, and trade unions–they forsook their
ethnic counterparts save that of the Catholic Church. The parish was part of a larger institution that had operated in
their native land, in the Italian enclave, and, starting in the 1920's, it was now operating in non-Italian
neighborhoods of Chicago and its suburbs. It operated in much the same manner, that is, the liturgy of the mass
was in Latin and the rituals and vestments were similar or identical to those in their Italian neighborhood. The
Catholic Church had shown enough flexibility to meet their needs for which there was no strictly ‘American’
equivalent with which it competed as did the other Italian institutions that withered and died.

School Attendance–or the Lack Thereof

Being sent to school did not necessarily mean attendance. The four boys–Armando, Adolph, Arthur and
Aldo– were often truant from school, and so at some indeterminate point in time, but probably around 1914, they
were sent to St. Mary Training School for Boys,190 a Catholic orphanage in Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Arthur mentioned years later that they really learned a great deal while at the school, but they missed their home
and often ran away in order to return home.191 They may also have been motivated to work because it gave them a
sense of accomplishment and a sense of honor in contributing to the family and helping their mother.

Although Beatrice preferred to have them continue their education, she finally acceded to their wishes, and
my father believed that they were all hired at his mother’s place of employment. In the 1920 census, Beatrice,
Adolph, Arthur, Aldo, and Emily list their occupation as tailor; Otto was still in school at age eleven, and Armando
was overseas.

Beatrice made most of her children’s clothes though she didn’t always have to make new outfits as the boys
grew older. As one grew too large for one shirt or pants, the next in line took possession. As she made these
clothes, she taught her children the family craft of tailoring.

Social Life

The Italian communities of Chicago formed numerous voluntary associations: mutual benefit associations,
parish clubs, school organizations, marching bands, settlement house clubs, and even a Protestant vacation Bible

190
Still in existence, it is now called Maryville Academy. The experience of the Paolini brothers is again
representative of the socio-political policies and movement of the times. By 1890, there were twelve orphanages
in Chicago, but reformers such as Jane Addams were already attacking them as places that warehoused children in
unhealthy, overcrowded buildings. Some reformers believed that children should remain in their home if available
while still others contended that orphanages were needed but should be in a rural setting as they presumed such a
setting had been instrumental in the development of the American character and culture. Thus several
orphanages of the inner city moved to spacious suburban campuses including The Catholic Boys Asylum in the
Bridgeport neighborhood moved to Des Plaines and became St. Mary's Training School for Boys. See appendix F:
St. Mary Training School for Boys.
191
No record of attendance was found in response to a request for Armando, Adolph, Arthur and Aldo on
November 24, 2010.
 Page 112 of 177

schools was established on the Near West Side to complement the social network of the extended family of the
Italian community.192

No doubt there was an extensive informal social network woven throughout the Italian sections of Chicago.
Often these relationships were based upon places of origin in Italy, so that Abruzzese, Campanians, Pugliese, etc.
often congregated in the same neighborhood. Relationships were also formed through fraternal, mutual aid, and
political organizations such as the Association of Pugliesi in America, Società di Unione e Fratellanza,193 and the
Order Sons of Italy.

From the persons identified, the friends of the Del Grande and Paolini families seemed to have been
persons and families operating small businesses. Throughout the years of troubles and hard work, Beatrice
managed to have good times and enjoy life. In all the pictures of her, she is very well dressed and all the family
wore nice clothes and had excellent food.

When my father was a small child, his mother would often take him to parties with friends in the
neighborhood. One family, named De Leone, he described as quite distinguished, the father being addressed as
Don Carlo and his wife as Donna Rafaela, which are titles of respect reserved for the educated class.

My father recalled a little incident that embarrassed him and his mother:

“These gatherings of our friends at the De Leone home were quite frequent, and of course
we were invited to be there at a certain time. My mother usually had so many chores at home
that she would occasionally be late. In one case she sent me on ahead, and when I arrived, they
inquired where my mother was. I replied that she would arrive shortly, and that she had to put
on her sottana and dress. They all laughed, and when my mother arrived, they greeted her with,
“Oh Donna Beatrice, we see that you have put on your sottana and dress as Ottie told us.” They
laughed again. But my mother gave me a rather stern look, so I knew that I had said something
improper. The sottana, which is an Italian word, is a slip or petticoat–an undergarment, and then
I understood that I shouldn’t have mentioned such a thing.”

My father remembered the fine dinners at the De Leone home. Mrs. De Leone was a gourmet cook, and
she enjoyed having dinner guests. Even if she was short of money and really couldn’t afford to give a big dinner
party, she would pawn some belonging to raise enough money for a party.

On the passage to America, Beatrice met the Vivianno family, headed by two brothers who started making
pasta in their basement and were so successful, they grew into the largest manufacturers of pasta in Chicago, calling
their company the Chicago Macaroni Company.

192
Candeloro, Dominic, "Chicago's Italians: A Survey of the Ethnic Factor, 1850-1990, chapter 8 in Ethnic
Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait by Melvin G. Holli and Peter d'Alroy Jones, editors, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995, p. 239.
193
“Italians,” Encyclopedia of Chicago. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/658.html
 Page 113 of 177

A downside to the success for the Viviano family194 was that the they were extorted by La Mano Nera (The
Black Hand), a criminal organization whose roots can be traced back to the Kingdom of Naples as early as the 1750s.
Typical Black Hand tactics involved sending a letter to a victim threatening bodily harm, kidnaping, arson, or murder.
The letter demanded a specified amount of money to be delivered to a specific place. It was decorated with
threatening symbols like a smoking gun or hangman's noose and signed with a hand imprinted in black ink; hence
the name.195 Beatrice said that a woman from the Black Hand lived with the Vivianno family as a potential threat to
their children and to generally keep an eye on them.

Other close friends of the Del Grande’s were the Agnini brothers. They were engaged in the manufacture of
costume jewelry, and they were also musicians and singers. Actri Agnini sang small roles in opera, and Oresto
played the piano. Usually the big gatherings were held at the home of Rafaella De Leone. She would serve an
Italian gourmet dinner, and after the dinner, the guests would sing–mostly Neapolitan songs and also opera. My
father remembers:

“... one day Oresto came dashing over to our house to play a new song on our piano
which had just arrived from Italy. It was called Rimpianto,196 and he got us to enjoy it long
before it became popular all over the country for many years. Now I hardly ever hear it.”

When parties were given by these people, there was

good music and plenty of wonderful food, and with discussions
of literature and opera. The only arguments might be about an
opera performance.

Beatrice always managed to attend the opera, no

matter how difficult life became. Until 1929, performances of
the Chicago Civic Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
were held at the Auditorium Theater, 50 East Congress Parkway.

Auditorium Theater

194
The biography of Salvatore Viviano states that “In 1910 he removed to Chicago, Illinois, where with four
of his brothers, he opened another macaroni factory.”
http://genforum.genealogy.com/pa/allegheny/messages/3352.html
195
Nash, Jay Robert, World encyclopedia of Organized Crime, Da Capo Press, 1993.
The Black Hand was not a centrally organized criminal operation with blood-oaths and roots in Italy as was
the Sicilian Mafia. It was a generic name of innumerable small groups of criminals. This operation of extortion and
murder ceased due to the maturing of the Italian populace who sought remedy from the police and Federal
government, the latter intervening through the power of the U.S. Postal Service as the notes to would-be victims
were sent through the mail. Perhaps the most significant factor in its demise was Prohibition effected on January
16, 1920: the criminal saw a new and more lucrative source of revenue.

196
Rimpianto Serenata (Regret Serenade) was written by Enrico Toselli in 1900 when he was only 17 years
of age. http://www.delcamp.us/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=46939&start=0.
 Page 114 of 177

Visiting Relatives

Recollecting his visits to his relatives, my father wrote:

“We spent most holidays, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas, at my grandfather's
house. My grandmother, with the help of my aunts, would prepare a huge and delicious dinner.
My grandfather sat at the head of the table and after we had finished the main course, my
grandfather would tell tales, mostly of his experiences in Italy.”

There was a doctor who practiced his profession in a small fishing village in Italy.
One day his son, who was also a doctor, came to visit him. The son suggested that the
father take a vacation and that he would take care of his patients while he was away.
The old doctor took his son's suggestion. After the son had treated several patients, a
fisherman with a bandaged hand came in, bringing a large kettle of fish that he gave to
the doctor. When the young doctor removed the bandage, he noticed the hand was
slightly swollen and that there was a fish scale embedded underneath the skin. The
doctor asked him if his father had been treating him, and fisherman said, "Yes, he had
been treating him for a long time." This puzzled the young doctor for he could not
believe his father had not noticed the fish scale that was causing the infection. He
proceeded to remove the scale and in a few days the hand healed. When the father
returned from his vacation and asked his son if everything went well. The son said,
"Yes, except the fisherman's hand. Hadn’t he noticed the scale underneath his skin?”
The father said, "Yes, he had noticed it," and then asked his son if he had removed it.
The son said “Of course.” The old doctor sighed, "Well, now we'll have to buy our own
fish!”

When he told some amusing story, everyone would laugh. I joined in the laughter although I
really didn't understand the stories, especially the punch lines. I laughed just to be part of this
joyful family group.

There were always bowls of nuts dates, figs and fruit on the table. I noticed on several
occasions that my grandfather would peel a peach and slice it into small pieces and put them in a
large glass. He would then fill the glass with wine and let the peach absorb some of the wine.
He would then eat it and give one or two pieces to some of us children. I sort of enjoyed that.

One day, at home, while my brothers were outside playing, and I was alone, I saw some
peaches in a bowl on the table, and I thought it would be a good idea to fix these peaches as my
grandfather did. I stood on a chair to reach the bottle of wine which was on a high shelf. I
poured the wine over the sliced peaches and ate and drank the whole thing. You can imagine
the results. I became very groggy and fell asleep on the kitchen floor. When by brothers came in
and saw me lying on the floor, they were alarmed, thinking I was ill. I remember Aldo lifting me
up and turning me over. I looked up at him with a dazed expression and grinned. He turned
around to my other brothers and said, "Why -- the little punk is drunk!" They tried to get me up,
and I staggered and wavered. They thought my antics were hilarious. I wanted to get away
from them, so I grabbed the kitchen door to go outside. The door seemed to wobble from side
to side, and I again fell down. My brothers enjoyed this great comedy. They never told my
mother of this incident. I don't know whether they were protecting me, or if they thought they
would be scolded for not looking after me. Many years later, at a family gathering, when we
 Page 115 of 177

were telling humorous stories, they did relate this to my mother. My mother was flabbergasted
to hear this, but since no harm came of this, we all had a good laugh, including my mother.

When I imagine the life of Beatrice in these years after the death of Alfredo, I think mainly of the difficult,
arduous, and probably lonely task of supporting her family: working long hours at a tedious job in harsh conditions
under autocratic and niggardly management. I think of the time and effort she had to expend in order to feed and
clothe her children. I think of the anxiety that she must have felt not knowing where her boys were and what they
were doing when she was at work. Yet she seems to have been very successful as a parent. The boys seemed to
have been well-behaved, caring of each other and caring of their family. They may have evaded school, but they did
not shirk the jobs that supported their family.

I know that my father in later life realized the support and sacrifice of his mother and his brothers, but at
the time, I believe that he was quite oblivious. To him, this was the best time of his life as he so often said.
 Page 116 of 177

Chapter 14

The Great War

Armando’s Odyssey

With the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914, the ‘war to end all wars'
commenced. Italy entered the Great War for a variety of reasons. The most prominent rationale put forth by its
government was that of irredentism in which the claim was made that the Tyrolean region should be part of Italy as
there was a high percentage of Italians in this Austrian held territory. To a certain degree, this was a sham. The
Italians were still fearful of the Austrians who had crushed their attempts of achieving independence, republicanism,
and unification in the 19th century. The Austrians had maintained a standing army and launched their invasions from
the Tyrol. Denying the Austrians this region would mean the relocation of their army beyond the Alps, a natural
defensive barrier, and reducing the threat of invasion of Italy.

"To the victors belong the spoils," as the saying goes, and Italy wanted a seat at the victor's table when it
came time to award the spoils, particularly the lands of the Ottoman Empire. Italy delayed entering the war
because it bargained with both sides, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance, for the best pre-war deal, that is,
guarantees of territories and military assistance; it also tried to discern the winner based upon the first year of
fighting. Italy chose the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France and Russia, even though Austria was willing to yield
to most of the demands for territory in the northeast. But for some, the war was seen as a means by which Italy
could achieve greatness:

"...After long years of national humiliation, God has been pleased to grant us proof of our
privileged blood....Blessed are they that have, for they have more to give and can burn with a
hotter flame....Blessed are those young men who hunger and thirst for glory, for they shall be
filled."197
Gabriele d'Annunzio poet and revolutionary born in the Abruzzo,

Italy declared war on the Austrian-Hungarian Empire on May 23, 1915. With the drain of manpower due to
the flood of emigration in the preceding years, the Italian nation appealed to its departed sons:

“When the First World War broke out, the King of Italy advertised in the journals for native sons
to return and fight for their homeland. In return, and if they survived, they would be given a
thousand-dollar bonus and free passage back to America.”198

197
Smith, Denis Mack, Modern Italy: A Political History, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1959,
p. 264.
198
Paolicelli, Paul, Under the Southern Sun: Stories of the Real Italy and the Americans It Created, Thomas
Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2003, p. 85.
 Page 117 of 177

There were many organizations in America that were formed locally and/or by the instigation of the Italian
government to aid and assist Italian immigrants in acclimating and succeeding in America. One of these
organizations served to recruit soldiers for the Italian Army, and it succeeded in enlisting one Armando Camillo
Giovanni Paolini. Beatrice objected, but he departed anyway. With the help of friends, Beatrice contacted the
Italian Consulate and the International Red Cross in an effort to have him return home; however, because he was 18
years of age, he could not be released from his enlistment.

Armando had been born in Italy, and emigrated at the age of nine. His parents were not naturalized, and
thus they and he were still Italian citizens. Had they been naturalized, he would have derived citizenship. However,
he would still have been obligated to serve:

Although Italians lost their Italian citizenship when they acquired foreign citizenship, this did not
eliminate the obligations of military service incumbent on all Italian-born males.199

During the period of the war, Italy had a conscript army–young men
had no choice but to report for military duty when called. The Italian
government identified its potential recruits for the Italian military
from the atti di nascite, the registry of births in each province. A
military record was found for the Del Grande’s oldest son, Carlo
Alberto200, who was born in Italy in 1893 and emigrated in 1898; it can
be deduced that he became a potential recruit, probably upon birth,
but certainly by age five. Not having found any military records of
Armando, it is not known whether or not the Italian government
contacted him and recruited him, or whether he answered the clarion
call of his native land.
Armando Paolini

Surely his mother feared for his life and worried about him throughout the war. But his moment of peril
was short lived. In his first engagement, Armando was captured by the Austrians at the famous Battle of
Caporetto201, a disastrous defeat for the Italians. For Armando, it must have seemed like a waste of time: he spent
the remaining two years of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp.

At the end of the war, the Italian prisoners were released, but afforded no transportation that would enable
them to return to Italy. Armando and his comrades were forced to return to Italy as best they could.

199
Briggs, John W., An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930, Yale University
Press, New Haven, 1978, p. 134.

200
Carlo Alberto seems to have been named after the King of Piedmont Sardinia who reigned from 1831
to 1849. His name is bound up with the first "Italian statute" (constitution) and the First Italian War of
Independence (1848–1849). He abdicated after his forces were defeated by the Imperial Austrian army at the
Battle of Novara (1849), and died in exile soon thereafter.
201
There are no recollections of Armando in his capture in battle nor his imprisonment, but I did find a
very interesting personal recollection of one such Italian. His story is provided in my monograph History of Italy
and is entitled: Virgilio’s Caporetto Odyssey.
 Page 118 of 177

At this point, events and reasons are rather vague and somewhat conjectural. There is no doubt that
Armando wished to return home to America immediately, but he was unable to obtain his return as there were
complications concerning his identification papers. When a prisoner of the Austrians, his identification papers had
been taken from him, and so he was unable to prove his identity to the satisfaction of officials, but it is not known
which officials. Presumably the Italian army could determine his identity, so it is likely that it was the American
government that raised objection as to his identity and therefore had not allowed him to return to the United States
immediately. It is possible that legislation enacted in 1917 made immigration more restrictive and documentation
more stringent.

In trying to re-establish his identity, he declared that his father’s name was Alfredo, which was the only
name he had heard his father called. “Ildebrando” was his father’s given name: it was recorded on his birth record,
the record of recognition by his mother Angiola, and it was on the manifest of the ship (SS Moltke) on which the
family had immigrated. I have not found any record originating in Italy with the name Alfredo. More than likely, it
was a nickname that he adopted. Therefore, attempts to equate Alfredo with Ildebrando using the available
existing public records in Italy and America failed, thus leaving Armando stranded.

