WINDING THE MANTEL CLOCK...

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

In the late nineteenth Century, mass migration from Italy accelerated. Chicago's foreign-born Italian population, 16,008 in 1900, peaked at 73,960 in 1930. These newcomers were predominantly peasants (contadini) from the southern regions, particularly Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. Drawn to Chicago's market for railroad workers, these laborers were enrolled in work gangs by padrones (labor contractors), who shipped them to construction sites throughout the country. Women were sent for and families established as they gained stable employment in the city's public works and industries. Many women worked in the sweatshops and factories of the garment industry.[i]

LIFE IN ITALY

Angelo was born on March 13, 1880, in the village of Gesuiti to Carmela Perri and Raffaele DeLio. Gesuiti is a village belonging to the San Vincenzo La Costa municipality in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria. Family lore says this rural community was so small that a person could yell from one end of the village to another and be clearly heard. Of course, that might be a slight exaggeration, but as of this writing, a whopping 370 people are currently living in Gesuiti, so maybe...

My great-grandparents were farm laborers, so opportunities in the tiny hamlet were limited. Between 1880 and 1920...the height of the Italian migration to the United States...approximately four million Italians, the majority from Southern Italy, arrived on America's shores looking for economic opportunities they could not find at home. After Italy's unification, following the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, most of the factories and wealth remained in the northern part of the country, while Southern Italy remained primarily agricultural. Although the farms were in the South, they were owned by wealthy Italians from the North, who offered the peasants terms similar to those given to sharecroppers in the U.S. following the Civil War, resulting in an estimated 26 million Italians...one-quarter of the country...leaving for the United States and other countries between 1861 and 1885. In addition, with high taxes and low wages for farm workers, Southern Italy was regularly stricken by drought, and water became a luxury.[ii]

    The Decision to Leave

In the late 1800s, most of the grapevines in southern Italy were destroyed by a mysterious parasite, and as a result, many farms began to fail. As unemployment rose among farmers and farm laborers, there was decreased demand throughout the economy, and many skilled workers were thrown out of work. To add to southern Italy's troubles, cholera and malaria swept through the area, causing waves of death. And as if this was not bad enough, the early 20th Century saw a wave of natural disasters strike the region. Mount Etna erupted, as did Mount Vesuvius, burying a town near Naples. So, like many others before him, Raffaele, or Ralph as he was called, preceded his wife and son to the United States to establish a more promising future for his family in what would soon become their newly adopted country. 

LIFE BEGINS IN AMERICA

1. SS Bolivia

The date was January 4, 1888, and one of the ships arriving in New York harbor that day was the SS Bolivia from the port of Naples, Italy. My maternal grandfather, Angelo DeLio, was seven years old when he came to America with his mother, Ma Carmella Perri, as she was listed on the ship's passenger manifest or list if you prefer. A notation on the side of the manifest indicates 777 aliens from Italy were traveling as third-class steerage passengers during that sailing. Of course, imagining three weeks at sea under those circumstances as an adult is difficult. But imagine, if you will, making that trip as a 7-year-old boy under such crowded conditions...traveling across the open sea in harsher temperatures than you have ever experienced in your life, leaving behind your friends, family, and the only way of life you have ever known, and doing it all at Christmastime!

It is unclear whether Carmela and Angelo arrived at New York's Ellis Island or Castle Garden Immigration Center by way of any documentation. However, logic and my research efforts led me to conclude that Castle Garden was the port of entry that began my great-grandmother and my grandfather's adventure. I reached this conclusion based on two of the most obvious facts, the facilities' operation dates. First, Castle Garden opened for operation on August 1, 1855, and closed on April 18, 1890. Second, Ellis Island operated between 1892 and 1954. But a fire on June 15, 1897, broke out in one of the towers of the main building and collapsed the roof. Thankfully, none of the 200 immigrants on the island at that time were killed, but all Ellis Island records and those from the Castle Garden era dating back to 1840 were destroyed. 

2. The Battery & Castle Garden Immigration Center - N.Y.

As of this writing, I am still looking for documentation of when or how the DeLios' made their way from New York to Chicago. Of course, a valuable resource in genealogy is the federal census. The United States census of 1890 would have been the first to include my great-grandparents and grandfather since their immigration to America. But most 1890 census materials were destroyed in 1921 when a building that housed them caught fire. The subsequent disposal of the remaining damaged records by government order in the mid-1930s was a dark day for genealogical research. 

  

     The 1890s

3. Chicago Street Map - 1890s

For all intents and purposes, the DeLios left New York soon after their arrival, settled in the Little Italy area of Chicago, Illinois, and never looked back.

