Week 43:
The theme for Week 43 is “Urban.” What ancestors lived in town? Any memorable trips to the big city? How about an ancestor named Urban? This is their week.
Bernardino James Napoleone
Born:11 May 1904 Assergi, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy
Died: 31 Oct 1968 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA
great-granduncle
On May 31, 1916, Bernardino James Napoleone arrived in New York via the ship Giuseppe Verdi.
The Giuseppe Verdi was a historical passenger steamship that sailed between Italy and New York from 1914 to 1943. It was built in 1914 by Societa Esercizio Bacini in Riva Trigoso, Italy. It sailed the Transatlantica Italiana Line, primarily on the Italy-New York route. The ship was 9,757 gross tons and could carry 2,185 passengers.
The Giuseppe Verdi was sold to the Japanes and later renamed the Yamato Maru before being sunk during WWII.
After arriving in New York, Bernardino settled in the Pittsburgh area. Many Italians immigrated to Pittsburgh due to economic opportunities in the city's booming coal and steel industries, particularly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The "pull" of well-paying (though often dangerous) jobs in mines and mills, combined with "push" factors like poverty and lack of opportunity in southern Italy, encouraged a wave of immigration. Chain migration also played a significant role, as earlier immigrants encouraged family and friends to join them in Pittsburgh.
Bernardino was a part of the chain migration. Family lore says that Bernardino's mother, Gelsomina Giannangeli Napoleone,
had ambitions for her husband and children beyond Italy and sent them to America over a number of years. Bernardino's father, Franceso Napoleone arrived in New York in December 1908 and had established residency in Pittsburgh by 1912, years before Bernardino immigrated.
Pittsburgh in 1902. Lithograph by Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler.
Once in Pittsburgh, Bernardino became a heater. In steel mills, a heater or "heaters keeper" operated the furnace used to reheat bars or plates of steel before they were forged or rolled into shape. This position required experience and skill to manage the precise temperatures needed for quality work.
Bernardino went on to marry and have children. He became a naturalized citizen in 1929. He and his wife lived in Swissvale until his death in 1968.
Pittsburgh and Swissvale would have been vastly different than Bernardino's life in Assergi, Italy. Pittsburgh had a booming industrial industry. By contrast, Assergi was a relatively isolated mountainous area known for its agricultural industry. The village is enclosed by medieval stone walls with three gates, narrow streets, and stone buildings.
https://www.italyheritage.com/visit-italy/images/abruzzo/province_laquila/assergi/
The Plain of Assergi
Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Gran Sasso massif
The remaining alpine vegetation after the attack on Asiago.
15 May – 10 June 1916
•
•
•
"Most Italians came to Pittsburgh by way of New York City and then over the railways. Ironically, much of the track was laid by their fellow countrymen. Other Italian immigrants found work in the coal mines and slate quarries. Many immigrant groups who came to this country never went back home. However, Italian immigrants went back and forth between their old and new homes This increased with the arrival of the steamship. It was then that entire families began to immigrate in greater numbers and Italian immigration rose.
Philadelphia received the highest numbers of Italian immigrants in Pennsylvania. Although, Pittsburgh’s percentage of Italians to the general population was comparable. In 1870, the U.S. Census reported 784 Italian-born residents in our state. By 1890, the population had grown to 2,794. Around then these immigrants began to settle in areas such as Oakland, East Liberty, the Lower Hill District, and Bloomfield. Many of these neighborhoods had previously been home to German and Irish immigrants. The Italian population had exploded by the early 1900s with more than 66,000 people of Italian descent living in Pennsylvania."
- Positively Pittsburgh
https://positivelypittsburgh.com/italian-immigration/
Comments
Post a Comment