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Note: ale, "peasant" aboard the S.S. Brittania which stopped in Naples and Marseilles (France) on her way to the United States. Built by T. Royden & Sons, Liverpool, England, 1881. 2,456 gross tons; 328 (bp) feet long; 40 feet wide. Compound engine, single screw. Service speed 14 knots. 1,018 passengers (18 first class, 1,000 third class). Built for Fabre Line, French flag, in 1881 and named Britannia. Mediterranean-New York service. Renamed America in 1902. Also Mediterranean-New York service. Scrapped in Italy in 1909.
The record can be found on line 1 page 157 of the ships passenger log (as found through the American Family Center at Ellis Island's website). This entry is the only one found that fits but the birth date is off by 5 years from family legend. Also, while Ellis Island shows the last name to be spelled DeRespina when presented in text format, when viewed in script it very well could say DeRespino as Frank told his children the name was spelled in his homeland. It seems to have been Anglicized at Ellis Island, and the handwriting on the ships list is not very easily legible. It say's that his status of immigration was to be "permanent" and that his accommodations were (if I am reading the handwriting correctly) "Faux Front" Here is the record for the passenger in text format. Name: DeRespina, Francesco Ethnicity: Italy Place of Residence : (blank)
Date of Arrival: May 02, 1892 Age: 26y Gender: M Marital Status: U Ship of Travel: Britannia Port of Departure: Naples, Campania, Italy
Hometown: 1890 Campania, Italy While Italy had always been a unit geographically, modern Italy came into existence in March 1861 when Cavour proclaimed a united Italian kingdom. Despite the new kingdom, Italy continued to be regionally oriented and the differences between the north and the south were great. Southern Italy in 1890 had barely improved 30 years after the country was united. Illiteracy was widespread, cholera and malaria killed many, and the industrial revolution had bypassed the agricultural south. Peasants rarely ate meat and often their diet consisted of just rice, bread, pasta or polenta. Taxes from the new central government in 1876 were levied on grinding grain and thus fell heavily upon the poor. Deforestation ravaged the arable land with pockets remaining such as Campania, the fertile region east of Naples.
Campania and Agriculture: Between 1861 and 1900, ecclesiastical land was broken up as the grip of the church weakened. With this breakup, peasants lost the right to use common land for collecting wood or grazing. Existing landlords bought the land and concentrated their control. A census in 1881 found that for every thousand people living in the countryside there were 46 landowners and 59 peasant proprietors. The majority of people were like my ancestors who were employed for half the year and subject to agricultural slumps that hit in 1873, 1885, 1888, and 1905. The gradual spread of education and the new railways and roads brought the farm laborers in touch with cities and they realized the extent of their poverty. During the extended agricultural depression of the 1800s, strikes and forcible occupation of the land started to increase. Although the taxes were levied on commodities like salt, grain and gambling, there was not a single tax on the wealthy sections of society. When this was attempted during the financial crisis of 1893, the rich revolted, took over the government, and responded by increasing the salt and grain taxes some more. While my great-grandfather lived in a relatively fertile region for Southern Italy, in 1892 he started for America leaving behind a difficult agrarian life for an unknown urban life abroad.
Sant'Angelo deiLombardi, Campania My great-grandfather and great-grandmother came from the town of Sant' Angelo deiLombardi. More info on Sant' Angelo deiLombardi: The town is located at 850 metres above sea level. The name derives from the fact that the town was built by the Longobards. It became an episcopal town at the end of the XI century by Gregorio VII and Urbano XVI. It subsequently became a feud held by the Caracciolo, Carafa and the Imperiali. It was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1664 and 1980. The historical center is typically medieval. The last earthquake damaged some noble palaces, the cathedral and the castle. The medieval village was at the foot of the castle that dates back to the first half of the X century. It was modified during the Norman-Suabian period and subsequently became a noble residence. The most important modifications were done by the Caracciolo in the XVI century and by the prince Placido Imperiale in 1768. This last fact is mentioned in an inscription that was near the portal of the palace. The castle became a court and a jail in 1862. The castle was the seat of the notary archive and of the offices of the magistrature in the last years. S. Angelo deiLombardi is formed by the hamlets of Croci S. Rocco, S. Bartolomeo and S. Guglielmo del Goleto. Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi: Territorial surface: 54.80 square kilometers, altitude: 850 mt. s. l. m., residential population: 4,785, families: 1,774, demographic density: 87 inhabitants per square kilometer, Patron Saint: Saint Angiolesi, telephone prefix (area code): 0827, schools: 4, universities: none, pharmacies: 1, post offices: 1, televisions 1,127-0.2 per person, agricultural businesses: 974.