To prove his identity, it may have been necessary for Beatrice to provide an affidavit that stated that
Ildebrando and Alfredo were one and the same person, that he was the father of Armando, and that both had
immigrated in 1906. In any case, this bureaucratic entanglement took more than two years to straighten out –
lengthy even by Italian standards.

His location and movements during this time are again vague. It is known that there was a remaining sister
of Don Francesco named Maria Grazia Del Grande that would have been Armando’s great aunt; and in fact it is
known that he lived with a woman who was called `Zia,’ either because the name was short for Grazia or because
zia is the word for aunt. On the manifest record of the Braga, the ship on which he embarked for his second
immigration to America, in the column entitled, ‘Name and Complete Address of Nearest Friend or Relative in Country
whence Alien Came,’ it states: “uncle di Giulio Camillo POPOLI.” A marriage record was found for Camillo di Giulio and
Maria Grazia Del Grande.202

Camillo and Zia were childless,203 and Zia wanted Armando to stay with them, and she hinted that he would
inherit their property. Not surprisingly though, Armando was homesick for his family, and he wanted to return to
America. One wonders if he ever regretted this decision.

It is difficult to understand how a young man supposedly in the Italian Army, or possibly recently discharged,
with no visible means of support, and living in the Abruzzo, would be able to take a trip to Paris. But the fact that he
received a letter from a girl in Paris after his return to the United States gives evidence that he did so. Again, one
can only imagine the nature of this relationship and what his life might have been had he pursued this woman.

202
Marriage record of Maria Grazia Del Grande and Camillo Di Giulio, 19 Dec 1888, in Popoli, Abruzzo,
Italy, Registri dello stato civile, 1809-1910, 1888, Number 67, FHL INTL Film [ 2016265 ]
203
Maria Grazia was 61 years old when Armando emigrated in December 1920. If she didn’t have children
then, she certainly would not have had children after 1920.
 Page 119 of 177

Obviously he returned from France to Itlay, and traveled to the Port of Napoli in order to board a ship for
America. As he related to his family, the day before he was scheduled to depart, he went down to the harbor to see
the ship on which he had booked passage. Apparently it did not inspire confidence. Another man was looking at
the ship as well, and Armando remarked, “Tomorrow I’m going to the United States on that ship.” The man replied
doubtfully, “I don’t think you’ll make it.” But he did make it – returning on
5 January 1921 on the ship called the Braga.

Other members of the Del Grande and Paolini families served in the military
during the Great War, but none had a tale to tell as interesting as Armando’s.

American Service

Hugo Del Grande joined the American navy, being stationed at the Great
Lakes Naval Training Center, and Adolph Paolini joined the American army, being
stationed at Fort Snelling near St. Paul, Minnesota. Neither went overseas though
Adolph's regiment was being readied to be sent to Europe and to sail from Boston,
Massachusetts when the war ended. Scoville Park, Oak Park
with name of Hugo Del
My father vividly describes his brother Adolph's return: Grande

While I was playing on the street, I saw my brother in his army uniform, walking in great
strides. I rushed to greet him, and when we met, he tapped me on the head and said, "how‘re
you doing, Ottie?" I was sure proud of him, and later when some of the boys met me, I told them
about my brother. They asked me, "What was he in the army?" I told them, "probably a
sergeant." Well, I didn't know a sergeant from a colonel. But he did make corporal.

I kept saying, "Wait until you see my brother" to everyone. We were all anxious to see him,
but -- oh my God, when he came downstairs dressed in civilian clothes, we were all stunned and
disappointed, and I of course was the most disappointed of all.

Few Italians immigrants joined the Italian army, but many did register and serve in the armed forces of their
adopted country:

“...in the American Army, perhaps 300,000 men of Italian stock, or very conservatively, 245,000,
more than any other immigrant nationality, were enrolled.”204

“The Italians are about 4 per cent. of the whole population, but the list of casualties shows a
full 10 per cent. of Italian names.”205

204
Rose, Philip Marshman, Italians in America, George H. Doran Co., New York, 1922, p. 97.
205
Creel, George, How We Advertised America, the first telling of the amazing story of the Committee on
public information that carried the gospel of Americanism to every corner of the globe, Harper and Brothers, New
York, 1920, p. 177.
 Page 120 of 177

“There was no shipyard, ammunition-factory, airplane-factory, steel-mill, mine, lumber-camp, or

docks in which Italians did not play a large part, and often the most prominent part, in actual and
efficient work.”206

This contribution and sacrifice increased ethnic pride among the Italian community and increased prestige
and honor in the eyes of all Americans. It also had a significant economic affect that benefitted the immigrant
community. The war caused an extreme decline in immigration and thus a decrease in the labor supply; at the same
time, it caused an increase in demand for manpower for the production of war matériel. Therefore wages rose
dramatically, thus providing those who remained a greater income.

Arthur’s Contribution

Sometime during this period of 1912-1915, Arthur began

working as a tailor.207 While it was probably a factory and not a
sweatshop per se, he said that it was a terrible place to work. It
was cold in the winter and hot in the summer, especially for those
whose position was in the middle of the room. As one gained
seniority, he/she could move closer to the window which afforded
some cooler and fresher air. He claimed that conditions in factories
did not improve until the unions were formed and pressured the
owners to improve the workers situation. For this reason, Arthur
was a member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
and always proclaimed that he was a ‘union man.’

Garment Factory Workers

Aldo Takes Otto Under His Wing

With Armando and Adolph in military service, and Emily with their grandparents, only Aldo and Otto were
left at home. Aldo was five years older than Otto, and no doubt was charged with his supervision. Correspondently,
my father grew exceptionally close to his brother Aldo and was someone he greatly admired. In his memoirs, he
wrote:

Aldo was my next oldest brother, and he and I had a great relationship. He took the most
responsibility for my safety and development. I was lucky to have a brother of this quality.
When Aldo was quite young, about fourteen years of age, he showed talent in art by drawing
continuously–drawing on any material he could get. One of his most astonishing drawings was
that of a battlefield of World War I that he drew on the asphalt pavement of the street. The
picture covered about 100 to 125 feet, and was a located a block from our school. Some of the
school classes were permitted a recess to see this work of art. Aldo never finished school–for a
reason I never knew. Even though he went to work, he continued to draw.

206
Ibid.

207
His daughter, Carol Jean Paolini, stated that her father told her he started work at age twelve.
 Page 121 of 177

And now comes a turning point of Aldo’s life. My mother was able to attend English classes
along with other immigrants during her lunch period at work. The teachers of these classes
were volunteers, mostly from the northern suburbs of Chicago. My mother was very anxious to
learn English, and she became close with one of the teachers. Naturally she often mentioned her
family, and her son Aldo who had great talent for drawing. This teacher was from a wealthy
family, and she was very interested in art. She asked to see some of Aldo's work, and after she
did, she immediately wanted to ask him if he would like to go to art school. Naturally he
accepted, and so she enrolled him in the Art Institute of Chicago. This made the entire family
happy and proud.

Since Aldo and I were very close and spent a lot of time together, he would pass some of the
secrets of art to me, and he tried to teach me the meaning of art. He tried to encourage me to
draw, but even though he praised some of my work and would tell our mother that I had talent, I
wasn't ambitious enough to pursue it.

When I look back on those early years, I realize that it was a wonderful period of my life, and
that my close and loving relationship with my brother Aldo was wonderful.

Hull House

The teaching of English by a volunteer and her intervention to have Aldo enrolled in the Art Institute of
Chicago suggests involvement with the Hull House, a settlement house founded by Jane Addams and Linda Gates
Starr.

The original house for which the settlement was named was an
Italianate mansion built by real estate magnate Charles J. Hull at 800
South Halsted in 1856. By the time Jane Addams was searching for a
building to house her new enterprise, the house had become
dilapidated.208 The settlement house was opened in 1889 for which its
founders had very modest goals. They imagined a place to offer art and
literary education to their less fortunate neighbors. The leaders and
volunteers of the organization were prominent and wealthy women who
resided in the Gold Coast community209 and the northern suburbs of the
city.
Hull House Mansion Dinning Room
Obviously they saw the need for education in the areas as they
themselves had been educated so as to be refined and cultivated women. It soon became obvious to them that
more practical education and training were what the immigrants needed and wanted: English language, cooking,

208
The present-day building is but the residents dinning hall (dating to 1905) and rebuilt missing portions
of the mansion which was moved 200 yards from its original location in order to accommodate buildings for the
University of Illinois Chicago campus. “Essential Architecture: Jane Addams’ Hull House”
http://www.american-architecture.info/USA/CHICAGO/CHIC-LS/CHIC-LS-041.htm
209
One of the seventy-seven communities designated by the Social Science Research Committee at the
University of Chicago as described previously.
 Page 122 of 177

sewing and technical skills that could qualify them for a job. To their credit, they recognized the needs and
responded.

The influence and accomplishments of Hull House at the local, state, and Federal level were many:
establishment of the city’s first playground and bathhouse, investigation of housing, working, and sanitation issues,
the establishment of the first juvenile court, lobbying for protective legislation for women and children, child labor
laws, occupational safety and health provisions, compulsory education, and protection of immigrants to name a
few.210 These leaders also became reformers in their own interest: women’s suffrage.

The Paolini family were part of this socio-political environment and movement that have built institutions
that are now the everyday fabric of our society.

210
Encyclopedia of Chicago, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/615.html.
 Page 123 of 177

Paolini Family
circa 1915

Otto (Attie), Aldo, Beatrice, and Arthur Paolini

(about 1915)

Emily and Beatrice Paolini

Emily Paolini
 Page 124 of 177

Paolini Family
circa 1915

Arthur Paolini Sr.

Maria Beatrice Del Grande [Paolini]

Armando Paolini
 Page 125 of 177

Chapter 15

The Family Reunited

Coming Home

On August 14, 1917, Don Francesco and Gemma said farewell to their youngest daughter Lily as she
boarded a train for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She had decided to take vows to become a nun and was enrolling in
St. Joseph Convent. A year later on June 25, 1918, she pledged the Franciscan order and took the name of
Wilma.211

Having lost her roommate and close friend, Emily Paolini asked to return to her family. As Armando and
Adolph were still away in service, there was a room for her, and, being ten years old, she would attend school for
much of the day and not need constant supervision. Expecting Adolph and Armando to return shortly, Beatrice
relocated the family to larger quarters at 1739 Polk Street – slightly west of the ‘Little Italy’/Taylor Street area212
and a block away from the West Side Grounds, then home of the Chicago National League Ball Club (Cubs). The
building was owned by the Dinella family, headed by Vincenzo Dinella who had seven daughters, all of
marriageable age.

Adolph return home in 1919, and Armando returned in 1921. The Paolini family was reunited for the
first time since the death of Alfredo in 1910. My father states: "We were happy to be together again and
enjoyed many wonderful times." He describes family life:

“It was a custom that the entire family sat together at the dinner table, and we would
have some interesting conversations and some heated arguments, mostly about baseball--the
Chicago Cubs versus the White Sox. Art and Adolph were Cub fans and Aldo and I were White
Sox fans. Armando was not an enthusiastic baseball fan at that time, so he didn't participate
in the baseball discussions, but loved to discuss politics and opera.”

211
There is no saint recognized by the Catholic Church as Wilma. A reply to the inquiry regarding her
name stated that it was assigned by the bishop. E-mail from Mary Ann Eichenseer, School Sisters of St. Frances,
May 29, 2007.
212
The history of Italian settlements in urban centers is not the subject nor within the scope of this family
history. Also, it is a subject that continues to evolve with various generalizations and explanations. It does seem to
me that the Taylor Street neighborhood may have been disheveled and dirty, as the inhabitants became more
prosperous and as reformers clamored for more and better services, both to the people and the infrastructure, the
neighborhood became quite livable. In the course of this time, its schools, churches, recreation facilities and
settlement houses influenced and acculturated these foreign-born peoples to American living patterns and values.

The consequence was its undoing. Many of the foreign-born immigrants and their second-generation
offspring moved out of the area, often for the suburbs which depopulated the neighborhood and led to the
demand of expressways to bring them back to the city-center for their white-collar jobs. As substandard structures
were demolished, the vacant land became available for institutional development for the Chicago Medical Center
and the University of Illinois. Clearance of even the standard housing was required for the paving of the Dan Ryan
and Congress expressways. Little remains of the Italian enclave save a few street of houses and some Italian
restaurants.
 Page 126 of 177

*****
Characterization of Italian Immigrants

The literature on immigrants in general, and Italian immigrants in particular, present a very contrasting
picture to the Del Grande and Paolini families. Consider the following quotes provided by Briggs:

The parents of these [immigrant] children work with the hands rather than the head;
therefore, the children whose experience is much more limited than that of average children
must have the latent power within them developed almost entirely in the schoolroom. They
have very little idea of law or obedience, some of them are half fed and most of them are very
dirty. About one-half do not speak English.213
A teacher in Utica, New York, 1906

Most of the Italian people are not interested in higher education, but wish their children
to go to work as soon as the law will permit. We aim, therefore, to include in the work of the
first six grades such knowledge and information as will be of most use in the kind of life they
are planning to lead. It is also true that we are equally anxious that they secure an
appreciation of music, drawing and poetry.

The home life of our children is bare, and from an American stand-point, unattractive. The
children receive little or no ethical instruction, there is no real social family inter-course and
very little proper instruction in common household duties.214
A principal in Utica, New York, 1916

As I have described the Paolini family, the contrast with the observations and generalizations of Italian
immigrants is quite stark. Beatrice wanted her children to continue their schooling, but they needed to work in
order to support the family – clear evidence of family cohesion. While none of them save perhaps Aldo were
devoted to school work, all advanced in their occupations and all were knowledgeable of current events as they
avidly read the newspaper. All spoke English as well as Italian. All pitched-in with family chores, my father
maintaining the fuoco (fire in the stove) as a prime example. The incident of my father ironing his shirts before
school indicates both his cleanliness and neatness [for which I carry the family gene] and his self-reliance.215 Aldo
certainly had an appreciation for drawing, and all had a love and knowledge of music. Their dinner conversation
is evidence of family inter-course.

I am not certain as to whether the Del Grande and Paolini families were different from other Italian
families because they were of a different social class, or that Italians were mis-characterized and/or over-
generalized based upon a few families, or that American schools were so successful that they instilled these
positive attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge. I have my own preferred explanation, but I leave it to the reader
to select his/her own.
*****

213
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 208.
214
Briggs, An Italian Passage, p. 213.

215
In relating these stories, my mother related, somewhat plaintively, that Italians were notorious for
being dirty, but she got one that was fastidiously clean.
 Page 127 of 177

Challenges

Aldo was just a child himself but he had the responsibility of preventing me from getting
into trouble or being hurt. He was also responsible for keeping our two coal stoves burning,
but sometimes he became so involved in his play that he would let the stoves go out. During
winter days, it became dark in early evening, and order to get the stove started before our
mother came home from work, he thought of scheme to get me to work as well. He
challenged me to a race as to which of us could get a stove burning first. Hard coal was used
in the stove in the living room, while soft coal was used in the kitchen stove; the latter being
much easier to start. He would first pick the kitchen stove, and of course, I would object and
wanted the kitchen stove which was fine with him because then I was helping him do his
chore.

Another way he got me do things was to challenge my speed. He would bet me I couldn't
complete doing some chore before he counted, for example, to 100, or whatever he thought
would be fair. Of course I raced as fast as I could and naturally he waited until I was just about
done and then he would start the final count.

Swimming in Lake Michigan

During the summer when we were about 10 or 11 years old, we would go to Oak Street
Beach on Lake Michigan, located just north of downtown. What fun we had because of the
spaciousness, and we were able to run along the shallow water and play games like wrestling
and leapfrogging, etc.

One day we decided on an adventure. Where the sandy part of the beach ends, the land
juts out towards the deep water from which there is a strip of concrete about 20 feet wide
and a block long. We decided to swim from this strip to a breakwater about 300 to 400 feet
away. The breakwater ran parallel to the shore and was about the length of a football field.
Most of us jumped in and started toward the breakwater. What we didn't know was that
there was a strong current running parallel to the shore.

Only one of the boys, Carmen Vitullo, didn't start swimming with us. He followed us a
little later, and after a few yards from shore, he yelled back to the people on shore to tell him
when he was halfway so he could decide whether or not he could swim the full distance.
Later we realized that the distance of halfway and return to shore is equal to the full length.

