TOUGH GUY...

Augie - about 2 years old

Leavitt Street House in 2022

My Uncle Augie's name on his birth certificate was Agostino, named after a paternal uncle. However, that was likely the last time he was ever called that. He was the youngest child of Isidoro and Teresa Poppa. He was born on April 7, 1922, at 821 South Leavitt Street, a row house in the Little Italy neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Agostino opted for the given name of August. He was, however, most affectionately known as Augie or Gus by family and friends. He was one year and four months old when his father died from tuberculosis. 

The Poppa family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, between Augie's birth and his father's death. The move was made so that Isidoro would be close to his parents and siblings when the end came. My grandfather would enter Bridgeport's Englewood Isolation Hospital shortly after the family arrived in Connecticut for the last time. According to his death certificate, Isidoro suffered from tuberculosis for 1-2 years before his death. Sadly, various forms of lung disease of one kind or another would affect most of his children throughout their lives. My Grandmother Teresa, pregnant with her last child Mary, would give birth on July 9, 1923; a month later, on August 18, Isidoro passed away.

Sadly, 1924 did not turn out to be much better than the year prior. Augie's infant sister Mary died. Although I have not been able to validate her cause of death or the month and day of her passing, I suspect she succumbed to the same fate as her father based on the timing of events.  

My Grandmother's family, the DiFoggios, made their homes in and around the Chicagoland area. So, whether it was late 1923 or early 1924, Teresa and her children returned to Chicago permanently after Grandpa's death to be closer to her parents and siblings. Time and money permitting, occasional visits and or family events would bring Isidoro's family back to the designated Poppa homestead in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Once back in Chicago, my Grandmother Teresa and her six surviving children, Freddie, Ann, Rocky, Lenny, Beth, and of course, Augie, lived in the 3rd-floor apartment at 2160 West DeKalb Street (n/k/a Bowler Street). According to the 1930 Federal Census, Teresa was charged a monthly rent of $22.00 for that apartment. In the 1930s, the average annual income was $1,970, and the average cost of rent was about $18.00 a month. Teresa was a lampshade maker for a lampshade factory. I don't know how much she was paid in that line of work, but it was likely, not much. There were seven mouths to feed and only one paycheck coming in. Grandma paid the rent with limited resources, and the family lived barebones. Long after the Poppas left the neighborhood, the three-story apartment building on DeKalb Street was demolished and rebuilt as a three-story single-family home in 1997. 

In 1930, Augie was eight years old and attending school. I am still looking for the school's name. But since the Poppas lived directly across the street from St. Calistus Catholic Church which had a grade school attached, I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that Augie and his siblings got their early education there.

By 1940, the Poppas had moved to 1553 S. Drake Avenue in Chicago. However, the census report for that year listed several discrepancies making the information collected suspect. For example, Augie was recorded as 28 years old. However, he was only 18 years old in 1940. In addition, his place of birth was Illinois, and he was a U.S. citizen, not born in Italy or naturalized. 

Drake Avenue House in 2022

According to the census, Augie's highest level of education reached was 8th grade. While this fact has yet to be verified, it is possible that Augie's education was limited, as were many individuals in the 1930s and 40s. A high school diploma was not as important then as now, and college was a luxury few could afford. As a result, many young people quit school as soon as possible and entered the workforce. In addition, WWII was on the horizon, and many young men left school, if not to work, then to join the military. 

The Poppa brothers were all tough in their way, but Uncle Augie was probably the toughest, more out of necessity than his natural temperament. He was, after all, the baby of the family and the only one that never really had a chance to get to know his father. As a result, his survival skills undoubtedly kicked in early. Whatever the reason, Augie enjoyed the sport of boxing in his downtime from his job at the Maremont Automotive Company on South Ashland Avenue in Chicago. 

If newspaper articles are to be believed, he began a promising career as a boxer at 17. By 19, his toughness and skills in the boxing ring were on full display when Augie, now a Golden Glove bantamweight winner, would take on the more experienced, two-time fly-weight champion, Harold Dade, on February 12, 1942. Unfortunately, Uncle Augie didn't win the fight. Still, he was a formidable opponent. When asked about his upcoming fight with Dade, the Chicago Tribune quoted my uncle as saying, "They tell me he's pretty good." When the reporter went on to ask if he thought he could stand up against the more seasoned fighter, Augie responded, "He'll know he's been in a fight."   

                

I cannot say whether his boxing career was entirely behind him after the matchup with Dade, but on June 26, 1942, at age 20, Augie registered for the draft. According to his draft card, Augie completed his registration as Gus Pope. He was unemployed and living at home on Drake Avenue then and listed his next of kin as his mother, Mrs. Teresa Pope. The draft registrar described Augie as 5'3 ⅟2" tall, 129 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, a dark complexion, and 'no other obvious physical characteristics that will aid in identification.' I am still determining the exact date he was called into the Army and the camp where he was subsequently stationed; those details still need to be researched. However, his military discharge date was September 25, 1943, according to the notation at the top of his draft card.  