MEDIEVAL ABBEY OF GOLETO The Benedictine Abbey of Goleto is in the Ofantina Valley a few kilometers from S.Angelo deiLombardi. The Goleto, the most interesting medieval monument of the high Irpinia, was founded by S.Guglielmo of Vercelli in the first half of the XII century. He built a great cenobio for men and women (1133) in a place called "lu Gallitu" that Ruggiero S. Severino, Lord of Monticchio deiLombardi, donated to him. There were ruins of a temple dedicated to the sun god and ruins of Roman thermal baths. The two families formed a community governed by an abbess who became the high authority of Goleto. The abbey was formed by the monastery, the superior church, the inferior church, the cemetery, a tower and a castle. The monastery was composed by two buildings one for men one for women. The superior church called chapel of S.Luca was the oratory of the nuns. It has a romanic style and the way to get into is an external stairs called "holy stairs". The abbey of Goleto, one of the most famous of the South of Italy, was an economic and religious power during the Middle age. Giulio II abolished the female monastery (1505) and annexed it to the one of Montevergine.
The French law abolished the monastery (1807) and the relics of S. Guglielmo were transported to the abbey of Montevergine while the people of Nusco, Lione and S. Angelo took the land and the fittings. There is an arch on the entrance door with an inscription "in tempore domini marine abbatisse it domini magistri-P", and two rampant lions with ancient fragment on the side walls. There is another inscription on the entrance door "AB IN GAR.D.A.M.CCQIIIN DIC.V.X.II.N.ED.F. ABATO FEBRONIAC.T. OPAIS ABBA".
LONGOBARD CASTLE It is located in Andrea square and has some Byzantine archeological finds.
CATHEDRAL OF THE XI CENTURY The cathedral was rebuilt in the XVI century. It has a Renaissance style with three naves and a marble portal. There is a cemetery of the XVII century and a square belltower. It was seriously damaged by the earthquakes. It has a beautiful facade with a stone portal of the XVIII century.
Torella dei Lombardi Located on the next hilltop across from S. Angelo deiLombardi The origins of the town date back to the period of the disagreement between the Longobard princedoms of Benevento and Salerno, around the year 850. The princedom of Salerno was defended by a little fortress called Turrella, from which derives Torella. The name "dei Lombardi" was added after the Italian unity to distinguish it from the other one of "del Sannio". The oldest feudal lords of the town belonged to the Saraceno family. Torella passed to the Caracciolo family (XV century) who became princes in 1638.
CANDRIANO CASTLE A big medieval castle called "Ruspoli" from the name of the last prince who held it in the first half of this century. It is held by the town now. It was transformed into an elegant noble residence by the Caracciolo family during the XV, XVI and XVII centuries. Giovanna Caracciolo, daughter of Giuseppe and poetess was born in the castle in the XVII century. It is now being restored after the earthquake of 1980. It will be seat of the city hall offices and of the cultural associations. Paying for the voyage At the turn of the century, the price of the lowest priced steerage tickets were $25-35 depending on the port of embarkation. Since the price of a ticket was often too expensive for the poor people remaining in Europe, it was often sent back from the earlier arrivals to America. One ticket was equivalent to 2 or 3 weeks wages and after room and board an immigrant might have .50/week to save. Many emigrants travelled with someone from their town. The support of people they knew was critical during the voyage and upon arrival.