Not much is known about Angelo's childhood in Italy or the United States. I have found nothing about that time in his life. I am curious to know what kind of education, if any, he had other than the responses to questions on the federal census report; according to the 1900 census, Angelo could speak English but not read or write. However, when the 1910 census was taken, Angelo could also read and write. Whether he was self-taught or not is an open question. 

 

On January 2, 1892, Carmella gave birth to Emilia Maria DeLio. There is a 12-year age gap between Angelo and his younger sister. Based on information obtained in the 1900 and 1910 census records, my great-grandmother gave birth to 4 children, with only two surviving. I'm still determining where Angelo fits in the line of succession, but Emilia, or Millie as her family called her, was the 4th and last child.

4. State Street North of Madison-Chicago - 1890s

The 1890s was an extraordinary decade in Chicago's history. The World's Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World's Fair as it is also known) was held in 1893. "Prairie-school" architects like Frank Lloyd Wright began to acquire a measure of fame. Theodore Dreiser started writing his first novel, Sister Carrie, in 1899, whose initial setting takes place in Chicago and has been called the 'greatest of all American urban novels.' [iii] On the darker side, Chicago was home to a serial killer during the fair. For several years before and during the exposition, Herman Mudgett, aka H.H. Holmes, was busily luring victims (including a number of fairgoers) to a three-story, block-long building near the fairgrounds, later known as the "Murder" Castle. His reign of terror ended when he was arrested in 1894. [iv]  Also, just two days before the exposition was set to close, Chicago's recently re-elected mayor, Carter Harrison Sr., was shot and killed by a disgruntled—and deranged—office seeker. 

According to the U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, two years after the close of the World's Columbian Exposition, my grandfather Angelo became a naturalized citizen on March 16, 1895. Angelo is listed as a minor child living at 140 Sherman Street in Chicago, though I have yet to pinpoint where that address might have been. 

 

      1900-1909

5.  Angelo DeLio - ca 1900

In June 1900, Angelo was 20, living at 180 West Polk Street with his parents and sister, Millie. And had a job as a day laborer. For the record, a day laborer is a person who is hired for a day or more to do work that usually does not require special skills. 

6. Marriage Registry - Holy Guardian Angel Church - 1905

By 1905, marriage was looming large for 24-year-old Angelo. As was common back then, it was a marriage arranged between both sets of my great-grandparents, Ralph and Carmela DeLio, and Michele (Michael) and  Saveria Lufrano. The young girl who would one day become my grandmother was their daughter Mary. Mary Lufrano was 14 years old at the time of her marriage to Angelo DeLio. They were married at the Holy Guardian Angel Church on January 15, 1905. The young married couple would move in with Angelo's parents at the Polk Street address.

7. Holy Guardian Angel Church- Arthington St. - Chicago

Before the decade's end, Mary gave birth to 2 sons, Carmine Raffaele (who was called Carl but whose nickname was Carmie), born on April 17, 1906, and Michael Joseph (called Mike or Mikey by the family) on July 3, 1909. Both boys would be baptized at the same church that performed Angelo and Mary's marriage ceremony.

  

    1910-1920

In 1910, the family unit (Ralph, Carmela, Millie, Angelo, Mary, and the two young boys) moved to the second-floor apartment in a 3-flat apartment building at 640 S. Sangamon Street, where they lived for the next two years. My grandmother Mary's uncle Frank, his wife, and six children occupied the 1st floor, and two boarders lived in a basement apartment in the Sangamon Street house.

By 1912, the family expanded yet again. This time, Mary gave birth to a daughter, Guiseppa (who went by the name Josephine but was called Josie by family and friends) on July 26, 1912. As a result, the Delios moved once more to 712 S. Morgan Street, where they remained for another year or so. However, most of these houses mentioned here are long gone due to the reconfiguration of the area to accommodate a highway, a church center, the University of Illinois college campus, and several state-of-the-art medical facilities.

  
December 30, 1914, brought the birth of Angelo and Mary's second daughter, Francesca Carmela (Francie). At the time of Francie's delivery, the family now lived at 711 S. Loomis. This rowhouse still exists.

8. The Delios House on DeKalb 

The final move occurred at some point in 1916 to the last house they would all live together as a complete family unit. Angelo was now a freight handler for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and could finally afford to buy a home, which he did at 2129 W. DeKalb Street (or Bowler Street as it is now known).  

This DeKalb Street rowhouse was the family homestead for the Delio side of my family until around 1950 and was as much a part of the family as anyone living there. Inside its four walls, this well-loved home saw its fair share of celebrations and sorrows. The birth of the two youngest Delios took place in this house. My mother, Maria Saveria (who went by the name Marilyn but whose nickname within the family was Mary), was born on June 10, 1917, and my uncle Giovanni Angelo (or John as he was known, but whose nickname was Johnny), on September 10, 1920, completed the family.  

