Peter, Steve, Battista & Natale’s Story
Contrary to what one may think, the Internet doesn’t represent just a door to the future but also a convenient means towards the past. When I was a child, my great- grandmother, Celestina, class of 1902, had conserved in a dresser drawer a couple of old letters and a few photographs.
The only testimony of her brothers that had emigrated many years earlier: Pietro, who left for America before she was born, and Battista who wanted to take her to “Merica” as well; one at a time, the brothers left in search of fortune, one was Natale and the other Stefano who, however, died young in America. What confusion! Poor Grandma!
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Thirty years later, an article on Ellis Island and its 22 million poor immigrants, that involuntarily imparted, aside of many illusions, a precious trace of their incredible experience. This convinced me to conduct an improbable research using, of course, the Internet. |
That same night, I found it difficult to turn off the computer, but it was more difficult trying to fall asleep: from the endless pages of the Ellis Island database and with the passing of the hours, the memories of my childhood began to materialize. Pietro, GiovanBattista, Stefano, and Natale really did exist, and in America they arrived, all four... As was told by grandma Celestina, her brother, Pietro, born in Varisella in 1884, landed in New York April 21st, 1901, a year before she was born.
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Pietro Re had just turned 17 and had never seen the ocean, declared that he knew how to read and write and most certainly possessed only the clothes on his back.
In those days, the average cost of a ticket was about 150 lira and maybe 190 lira for the better ships, which meant a good 100 days of work for a farm labourer; I wondered what sacrifices my great Great- Grandparents, Antonio Re and Domenica Brero, must have made to buy the ship ticket and give him the 30 dollars necessary to show the American authorities that their first born son was not a beggar.
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Pietro did not travel alone in the foul smelling cabin of the ship, L’Aquitaine, which departed from the port of LeHavre nine days before. With Pietro were Battista Colombatto, Luigi Chiambretti, Michele Airaudi, Francesco Soffieti, Nicolao Bertolotti, Agostino Baima. They were all of different ages but all had the same destination, the Bessemer mines in Michigan. Once arrived in Michigan, Pietro went to work at the Tilden mines in Bessemer for the Oliver Iron Mining Company.
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Stefano Re met up with his brother Pietro, three years later, and at the port of New York, said good bye to his travelling companions, Michele Griglione, Nicolao Favero Pich, Giuseppe Savant Ros, all from Coassolo and headed for Perth, Indiana. It was November 21st of 1904. Stefano followed his older brother to the mines; Michigan did not offer many more opportunities to the Italian emigrants.
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In 1906, Pietro returned to Italy to embraced his mama and sister once again but only to depart for America again in October with his brother GiovanBattista by way of France. Life in America was hard: 12 hours a day working underground with no guarantee of safety and with meagre wages of 10 dollars per week. Pietro, Stefano, and Battista all lived together in boarding house number 74. On 1908, at 24 years of age, Pietro married the eighteen year old
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picture is Mattsonwork.com own property |
Catterina Peinetti, born in Monasterolo and emigrated with her brothers, Carlo and Martino 1898. The matrimony was celebrated by Reverend Charles Swoboda in the church of St. Sebastian: the witnesses were brother Stefano for the groom and the young Josephine Appino of Agliè for the bride. After about a year of hard work in the mines, Pietro, Stefano, and Battista convinced their father to meet them and see America with his own eyes; On January 31st of 1909, Antonio Re, 56 years of age, embarked at LeHavre on the Bretagne.
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Upon his arrival in New York, the doctors at Ellis Island noted something wrong on the register of entry (unfortunately illegible) as to his state of heath; he did not stay long in America, but long enough to see the birth of Mamie Katherine, the first child of Pietro and Catterina; afterward, came Josephine Theresa in 1911, Joseph Anton in 1915, John Peter in 1917, and Mary born in 1919. April 2nd of 1910, in the same church of St. Sebastian in Bessemer, Rev. Swoboda celebrated the marriage of Stefano Re and Teresa Coello of Locana; brother Battista served as the witness for the groom and the young Maria Balagna for the bride.
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In 1911 was born Dominic their first child but one month later, there was bad news from Italy. July 11thAntonio Re died leaving the wife alone with five small children: Natalino, Celestina, Maria, Teresa, and Pierina. Battista was compelled to embark and return to Italy. In 1913 in Bessemer, Earnest Peter was born, the second child of Teresa and Stefano.