We swam straight to the breakwater, but because of the current we drift sideway and
had to keep adjusting our direction in order to reach the breakwater. We all made it. We
laughed afterwards, but we all knew that it was a foolish exhibition that could have resulted
in tragedy.
 Page 128 of 177

Beach Dress Code

The popular style of bathing suits for men at that time was blue trunks with a wide white
canvas belt, together with a white sleeveless top. One day while at the beach, I became
uncomfortably hot, and I decided to remove the top of my swimming suit. Only a short time
elapsed when the lifeguard came over and ordered me to put my top on again as men were
not allowed to be shirtless. Now, at my retired age, when I visit the beach and see these
young girls so scantily clad and think back that an eleven-year old boy was told he must wear
a top, I can only laugh at the contrast.

Field of Dreams

This area on Polk Street was not a very prosperous section of the city. It was not a slum,
but more or less a blue collar neighborhood. A block away from our home was the old
Chicago Cubs ball park–the original one – across the street from the Cook County Hospital.
This ballpark had been built in the late 19th century. The Cubs moved from this park in 1916 to
the present Wrigley Field at Addison and Waveland which was built for a team in the Federal
League which failed.

In front of the old stadium was a large parking area with posts about four feet high
anchored in the ground and about ten feet apart from one another. There were several row
of these posts. These posts had been used years earlier to hitch the horses and buggies, prior
to the use of automobiles. Part of the parking area was cleared of the hitching posts, and
therefore we were able to play baseball. Most of the time we played softball or "piggy
move-up" since we usually had only seven or eight players – not enough to make two teams.
Piggy move-up was played with only a few batters and mostly fielders. When one of the
batters made an out, he would take the place of a fielder who would then move up and
become a batter. We played until we got tired. Then we went across the street to the county
morgue to get a drink of cold water at the drinking fountain. The water was always cold
because Chicago's water supply is from Lake Michigan which is always cold and doesn't need
any refrigeration.

As I was a new boy on the block, I was the victim of a scheme by the others boys. The
other boys would wait while I was drinking, then they would all rush out and slam the door
behind them. I tried to rush out as fast as I could, realizing that the next room was where
they kept the cadavers. Naturally I was frightened. With all the speed and strength I could
muster, I pulled at the door to try to escape which I finally managed to do. This was the
initiation of the "new boy on the block." Whenever a new boy moved into the neighborhood,
I was anxious to see him go through this same ordeal.

Another pastime of ours was to go over to the psychopathic hospital and lay on the grass
in the shade. We always looked up at the windows to see some of the patients. We never
spoke to them except one day on the first floor near the entrance, we noticed a very pretty
girl, but all we could see was her head. We started talking to her and found her to be very
charming and pleasant. We said to her, "You're such a nice girl. You don't look like the rest of
them." We talked to her several times, always asking why she was in there. She just smiled
 Page 129 of 177

but never answered our questions. Then one day she came out of the side entrance and
walked toward us. To our amazement, she had on a nurse's uniform. We realized how stupid
we had been. She was gracious and just smiled at us and said a few words. From then on,
whenever she passed us, we would have a little, pleasant conversation with her.

When I was about twelve years of age, I joined the Duncan WMCA on Ashland Boulevard.
Here I learned to become a better swimmer and diver, and also I learned to play billiards,
table tennis and basketball. My greatest love was baseball. It was at that time that I started
to gain some recognition of my skills as a ballplayer. I would also occasionally visit the Jane
Addams Hull House where I started to learn to dance–something at which I never became
very accomplished.

At Hull House I became acquainted with a boy for whom I had great admiration. He had
been in an accident and had lost a foot. He had an artificial limb, and we boys called him
"Leggy." This was probably a cruel thing to call him, but we didn't realize that, and we didn't
mean to hurt him. He accepted it in good humor, and it didn't seem to offend him at all. Even
with his handicap, he played basketball and baseball. He became fairly good as a baseball
pitcher, and we accepted him as just another player. He didn't ask for any favors, and we
didn't grant him any.

While I lived on Polk Street, I became more active in baseball, and when I was about
twelve years of age I wanted to play on an organized team. Therefore I went back to my old
neighborhood on Plum Street to see if there was an organized team. A few of us decided to
organize our own team. There was a youth center on Ashland Boulevard called Chase House.
This youth center occupied a large residence as were most of the houses on Ashland
Boulevard between Van Buren and Polk Street as they were owned by well-to-do people at
one time. As the city grew, these people moved from this area, and some of these large
homes were now fraternity houses for the medical students of the university.

The Chase House was run by Episcopalian nuns who I respected very much. The were
dressed in habits like those of the Catholic orders, except that they wore gray. We boys had a
meeting with the head nun and a priest, and they were more than happy to sponsor our
baseball team by furnishing us with a supply of bats, balls, and uniforms with the "Chase
House" emblem on the back. This was a real godsend to us. They were responsible for our
good behavior, probably preventing us from getting into trouble. We respected them, and I
guess they tried to do their best to make us happy. They even furnished a meeting room for
our occasional business meetings when we made our rules and regulations; also we would
invite some of our opponents when there was a tournament or contest that we wanted to
organize. As I reflect on Chase House, I believe that if more centers were organized as well as
this place without a lot of regimentation and preaching, young people would probably
respond as we did. Because we appreciated and respected them so much, we always tried to
behave and please them. This was one way we could show them our gratitude, and we were
happy to do so.

After several years of playing for the Chase House Tigers, we boys decided to raise some
money to purchase more equipment and bats and balls, as there never seemed to be enough.
We didn't want to impose upon this wonderful organization who had been so kind and
 Page 130 of 177

generous in furnishing uniforms and equipment. After some discussion, we came to the
conclusion that we would sponsor a dance to raise the money we needed. Well, right down
the street on Plum Street, there lived a young man who played the drums with a small band.
They played at weddings and other neighborhood events. We asked him if his small orchestra
would play at our dance. He agreed. The next thing we had to do was make arrangements
for a dancehall. At that time, some of the city parks had recreation halls. The one we
selected was out west -- Columbus Park. We went there and explained what we wished to do.
The official said, "If you do not charge admission, there will be no charge to you for the use of
the hall."

Of course we were going to charge admission, so the fee for the use of the hall was $25.
We decided to charge twenty-five cents admission per person. Each member of our team
was given an allotment of tickets to sell and the dance was to take place in about a month.
Because of my age, I had very little experience in selling tickets. I was able to sell only two
tickets to a girl and her friend who I had known in my early days in grammar school. I also
sold tickets to my sister and her boy friend.

The orchestra arrived early prior to the eight o'clock starting time for the dance on a
Saturday night. All the ball players also showed up before eight o'clock and waited anxiously
for the people to start coming. A short time afterwards the two girls I sold tickets to arrived
and a few minutes later my sister and her boyfriend came. None of the ballplayers brought
any girl friends. Since there were only four people there, the orchestra was reluctant to play
but we persuaded them to start. After quite some time, no other guests appeared. As I was
president of the club, I inquired of each member to account for how many tickets they had
sold. The confessed that they hadn't sold any. This experience was really a great fiasco, but it
did teach me a lesson in how to attend to the details of organizing a project.

Of course, we had no money to pay the orchestra. The orchestra leader would come to
our meetings and demand payment. We promised him that we would pay in the future,
knowing full well that we had no way of raising the money. He wanted to know when we
would pay and we said that maybe at the end of the baseball season we would have enough
money to pay this debt. However, since we were never paid for playing ball, and we never
bet on our games, there was no way we could pay him. At the beginning of our association
with Chase House, we had discussed the matter of betting on games with the nun in charge
and with a priest and they said they would not like to use the Chase House name in
connection with such a thing as betting on games. I mention this because betting on games
was the custom at that time.

After several attempts to collect his money, the orchestra leader gave up, but for years,
whenever I saw him, he and I would enjoy a laugh about the dance. Later on, we became a
well-established ball team, and we were booked to play against church organizations such as
the Knights of Columbus and Veteran's Hospital. We were paid a small amount. A prize was
also given to the winning team, and fortunately we often won this prize. By that time, we lost
contact with the orchestra leader and so we couldn't pay him.
 Page 131 of 177

John McLaren Elementary School

At the John McLaren Grammar School, it had been the custom

of the graduating class to give a graduation present to the school.
Previous classes had given many fine pictures of King Arthur and
the Knights of the Round Table, and some of the students
suggested that we give this same type of gift.

However, it was brought to our attention that the school

office windows were without any curtains, so we voted to give
curtains as our graduation gift. We had a contest for the best
John McLaren School
design which was to be printed across the bottom of the curtains.
The curtains were to be made of a plain beige fabric called
pongee. The student who won the design contest also would do
the work of printing the design on the curtains. To my surprise,
my design, which consisted of a pear and two leaves, was selected
as the winner.

A working place was set up in the manual training room, and I cut out my design from a
square piece of linoleum. Each section of the curtain was stretched onto a frame. I would
add paint to the design, reddish yellow on the pear and green on the leaves. I was cautioned
to be very careful and not to hurry. One error meant that the section could not be used. I
was happy that I didn't make a single mistake. Everyone was very proud of our gift, and I was
so glad that I was able to give something in return to John McLaren School, which I loved.

William McKinley High School: Two Strikes and You're Out

I graduated from grammar school and entered the William McKinley High School where I
tried out for the baseball team in the spring. Some of the players on the team I already knew
and also had played against some of them in the past on sandlot baseball teams.

I believe that these players told the coach of my previous experience, and the coach
thought that I could fill the vacancy left by the previous star shortstop who had graduated.
Everything went well during practice and during the regular scheduled season. I was often
complemented on my play, and I felt very confident and very happy. We won most of our
games that season, but the very last game of the season proved disastrous for me. In the
latter innings of the game, with the bases full, I struck out and to make things even worse, I
made an error in fielding.

McKinley High baseball team did win the West section championship that year but lost
the first round game against another section. In all that time, I was not the regular shortstop
because of my poor performance at the last game of the regular season. In other words, I
was "benched."
 Page 132 of 177

Naturally I was very disappointed and depressed because of this experience. I thought I
would never play baseball again with desire and confidence. I knew I had the ability and only
needed guidance from an understanding coach to reach my potential in baseball.

At this time, I could have used some advice and some guidance. I never asked for any
because, foolishly, I thought I knew all the answers. This was a terrible, terrible mistake,
because I developed poor study habits, and I lacked ambition to improve myself.

The Tortoise and the Hare

At McKinley High School, in my first English class, I had a very young teacher who was
exceptionally competent. The first assignment she gave us was to write a fairy tale or a fable.
She said the story itself was not important as long as the grammar and sentence structure
were correct. We could take all the time we wanted to complete the assignment as long as it
was finished by the last week of the semester. I kept putting off this assignment until the
very last day. Then I panicked. I went to the library in desperation and looked for books of
fables and fairy tales which I thought would fulfill the requirement. I copied one of the fables
word for word and turned it in to my teacher. The next day when the teacher came to class,
she commented on the work that had been turned in, and she said that she would like to have
some of the students read their stories aloud. To my surprise, she called my name first. I was
reluctant to read my story. I said I would rather not read it aloud. I would prefer to have
some other student read theirs. She vigorously insisted on having me read my story and said
if I wanted to receive my credit in English, I would have to read it. I got up and sort of
fumbled and she said, "Wait a moment. I want you to announce the title and read your story,
word for word, as you have it on your paper."

I announced the title, "The Tortoise and the Hare." The entire class exploded with
laughter. The teacher tapped for attention, and I knew that I was going to be ridiculed
throughout the whole thing, so I refused to go on. The teacher again threatened me with a
failing grade if I didn't go on. The further I read the more hysterical the class became. They
were rolling in the aisles by the time I finished. "How stupid could anyone be," they must
have thought. I received a zero on that paper, and also I failed that course.

As foolish as my father appears, I think that it should be recognized that he takes the blame entirely on
himself; he doesn't try to shift the blame to others nor offer excuses though he does come to realize that he
could have used some help.
 Page 133 of 177

Chicago

John McLaren Elementary School

Hull House
The original building of the Hull House Settlement was
built in 1856, with the dining hall being built in 1906 (the
above complex surrounds the original building). The
dining hall has been relocated and was declared a
Chicago Landmark in 1976.
Jane Addams Collection, Swarthmore College Peace
Collection

West Side Field (1906)

The phrase "Way out in left field" originated at
the West Side Grounds, due to the location of a
psychiatric hospital behind the ballpark's left field
fence, where players and fans could hear patients
making odd and strange remarks during games.
 Page 134 of 177

Cook County Hospital (1900)

(1876-1914)

McKinley High School (1901–1996)

2040 West Adams Street Chicago, IL 60612

Cook County Hospital

(1914-2002)

Austin High School (circa 1920)

(1898-1930)
231 North Pine Av
Chicago, IL 60644-2333
 Page 135 of 177

Chapter 16

Five Weddings and Two Funerals

Return to Normalcy

In 1920, Warren G. Harding campaigned for the presidency on the slogan of “Return to Normalcy” and
won. With two exceptions, the slogan seems to have been adopted as a plan of action for the decade by the
Paolini family.

Adolph returned from service to resume

his job as a tailor. Aldo also worked as a tailor
though he did pursue studies at the Art Institute
of Chicago for a while. Arthur also continued his
work as a tailor though his daughter Carol Jean
reports that he supplemented his income by
becoming a pool hall hustler. Emily and Otto
continued their high school education. It is
believed that Beatrice continued to work for
Alfred Decker & Cohn.

Emily and Otto

All who immigrated save Aldo became naturalized citizens:

Beatrice 1 October 1935

Armando 7 June 1927
Adolph 17 June 1918
Arthur 20 December 1934

Adolph was probably naturalized under provisions of nationality law for aliens serving in the U.S. military;
specifically it waived the Declaration of Intention requirement and waived or reduced the residency
requirement. Thus a soldier could file a petition and be naturalized in the same day. Adolph was naturalized
during service while residing at Fort Snelling near St. Paul, Minnesota. Armando submitted his petition for
naturalization on February 23, 1921, a month after he returned from Italy, and was naturalized six years later.
Beatrice216 and Arthur submitted their declaration of intentions about the same time (1934), probably in
anticipation of the Social Security Act of 1935.

216
For the use of the manifest of the SS Moltke in processing her request for citizenship, see appendix A.
 Page 136 of 177

Arthur Paolini and Josephine Dinella

At the apartment building at 1739 W. Polk Street, the

availability of two young bachelors in their own building was too
tempting for the Dinella217 sisters, Anna and Josephine, to resist –
and it’s doubtful that they tried. It was said by many family
members, who shall remain anonymous, that Anna and Josephine
pursued Armando and Arthur, respectively.

According to Beatrice, Arthur had been going with a young

lady who worked in the same shop. The two had a quarrel, and
Vincenzo Dinella and Angelina Costrina
perhaps she overplayed her hand. Arthur started dating Josephine
[Dinella]
and then married her. When the young girl heard the news of the
marriage, she wept and said, "I didn't think he would do that."

Apparently Arthur needed to have one last fling. Two weeks before the wedding, he and his uncle Hugo
drove to New York City "in order to try out his new car." Somehow he forgot to mention this excursion to
anyone, including his mother, brothers and fiancée. Josephine was ready to kill them both.

Arthur and Josephine were married in front of a judge on December 31, 1923218; but there was a second
marriage ceremony. Arthur had insisted that they be married by the civil authority as was required in Italy.219
Josephine did not recognize the legitimacy of this marriage ceremony, and she insisted that they be married by a
priest in a Catholic church. After the ceremony on New Year's Eve, Josephine continued to live in her parent’s
apartment until the church marriage on January 19, 1924.

217
Their father, Vincenzo (Vito) Dinella, had immigrated in 1883 from Pescasseroli, a medium size city in
the Abruzzo. Initially he worked as a laborer in the construction of canals. Several canal projects were undertaken
in the period 1887 to 1922 such as that which linked the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River.

Vito became a padrone, meaning that he sponsored the passage of other immigrants and found them jobs for
which he was repaid with interest; he helped the new immigrant surmount the language barrier and explained
American labor practices. He also was a foreman in a construction company, and he determined which men
worked and what jobs they were assigned. For this reason, families often gave him presents at Christmas time in
order to gain or retain his favor.

He seems to have honored his ‘marital obligation’ as his wife Angelina Costrina who bore children in 1889 and 1890
in Italy, but he seems to have voluntarily committed to a relationship in America. His dalliance did not go
unnoticed, and word got back to his wife who had remained in Italy. She and their daughters emigrated soon
thereafter so as to re-establish their marriage. There is a noticeable gap in the birth of children from 1890 to 1902;
otherwise, they regularly produced children reaching a total of eight.