Routes from Italy Naples - Sicily - New York Southern Italy, the source of most Italian immigrants had two major departure points Naples and Sicily. People traveled from as far as Sicily to depart on voyages from Naples. St. Angelo deiLombardi and San Costantino Albanese are inland towns whose residents went overland to Naples to go to America. Traveling out of rural areas to the port towns was difficult since there were no cars,and train service was only between major cities. Some people came into the port towns on smaller boats for the transfer to major steam lines for the oceanic voyage. Steamship Lines Before 1880, sailing ships still made the long trip across but they took as long as 1-3 months to make the trip. Steam powered ships took over by later making the trip in 8-14 days. Several major steamboat lines such as Cunard and White Star plied the North Atlantic during the peak years of this migration. The steerage class, taken by poor travelers, was a money maker for the lines,and additional boats were commissioned to increase revenues along the route. The boats were steam powered and sometimes supplemented by sails. The North Atlantic during the winter can be a treacherous route as discovered by the Titantic. Steamship traffic increased in the summer months although many of our ancestors arrived as late as early December. The voyage took approximately 10 days from Italy. Conditions While far better than the slave ships of the same period, the paid voyage was not an easy one. 10-15% of the people often died during the voyage early in the 1800s. In 1819, the federal government tried to regulate the shipping lines setting passenger limits, minimums of water and provisions and fined offenders. Unfortunately, this law did not cover passengers in steerage. Steerage passengers were required to carry their own food for the voyage. Only after 1848 was cooked food required for steerage passengers as well. The amount of time locked in the airless below deck area meant high exposure to contagious diseases. With the change to steam powered ships later in the 1800s, the shorter transit time meant reduced exposure to such contagions although the conditions were often little improved. Early Arrivals Before 1855, immigrants were not processed through a central area in New York. Custom collectors worked at the docks,and by 1819 were keeping statistics on the numbers of passengers, names, and ports of origin. A state commission in 1847 found that many frauds were being perpetrated against the new arrivals. Boardinghouses hired runners to steer immigrants to their establishments stealing luggage or children in order to get victims to follow them. The boarding houses and confidence men overcharged the immigrants for tickets, rent, and other necessities. By 1848, the state had leased a pier at the end of Hubert Street to process and protect immigrants but was forced to move to Castle Clinton due to neighbors complaints.
Castle Garden Castle Clinton, a circular red sandstone fort built in 1807 on what was then an offshore spit of rocks. Countless fills by the land-hungry city have left it a few hundred feet inland. The fort's history took another turn in 1855, when Castle Clinton became the country's main immigration center, Castle Garden. Until Ellis Island replaced it in 1892, more than 7 million immigrants passed through here, mostly Irish, Jewish, and Italian. A few years later it reopened as the City Aquarium, which it remained until 1942. After missing a date with the wrecking ball in the '40s, the Castle became a national monument. Castle Garden provided a standardized way to process immigrants and sheltered them from swindlers. After registration, immigrants could purchase train or boat tickets from approved agents. The procedures developed were eventually used as the models for all immigrant examining stations. Nevertheless, corruption still was present among the staff and outsiders. This eventually led to public outcry and demand for a new solution.
Ellis Island
Following the federal takeover of immigration in 1890, the congress appropriated money to convert abandoned Fort Gibson on Ellis Island into an immigration center. Castle Garden had become too small for the traffic of the 1880s. Because of an economic depression during the 1890s, immigration was "light" at 200,000 persons/year. In 1897, fire broke out and the original building was destroyed. In 1898, construction of the present building was started and by 1900 the new building designed to handle 200,000 people/year was complete. By the time it opened however, immigration through New York had reached 500,000 and by 1907 immigration surpassed 1 million. Estimates are that 40% of Americans living today can trace at least one ancestor back to Ellis island during it's peak years; from it's opening in 1892 til 1924. Ellis Island is the single site of the largest migration in the history of mankind. Arrival and processing Incoming ships did not stop at Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty but continued past to piers in the Hudson River. First and second class passengers were processed on board but steerage passengers collected their belongings and boarded small ferries owned by the steamship companies for processing at Ellis Island. Immigrants were asked how much money they had with them and my ancestors rarely had more than $10. At one point some Americans tried to require $25 but it never stuck. Nevertheless word of the $25 requirement got back to Europe and later immigrants often arrived with that amount just in case. The examination process that followed was both direct and clandestine. Doctors watched for signs of mental or physical illnesses they walked up ramps into the facility. Inside, following a quick medical examination, they would wait in the registry room for their interrogation. The Registry Room in the main building of Ellis Island circa 1905. Immigrants are grouped and tagged awaiting questioning
Meeting Sponsors Once cleared by inspectors, the immigrants were free to get on a train for the trip further west, or to go to New York or New Jersey directly. Depending on the final destination and age or sex of the immigrant, sponsors were contacted to pick up their relatives. Those detained were housed in the main building on wire bunkbeds that filled the lower level.