Augie - age 22

Augie had no trouble attracting women; he was a handsome guy. However, holding on to them may be another matter. He was married three times during his lifetime. His first marriage in 1946 was to Marion Akison. Augie's marriage to Marion, or Mary as she was known, produced two sons, Robert (Bobby) and Richard (Ricky). The marriage ended in divorce sometime in mid-to-late 1948. Within the next two years, Augie would marry for the second time. On April 19, 1950, Kathryn DeBartolo became Kathryn (Kay) Poppa. Two more children would be born during this union, a girl named Linda and a boy named August, or Gus, as he preferred. Sadly, this marriage would also end in divorce by the mid-to-late 50s. Around 1964 give or take a year, Augie made his final trip down the aisle when he married Elaine Mozer-Mustari. Elaine had four adult children from a previous marriage, Arlene, Arthur, MaryAnn, and Frank. Between his four children and four stepchildren, Augie became a grandfather to 17. At the time of his death, he was great-grandfather to 16.

Augie - July 1948

Sometime in the late 40s or early 50s, Augie began work as a pipe fitter and was a loyal member of Local 17 Heat and Frost Insulators Union. Regrettably, his many years in this line of work exposed him to high levels of asbestos. Subsequently, he suffered from the effects of that exposure. Unfortunately, I have not seen his death certificate. So I cannot confidently say which of the two killers, Asbestosis or Mesothelioma, led to his death over 50 years later. 

Uncle Augie was a good man. Like most of us, I'm sure there were things in his life he would have changed if he could, but as they say, hindsight is 20-20. My uncle was there for my sisters and me after my dad's stroke in 1991. At the hospital, he took no guff from the doctor at the suggestion that perhaps my father would need to go to a nursing home. Fortunately, that never came to pass, and my dad moved in with me. Augie visited often and kept Dad company, bringing him scratch-off lottery tickets, which he knew my father liked playing. I couldn't relate to you any conversation I overheard between the two brothers; neither was very longwinded. They would sit and watch television and sometimes try to play pinochle like before Dad's stroke. Uncle Augie attempted to teach me how to play, too …unfortunately, it didn't work so well, but I gave him props for trying.  

August Isidoro Pope died on July 19, 2004—one of my favorite tough guys. Rest in Peace, Uncle Augie. You are missed.

Photo Credits:

From Author's private photo collection:

1. 'Augie about 2 years old'
2. 'Leavitt Street House in 2022' 
3. 'Drake Avenue House in 2022'
4. 'Augie - July 1948'
5. 'Augie - age 22'

Newspaper Clippings:

• Newspapers.com - Chicago Tribune - 5 Feb 1942 - Page 23
• Newspapers.com - Chicago Tribune - 5 Feb 1942 - Page 24
• Newspapers.com - Chicago Tribune - 13 Feb 1942 - Page 27

WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT GREAT GRANDPA?

 

Fedele Poppa

Frederick, Fred, or Alfred. I've seen my great-grandfathers' name in many different forms. But the truth is, his name was Fedele. Fedele Poppa, to be exact, and his grandfathers' namesake. He was born in Orsara di Puglia, Foggia, Italy, on April 11, 1856, to Lorenzo Poppa and Antonia Melchiorre. I have found one sibling for Fedele. A brother named Lorenzo was born about 1853 in Orsara and named after his father, in keeping with an old Italian custom.

 In September 1882, Fedele married Elisabetta Branca in his hometown of Orsara. During their marriage, the couple raised five children, three boys, Leonardo, Isidoro, Augustino, and two girls, Marietta and Maria Grazia. My grandfather Isidoro was the second in line in the family hierarchy. Now that Fedele's’ family was complete, the time to secure a better future for the Poppas was upon him. 

Citta di Genova - 1906

On Tuesday, March 26, 1906, Fedele and Isidoro would set sail from Naples for America for the first time on the passenger ship SS Citta di Genova. Father and son listed the occupations they were leaving behind as a baker and a tailor, respectively. As third-class passengers traveling in steerage, the trip would be long and arduous. The voyage lasted three weeks to the day ending with their arrival at New York's Ellis Island. 

Ellis Island - early 1900s 

Millions of immigrants passed through Ellis Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But before admission, they had to show they were fit to work and had money (or relatives who would take them in). Unfortunately, for many future family historians, immigrants needed no passports or visas to enter the United States through Ellis Island. Moreover, papers were optional at the beginning of the immigration boom. As a result, so much information about these early immigrants was lost.