218
Petition for Citizenship of Arthur Paolini, No. 122991, dated 20 Feb 1934.
219
Starting in 1809 with Napoleonic law and continuing to the present.
 Page 137 of 177

There are two pictures of Josephine and Arthur in New York; one includes
a picture of a man that appears to be his uncle Hugo. Did he accompany them on
their honeymoon?

In his Petition for Citizenship recorded

on February 20, 1934, Arthur recorded his
occupation as tailor. In the 1950s, and 60's, he
worked in a tailor shop, Leonard's Store For
Men,220 in Elmhurst, Illinois owned by a man
named Leonard Shapiro.

His daughter, Carol Jean, said that her

father worked six days a week, usually more than
nine hours a day. He was a perfectionist, and
nothing left the back room until he had inspected and approved it. Carol said
that he made suits for at least one mobster, probably Sam Giancana. Two men
would enter by the rear entrance; then two more would enter and stand at the
entrance leading to the front of the store; then two more would enter with
Giancana. The mobster would often buy several suits at a time costing
thousands of dollars. Once he dropped a $100 bill on the floor while her father
was fitting him; when Arthur retrieve the bill and attempted to hand it back to
him, Giancana refused to take it, saying that it was dirty because it had been on the floor.

My father bought many of his suits at Leonard’s as he probably received

some discount plus extra attention to his suits from his brother. He once bought, not
one but two, Borsalino hats. They were beautiful hats, but he seem to have
forgotten or not realized that he and my mother were planning to move to Florida
where such hats were not needed nor an appropriate style. Still, my father could
never bear to part with those hats.

Josephine had tuberculosis in the early part of her married life, and she had
to undergo a treatment in which her lungs had to be collapsed and surgery performed, which was successful.
She was in a sanitarium for a time but exactly how long is not known. When she was in the sanitarium, her
roommate was the sister of Baby Face Nelson, a notorious Chicago mobster. Josephine said that they loved it
when he came to visit because he brought both of them all kinds of presents, such as candy, flowers,
nightgowns, robes, etc. Apparently Josephine's lungs were severely damaged by the disease, and she was very
susceptible to pneumonia, which she had a couple of times. Carol and her brother Art were checked periodically
for tuberculosis.

220
Now called Leonard's Fine Mens Clothing, it is still in business as of this writing (2010).
 Page 138 of 177

Josephine bore her first child, a daughter named Mary Therese, on October 1, 1931, the Feast Day of St.
Therese, and hence the name. Sadly there was a complication in the pregnancy (placenta previa in which the
placenta grows in the lowest part of the womb (uterus) and covers all or part of the cervix). Mary Therese lived
only one day, dying on October 2nd, the day designated by the Catholic Church as a celebration of the Feast of
The Guardian Angels. "My mother talked about her all the time as though she lived awhile," reports Carol.

Happily Josephine successfully bore two healthy children: Arthur jr. born in 1936, and Carol Jean born in
1941. Apparently there was frequent contact with the Dinella's because when Art jr. started to talk, he could
speak Italian as well as English.

Uncle Art (or 'big Art' as I used to say, in order to distinguish him from his son, 'Little Art or Art, Jr.) was
the most personable and the most amiable of my uncles. He usually had a cigar rolling around in his mouth, and
a twinkle in his eye.; and of course he was well dressed.

Armando Paolini and Anna Dinella

In 1924, Armando married Anna (Anne) Dinella. The photographs of the wedding couple and the
groomsmen and maids of honor indicate quite an elaborate affair. The two couples, Armando and Anna, Arthur
and Josephine, bought a two-flat at 5324 Crystal Street,221 which is located in the community called Austin222 on
the city's far west side,223 a neighborhood to which many upwardly mobile Irish and Italians from the inner city
were relocating.

It seems that Anna and Josephine had the idea of buying the two-flat, probably influenced by their
parents who invested in real estate. It was rumored that they practically made the deal before telling their
husbands, but Carol Jean remembers that it was the brothers, Armando and Arthur, that insisted that they buy
and live in the building. In 1947 or 1948, they bought a eight-flat building at 5467 W. Hirsch Street in Austin.

At the time these two families moved, Austin was still a strongly Republican ward. Uncle Art said that
when he went to register for the first time for a primary election, there was a long line that moved very slowly.
Finally an election official came out and asked, "Does anyone want to register and vote in the Democratic
primary?" My uncle was the only one who raised his hand, and so allowed to proceed to the front of the
registration table for Democrats.

221
Census, 1930 - Chicago,Tract 214, precinct 39; Ward 37, Block No. 247.
222
Austin was created in 1865, when developer Henry Austin purchased 470 acres for a temperance
settlement named “Austinville.” It goal was to provide home ownership, public amenities such as tree-lined
parkways, and gracious living. In 1899, Austin was voted out of the township and into Chicago by residents of
other parts of the township.
223
Roughly bounded by W. Ohio St., N. Waller, Parkside, W. West End & N. Mayfield Aves. & W. Corcoran
Pl. in Chicago. http://www.hellochicago.com/HistoricPlaces.Cfm
 Page 139 of 177

In addition to the two couples, a third Dinella sister, Edith, and her husband Glen, lived in the basement
apartment. Carol Jean described her childhood as living in one household where the children (her brother Arthur
Jr., cousin Joan Marie, and herself) could enter any of their relative's apartments as though it was their own.
When one didn't care for the dinner being served by their mother, they could dine at one of their relatives.

My mother recalls that Mrs. Dinella reportedly had a heart condition and just sat in a chair. When
Josephine and Anna had guests, she wouldn't (or couldn't) even come up to the second floor. When the
two-couples moved to the two-flat in Austin, and Mrs. Dinella would come to a party, but she didn't sit at the
dining table because there was a dish of mayonnaise on the table, and she said it made her sick to look at it.

In his petition for naturalization in 1927, Armando lists his occupation as “insurance,” but in the 1930
census his occupation is “tailor.” By 1940, he had become a chief water engineer for the city of Chicago, and
worked at the water pumping station on Michigan Avenue, across the street from the famous water tower which
is one of Chicago's landmarks. Chicago affords such employment opportunities!

There was a time when the Republican Party was competitive in election campaigns for local offices. In
one campaign, Armando worked as a Republican precinct worker, and successfully carried the precinct for his
candidate. The Democratic ward committeeman was startled, and sent a flunky to Armando telling him that the
committeeman wanted to see him. Armando became an Assistant Precinct Captain in that ward for the
Democratic Party. There's little doubt that he had to work hard and deliver a majority vote for the alderman
even before he achieved being Assistant Precinct Captain. There was a lot of competition for such a job, and it
was essential to do the political work in order to become a city employee, even a very low-ranking one.

His first job in the Water Department was cleaning out the big furnaces. Periodically, the furnaces would
be shut down for cleaning and he would have to get inside and scrape the interior which had become encrusted.
Probably not a fun job! He did study and did good work at his job a well as being a precinct worker. He had a
great personality and established a good rapport with voters in his precinct.

My impression of Armando was that he was quite handsome, but had a rather severe demeanor: he
hardly smiled and rarely laughed in a jocular fashion. He was hardly taller than his brothers, yet he carried
himself with a military bearing; his movements were slow and dignified in the manner described by Dante as one
who is due honors. And I often observed deference toward him by his relatives. While his brothers Arthur and
Ottie would raise their voices in order to be heard, Armando had a voice that had strength though he would
maintain a low volume that would invoke his audience to pay attention.

Armando and Anna had two children: a son Aldo for in 1925 and a daughter Joan Marie born in 1935.
 Page 140 of 177

Aldo Paolini (I)

In 1925, my father’s brother Aldo became ill. He suffered a great deal, my

father describing him writhing in agony on the living room couch. He underwent
surgery for appendicitis, but the cause of his illness, which was cancer, was not
diagnosed. He continued to suffer, and the doctors operated a second time. He died
on the same day of the surgery of “surgical shock following operation for removal of
sarcoma of the colon...” He died on September 10, 1925 at the age of 22. My father
wrote in his memoirs: “Even to this day, I constantly remember those wonderful
years with him, and I miss him dearly.”

Aldo Paolini
Beatrice Moves to Austin

With less room needed and Beatrice making more money, she determined that she could afford a nicer
apartment. The family, now consisting of Beatrice, Adolph, Emily, and Otto, moved to 5232 W. Altgeld Street,
probably about 1922. This apartment was also in the Austin area. With her greater income, Beatrice purchased
a piano and had Emily take piano lessons. And she bought an automobile!

My father was quite happy with the move as well because it afforded him a new start to make the high
school baseball team; unfortunately, he took some old baggage with him. He writes:

I was very happy to find that I could enroll at Austin High School, a lovely school,
considered to be one of the best in Chicago at that time. The grounds were nicely landscaped
with many trees and bushes. The school building itself looked like a fortress or castle. I was
very proud to be a student of this school.

Some of the baseball players at Austin High School recognized me and knew that I
had played baseball at McKinley High. They asked if I were going to go out for the team at
Austin. I never committed myself because I knew my poor academic grades would make me
ineligible for the team. The baseball coach saw me play basketball on the intramural team
and asked me if I wanted to go out for the school team. For the same reason, I didn't try out
for this team.

Now, the penalty I paid for not doing my school work was that I was never eligible to
play on any school teams. I was always failing in one subject or another. In other words, I
would pass in English and math, but fail in history because of not doing any homework. Then
I would study to bring my grades up in the failed subject and in doing so, would neglect the
other subjects.

One of the times, when I took my report card home to my mother, she examined it,
and by this time she understood a little English. However, she didn't quite understand what
the various grades meant. I told her that "G" meant good, and when she asked what "F"
meant, I said it meant "fine." My sister shouted to her: " ‘F' means failure!"
 Page 141 of 177

Iota Alpha Chi

One of my greatest experiences at Austin High was when I was initiated into Iota
Alpha Chi, a new fraternity with only eight members. There were many old fraternities at
Austin, some originating at the beginning of this century.

The brothers of Iota Alpha Chi were of good moral character. None of us smoked and
only drank moderately at some special occasions. This was during the prohibition era.
Because we were well-mannered, we gained a good deal of respect, especially from the girls
who were glad to date most of the fraternity brothers.

Fraternity Brothers Girl Friends

Red Speer Phyllis Freeman

Romeo Navigator Bea O'Rourke
Gene Hyer Adele Shefte
Charlie Hamn Rosalyn Harris
Jack Trumbull Harriet Hakes
Don Westergreen
Jack Freeman
Jud Higgins
Don McDaniel

Our meetings were held every two weeks at one of the member's homes. Naturally,
we took turns in having these meetings. After our business was completed at these
meetings, the parents of this member would serve refreshments and usually it was quite a
feast. All the parents were delighted to serve us. This was a marvelous arrangement. We
didn't need any supervision. Any problems were usually minor and of little importance. The
parents were glad to meet all of us and observe our activities which were honest and proper,
something this present generation could imitate.

Some of the larger and older high school fraternities would give their annual dances
at some of the large hotels in downtown Chicago, with big name bands such as Guy
Lombardo, Ted Weems and Ted Lewis. Out fraternity decided to give a dance to be held at
the Edgewater Beach Hotel. We engaged Husk O'Hare and his band to play. The Edgewater
Beach Hotel was probably the best hotel in Chicago at that time. It was located on the shore
of Lake Michigan and Paul Whiteman's Band performed there for many years. Our dance was
very successful and produced a profit. With this money, we planned to have a dinner for our
members and their dates at some popular roadhouse restaurant with a big band.

A most unusual event arose at the meeting just before we made our final
arrangements for this dinner, when on of the brothers requested that instead of having the
dinner, we should give this money to an urgent cause. He demanded that no one ask why or
what the money was to be used for, that under no conditions could he divulge the name of
the individual or the purpose. I believe each individual, even though it was not discussed
among us, must have realized that this cause involved someone close to our fraternity. We
 Page 142 of 177

respected his request and voted unanimously for his request. It later turned out that the
money was not needed. We never discussed this among us. We kept our promise, and to this
day I don't know any of the facts, and I don't wish ever to know.

Our fraternity was constantly involved in many activities. Our Halloween parties were
especially enjoyable. We also had swimming parties every Wednesday night at Blackhawk
Park located on Fullerton and Lavergne Avenues. We knew the lifeguard there who admitted
us to the pool even though Wednesday night was supposed to be only for married couples.
Since no married couples ever seemed to come to the pool, the fraternity brothers and their
dates had the full use of the pool.

Aldo Paolini (II)

A son was born to Anna and Armando in 1925. To honor his younger brother who had passed away that
same month, he was given the same ill-fated name of Aldo. When, and for how long, is not known, but he
contracted rheumatic fever. My mother remembers her visit during Aldo's illness:

They wanted to make sure that it was quiet so Aldo could rest, and there was a sign
on the doorbell, "DO NOT RING." We obeyed the sign and did not ring, but while we were
there someone DID ring the bell, and Joe and Anna both shrieked, "Who is ringing that bell?"
at the top of their voices. Actually, I guess their voices only had a "top." I was quite amazed
by the fact that they would yell like that when they wanted quiet for Aldo.

Aldo Paolini died in 1940 at age 14.

Adolph Paolini and Evelyn Dassel

The only history of Adolph and Evelyn is that reported by my mother:

Adolph was in the drum and bugle corps of the U.S.

Army. He joined the American Legion and was quite active
throughout his life, working for many worthwhile events in the
neighborhood and for young people.

The Legion rented a store for their meetings, and

Evelyn's family had friends who occupied the next store. I did
meet this couple later. I think they were in the upholstery
business and were friends of Adolph and Evelyn for many
years. Adolph worked installing chain-link fences, and as with
so many jobs then, it was not steady income. Evelyn and
Adolph lived in the second-floor flat of a two-flat owned by
Evelyn's Uncle Pete. Evelyn's Aunt Hattie also lived there, and
Evelyn's younger sister, whose name I believe was Anna May. Adolph Paolini
Then, of course Elaine was a small baby, so they had quite a
houseful and I'm sure quite difficult situations. Many families
had to live together like that during the Depression Era.
 Page 143 of 177

Cheryl is quite a few years younger than Elaine – maybe nine years -- I'm not sure.
Anyway, when Cheryl was a very small child, Anna May took care of her quite a bit. Then
Anna May died near the time that Candy was born, so it was a difficult time for this family.

I don't know just when Adolph started to work for the streetcar company, but it
probably was in the early 1940's. His work was in the barns in the maintenance and repair
division.

Evelyn's Aunt Hattie was a dignified and friendly person, always very nice.

Uncle Pete was a good fellow too, although I don't think I ever heard him speak to a
soul. If we were there, he would just walk in and go about his business and not say a word.
Apparently, as well as his streetcar job, he had a little store with a back room where mostly
streetcar employees would play cards. [This information is all that I heard in bits and pieces.]

Apparently the card-playing led to loaning money at good rates, and Uncle Pete did
very well. He also had a friend (who rented his first-floor flat) who was a professional thief,
and occasionally at Evelyn's flat there would be a load of dresses and coats for sale, and I
bought several dresses and coats there, but I hasten to add that I wasn't very comfortable
about doing so.

As his daughter Elaine reports, her father hardly talked, even to her. My father said that he
hardly talked to him as well. But one time they were riding on their way to work on a CTA bus, and
my father asked about Elaine, then Adolph talked the remainder of the trip.

As if to balance the act, Evelyn provided plenty of conversation; and she was unusually blunt. For
example, she wasn't reticent about using the N-word, but then most people weren't in those days. Still, I was
rather shocked at first and unfavorably impressed. While I didn't and don't condone it, I came to understand
that it was more a part of her vocabulary rather than malevolent prejudice.

But her forthright statements were comical as well – though not intended as such. At an extended
family gathering at our home in Northbrook in the 1950's, the women were socializing in the backyard, watching
the children play. One of my aunts complemented by mother on her dress. "Oh she's had that for years,"
commented Evelyn.

In about 1969, there was at a large family gathering, and I was in a small group composed of Emily,
Evelyn, and Linda Flowers Paolini (Arthur, Jr.'s wife). We were exchanging greetings and making the usual
inquiries of spouse and children. "How is Uncle Charlie doing," ask Linda of Emily. "Not well at all," blurted Aunt
Evelyn, causing Aunt Emily to spin around in stricken grief.

She once uttered words that were wiser than she may have realized. My mother reported that at one
family gathering, there was a ‘debate.' Someone defended their argument by saying they read some fact in a
book. "You can't believe everything you read," retorted Evelyn."