Menu 1906(from a letter to the Ellis Island Commissioner Williams) Breakfast: Coffee with milk and sugar Bread and butter Crackers and milk for women and children
Dinner: Beef Stew, boiled potatoes, and rye bread Smoked or pickled herring for hebrews Crackers and milk for women and children
Supper: Baked beans, stewed prunes, and rye bread Tea with milk and sugar Crackers and milk for women and children
Sponsors arrived on the Ellis Island Ferry which was abandoned in the slip after the island closed.
Destinations The official need for a sponsor, and the natural desire to live near familiar people, prompted immigrants to congregate according to ethnicity and hometown.
Life in Brooklyn: History
Timeline by Decade for Individuals Lifetime:
1834: City of Brooklyn (former Town of Brooklyn) incorporated
1838: Green-Wood Cemetery incorporated
1839: Brooklyn city plan adopted; street grid mapped
1840s-1850s: First great wave of European immigration begins around mid-century, largely northern and western Europeans
1847: Atlantic Basin completed
1849: Brooklyn City (now Brooklyn Borough) Hall completed
1851: City of Williamsburgh chartered
1852: Town of New Lots, formerly part of the Town of Flatbush, organized
1855: Consolidated City of Brooklyn established, merging former City of Brooklyn with City of Williamsburgh and Town of Bushwick
1855: 47 percent of Brooklyn's population is foreign-born (compared to 51 percent of Manhattan's) Of the foreign born population, the Irish comprised 55%.
1858: National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), baseball's first centralized organization, formed by delegates from New York and Brooklyn; 71 teams in Brooklyn
1860: Brooklyn is third-largest U.S. city, with a population of almost 267,000
1861: U.S. Civil War begins
1863: The Brooklyn Historical Society founded as The Long island Historical Society in Brooklyn Heights; New York City draft riots break out and violence spreads to Brooklyn 1864: Brooklyn Long Island Sanitary Fair held at new Brooklyn Academy of Music to raise money for wives and children of impoverished Civil War draftees
1874: Prospect Park completed; street grids mapped for Towns of Flatbush, Flatlands, New Utrecht, and Gravesend
1880s: Second great wave of European immigration lasts into early twentieth century, largely eastern and southern Europeans
1880: Brooklyn is fourth largest producer of manufactured goods in nation
1881: The Brooklyn Historical Society opens new building on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, still its home today
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act; repealed in 1943
1883: Brooklyn Bridge completed; Dodgers organized as minor league team in Brooklyn
1886: Town of New Lots annexed to Brooklyn
1894: Towns of Flatbush, Gravesend, and New Utrecht annexed to the City of Brooklyn:
1896: Town of Flatlands annexed to the City of Brooklyn
1897: Brooklyn Public Library formed: Steeplechase Park opens in Coney Island
1898: City of Brooklyn (Kings County) consolidated into Greater New York
1900: Brooklyn numbers 1,166,582 people
1902: Bush Terminal erects new buildings
1903: Williamsburg Bridge opens; Luna Park opens in Coney Island
1904: Dreamland opens in Coney Island
1908: The IRT, New York's first subway, connected to Brooklyn via the Joralemon Street tunnel
1909: Manhattan Bridge opens
1913: Ebbets Field, home to the Brooklyn Dodgers, opens
1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in NYC kills 140 young workers
1915: Brooklyn Navy Yard builds Arizona, New Mexico, and other battleships
1915: 'Great Migration" of African Americans from America's rural South, continues through 1930s and is followed by renewed migration from the South during and after World War II
1917: United States gives citizenship to Puerto Ricans; beginning of large migration to Brooklyn and New York area
1919: Brooklyn Army Terminal completed
1920: Subway arrives at Coney Island. Prohibition starts.