The Poppas arrived on Tuesday, April 17, 1906; Fedele had twenty dollars in his pocket to stave off starvation and shelter for himself and his 15-year-old son. According to the ships' manifest, Fedele and Isidoro would stay with his brother-in-law, Vincenzo Fiore, in a crowded tenement at 114 Mulberry Street in New York's Little Italy. Unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the original building was razed and not preserved as an immigrant museum. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see what awaited my ancestors on arriving at where they placed all their hopes.

Mulberry Street ca the 1900s

In Italy, many rural families might have slept in tiny cramped houses, but work, socializing, and outdoor eating occupied most of their waking hours. Tenement life for the newly minted immigrants came as quite a shock; some of their greatest dangers concerned their housing. In New York, most immigrants, Fedele and Isidoro included, lived in narrow, low-rise apartment buildings that were generally grossly overcrowded by their landlords. Cramped, poorly lit, under-ventilated, and usually without indoor plumbing, these tenements were hotbeds of vermin and disease. Frequently swept by cholera, typhus, and tuberculosis, a condition young Isidoro would fall victim to in the years to come. Ironically, as of 2019, 114 Mulberry Street now holds a new mixed-use building with 23 luxury residential units currently occupying the space.

Early twentieth-century working conditions for immigrants were often as dangerous as their living conditions. For example, many that came to America from southern Italy had only worked as farmers and were only qualified to work unskilled and more dangerous urban labor. So instead, many went to work in the city's municipal works projects, digging canals, laying paving and gas lines, building bridges, and tunneling out the New York subway system. As a result, by the end of the nineteenth century, 90% of the labor force in New York's Department of Public Works were Italian immigrants.

Single men among the immigrants only stayed for a short time, returning to Italy within five years of their arrival. Those immigrants that chose to remain kept in close contact with their families back in the old country and worked hard to have enough money to send back home to help with their support. How long Fedele and Isidoro remained in New York has yet to be discovered. However, they both returned to Orsara sometime before 1910. I say this for several reasons:

1. Isidoro married Theresa DiFoggio in 1910, in Orsara.
2. Isidoro's Naturalization Declaration of Intention, filed in 1919, states that he arrived back in the United States in January 1911.
3. There doesn't appear to be any 1910 U.S. Federal Census Record for either Poppa.

Also, Fedele returned to the United States with his wife and three of his children in 1913. The Poppas were incredibly close-knit. Immigrating to the United States was a decision intended to make a better life for the family and keep everyone together. So I do not believe Fedele would have stayed away from his family for seven years. 

SS Venetia - 1913

Fedele's' two eldest sons, Leonardo (28) and Isidoro (22), were married and living in the United States by 1913. The next and final wave of Fedele's family to make their way to America were wife Elisabetta, daughters Marietta (17) and Grazia (14), and son Augustino (11). The family arrived at Ellis Island on the SS Venetia on March 21 of that year. Upon their arrival, they would stay with Isidoro and his family in New Rochelle, New York, according to Venetia's passenger list, leaving no one from this family line of Poppas behind in Italy.

Ives Court House in 2022

Homeownership is often seen as one of the paths toward achieving the American dream. Between 1913 and 1920, Fedele had a steady job in the sanitation industry and earned at least one of his dreams when he bought a house in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He and his family made a forever home at 73 Ives Court. The house was built in 1902 and still stands today. It was lived in by many of Fedele's family and extended family at one time or another. The house remained in the Poppa family for years after Fedele's death.  

No parent expects to outlive their child, but on August 18, 1923, that is precisely what happened. Fedele's son and traveling companion from the old country to America, Isidoro, died from pulmonary tuberculosis at 31. I have long thought my grandfather contracted the disease due to the unsanitary and crowded conditions endured during the three-week ocean sailing from Italy or living in the contamination-prone tenements upon their first arrival in New York.

St. Michael's Cemetery

Fedele died at the age of 69 on May 28, 1925. He was laid to rest at Saint Michael's Cemetery in Stratford, Connecticut, as are many of his family members. 

I've told Fedele's story as best I could. I hope I've answered the question, 'What's so great about great-grandpa?' If not, let me add the following:

1. Fedele exhibited extraordinary courage risking everything to try and make a better life for his family.
2. He was hard-working and gave his children a strong work ethic.
3. He overcame prejudices toward immigrants that were often cruel and unfair, such as language limitations or heavy accents, and what was perceived as looking different (dark eyes and olive skin), and;
4. Let's not forget those gosh darn names that are so hard to pronounce.
 

Fedele got his American dream through sacrifices, risk-taking, and hard work rather than by accident or riding on someone else's coattails. That's what's so great about my great-grandpa... in case you want to know.