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.   

Photo Credits:

1)     ‘Fedele Poppa’ and ‘St. Michael's Cemetery from the author's private collection.

2)     'Ives Court House' from www.zillow.com

3)     'Mulberry Street – New York' from Wikipedia article entitled 'Mulberry Street (Manhattan)."

4)     Ship Photos of the ‘SS Citta di Genova’ and ‘SS Venetia’ from https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7488/

Research Materials:

1)     The Great Arrival  |  Italian  |  Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History  |  Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress  |  Library of Congress

2)     What Sets Italian Americans Off From Other Immigrants? | The National Endowment for the Humanities (neh.gov)