1924:Immigration Act of 1924; United States enacts restrictive legislation, aimed largely at southern and eastern Europeans, which sharply reduces immigration for next forty years
1930: Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, population 2,560,401.
1933: Prohibition Repealed.
1936: IND (Independent) subway opens in Brooklyn
1941: Attack on U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor triggers U.S. entry into World War II
1942: Iowa launched in record time at Brooklyn Navy Yard; U.S. Navy transforms Floyd Bennett Field, New York City's first airport, into naval air training station 1945: WWII is over.
1947: Jackie Robinson joins the Dodgers as the first African American player in the major leagues
1950: Brooklyn's population peaks at 2,738,175
1954: Ellis Island closes
1955: Brooklyn Dodgers win World Series against longtime rival New York Yankees. Brooklyn Eagle folds after 114 year run
1957: Dodgers play their last game at Ebbets Field; leave for California and become L.A. Dodgers (the bastards!). And Brooklyn has never been the same since. They ripped out our hearts! 1957: Francesco died.
Life in Brooklyn: Neighborhoods Gowanus History
The town of Gowanus was established in 1639 by the Dutch on a small tidal creek leading out into a small bay. In 1700, one of the first settlers, Nicholas Vechte, built a farmhouse of brick and stone on the site which later became Washington Park. Near this park the Battle of Brooklyn was fought in August 1776. Gowanus Bay as it became known, became one of the manufacturing centers of Brooklyn including shipbuilding and gas storage. The stream was dug by railroad owner Edwin C. Litchfield to become the Gowanus Canal. It was lined with light manufacturing operations and ringed with gritty neighborhoods. The Gowanus was extremely foul smelling, due to the heavy pollution. Like many owners of the Gowanus factories, Mr. Litchfield lived at the crest of the hill in Park Slope during the 1800s. The Gowanus Canal neighborhood is at the bottom of the hill from Park Slope. Like the Carroll Gardens neighborhood across the canal, Gowanus was a neighborhood with a large Italian population.
Houses The houses (and businesses) along the canal were largely made of wood. On the block 400 block of President St., the breakdown of 49 lots is, 3 were empty, 13 were brick buildings and 33 were wood. My great-grandfather, Francesco, lived in the home at President St.
Businesses
Businesses lining the Canal in 1910 (or one block off)
Lumber yards/Wood Products Ross & Synder�s Lumberyard located at 249 Third Avenue. One of the owners, Sylvester Ross, lived at the top of the hill at 19 Prospect Park West.
Kenyon & Newton Sash and Blind Mill Across the street from Pomaricos grocery (later saloon). Owned by William Kenyon who lived on Berkeley St. Coal Yards Kelsey & Loughlin Coal located at 242 Nevins Street was one of three locations in Brooklyn. The owner, William Kelsey, lived on the 800 block of St. Marks Ave.
Steamstone yards Brick yards Gratty Marble Works Ice Company Paint manufacturers Saloons/Liquor Stores
In 1905, Pietro Pomarico owned a liquor store around the corner on Third Avenue. By 1910, he had moved it up to 4th Avenue and was supporting the extended family.
Hildebrand Bakery Harry, John and Fred Hildebrand owned a large bakery around the block at 505 Carroll Street. They all lived in the neighborhood on the 300 block of First Street next to the canal.
Groceries Francesco Pomarico owned a grocery at 494 President for about ten years and by 1910 he had sold it to 50 yr old Louis Gallo, another Italian immigrant. By 1915 at age 65, he had retired and was living with his son Pietro. Paper mills Higgins Ink Co. on Eighth St. Makers of India ink and still in business today.
Brooklyn Union Gas Company Maintained telescoping gas tanks along the canal. Large gas tanks were located along Degraw Street between the canal and Third Avenue
Churches and Schools
St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church Located on Hoyt between Sackett and Degraw. It is the nearest Roman Catholic church to the DeRespinos until Our Lady of Peace was built in 1899.