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Two months after the Titanic tragedy, Peter embarked, for the last time, the long voyage to Italy with the hope of bringing back to America his widowed mother and siblings. He returned alone; however a year later, he was able to buy some land and build his own farm; no longer did he have to go down into the mines; for the next thirty years, he produced milk that he delivered door to door throughout the city.
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Battista, still in Italy, became engaged to Natalia Brero, and in 1913, decided to return to America. The following year on May 1st of 1914, Battista’s fiancé, accompanied by her friend Teresa Bussone from Vallo, and Natalino, the youngest of the Re siblings, landed at the port of New York. One month later, Rev. Swoboda celebrated the matrimony of Battista and Natalia on June 17th 1914. A year later, World War I erupted, and none of them ever returned back to Italy. In 1916, Anton was born, the first child of Battista and Maria, as well as Renaldo the last child of Stefano and Teresa. Battista and Maria went on to have three other children: James in 1917, John in 1918, and Mary in 1919. Battista worked his whole life at the Anvil mine in Bessemer. Around that time, Natale also married. In 1923, Steve and Natale, along with their respective families, decide to move to Minnesota. Maria, Natale’s first wife, died while giving birth to their second child, leaving Natale alone with two small children: Florence and Marietta. On August 5th of 1926 in Biwabick, Natale remarries to Miss Mary Petrella. On April 18th in 1927 in Saint Louis, Minnesota, Stefano Re dies at only 41 years of age. Two months later, the first son was born to Natale; he was baptised as Stefano Re in memory of his uncle. Natale and Mary went on to have two other children: Peter, who died shortly after birth, and Barbara born in 1931. According to the 1930 census, Natale and his family resided in Anoka, Minnesota. In April of 1944, Pietro of 60 years, was diagnosed with a tumor in his stomach; he died on his farm on June 7th of the same year.
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Battista, who was already suffering from the loss of his wife in 1941, lapses into a deep depression and dies on September 22nd of 1948. Of the four pioneer brothers, only Natalino remained.
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His grandson, Jim Re, described him like this: “My grandfather Natale was a very hard worker who provided well for his family. He was a tall and very good looking man. In his spare time, he liked to work in his garden ….. On Sundays, we always had lunch at his house; after lunch, we would all get in the car and drive slowly through the countryside: it was back in the 1950’s when gasoline was cheap and cars were very large!” Natale died on April 7th 1964. Two years later, the last iron mine in Michigan closed. As with any voyage which is admired, even with this one, although virtual, I made many friends, and visited cities that no longer exist; I heard many stories, some successful, others tragic, and still others quite heart warming in their simplicity, but all of them very special and deserve to be remembered. For this reason every time I pass along the road and see a familiar surname, I stop and take note. In this way, I have gathered silent testimonies, yet vital to thousands of men, women, and children who, in those years and with much courage and desperation, had left Valli di Lanzo and Canavese in search of a better life. Many returned. Many others have settled in places that they certainly had never heard of before: Idaho, Wyoming, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Illinois, Utah, Nevada… The Ellis Island archive, updated daily with new names, news, and documents that arrive from every part of the United States are available to anyone who wishes to discover if there were pioneers in their family. Anyway, my voyage in the past continues proving itself everyday to be longer and more emotional than expected. And, I’m certain, full of surprises.
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A special thanks to Mr. Eddie Sandene, president of the Bessemer Historical Society, for his precious and consistent help.
A warm embrace to aunts Mary Chiapusio of Hurley, Wisconsin (daughter of Pietro); Barbara McCooley of Minnetonka, Minnesota (daughter of Natale); Florence Madden of Quartzsite, Arizona (daughter of Natale), and to the cousins in America: Joe and Sharon Re of Omaha, Nebraska (grandchildren of Pietro), Jim and Sharon Re of Scottsdale, New Mexico (grandchildren of Natale),Paul Re of Albuquerque, New Mexico (grandson of Stefano), Linda Mae Jallen, Minnesota (grand daughter of Steve) and Debbie DeRosso of Appleton, Wisconsin (grand daughter of Battista).
A special thanks to Mr. Eddie Sandene, president of the Bessemer Historical Society, for his consistent help and to Mr. Vince Polkus for all precious documents he found for me
Dedicated to my Grandparents and all those who had the courage to follow a dream. PB
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