Adolph and Evelyn had three daughters: Elaine, Cheryl, and Candace.
 Page 144 of 177

My Dad's First Jobs

Despite his poor grades, my father did graduate from Austin High School in 1928½. He now entered the
workforce. In almost every case, he obtained his jobs through friends. Jack Trumbull was a high school
classmate at Austin H.S., and while he was working at the First National Bank of Chicago, he helped my father get
a job at the bank as well. My father described his job as a courier – collecting and delivering documents of
financial transactions, sometimes including money. When money was involved, he was to call the bank, and a
bank guard was sent to accompany him. The first time he was told of this procedure, he responded, "How would
anyone know that I was carrying money and attempt to rob me?" His supervisor responded, "We're not worried
about anyone robbing you; we're worried about you staggering in here claiming that you were robbed when in
fact you stashed the money for yourself." My father was startled and a bit insulted that someone thought he
was capable of such dishonest behavior.

Civilian Conservation Corp

It was the heart of the Great Depression: 1933. My father could not find a
job, and so, to lessen the burden on his mother, he joined the Civilian Conservation
Corp. The CCC's mission was two-fold: to reduce unemployment, especially among
young men; and to preserve the nation's natural resources. Inducted in Chicago, his
company was sent by rail to Oregon, and he was stationed near the town of Tillamook
on Mount Hebo. The main task of this company was to clear forest for the creation of
roads that would allow firefighting men and equipment to reach forest fires.

My father told several stories about his year in the CCCs; I'll share two. While
the supervisors were army and/or U.S. Forest Service, the company was comprised
solely of young men, and city slickers at that. When one of them came upon a large, Otto Paolini in CCC camp,
round blob hanging from a tree limb, he took a swing at it with his axe. The bees Tillamook, Oregon
swarmed out of the nest and attacked every company member it could find. The
axe-swinger was stung the most; luckily he survived.

While the army and U.S. Forest Service personnel operated the camp and supervised the company, there
were also local men – mountain men – who provided, what today’s bureaucrats would term, ‘technical
assistance.’ In other words, they showed the corp members how to swing an axe and use a saw. Sitting around
the campfire one evening, the city slickers and the mountain men were ‘chewing the fat' when the conversation
drifted to expertise with an axe. One of the mountain men swung his axe and flung it where it stuck in a tree.
"Pretty lucky toss," or something to that effect, said one of the city slickers. "You think so," said the mountain
man, retrieving his axe, and then hurling it a second time with the same result.
 Page 145 of 177

Murray Hills Apartments

After one year, my father returned home and found a job at the Murray Hills Apartments, a luxury
apartment building on Chicago's north Lake Shore Drive. He was a garage attendant, that is, providing valet
service to the guests. His best story for this job was that the guests often asked the elevator operator to walk
their dog. Pleased to accept the tip, the elevator operator was none to crazy about dogs; and so he would open
the back door of the building and literally fling the dog into the alley. Naturally the dogs grew fearful of the
elevator operator, and so when a guest and his/her dog would approach the elevator, the dog would resist and
cower. The owners would explain and partly apologize: “Fido is so afraid of the elevator,’ not realizing that it
was really the elevator operator of whom the dog was fearful.

Miami

A fraternity brother named Charlie Ham had established a construction and/or real estate business in
Miami, Florida. When Charlie and his mother first went to Florida, my father had driven down with them.
Needing a job and invited to stay, he went to Miami in order to work construction.

One of this jobs was laying tile roofs. Such work is back-breaking to say the least; but my father had
unbelievable stamina all through his life. Laying tile roofs included mixing cement, then hauling the cement
mixture in buckets up to the roof and spreading it; then hauling a batch of tiles up and laying them. The tiles are
half round tubes and about a foot and half long. Imagine doing this work in the summer Florida sun!

My father recalls that on one of his first jobs, the guy mixing cement was told the ratio of sand to
cement, maybe 1:3. Overlooked was the fact that he used a different shovel for each ingredient–shovels of a
different size. Needless to say, the mixture didn't harden, and the next day when they arrived, all the tiles had
slid off the roof.

My father apparently made good money for Depression days. "Buy some land down here," advised
Charlie. But my father was homesick, and he returned to Chicago. The land that Charlie advised him to buy is
now incorporated in downtown Miami.
 Page 146 of 177

Isabel ("Harmony") Daniels

My mother was born and raised in Harmony,224 a small town in

southeastern Minnesota. Her father, Herb Daniels, had been a successful
businessman, but in the Great Depression, he had lost the business, and in 1936
he died. Her mother moved to Chicago about a year later in the hopes of a new
relationship. When my mother graduated in 1938, she moved to Chicago to
enroll in the Moser School of Business, but quit soon thereafter in order to take a
position at the Retail Credit Company (now Equifax). She then writes of her
meeting and courtship with my father:

Dad and I met in the fall of 1938. I lived on the south

side of Chicago, 6232 S. University Avenue at the time, and
worked in the office of the Retailers Commercial Agency in the
Isabel Flavia Daniels loop. I was dating a boy named Bill Knaus at the time.

Now it happened that Otto had an insurance call to make somewhere on the south
side, and he completed his appointment more quickly than anticipated. He and Bill had been
in the CCC together, and since Bill lived on the south side, Otto decided to stop and visit him.
He then drove Bill over to my place as Bill and I had a date. Bill thought Otto was a wonderful
person, sort of an older brother type who was a good friend, and I liked him too – I thought
he was a very interesting person.

I guess Dad liked me pretty much right away

Humboldt Park Boathouse and Lagoon
too, because he made arrangements to date a girl he
knew who lived on the south side, Marge Murphy,
and the four of us would go out. I recall Dad and
Marge played tennis one time and Bill and I watched.
Then I think Dad took us to a ballgame or maybe
more than one at Mills Stadium, as
he worked there as a cashier on
weekends.

Then it happened that Bill went to Florida in search of a job.

At that time, Jack Trumbull's grandmother had a room for

rent in her house at 420 N. Sawyer, and the rent, with breakfast
included, was even less than the $3.50 I was paying, so it seemed
like it would be a good move for me, and Dad wasn't overlooking
the fact that it would be more convenient for him.

So we started dating and dad took me around to meet his many friends and later on,
his relatives. Emily invited me for dinner, and that's the story Dad likes to tell about how I ate

224
Apparently my father gave my mother the nickname of “Harmony” after her hometown. All the
relatives on my father’s side called her Harmony. I didn’t realize her given name was Isabel until I was in my
twenties.
 Page 147 of 177

the spaghetti, and even had seconds (actually I had a second helping as they encouraged me
to, and I wanted to be agreeable – not that I was a glutton, which is the spin he likes to put on
it).

Then after the spaghetti, Emily brought out a roast and potatoes, a complete meal. I had
never heard of such a thing. If we had spaghetti, that was the meal. Well, they all laughed at me and
I felt a little embarrassed and stupid.

I lived at Grandma "Mac's" for maybe 10 months or so, and although she was nice, I decided I
would prefer living alone; so I moved to 1647 N. Humboldt Blvd., a rooming house, but quite nice,
owned by a Swedish lady, Mrs. Olsen. Humboldt Park was lovely at that time, with a lagoon which
was used for ice skating in the winter and with pretty landscaping and walks.

Not too long after I moved here, Dad and I decided to get married.
We were married by the minister of the Austin Methodist Church in a
private ceremony attended only by the minister's lovely wife and daughters.
Our wedding trip was to Milwaukee in a terrible snowstorm. We stayed at
the Schroeder Hotel, Milwaukee's finest and quite beyond our means –
really. We even went all out and had dinner in their dining room with
orchestra and all.

When we told our landlady, Mrs. Olsen, that we were married and
Otto would be living there also, she congratulated us and said, "Oh, isn't
that nice!" Then she added very politely, "Well, that will be $5.50 a week
then (I had been paying $5.00). Dad always says that he replied, "here's my
fifty cents" which of course is one of his jokes.

We stayed at Humboldt Boulevard a short time and then rented the attic apartment at 4855
W. George Street. When we first moved there, Otto was still working as a salesman for Lumberman's
Mutual, but that was all commission and not too reliable an income. I still worked at Retailers
Commercial until I was pregnant.

Then, in 1941, Dad got the job with Pitney-Bowes,225

which paid a very small salary but at least it was steady and we
could manage.
Pitney-Bowes Mailing Machine

225

In 1902, Arthur Pitney patented his first "double-locking" hand-cranked postage-stamping machine, and, with patent
attorney Eugene A. Rummler, founded the Pitney Postal Machine Company. In 1908, English emigrant and founder of
the Universal Stamping Machine Company Walter Bowes began providing stamp-canceling machines to the United
States Postal Service. Bowes moved his operations to Stamford in 1917. A rapid increase in mail volume in 1919 made
the Post Office more receptive to metered mail, and Pitney subsequently traveled to meet Bowes. On March 15, 1920,
the United States House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing mechanical stamps on First-Class Mail, and on
April 23, 1920, the two companies merged to form the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company, with the goal of
producing a machine that would combine Pitney's "double-locking" counter with Bowes's system for wrapping postage
payment, postmarking and cancellation. The U.S. Post Office approved their postage meter on August 25, 1920.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitney_Bowes
 Page 148 of 177

You were born and I loved taking care of you and wheeling you around in the buggy.
People would always stop and admire my beautiful baby.

Emily Paolini and Charlie Zickgraff

My father was involved with two organizations that sponsored dances in order to raise money: his
fraternity, Iota Alpha Chi, and the Gastaldo Boosters Club. For one of the dances, he sold tickets to his sister and
her friend, and it was at one of these dances that she met Charles Zickgraff.

Emily had not dated much before meeting Charlie, and she fell in love with him quickly and deeply. My
father assisted in their wedding plans. Having experience in renting halls for dances, he rented a room for the
reception at the Premier Hotel on the near westside of Chicago. Through his many contacts, he was able to
purchase flowers at a lower price, and he retained a band (most of whose members were members of his
fraternity) at no charge. He was the driver of the wedding party, but he was late to pick up Charlie and his best
man. Perhaps this minor incident may have strained their relationship. Emily and Charlie wed on June 22,
1931.226

The couple moved in with Beatrice and Otto at 5232 W. Altgeld but they soon found a place of their own
in Elmwood Park and then in Austin on Mayfield Avenue. They eventually bought a two-flat at 1710 Central
Avenue where their children were born and raised, and lived for the remainder of their lives.

Emily was eager to have children, but her first child died ten minutes after birth.227 My mother
remembers Emily sadly remarking while she was in hospital, "All the other mothers were holding their babies
and I had none."

Their daughter Carla was born May 15, 1937. My mother remembers: "Carla was about two years old
when I first saw her, and she was the prettiest, happiest, most intelligent child imaginable. Emily and Charlie
worshiped her, and she captivated everyone."

Their second daughter was Linda who was born October 11, 1940. My
mother and Emily were in the same hospital – St. Anne's – at the same time as I
was born on October 8.

While much as been written about prejudice and discrimination toward

Italians, neither I nor my cousins have ever knowingly experienced it. The only
incident of this kind – actually just the acknowledgment that discrimination existed
– was when Charley and Emily were looking for a house to buy, the realtor pulled
Charlie aside and said that there were certain houses for which the owner would
not sell to Italians even though they might rent to them.

Linda Zickgraff

226
He did so despite his mother’s admonishment for when he announced his intention to marry an Italian,
his mother warned him that much would be demanded of him as "Italian women were highly sexed."

227
E-mail response to inquiry by Vazquez, Susana, Queen of Heaven Cemetery, August 10, 2009.
 Page 149 of 177

I imagine that Charlie Zickgraff felt like an odd man out among his in-laws. Although Catholic, he was a
German among Italians. He wasn't crude, but he seemed a bit rough around the edges. As his son-in-law Roger
Lauten228 said of him, "he was a shot and beer type of guy." However, Charlie often had more than one of each
and became inebriated, a condition not viewed favorably by Italians as it was deemed unmanly to lose control of
oneself. He explained his drinking229, to wit, that he had to have a drink at the tavern before going to work in
order to have the courage to work the tall buildings as an iron worker. Poor Emily was torn between the two
factions in defending her husband while still remaining loyal to her family and their Italian beliefs. From all
reports, she succeeded with composure and confidence.

As a child and as an adult, I was almost oblivious of relations among the adults. I always enjoyed visiting
my in-laws and playing with my cousins. In actual fact, I played with Linda and Carol Jean, who were my age, and
I admired my older cousins, Arthur Jr., Elaine and Carla, who told stories and joshed one another. And then
something happened!

It was about 1947, so I was about seven years old at the time. There was a family gathering at the
Zickgraff home, and I think that I was in a back room playing with Linda and Carol. Someone poked their head
inside the room and said that my family was leaving. I got up and walked into the dinning room with everyone
sitting silently at the dinning table and staring at me as I walked passed. I didn't think much of it at the time, and
I was unaware that diplomatic relations had been severed between the Zickgraffs and my family; but then
neither did Humbert and Peter, the legates of Pope Leo IX realize that they had just inaugurated the Great
Schism in the Church in 1054.

I was told that there were two earlier related incidents. The first occurred at Adolph and Evelyn's house.
Beatrice, who often talked to Emily in Italian, said something in Italian to Emily. Probably thinking that
something was being said so as not to include him, Charlie took offense, possibly saying something that insulted
Beatrice. Naturally my father jumped into the fray, and an war of words ensued. Perhaps a month or two
passed, and apparently Emily thought that hard feelings had subsided. She invited my family to a gathering at
her house. Charlie wasn't there when we arrived, but when he returned, he spotted my father and said: "I want
that guy out of my house." Hence our abrupt departure.

Elaine Paolini remembers the incident that was the spark the ignited the fire: Arthur Jr., Carla, and she
wanted to go to the movies, but Charlie disallowed it. It seems to be the consensus of my mother and Elaine
that my father said something to Beatrice in Italian. Charlie took offense and harsh words were said. Perhaps
this was the first incident as reported by my mother.

As one can see, there is uncertainty as to the cause of the altercation. My father said that it concerned
the living arrangements of Beatrice and the Zickgraffs. When he went to Florida, Beatrice could no longer afford
her apartment on Polk Street, and so she moved in the Charlie and Emily. After fifteen years, he was no longer
content with the arrangement. Whether this situation was the subject of an argument or an underlying cause of
resentment and tension is unknown.

228
Husband of Carla Zickgraff.
229
As told to the author by Robert Genzen, husband of Elaine Paolini, daughter of Adolph Paolini.
 Page 150 of 177

When my father returned from Florida in 1933, he lived with Zickgraffs in their apartment on Mayfield
Avenue as his mother was living with them as well. It is difficult to conceive–and certainly and disconcerting to
imagine – these two men occupying the same living quarters for about five years. It was the period of the Great
Depression and economic necessity demanded compromise. Such a compromise is truly indicative of those
desperate times.

I have to say that I had/have some sympathy for Charlie's position regarding Beatrice. If he felt it were
an imposition, I think he– or better, Emily–should have gathered the Paolini family and asked for a commitment
of money to provide housing for their mother. I can't imagine Beatrice being completely comfortable after this
quarrel. Apparently none of the brothers or sister thought to do so, and so Beatrice lived the rest of her life with
her daughter and son-in-law in a small, dark bedroom in the Zickgraff flat. She deserved better!

All diplomatic relations were not broken between the two families. After a year or so,
Emily helped my mother get a job working with her for Syrena's which was a restaurant and
catering firm. Emily and my mother worked every weekend. They liked the work, and the tips
were excellent so they were able to save money, especially as my mother and father were
looking forward to buying their own home.

When my father, mother and I were living in Northbrook, we would occasionally invite
Beatrice to join us for a Sunday afternoon dinner. When I obtained my driver's license, I was
given the assignment to drive to Chicago and pick her up. I was quite proud to be given this
important responsibility as I thought that it was a demonstration of my parent’s trust . I had no idea that it was
done simply to avoid my father and uncle Charlie from meeting.

Upon my return from the military service, I settled in Chicago in order to attend graduate school. I was
invited to dinner at the Zickgraff house, and to meet Linda and her husband, John O'Conner. Poor Charlie was
literally a skeleton. He was dying of some disease but I don't remember which one. I remember him saying
something to the effect: "Yeah, I'm dying" in a somewhat defiant tone while pinching his shriveled skin. He was a
man who looked death straight in the eye without blinking.
 Page 151 of 177

About 1990, my father and I visited Emily who, like her

mother, was staying with her daughter Linda and son-in-law John
O’Connor. I noticed that they had the ‘waffle iron,' which I later
learned is called a pizzelle iron, that Beatrice had brought from Italy.
When I was a child, my father had borrowed this relic of the old
country, and we actually made pizzelle in our fireplace in Northbrook,
Illinois. Pizzelle is a traditional Italian waffle cookies made from flour,
eggs, sugar, butter or vegetable oil, and flavoring (often vanilla, anise,
or lemon zest).230

Pizzele Iron

I mentioned to my father that if Linda and John did

not want it, I would surly like to have it. I was so very thankful
and pleased to receive it, and I honor the memory of my
grandparents, uncles and aunt by its resting next to my
fireplace to remind me of them.