9. DeKalb Street - Chicago

  

      1921-1930

By the mid-to-late 1920s, the DeLio children were in school and had friends over, which meant plenty of noise and constant activity. In addition, the four oldest siblings were now dating, and the two younger kids were...well, busy being kids. My mother used to tell a story about my grandfather that when it was time for her and her siblings' friends (notably, his daughters' boyfriends) to go home, Grandpa would come into the living room and start winding the mantel clock. He never had to say a word; that one action said it all. His pretty daughters knew better than to argue with him or beg for another hour. Their boyfriends respectfully, and perhaps with some trepidation, said goodnight and went home. Angelo's sons were treated a little more leniently. Besides, they were more than likely getting the same treatment at their girlfriend's houses by their fathers. In June of 1930, Carl married his longtime sweetheart, Catherine Citro.

By the decade's end, all four of my great-grandparents had passed away. Ralph DeLio and Michael Lufrano in 1928, and Carmela DeLio and Saveria Lufrano in 1929, which was a sad time for the family, but things were about to get a lot worse when a little something called the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide.

      1931-1944

The lowest point of the Depression came between 1931–1933. Then, the stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement. Altogether, there was a general loss of confidence in the financial future. Recovery would not come until 1940.[v]

Life continued per the norm from 1931 (well as "normal" as it could be) until the end of 1936, when the pace picked up, and three more DeLio siblings would marry. Francie would marry Dominic Segreti in November 1936; three years later, Josie would marry Joe Lipari in September 1939; two months after that, Mike would marry Irene Urbaniak in November 1939. Then the bottom dropped out once again...

 The Draft and WWII 

On September 1, 1939, Germany's invasion of Poland marked World War II's start. That global conflict would rage on for six years. On September 16, 1940, the United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, requiring all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. This was the first peacetime draft in United States history.

Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was the provocation needed for the United States to join the war on the 8th of that month officially. Following Japan's surprise attack, Congress amended the Selective Training and Service Act to require all able-bodied men ages 18 to 64 to register with their local draft board for military service for the duration of World War II plus six months after. In practice, however, only men 18 to 45 were drafted.[vi] 

On April 27, 1942, my grandfather Angelo signed up for the draft. Grandpa's draft card described him as 62 and working for the B & O Railroad. He stood 5 feet tall, 131 pounds, with a sallow complexion, gray eyes, black hair, and no "other obvious physical characteristics that will aid in identification."

My uncle Johnny, the youngest of Angelo's sons, was on active duty in the U.S. Army and served between 1942 and 1944. I am still determining the exact dates, but he did fight in and around Italy. Also, during his military service, Johnny married Lee Rodgers, a girl he met in the army, around 1943. Unfortunately, the marriage would end about five years later. 

The last of the DeLio children to marry was my mother, Marilyn, to my father, Rocco Poppa. They married in July 1944. Sadly, my grandfather missed the opportunity of walking his youngest daughter down the aisle... 

A Bittersweet Ending...

Shortly after complying with the draft requirement, my grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He suffered from the dreaded disease for roughly two years before it finally took his life on February 21, 1944, at the age of 63. 

I never had the privilege of knowing my grandfather. From all I have learned about him, he was a good man who left the family too soon through no fault of his own. Grandpa was gone long before I was born, and I am sad about that. I would have liked him. But, more importantly, I know I would have loved him. Researching his life brought me closer to him. In truth, I wish I had uncovered more, but the clock has yet to run down, and until it does, my search continues.

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO CREDITS / SOURCES

1.   S.S. Bolivia (built 1873 by Robert Duncan& Company for the Anchor Line. She was transferred to the Glasgow-Naples- New  York service in Nov. 1887) 
2.     Battery and Castle Garden, New York City. Vintage photograph by William Henry Jackson (1843-1942). Published by Detroit Publishing Co. 1890-1897)
3.     Chicago Map – 1890 (University of Chicago Library)
4.    State Street North from Madison (Historic B&W Photo of Chicago 19^th Century–Copyright 1990 By Detroit Photographic Co)
5.    Angelo DeLio ca 1900 (Author's Private Photo Collection)
6.     Page from the 1905 Marriage Registry of Holy Guardian Angel Church
7.     Photo of Holy Guardian Angel Church (The Newberry Library)
8.    Angelo and Mary DeLios' DeKalb Street Rowhouse – 2019 (Author's Private Photo Collection)

9.    DeKalb Street – 2019 (Author's Private Photo Collection)

  

---

[i]   http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/658.html

[ii]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Americans

[iii] Donald L. Miller, City of the Century, (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996) p. 263.

[iv] Eric Larson, The Devil in the White City (Random House, New York, 2003)

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II