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Note: Francesco "Frank" Ferrara, SSN: 311-34-3968, was born Aug 11, 1879 and died June 27, 1969.
From the letters of Charles P. Massa, dated Feb. 1996: My maternal grandparents, Francesco Ferrara and Marietta Sciacca, came from Sicily, he from the small town of Palazzo Adriano (Adrian's Palace), she from the larger town of Prizzi. I know a bit more about Frank and Mary, as they came to be called here, than I do the Massa grandparents, but not much. First, they were very poor in the old country. I don't know how they ever got the money to make the voyage to America. Frank and his brother, Cristoforo (Chris) came here together as young un-married men. At some point, they worked for the railroad, laying track. I think it was the railroad work that eventually took them out to Colorado, where they became cowboys on a cattle ranch. I don't know how long this went on, but somehow they ended up owning a small farm north of Clinton, Indiana. (It is possible that they were cowboys first, then hired on to build the railroad, and went east to the midwest, but this is where the chronology gets mixed up. Were they laying track going west, toward Colorado? Or were they leaving Colorado and laying track, going east? My father, Charles Massa, also mentions the railroad line that passed through Clinton was the C&E.I. - The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway - but this my not have been the one that Frank Ferrara had once layed track for. - M.M.) As I recall it, Frank went back to Sicily to get a wife (Marietta), whom he brought back to the little Indiana farm. Meanwhile, his brother Chris, married Lena Masarachia, who was the daughter of a local family that also had emigrated from Sicily. So the two brothers and their wives lived together on the little farm where my mother, Frances, and her brother, Bert, were born. (It is unknown when the two brother originally came to the United States, but most likely to be around the 1900's. - M.M.) Frank and Mary had two children, Frances (my mother) and Bert. Frances married Paul Massa and had three sons, Charles, Frank, and Paul. Bert married Rose Ann Doeber and had one son, Frank, and one daughter, Anne. Chris and Lena had no children and Chris died at the farm from a mastoid infection. Eventually, Frank sold the farm and got into the meat business. He began as a traveling butcher, going farm to farm with horse and wagon and performing the service of butchering their cattle and pigs. This was usually done in cold weather, in back of the barn or wherever he could hoist up the carcass to gut and skin it. Then he would cut it up to order, so the farmer could salt it, smoke it, or cure it in whatever fashion for future consumption. Later, he was able to buy a small corner building on North 9th Street in Clinton, and this became the Ferrara Grocery Store, a small meat and grocery shop. Here he employed his widowed sister-in-law, Lena, who ran the store for him until her death. Meanwhile, Frank managed to obtain a loan that enabled him to purchase a small slaughter house that became the Clinton Meat Packing Company. He ran this business for over 40 years (and retired from it) supplying the local markets for miles around with beef, pork, smoked hams, bacon, and a variety of sausage and lunchmeat, all made right there at "Grandpa's slaughter house". Not bad for a poor boy from Sicily that could speak no one word of English when he got off the ship at New York. (Charles P. Massa also recalls, hearing how poor the Ferrara's were.) They were so poor, when Frank was a young boy, he would follow one of the wagons of grain, as it was being pulled down the road by a couple of horses. He would pick up any bits of grain that would fall off the wagon; enough to bring home to his mother so that she could make some bread, so that they had something to eat. They were living day to day and were very poor.
Listed on the manifest of the "Princess Irene" arriving May 6, 1908, is: FRANCESCO "FRANK" FERRARA, age 29, male, married, nationality: Italian, south; residence: P. Adriano, Palermo; ID number: 101780060531. (The manifest shows that Frank HAD been in the U.S. before and was returning back to Indiana, to meet brother Christopher. Also, that his father was Bartolomeo who lived in Palazzo Adriano, Sicily) MARIA "MARY" FERRARA, age 22, female, married, nationality: Italian, south; residence: P. Adriano, Palermo; ID number: 101780060532. (The manifest shows that Mary had NOT been in the U.S. and was returning back, married, with Frank to Indiana.) ANTONINA "LENA" MASARACCHIO, age 30, female, married, nationality: Italian, south; residence: P. Adriano, Palermo. (The manifest shows that Lena HAD been in the U.S. before and was returning back to Indiana, to meet her Husband Christopher Ferrara.) VINCENZO "VINCENT" VEPTRESA, age 9, male, single, nationality: Italian, south; residence: P. Adriano, Palermo. (The manifest shows that Vincent had NOT been in the U.S. before and was going to 236 E. 95th St., New York. According to Charles P. Massa, Vincent was possibly Lena's nephew. At the age of 18, he was working on the railroad (as many emigrants were) and suffered a fatal accident. He had slipped between two train cars, getting his legs cut off and had died.) The following information was provided by Shirley Frisella Stevens, written by her Aunt Martha: At the turn of the 19th century their oldest son, Christopher, and a friend (brother Frank - M.M.) went to Colorado. There he worked on a ranch as a cowboy. Months later another ranch hand started an argument and wanted to fight him. In self defense, Christopher picked up a rock and threw it at him and accidently injured him. After that incident he left Colorado and went to Clinton, Indiana where his brother, Frank, had settled. Frank had joined a railroad gang who were laying tracks from Chicago going south. He was not used to this kind of work. He had been a postal clerk in Sicily. When the railroad gang reached Clinton, Indiana on the Wabash River, he fell in love with the little town and decided to stay there. Frank was the first Sicilian to settle in Clinton. Eventually, he and his brother, Christopher had a butcher shop. They sent for Sicilian brides, Marietta Sciacca and Lena Masarachia, and cemented their roots. Later they had a big farm where they raised cattle and grain. They had their own meat-packing house and were doing very well. After World War I, some sharp Chicago investors talked them into building a coal mine on the farm but it was a total failure. I have a copy of Frank Ferrara's Soc. Sec. Application, dated Sept 11, 1951. Age at the time of filing was 72. Date of birth is written as Aug 10, 1879, which is different from my fathers chart, showing the 11th. Place of birth is written as Palazzo Adriano, Sicily, Italy. Father's name is written "Bartolomeo Ferrara" and mother's name is written " Francesca Cannariato". This spelling of her last name has two "n's" in it, which is different from Charles P. Massa's chart, which is spelled "Canariata". Shirley Frisella Stevens also shows "Francesca Cannariato" with two "n's", which was spelled by her Aunt Martha.
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