Emily developed Alzheimer's disease and passed away Hunting scene design of the iron
in 2000. Tragically, Linda became afflicted with same disease
in 1997 at the age of fifty-seven and had to be placed in a
nursing home. She died in 2008.

Relations Among the Relatives

For the most part, the families of the daughter and sons of Beatrice and Alfredo were close and in
frequent contact. As mentioned above, the families of Armando and Arthur lived in the same building, and the
children freely visited each others apartments. The Zickgraffs lived only about three blocks away, and Linda
Zickgraff and Carol Jean Paolini were very close friends. Upon their marriages, Adolph and his family were four
blocks away from Armando and Arthur and Otto and his family were but three miles away. In the course of time,
Adolph moved about eight miles away and Otto and his family moved twenty-two miles away to the suburb of
Northbrook, Illinois. These physical distances seem to reflect to some degree the social distances of the
families.

Obviously two brothers-two sisters families were quite close though they occasionally had their
differences with regard to the management of the apartment building. They had close relations with Emily and
Charlie because they all attended the same church and school: St. Angela; the two sets of daughters were about

230
“The first pizzelle makers were made of iron, in the Abruzzi region of Italy. Legend goes that some poor
blacksmiths of the region used old railroad nails and pieces of track to forge the irons, called "ferratelle," referring
to the ferrous metal. Because they were used over open fires, they had very long handles to keep the user from
getting burned.” Fante's Kitchen Wares Shop www.fantes.com
 Page 152 of 177

the same age; and the three brothers and sister still maintained contact with their mother, Beatrice. However,
Charlie may have considered himself odd-man-out as he did not attend many of the Paolini social affairs and
Emily often went alone. In such a circumstance, Emily had conflicting loyalties.

Adolph was quiet, and not particularly social. His wife Evelyn more than made up for his silence, but she
was Lutheran. There seemed to be competition between Anna and Josephine versus Evelyn, e.g., when Anna
and Josephine sent their children to private Catholic school (St. Angela), Evelyn sent her children to a private
Lutheran school (Luther North High School).

Otto Paolini perceived a great amount of jealously among the women, and the backbiting made him
uncomfortable; they could out-talk him, and at the same time prevented him from socializing with his brothers
which probably left him frustrated and furious. He therefore did not attend social affairs to a great extent
though he always enjoyed being with his brothers, especially Arthur with whom he like to play golf.

Being rather quiet and shy, my mother did not engage in the competition but being blonde, blue-eyed,
and quite beautiful, she was envied and sometimes the object of catty remarks. As was typical of the times, the
men usually congregated in the living room while the women, engaged in preparing food or washing and
cleaning after the meal, were assembled in the kitchen. My mother often said that she wished she could have
joined the men as their conversations seem to be much more interesting.

Apparently Beatrice was not above the fray. Anna and Josephine felt that Beatrice looked down upon
them – that they were of a lower class. The Dinella were bracciante (laborers) in Italy while Beatrice was piccolo
borghese. Her opinion of the Dinella seem not to have influenced her view of marriage. One day, Armando
appeared at the home of his mother and declared that he could no longer live with his wife Anna. Beatrice
directed her son to return to his wife and work out their difference. The incident reflects on the marriage of
Armando and Anna which, by other accounts, was not harmonious. It also reflects on Beatrice who, not having
the best of marriages as well, held loyalty and fidelity as supreme values.

To illustrate the aggravations and resentments that often arose, my mother described the
disagreeableness of one episode. Family gatherings were often held to celebrate an event such as a child's
baptism, first communion, confirmation, graduation, etc. Such a celebration required that guests bring a gift,
and not just a token but something substantial. Given the number of children multiplied by number of
celebrations multiplied by the cost per gift, plus the expense of the party for one's own child, the cost was rather
substantial for which none of the families could afford.

For one Christmas, it was decided that each family would draw the name of one child for a Christmas
gift. My mother drew Joan Marie, the daughter of Armando and Anna. Emily had access to shop at the Bargain
Room at Montgomery Wards because Charlie's father worked for Wards. Emily suggested a gift: a child's
portable phonograph that normally retailed for $5.00 was selling for a $1.66. They both bought one, and the
next day Emily told Anna of the purchase. Anna harumphed: "Who'd want one of those tinny phonographs. I
wanted a sweater." So my mother went downtown to the Fair store and found a pullover sweater that normally
sold for $2.79 that was on-sale for $1.79. After Christmas, Anna went to the store to exchange the pullover for a
button-down sweater, and thus found out – and not discreet in mentioning it – that my mother had paid only a
$1.79. My mother said that if they really want something in particular, they might as well buy it themselves. She
pledged to herself that she would not participate in any such an arrangement again, but was not put to the test
as none was suggested.

No doubt it was this type of pettiness and crassness that my father could not tolerate and therefore was
reluctant to maintain close relations with his brothers and their spouses.
 Page 153 of 177

Paolini Family at Joan Marie’s Wedding (1955)

 Page 154 of 177

Armando Paolini and Anna Dinella

Josephine Dinella and Arthur Paolini

Isabel Daniels and Otto Paolini

 Page 155 of 177

Chapter 17

The Dissolution of the Del Grande Family

As stated earlier, Don Francesco and his wife Gemma moved to Oak Park, Illinois, a town that bordered
the western boundary of the city of Chicago. It is believed that they initially rented an apartment until they had
their new house built231 at 921 S. Wenonah Avenue. Today, Wenonah is a beautiful, tree-lined street in a
residential neighborhood not far from the east-west lanes of the Eisenhower Expressway.

In the period from about 1915 until 1931, at various times it was the home of Don Francesco and his
wife, Gemma, their eldest son Hugo, their youngest daughter Lily, their second youngest son Albert and his wife
Mary Laframenta, their two daughters, Ethel and Bernice, and their daughter Mary Ines Del Grande and her
husband, Anthony Sirimarco, and their grandaughter, Emily Paolini.

Their second oldest daughter, Gilda, had married Dominic Del Vecchio in Utica, New York, and they had
relocated to Chicago with the Del Grande family. They lived in Chicago for about fifteen years as the 1920 census
shows that they lived at 512 Centre Avenue (now Racine Avenue), but then moved to St. Louis Missouri as shown
by the 1930 census. The Del Vecchios and the Del Grandes maintained contact by post, and they visited each
other as my father tells of taking his mother Beatrice to see her sister in St. Louis.

My father remembers driving around town with their youngest son, [Frank] Paul Del Vecchio, who
greeted many police officers with whom they encountered. He apparently had many scrapes with the law, and it
is recorded in the 1930 census that Paul was in the St. Louis city workhouse as a ‘prisoner.'

The Del Grande also maintained contact with their third

oldest daughter, Angiolina Del Grande who had married Carmino
Alfano. While they had moved to Chicago, probably at the same
time as the Del Grande family, they had returned to Utica where
they raised seven children. Many of the photographs of Del
Grande family members were in the possession of the Alfano
families. In the photograph here, Gemma Castricone [Del
Grande] is with Angeline (Nean) Alfano, the second oldest
daughter of Carmino and Angeline Alfano.

Also mentioned earlier, Lily Del Grande enrolled in St.

Angeline (Nean) Alfano, Jack Dempsey, and
Gemma Castricone Joseph Convent232 where she was ordained June 25, 1918. She
took, or, more accurately, was given, the name of Wilma. Her
biographer writes:

231
Building permit N546 dated November 13, 1914 for 921 S. Wenonah Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois listing
Francesco Del Grande as the owner and Borecca as the contractor for lot 43 & 44, block #1, section 18; on file at
the Buildings Section of the Village Clerk's Office, Oak Park, Illinois.
232
The convent was later called St. Joseph Center and continues as a residence for nuns of the order of
School Sisters of St. Francis. A portion of the building has been converted to apartments for seniors. “School
Sisters of St. Francis to build apartments for seniors: 72 units planned for campus on Greenfield Ave.,” Georgia
Pabst of the Journal Sentinel, December 11, 2011.
 Page 156 of 177

...she then received her a degree from Marquette University as a

licensed medical technician, and from 1918 to 1964, she made the
former St. Jude her work place. Many sisters have memories of having
to go to St. Jude to have Sister Wilma draw their blood. She also taught
chemistry and microbiology to aspiring nurses attending Sacred Heart
School of Nursing.233

In 1964, Sister Wilma took a vacation to Costa Rica and

stayed ten years. She learned how to operate a short-wave radio, and
by this means kept the U.S. community informed of what was happening
in Costa Rica and kept the Costa Rican community alerted to what was
happening in the U.S. community. In 1974 Wilma returned to the United
States, and taught Spanish.

By 1930, the Sirimarco family had moved to the house next door
at 919 S. Wenonah Avenue. The 1920's was the age of jazz and musical
theater, and so Anthony Sirimarco made a good income. The increase in Sister Wilma
the size of the family–the birth of Bobby in 1920 and Angelina in
1922–probably warranted a home of their own.

On January 4, 1931, the Del Grande family lost is matriarch, Gemma Castricone. Nothing is reported as
to the circumstances or cause of death. She died at the age of seventy-four.

Sometime between the early 1930's and the early 1940's, it is reported by Dorothy Mae Del Grande
[Molenhouse] that a dispute arose among the Del Grande siblings. It is believed that the dispute involved Albert,
and that it caused him to move his family from the neighborhood on Wenonah to an apartment at 6909 W.
Roosevelt Road in Oak Park. In the 1940 census, the family is listed at this address, and in the column entitled,
"In What Place Did This Person Live on April 1, 1935," there is the entry "Same Place." If there was a connection
between the dispute and their relocation, it occurred prior to 1935. From Robert and/or Angelina (Ann)
Sirimarco, Carol Jean Sirimarco reports that the dispute was due to the award of the house to Albert and not
Hugo, the oldest son. However, it is strange that Don Francesco would have made this bequest, or even notice
of this bequest, so far in advance of his relocation and later passing. Therefore it is not entirely certain that this
was the cause of the dispute.

By 1940, only Don Francesco and Hugo resided at 921 S. Wenonah, though Hugo is classified as the head
of household. Don Francesco had developed glaucoma, and therefore unable to work; the census records Hugo
was working as a tailor.

My mother, Isabel Daniels [Paolini] reported that Hugo often remarked that, "When the old man (his
father) dies, I am going to do thus and so with the house." Apparently he said this in such an unfeeling way that
it gave the impression that he was looking forward to his father's death. As fate would have it, Hugo died in
1943234, seven years before his father.

233
Sister Ruthelda, “Sister Wilma Del Grande,” School Sisters of St. Francis, undated, received in an E-mail
from Mary Ann Eichenseer, May 2007.

234
He died of rheumatic valvular heart disease according to the certificate of death issued by the
Department of Public Health, State of Illinois, November 3, 1943.
 Page 157 of 177

Perhaps those heartless words got back to Don Francesco, for it is believed that he bequeathed this
house to Albert.235 It is also possible that there was another reason that may have strained relations with his
father and brother: Hugo was a homosexual.236

As was his father, Hugo Del Grande was a tailor, and as one can see from
the accompanying photograph, he dressed quite fashionably, and he is always
well-dressed in all the photographs of him. Whether or not he was miserly is not
certain, but one of the family jokes was that Hugo always carried a $50 bill, and
when members of the family would go out for ice cream or a drink, he would pull
out his $50 bill and offer to pay. Of course, shops at that time couldn't change a
$50 bill, so he would have to apologize and put the money back in his pocket.

The above paragraphs present a rather disparaging portrait of Hugo Del

Grande. It is known that he was a close friend as well as uncle to Arthur Paolini
Sr., and as such attests as to his good character. As described below, he made a
very noble gesture in his passing. Hugo Del Grande

Just prior to has passing, Hugo Del Grande composed his will in which he declared the following:

I, HUGO DELGRANDE, of the City of Chicago, County of Cook and State of Illinois, being of
sound and disposing mind and memory, do hereby make,, publish and declare ,this to be my
Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all former Wills by me at any time made.

FIRST: I direct the payment of all my just debts, expenses of administration and
funeral expenses, as soon as practicable after my decease.

SECOND: I direct my administrator here in after named, to purchase a plot of ground

in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, and to erect a Mosoleum (sic) upon said plot of ground for my burial
in said Mosoleum (sic), and to expend the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), for said
plot of ground and Mosoleum.

THIRD: I give, devise and bequeath to the SACRED HEART SANITARIUM, of

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).

FOURTH: I give, devise and bequeath to my nephew, GEORGE DELGRANDE, JR. , of

Jersey City, New Jersey, the sum of ' One hundred Dollars ($100.00).237

235
In order to determine the transfer of the deed of 921 S. Wenonah, on June 7, 2013, Karen Alfano and I
visited the Recorder of Deeds of Cook County at 50 West Washington Street, Room 1113, Chicago, IL 60622. Staff
persons were able to locate the book in which the transfers for the street/lots, but page 38 was duplicated while
page 36 was missing, and it is believed that page 36 contains the transfers for lot 43. (43 & 44, block #1, section
18).
236
Or so my father, Otto Paolini, believed.
237
George Del Grande, Jr. is the grandson of Angiolo (Angelo) Del Grande, the brother of Don Francesco
Del Grande.
 Page 158 of 177

FIFTH: I give ,devise, and bequeath all the rest, residue and remainder of my
property, whether personal or real, of what nature or kind whatsoever, to the following,
share and share alike:

To my sister, MARY SIRIMARCO;

To my sister, GILDA DEL VICCHIO (sic) of St. Louis Missouri;
To my sister, ANGELINA ALFANO, of Utica, New York;
To my nephew, ARTHUR PAOLINI;
To my nephew, ADOLPH PAOLINI;
To my nephew, ARMANDO PAOLINI.

SIXTH: I nominate and appoint my nephew, ARTHUR PAOLINI, of Chicago, Illinois, to

be the executor of this, my Last Will and Testament, and request that he shall not be required
to give any bond to act as such executor.

This, my Last Will and Testament, consists of two (2) typewritten pages, this page
included, both of which bear my signature on the margins thereof. Dated at Chicago, Illinois,
this 2 day of January, A. D. 1943.238

Carol Jean Paolini also reports that Beatrice Del Grande [Paolini] was required to identify the corpses of
those who were to be entombed, presumably Gemma and Donato, and that this was especially distressful for
her.

Again we have no dates or exact chronology of events, but it is believed that the Del Grande home was
sold, and the Albert Del Grande family returned to the neighborhood, residing across the street at 920 S.
Wenonah. Hugo then moved in with his sister Ines and brother-in-law Antony Sirimarco next door at 919 S.
Wenonah.

My mother reports visiting the Del Grande house in the early 1940s and seeing Don Francesco in his bed.
He was frail and possibly blind by this time. Sister Wilma told her Mother Superior that she had to leave and care
for her father. Not able to spare her, Mother Superior told Sister Wilma to bring her father to live at the Sacred
Heart Sanitarium, which was located adjacent to the St. Joseph Convent. Thus Don Francesco lived in the
sanitarium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin until he passed away.

Perhaps Sister Wilma understated her father's financial position. When Don Francesco died in 1950, he
left money to her. Having taken a vow of poverty, she turned the money over to the Franciscan order.
Apparently the Mother Superior was chagrined by the amount received as she had discounted the charge for the
care of Don Francesco.

Francesco Paolo Del Grande died on December 4, 1950.239

238
The petition to the court by the executor, Arthur Paolini, was submitted on April 13, 1944. According
to the records of Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hugo was not entombed until March 30, 1945, and so it may be that
the mausoleum was not completed until that time.
239
As of this writing (June 17, 2013), no will has been located.
 Page 159 of 177

The concluding paragraphs of the biography of Italia Del Grande, a.k.a. Lillian, Lily, and Sister Wilma,
provide a fitting eulogy:

Wilma was a simple person who lived simply but was always ready for a good time.
While she mingled well with the students at St. Clare who came from more affluent families,
she was very much at home with boys and girls who came from the poor to the very poor
families. True, she was sometimes gruff in her ways, even offensive, but while she would not
go overboard in begging pardon for any offense she may have given, still her actions proved
what her heart was saying.

On Holy Thursday [April 16, 1987] God looked down on Wilma's littleness and loved
her and took her to Himself.240

In about 1943, the first of the three Albert Del Grande daughters, Bernice, moved to California, having
vacationed in the state and liking the weather compared to the cold and wind of Chicago. Ethel and Dorothy
Mae followed, and their father and mother eventually moved there as well in 1953. Carlo Alberto Del Grande
died in 1973 in North Hollywood, California as did his wife, Mary Laframenta in 1988.