PS # 32 Between President and Hoyt on the other side of Gowanus in Carroll Gardens. It is the closest public school to DeRespinos. PS #15 Third ave and state st. The nearest public school on same side of canal.
Brooklyn Dodgers
In 1883, the Brooklyn Dodgers were started as a minor league team playing out of a stadium in Gowanus located at Third Street and Fourth Avenue in Washington Park. First used as a clubhouse, in 1896 Nicholas Vechte�s house was demolished.
The team joined the American Association and were first called the Brooklyns, the Bridegrooms, then the Trolley Dodgers and finally the Dodgers or "Our Bums". They moved to Ebbett�s Field at Bedford and Montgomery Ave. in 1913.
Sources
Brooklyn City Directories 1900-1933
New York Census 1905, 1915, 1925
New York Census Enumeration District Map 1915
U.S. Census 1900, 1910, 1920
Snyder-Grenier, Ellen M. Brooklyn! An Illustrated History Philadelphia:Temple University Press, 1996. Willensky, Elliot. When Brooklyn was the World. New York: Harmony Books,1986.Life in Brooklyn:
Life in Brooklyn History Neighborhoods
Sunset Park The Sunset Park neighborhood has gone through many ethnic changes and is a microcosm of many of the immigration waves that transformed the city. Following the Irish in the mid 1800s, a Scandinavian community was among the first ethnic groups to establish itself in Sunset Park starting in the late 1800s leaving an imprint which still persists today both in residents and institutions like the Lutheran Medical Center. Also around 1880, a Polish community took root near Third Avenue and 20th street. The Ansonia Clock factory employed many Polish men and many found work in the nearby Greenwood cemetery at fourth and 25th street. By 1890, a largely Catholic Polish community was established along Third Avenue in Sunset Park. Our Lady of Czestochowa was a center of worship in the community. Around the turn of the century, Italians moved into the neighborhood followed by Puerto Ricans after World War II and today Chinese and other Asians as well as a large Mexican migration starting in the '90s. The Brooklyn Historical Society recently sponsored an exhibit covering the Chinese who live in the 8th Avenue area of Sunset Park.
Businesses
1. Bush Terminal One of the largest employment areas in Sunset Park were the shipyards just down the hill where my grandfather worked. During World War II this area boomed and the docks known as Bush Terminals expanded rapidly.
Churches and Schools The church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at 5th and 59th is the largest church in Brooklyn. O.L.P.H. was given Basilica status cica 1980.
Sources
Snyder-Grenier, Ellen M. Brooklyn! An Illustrated History Philadelphia:Temple University Press, 1996.
Life in Brooklyn: Occupations Most people still had close relatives in Europe. Boarding Houses served as entry points for new arrivals. Men came first to the U.S. and their families came later. As a result, many lived in boarding houses and did not have stable addresses. Since immigration patterns were not established, some new immigrants tried out a couple of locations. a couple of my relatives tried out rural locations in New Jersey and Upstate New York before settling in Brooklyn.
School
Public schools were focused on the assimilation process. In 1896 the NYC commissioner said the purpose of schools was to obliterate "all the distinguishing foreign characteristics and traits�as obstructive , warring and irritating elements". Children did not stay in school long. People were still farming in Brooklyn during this period.
While, the Irish had once dominated the building trades, by 1897 about 75% of the construction workers in New York City were Italian immigrants.
In 1910, pick-and shovel laborers earned about $1.75 per day, skilled workers $2.75 Stonecutters and artisans were better paid and able to rise to middle-class living standards making about $4.50/day.
US Army
Brooklyn was not eager to participate in the civil war and was the site of riots during this period, most notably the Draft Riots of 1863. There was a platoon from the area called the 14th Brooklyn New York State Militia company E. That participated in the suppression of the Draft Riots in 1863.
Italian Army
Italian men under age 60 still have a military obligation even if they emigrate.
Note: Arrived at Ellis Island, N.Y., U.S.A. on May 2, 1892 as a 26 year old, single m
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