The Sirimarco family remained in Oak Park, and Antonio passed away in 1960 at the age of seventy-three
and Maria Ines Del Grande [Sirimarco] died in 1971. Both are buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside,
Illinois. Their son Robert joined the army during the Second World War and was stationed in Colorado for a
time. Liking the area, he relocated there permanently after the war. His sister, Angelina (Ann) joined the Navy
during the war and married a sailor man, and moved often as his orders dictated. Today she lives in Gulf Shores,
Alabama.

The ending tale of the Del Vecchio family is indeed a sad one. The only information we have comes from
Carol Jean Sirimarco who probably heard reports from her father Robert who had heard reports from his father
Antonio Sirimarco.

Dad [Robert Sirimarco] told me that Domenico (Dad always referred to him as
Dominick) was an alcoholic and mean to Gilda and the children. When his daughter Nancy was
young, she went up to him when he came home and he pushed her away. She fell down some
stairs and injured her leg very badly. She walked with a limp for the rest of her life. When she
married, her husband cruelly referred to her as "the cripple". Although Gilda was unhappy in
her marriage, she would not leave him.

Aunt Ann [Angelina Sirimarco] told me of when Gilda came to Chicago for a State Fair
of some sort. Grandpa Sirimarco drove them there. Gilda had been treated for cancer of the
uterus, but was supposedly in remission. When they went to the ladies room and Gilda came
out, there was blood all over her dress. Aunt Ann went to call Grandpa to pick them up. Gilda
returned to St. Louis and passed away shortly thereafter.

After her death, Domenico would not let his daughters touch anything that had
belonged to Gilda. She passed away in Aug. 1944, Domenico in April, 1945.

240
Sister Ruthelda, biography of Sister Wilma Del Grande.
 Page 160 of 177

Beatrice Del Grande [Paolini]

When Otto married in 1939, the Zickgraffs and Beatrice moved to 1710 N. Central Avenue in Chicago. It
was to be her home for the rest of her life.

Their daughter Carla Zickgraff was born in 1937 and Linda Zickgraff was born in 1940. As a live-in nanny,
Beatrice helped raise these two girls. She even accompanied them to their local church, St. Angela. Beatrice had
not attended church since the death of Alfredo when the Church officials had initially ruled that Alfredo could
not be buried in consecrated ground for having taken his own life. Even though the Church had overturned its
initial ruling, the fight to have the decision reversed must have left Beatrice feeling somewhat bitter and
disillusioned with the Church. She must have taken delight in her many other grandchildren: Joan Marie,
Elaine, Cheryl, Candace, Arthur, Carol Jean, and Armand Roderick.

It is not known when Beatrice retired, but she turned sixty-six in 1945 and would have been able to retire
from employment and collect social security and possibly a pension. She certainly retired before 1952 for in that
year she took a trip. Accompanied by her sons Armando and Arthur, the three of them traveled to New York
City. Apparently her sons argued with one another constantly, much to her annoyance. During the trip, she
concluded: "I can do this by myself," meaning that she could travel alone. The following year, she traveled to
Utica, New York in order to visit her sister, Angeline Del Grande [Alfano]. It is likely that they had not seen each
other for many years. Not bothering to write, she simply arrived at the Alfano’s door unannounced: Angeline
opened the door and exclaimed, "Beatrice!" She had recognized her sister immediately.

Her nephew Hugo Del Grande died in 1943, and

unexpectedly, he willed her some money. With this
inheritance, she was able to afford a trip to Europe, primarily
Italy of course, in order to return to her ancestral home. Based
upon the post cards that she sent to my family, she traveled to
Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Milan and Venezia as well as Naples and
Popoli. In Rome, she reported that she was in St. Peter’s
Square and received the blessing of the Pope [Pius XII]. She
sailed on the Andrea Doria, the beautiful but ill-fated ship that
was rammed broadside by the Swedish ship Stockholm near
Nantucket three years later on July 25, 1956.
Andrea Doria
In telling people of her trip, some of her audience would make a comparison to the United States or
Chicago. Beatrice would always insist, "I think Chicago best." Only she could appreciate the many attractions,
cultural events, and availability to average people that America affords: its art galleries, museums, concert halls
and the means of getting to them via public transit. She appreciated the many modern conveniences that are
sometimes take for granted or derided as ‘commercialism' or ‘materialism.' During a family gathering at our
home in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, my father was going to cook meat on the barbeque grill in the
backyard. Beatrice wondered why anyone would use a cumbersome and sooty implement when one could use
a clean and easy to use oven in the kitchen. When living in Italy, she had to build and maintain a fire as the same
time as preparing the food, an onerous and time-consuming task that had no quaint nor culinary appeal.
 Page 161 of 177

Beatrice often attended performances of the symphony and the opera. My mother reported:

I went to quite a few concerts with Beatrice at Grant Park and at the 8th Street
Theater where WGN sponsored concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, so I saw how
she interacted with her friends and how much they liked and respected her.

My mother and father accompanied her to an opera [Faust] one evening at the Civic Opera House. She
had friends from the clothing factory who also worked as ushers at the opera house. She would buy a ticket for
an inexpensive seat, and then one of her friends would move her in a much better location, often after the first
act. On the occasion with my parents, she complained to her colleague, "If you can't get me better seats than
these, I'll have to see [another usher friend]."

Civic Opera House

www.sillyamerica.com

Civic Opera House Auditorium

Even in her later years, she continued to attend the opera even though her family didn't think that she
should go alone. Her daughter Emily, with whom she was living, tried to persuade to stay home. Beatrice
retorted, "What better place to die than at the opera." In the end, her son Arthur accompanied her.

My mother tells of this incident of which I vaguely

remember; I was probably about six:

When you were very small, I took you to

one concert in Grant Park. I took you down to
the section where Beatrice and her friends sat.
Her friends immediately said, "There are no
seats here." Beatrice took my arm and said,
"There is a seat here for you–they just said that
because they saw the child and thought he
would be noisy." Of course you were enthralled
by the orchestra and when they played Brahms' James C. Petrillo band shell in Grant Park
"Academic Festival Overture," you stood up and circa 1950
imitated the orchestra leader, keeping perfect www.grantparkmusicfestival.com
tempo. They were so impressed and delighted
by this, and of course Beatrice was proud as
could be, as was I.
 Page 162 of 177

About 1968, I took my grandmother to the concert at Grant park one evening. The concert started at
8:00pm, but we arrived about 6:00pm in order to get seats on the front row benches as these concerts were
free, and there was no reserve seating. As there had been twenty-two years prior, a group of about fifteen to
twenty aficionados of classical music and the symphony orchestra were already in place, many of them
munching on light fare and sipping wine. Greeting her by her nickname, “Bice” they invited us to sit down and
converse as we waited for the performance. It was a beautiful evening, and I could tell that my grandmother
was in her element.

In January 1969, Beatrice was admitted to the hospital. I visited her a few times, but I hardly knew what
to say or ask – another opportunity lost. “I die!” she said. It was as though she had hit me in the forehead.
Again, I didn’t know what to say, and so I said nothing. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to ask her what she
thought of her life. I wanted to ask her if she was prepared. But I just stared at her.

The day after I last saw her, I received a telephone call early the next morning from my cousin Carol Jean
Paolini: “Grandma died.”

There was the usual funeral at John A. Rago & Sons on Western Avenue in Chicago. Before this funeral,
those that I attended were always for people I hardly knew; so they were more like social occasions. This one
felt as though I had lost something – that something had slipped through my fingers. I couldn’t say much
because I couldn’t feel anything. I was bewildered.

I may be mistaken, but it seems that these days there is a service for the deceased in which everyone has
an opportunity to offer a eulogy – a remembrance of that person and an expression of appreciation for what
they did and for who they were. I don’t remember a eulogy for my grandmother. This storia is the best I can do.

Maria Beatrice Del Grande [Paolini]

Page 163 of 177
 Page 164 of 177

Paolini Gravestone
in
Mount Carmel Cemetery

Baby Zickgraff and Donato Paolini are also buried at the grave site as
represented by the two urns.

Angiola Paolini, mother of Alfredo Paolini, is also buried in Mount Carmel

Cemetery but not at this site. As of this writing, her gravestone has not be
found.
 Page 165 of 177

Mausoleum in Mount Carmel Cemetery

There are three vaults in the mausoleum. Entombed are Gemma

Castricone [Del Grande], Ungaro [Hugo] Tarquinio Del Grande, together,
Francesco Paolo Del Grande, and Donato Del Grande.
 Page 166 of 177

Epilogue

After completing the research on my Italian ancestors – reading the history of Italian immigrants, hearing
the stories of my grandmother, aunts and uncles, and reflecting on their lives – I wish that I had more involvement
in my extended family. My father often said that he had the most wonderful childhood imaginable, and that he and
his brothers always got along together. The four Paolini families and the Zickgraff’s lived within walking distance of
each other! Why had we not resided in the Italian neighborhood of Austin as our relatives did?

Certainly the break with the Zickgraffs reduced our contact with the family. We did not attend events at the
Zickgraff house and probably avoided those at which Charlie was likely to attend.

A second factor was my father’s dislike of the rivalry among the spouses of his brothers such as whose
children were smarter, whether or not they were going to a private school, who had a new car, etc. This rivalry was
due, in part, to the times. After the Depression and the Second World War, pent up consumption ran rampant; and
these working class Italians who had struggle before and during those periods were now ready, willing and able to
join the middle class.

While never said directly, there was no doubt that we and they had a different view of religion in general,
and the Roman Catholic Church in particular. Religion was a part of their life: in addition to attending church, all
their children attended private, religious school: the Catholic Paolini’s and Zickgraffs to St. Angela while the
Lutherans went to Luther North High School, a private Lutheran school. The Catholic children: Joan Marie, Carla,
Linda and Carol were all married in St. Angela Church. They were devout believers while we thought they were
superstitious; they would all be save, but for us Paolini’s with no religion, we were going to hell.

The last and probably the most significant reason for our residence away from the Italian neighborhood was
the influence of my father’s high school fraternity brothers. They were WASPS: Jack Trumbull, Don Westergreen,
Jack Freeman, Charlie Ham, Gene Hyer, etc. My father attended high school in the mid-1920's, a time when there
was still residual prejudice toward Italian immigrants, and then heightened by the connection with America’s most
notorious mobster, the Italo-American Alphonse "Al" Gabriel Capone. Yet his fraternity brothers accepted my
father as a brother. After graduation from Austin High School, they married and moved to the suburbs; my father
followed suit.

After my father and mother married, they lived at 4855 W. George Street, just north of the Austin area. We
lived briefly–less than a year--in Glen Ellen, and then returned to Chicago in a Polish neighborhood in a community
[now] called Avondale. After about five years there, we moved to the suburb of Northbrook in 1951. Northbrook
had a different style than Austin.

One of my cousins said: “We were blue-collar workers and your Dad was white collar.” It’s true that my
father wore a white collar, but he worked on Pitney-Bowes business machines as a service technician–hardly a
white-collar job. We did live in a beautiful neighborhood with large homes occupied by families whose heads of
household were executives and lawyers. And so did we, but probably what wasn’t readily apparent is that my
father and mother built most of that house, and that’s no figure of speech.
 Page 167 of 177

The builder went bankrupt at the stage in which the kitchen was operable, the stairs to the second floor and
basement were installed, and there was rough flooring for the second floor. We moved in, and I remember sleeping
on a bed that was sitting on top of drywall sheets. My father installed the insulation, drywall, molding, hardwood
flooring, doors, upstairs plumbing, and bathroom tile. My mother painted the rooms and molding. The dirt from
the foundation was piled about ten feet high in the backyard, and my father, together with a guy with a tractor and
a scoop, distributed the dirt over the entire lot. The equity in the house was not from a large down payment but
from sweat!

I felt – to a very limited extent – that we were imposters, especially when I attended Glenbrook [North] High
School where I met the kids from Glenview who were even richer than the kids from Northbrook. Still, I think we
carried it off quite well. My mother and father both seemed quite comfortable with this class and their life styles.

In 1994, there was a reunion with some of my cousins, and Elaine commented that we were viewed as
‘country cousins’. In contrast, when we visited at Armando’s and Arthur’s six-flat on Hirsch Street, I always thought
of them as ‘landlords’ who owned income-producing property.

There was a marked contrast in the social occasions between those in Northbrook and those at the Paolini
gatherings. The social gatherings in Northbrook were quiet affairs. One person talked; the others listened. Voices
were hardly ever raised except for an occasional laugh. Everyone sat to form one group – men and women
together. Of course, most of the time I was alone with just my parents.

In contrast, the Paolini gatherings were like a three-ring circus, and I wanted to watch all three rings: play
with my cousins; listen to the men in the living room; listen and watch the women preparing food in the kitchen.
There were multiple conversations, and everyone had an opinion. I often thought that the men were arguing based
upon the tone of their voice; but when I actually listened to the words, they weren’t; it was just how the talked. I
found that very confusing. The women were not much different. Once I was sitting at the dinning room table as we
were preparing to eat, and I heard aunt Josie (Josephine) screeching in the kitchen. I became alarmed: was a violent
argument about to ensue and ruin the occasion? Usually she was yelling at her son Art jr., but no: she calmly
walked into the dinning room continuing her summons for everyone to come to the table.

Aunt Evelyn was similar in that when she talked or argued, it was difficult for me to tell which. Her eyes
would narrow, and her voice would grate like fingernails on a blackboard. These women were such a contrast to my
own mother who I have never heard raise her voice to this day!

Often these conversations were carried on while eating buffet style as there were too many people to sit
around a table. And so the conversation ranged across the room with responses coming from every direction.

I loved the fact that there were so many other kids to play with, primarily Linda and Carol. I watched and
listened to Art jr. who was my idol, and who I thought was the coolest ‘dude’ to coin a current cliché.

I wonder what my life would have been like had we lived in this Italian milieu in the same way I wonder
what my life would have been like had we lived in my mother’s small home town of Harmony, Minnesota, or the
town of Popoli in the Abruzzo, or a Greek city on the Aegean coast of Anatolia – all marvelous possibilities that I can
only imagine.
 Page 168 of 177

Appendix A

Manifest of the ship SS Moltke

The Manifest

A ship's manifest was a list of the passengers on the ship for a particular voyage. Not consistent over time,
it was a form prepared by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, and it contained some of the following
information:

• ship name and date of entry to the United States

• name of passenger
• age, height, eye and hair color
• sex
• marital status
• occupation
• whether able to read and write [but not what language]
• one's nationality, place of birth
• last place of last residence
• seaport for landing in the United States
• final destination
• relationship to accompanied passenger(s)
• name and address of relatives they are joining in the U.S.
• amount of money they are carrying, etc.
• Ever in prison or almshouse or supported by charity; if yes, which
• Whether a polygamist
• Whether under contract, express or implied to labor in the United States
• physical condition, i.e., mental, physical, deformed, cripple (this information was certified by a doctor).

The top of the manifest form of the SS Moltke states: "Saloon, Cabin and Steerage Aliens must be Completely
Manifested. This Sheet is for Steerage passengers."

This information was recorded by ship personnel. It is quite likely that the accuracy depended upon the
language by which the ship's personnel communicated with the immigrant. A ship under an Italian flag, such as the
Regina d'Italia by which the Del Grande family immigrated in 1898, probably had an Italian speaking crew while a
ship under a German flag, such as the SS Moltke by which the Paolini family immigrated in 1906, probably had a
German speaking crew.

It is widely believed that the names of immigrants were changed by American immigration officials, but, as
far as I have been able to determined, immigration officials at Ellis Island did not issue any document. The only
record used was that of the manifest, and so this was the source of unintended name changes. Many immigrants
changed their name of their own accord.
 Page 169 of 177

Naturalization

I find it quite surprising that this rather sloven and group record became an ‘official’ document that was
later used in the process of a person’s naturalization. In 1926, the occupation column was set aside for annotations
relating to the verification of immigration records for naturalization purposes. Since 1906, no immigrant who
arrived after June 29, 1906,241 could be naturalized until the government located their immigration record. Thus
since 1906, after an immigrant filed a Declaration of Intention or a Petition for Naturalization in a naturalization
court, the Bureau of Naturalization was called upon to provide certification of the immigrant's arrival record. The
certification, called a "Certificate of Arrival," was sent to the courthouse to satisfy the naturalization requirement.

From 1906 to 1926 this activity took place without any notation made on the passenger list. Beginning in
1926, clerks began to record the verification (record check) and certification activity on each passenger list record.
This change came about in response to a terrible scandal about a number of fraudulent naturalizations. By noting
that a given immigration record had been used to support an individual naturalization, the annotation served in
future to prevent anyone else from using that record for another naturalization. While the annotations may be
found on any passenger list, before or after 1926, they will all relate to naturalization activity occurring in 1926 or
later. Also, the passenger lists were microfilmed in 1942/43, so records of immigrants who arrived earlier but did
not begin the naturalization process until after 1942 could not be annotated. All the verification for naturalization
annotations follow a prescribed format containing one or more of the following elements: District number where
the application was filed, application number, form number, and date of verification.

Beatrice Paolini did not apply for naturalized citizenship until 1935, and did so probably in response to the
passage of the Social Security act in 1935 with FICA withholding starting in 1937. Notice in the occupation column
there is the written notation 11-87889-505-1-7-35 which means that she petitioned in the 11th district (Chicago),
her case number (87889), the document/form issued (505), and the date of verification (1-7-1935).

It is also noted that there is a hand-written letters ‘SI' next to each of the adults–Alfredo, Beatrice and
Gemma–and the word ‘ADMITTED' stamped on the manifest line numbers. The ‘SI' stands for ‘special inquiry' and
that they had to undergo further investigation. On a subsequent page of the manifest entitled, ‘Record of Aliens
Held for Special Inquiry,' only Alfredo's name is listed. The reason for the inquiry is recorded as ‘LPC' which stands
for "Likely Public Charge." My guess is that he exhibited signs of his stroke. He was examined by an inspector
named English and that he received a ‘Dr. Cert.' Obviously he was deemed not to become a public charge due to
the support that could be provided by his wife and her family.

Angiola was not listed as having been selected for ‘special inquiry' but a note on her listing states: ‘senile
debility and double cataracts.'

The date of the ‘Special Inquiry' is recorded as ‘6/5' or June 5; the record of meals shows 21 breakfasts, 28
lunches, and 21 dinners for seven people. This data raises the question as to how long they stayed at Ellis Island.

241
The date of the Naturalization Act of 1906. It was repealed and replaced by the Nationality
Act of 1940. It was modified by the Immigration Act of 1990. The legislation established the federal
government as the arbiter of naturalization policy. It created the Bureau of Immigration and
Naturalization, which provided for the first uniform naturalization laws in the country. Prior to 1906, an
alien could be naturalized in any U.S. "court of record." State-level naturalization courts managed
proceedings and had varying standards across the country. After September 26, 1906, naturalization
could only be done in courts having a seal and a clerk, and exerting universal competence.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1906
 Page 170 of 177

The SS Moltke arrived on June 1st and the special inquiry as on June 5th; thus they had to have been there at least
five days. If the story of missing the boat due to Arthur being lost, perhaps it was six days. My guess is that the
number of meals was only while they were in special inquiry. They may have been in special inquiry only four days
and three nights based upon the meal record. So where were they the remainder of the time? It is possible that
they had to wait for processing on board the SS Moltke; my friend Norma explains:

there were many, many Special Inquiries and I'm sure they were so far behind that many of them
had to remain on board the ship until there was room for them elsewhere. What a frightening
experience for them.

While the immigrant was held, someone (usually someone from an Immigrant Aid Society) at Ellis Island
would send a telegram to relatives here in the USA and the relatives would send a letter or telegram back to let the
authorities know that they would be responsible and would care for the family being held. The authorities then
released the immigrant.

Last, it is interesting that the category of nationality for the family is not Italian but ‘Southern Italian.’
 Page 171 of 177

Appendix B

Italy’s Commissariat of Emigration

On 31 January 1901 the Commissariat of Emigration was created, granting licenses to carriers, enforcing fixed ticket
costs, keeping order at ports of embarkation, providing health inspection for those leaving, setting up hostels and
care facilities and arranging agreements with receiving countries to help care for those arriving. The Commissariat
tried to take care of emigrants before they left and after they arrived. This included dealing with the labor laws in
the US that discriminated against alien workers (the US alien contract labor law of 1885) and even suspending, for a
while, emigration to Brazil, where many migrants had wound up as virtual slaves on large coffee plantations.

The Commissariat also helped to set up remittances sent by emigrants from the United States back to their
motherland, which turned into a constant flow of money amounting, by some accounts, to about 5% of the Italian
national product. In 1903, the Commissariat also set the available ports of embarkation as Palermo, Naples and
Genoa, excluding the port of Venice which had previously also been used.

Italian diaspora, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_diaspora#Emigration.2C_1870-1914

Having become a major social and economic phenomenon, and admittedly a very significant one, Italian emigration
received special bureaucratic recognition in the law of January 31, 1901; this measure created the Commissariat of
Emigration, a technical organ under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to unify migration services hitherto dispersed
among various ministries. The law of 1901 and subsequent legislation empowered the Commissariat to grant
licenses to carriers, fix cost of tickets, maintain order in ports of embarkation, establish and manage hostels for
emigrants, provide information, suspend emigration, inspect emigrants on departure, grant permits to recruit
workers for European countries (emigration agencies having been abolished by the law of 1901), ensure protection
of emigrants on board ships through the medium of traveling commissioners, prepare international agreements on
emigration and labor, and give aid and protection to emigrants in foreign countries. Carriers were required to lodge
emigrants in case of delay in departure, to meet safety and hygienic standards for transporting both expatriates and
repatriates, and to restore transportation costs to migrants rejected by immigration authorities provided it could be
proved that the legal requirements were known to the undertaking before departure.

Cometti, Elizabeth, “Trends in Italian Emigration,” The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 11, Issue 4, December 1958,
pp. 820-834.
 Page 172 of 177

Appendix C

Ethnic Territories of the Near West Side

The Jews lived almost entirely below Taylor Street and, in later years, to the south of Roosevelt Road. The
Greeks settled around Harrison, Blue Island and Halsted on the northeast fringe of the area and remained there
until the 1940's when the construction of the Congress Expressway more or less destroyed their community except
for a few night clubs and coffee shops. The French Canadians were located mostly around Flournoy and Loomis
where their church (Our Lady of Provins) still stands. The Poles, Bohemians, and Germans seem to have been more
dispersed. Italians filled up the open spots and gradually moved in until they almost entirely occupied the area
between Roosevelt and Harrison, Ashland and Halsted. Then, between 1930 and 1960, the situation changed to
what it is today (see map 2). This account of ethnic movements has been garnered from Jane Addams, Twenty
Years at Hull House (New York: New American Library, 1961); E.W. Burgess, Urban Areas of Chicago, ed. T.V. Smith
and L.D. White (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929); Frank Carney “Experimental Area III-X (Addams),”
Unpublished Report (Chicago Youth Development Project, 1961); Louis Wirth, The Ghetto (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1956); Wlefare Council of Metropolitan Chicago, Community Area 28–The Near West Side (1953).

Suttles, Gérald D., The Social Order of the Slum: Ethnicity and Territory in the Inner City, The University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, 1968, p. 17, footnote 4.

Halsted Street has grown so familiar during twenty years of residence, that it is difficult to recall its gradual
changes, - the withdrawal of the more prosperous Irish and Germans, and the slow substitution of Russian
Jews, Italians, and Greeks.242

242
Addams, Jane, Twenty Years at Hull house, 1910, p. 97.
 Page 173 of 177

Appendix D

Arrigo Park

Arrigo Park, known as Vernon Park for much of its history, dates to 1857, when real estate developer Henry D.
Gilpin donated the property to the City of Chicago. The city soon created a shaded "breathing spot" with an
artificial lake and a few benches. In 1871, the modest residences surrounding Vernon Park fell to the flames of the
Chicago Fire. Commercial institutions and transient rooming houses took their place. The park, too, deteriorated
into a boggy mess as surrounding streets and structures were raised up to improve sewage removal and prevent
flooding.

When the city transferred Vernon Park to the West Park Commission in 1885, rehabilitation began immediately. To
alleviate the drainage problem, the commission filled the artificial lake and raised the ground level of the entire site
with additional fill. In 1893, the commission undertook extensive landscape improvements and electrified the park.
The park was expanded to its present 6.14 acres the following year.
Arrigo Park
The West Park Commission transferred Vernon Park to the newly-created Chicago
801 S. Loomis St.
Park District in 1934. Forty years later, the greenspace was officially renamed Arrigo
Chicago, IL 60607
Park in honor of Victor Arrigo (1908-1973). A vocal advocate for the
Phone: 312.746.5369
Italian-American community, Arrigo served as Illinois State Representative for
Chicago’s near southwest side from 1966 to 1973. Arrigo was instrumental in
bringing sculptor Moses Ezekiel’s statue of Christopher Columbus to the park in 1966. First exhibited in the Italian
pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the bronze figure later graced a second-story alcove on State
Street’s Columbus Memorial Building. After the building came down in 1959, the statue went into storage. Arrigo
argued that Columbus should find a new home in the city’s oldest continuously Italian-American neighborhood,
which was then experiencing wrenching transformation due to the construction of the University of Illinois’ Circle
Campus.

Chicago Park District:

http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.detail/object_id/8521FAD9-86B7-4B62-AC57-A80
07EA1AD51.cfm

Long Lost Streets

The area surrounding Vernon Park on the Near West Side which includes two of the lost street names on
this page, Gilpin and Forquer. Henry Gilpin was an English realtor who subdivided the block south of
Vernon Park. This can be seen on the map in italics, H.D. Gilpin, Sub. of Block 12. Gilpin named one of
these streets after himself, and one after his hometown of Arthington. The Macalaster fellow who
subdivided the area north of Vernon Park was no less egotistical.243

243
Chrucky, Serhill, Forgotten Chicago: Long Lost Loop Lanes, Last updated July 1st, 2009.
https://forgottenchicago.com/articles/long-lost-loop-lanes/ [PDF in my possession]
 Page 174 of 177

Appendix E

Italian Funeral Customs

Religious Customs

Catholic: Catholic funerals vary according to individual, family and church. Typically, the second or third day after a
loved one passes away, the family will hold a "wake" or "calling hours," usually held at a funeral home. Immediately
following the wake or on the third or fourth day, the funeral is held. The funeral service may stand alone, or be part
of a bigger ceremony known as a mass. It is important to explain the difference between the two basic masses. If
the body is present the mass is called a Mass of Christian Burial. If the body is not present or if the cremains are
present, the term used is a Memorial Mass. During mass, the priest reads from Scripture, leads prayers and
administers Holy Communion. A funeral reception may also be held after the services, where food and/or drink are
often served, depending on the deceased’s family’s wishes.

Cultural Traditions

Italian: In the Italian-American family, death is a great social loss and brings an immediate response from the
community. It means sending food and flowers, giving money, and congregating at the home of the deceased. The
funeral remains very much a family and community event. Within the context of fatalism in Catholicism, it is
explained that the death was inevitable, and many Italian-Americans view death as "God’s will." More traditional
families hold anniversary masses for the deceased and wear black for months or years. This is not as common
among younger generations. Emotional outpourings can be profuse and the activities around a funeral provide
distinct examples of the Italian-American way of ritualizing life events. Family members may moan and scream for
the deceased throughout the church. Screaming is an effort to ensure that Jesus, Mary, and the saints hear what
the bereaved are thinking and feeling. Family members get up constantly to touch and talk to the deceased loved
one. Then, the priest intones the farewell: "May the angels take you into paradise, may the martyrs welcome you
on your way." While men mourn, they do so in the fashion of "pazienza" - patience. Their constant, silent, and
expressionless presence may be their only act of public mourning. The real time of sorrow comes at the end of the
ceremony when the priest and non-family congregants say good-bye to the deceased. At this time, the family is on
their own for a time with their loved one.

Stapleton Holdrege Funeral Services, http://www.cranstonfuneral.com/cultural.htm

 Page 175 of 177

Appendix F

St. Mary Training School for Boys

Our History

Originally called St. Mary Training School for Boys, Maryville Academy was established in 1883 on 880 acres north of
Des Plaines, Illinois. The first Archbishop of Chicago, Patrick Feehan, created the school as a home for boys - mostly
orphaned and roaming the streets of Chicago. The idea was to give these youth an education and the opportunity
to learn a trade that would serve them later in life.

As times changed, so did St. Mary’s. The orphanage became co-educational in 1911 and eventually included a grade
school and a four year high school, both of which operated through the late sixties. Through epidemics, world wars
and economically difficult times, Maryville Academy was always there for children in need.

In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, under the direction of Rev. John P. Smyth, Maryville Academy became home to hundreds
of children who were wards of the State of Illinois. With the influx of so many children, Father Smyth introduced
the Family Teaching Model at Maryville Academy, replacing old dorms with modern residential cottages where the
children participated in the running and management of their own homes. They took part in chores, menu planning,
grocery shopping, and budgeting under the supervision of a "live in" married couple supported by a staff of social
workers, consultants and counselors.

Today, under the leadership of Sister Catherine M. Ryan, O.S.F, Maryville’s Executive Director, our focus is still on
children, as well as the preservation of the family. Maryville Academy’s innovative programs that incorporate family
support include: the Maryville Crisis Nursery and the Maryville Children’s Healthcare Center in Chicago; the
Maryville MISA Program for adolescents with mental illness and substance use disorder in Des Plaines; along with
other programs for young people with intellectual challenges; parenting teens and their children; and the Scott
Nolan Acute Psychiatric Hospital for children, adolescents and young adults located in Des Plaines.

2010 marks Maryville Academy’s 127th year in the service of children and their families.

© 2010 Maryville Academy 1150 N River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016 847.294.1999
http://www.maryvilleacademy.org/subpages.asp?id=16&parentid=29
 Page 176 of 177

Appendix G

Observations and Opinions of Italy and Italians

The domestic architecture of Naples, the narrow, dingy streets, the high, confined and badly constructed houses
with balconies in front of every window and flat roofs are far from attractive. The never ceasing noise, the
interminable rattling of wheels at all hours of the day and night, the cracking of whips, braying of donkeys and shrill
shouting of hawkers render Naples extremely distasteful,...

Baedekker, Karl, Italy: Handbook for Travellers: Part Third: Southern Italy, Sicily, The Lipari Islands, Williams &
Norgate, London, 1867, p. 40.

The national characteristic is still, as it ever has been, love of the pleasure of the moment. The Neapolitans are at
once the most joyous and the most careless, the most indolent and the most squalid of the human race. Nothing
appears capable of permanently depressing them buoyancy of their spirits. If they ever indulge in melancholy, its
duration is exceedingly brief. At the present day not a trace is to be observed of the political tempest which so long
hovered over their city. [p. 43]

Lois R says:
"Can you believe that a statue was moved around as history demanded another site to suit the whims of the leaders
of the day. The Neptune Statue in Naples’ via Medina has stood tall and grand, in several sites around the city, since
it was first built in the 1500s to a Giovanni da Nola design. It’s been repaired, added on to and shifted to avoid
enemy fire from Naples harbour and to protect it during major uprisings. Nowadays you can sit in the cafes on the
nearby Piazza Municipio or use seating in the pedestrian area around the huge, impressive grey statue with a figure
of Neptune proudly standing at the top. Photographers will be pleased to capture this for their travel albums. We
didn’t see it as we rushed past it on our way into town on account of our concentrating on the dreadful, hazardous
traffic chaos which is daily motoring in Naples city centre. After seeing some of the sights on a quick walk -
memorable architectural, historic buildings - we were on our return to the cruise ship when we spied it, truly
beautiful so out came the camera. This really is a wonderful fountain as it has several well presented statues so
there’s plenty to see and appreciate, near the port in Naples."

Popoli (Posta, noisy; Café in the Piazza) is a small town with considerable traffic arising from its situation at the
junction of the roads from Pescara, Aquila [R. 14], Avezzano [R.1] and Solmona (see p. 192). A short distance above
the town the Girio and Atterno unite and form the Pescara; the former, coming from the S., flows through the
beautiful valley of Solmona. The town is commanded by the ruined castle of the Cantelmi, who were once masters
of the place.

[499] Hare, Augustus J.C., Cities of Southern Italy, E.P. Dutton and Company, New York, 1911, p. 146.

Popoli (population 8000) (Locanda dell Societá; Posta). In the dirty and miserable town (820 ft.) is the
fifteenth-century palace bearing the arms of the Cantelmi, once Dukes of Popoli, and the hill above is crowned by
the ruins of a baronial castle, inhabited by them at an earlier period. Near the town are the remains of a Cantelmi
villa, which had lovely gardens and views. No great distance from Popoli, near the river Aterno, is the village of
Pentima, where one must ask for the keys of the interesting Church of S. Pelino, once a cathedral, built from the
neighbouring ruins of Corfinium, in the time of Frederick II., by Oderisius, Bishop of Valva, a mediaeval city which
succeeded Corfinium.
 Page 177 of 177

Appendix H

Descendants of Francesco Paolo Del Grande