AUDIO FILE---ANTONIO IANNARINO

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The storyteller Information from my mother and my father.Grandpa(my father, Mariano) made three separate trips to America to seek his fortune. His third trip, he returned to his home town to marry my mother who was a neighbor of his. As a boy, my father states, that he helped his father who made his living as a fisherman. When he came to America he shared a home with his brother Robert and his wife Josephine and his brother Peter, who was single, and a friend, known only to us as “Steamboat” and his wife.

My father made his living peddling produce from a cart with a friend named Spragalli, who later went into the wholesale produce business. My father then worked for Mr. Spragalli. Mr. Spragalli died and left his business to his children and his children run the business to the ground and went broke. That’s when my dad and his brother, Charles, took over the business and kept one of the children, Anthony, to keep the name of Spragalli which was known in the wholesale produce business so that they could order stuff on credit. The business thrived until one day my father had problems with Tony Spragalli, and then my father got out of the business. My father could not stand being idle so he went to work for the city of Pittsburgh as a watchman. That’s what he did until his death in 1954. I left out my father was born in the year of 1891 and died in the year of 1954.

No question repeated. My mother tells us she went to school until the third grade which was equivalent to the sixth or seventh grade in this country. My mother could read and write both languages fluently. At fifteen years she married my father and came to America to live. She had six children. She was very happy in her role as a homemaker until her death in 1982. Her death was 1982.

Do you remember where you lived? I only know of 4 places that we lived. One was on Primo Street on the lower north side. After my mother had her fourth child, they purchased 1300 Sandusky Street. My father died at 1300 Sandusky Street. Then Allegheny General Hospital purchased her home to expand the hospital. So my mother purchased a home at 35 Ivory Avenue and stayed there until Penn-Dot purchased the home for road improvement. That’s that new I-79 coming thru Pittsburgh. My mother then purchased another home and stayed there until her death in 1982. My mother was born in 1895.

No question repeated. My parents were particular that their children get an education and that they attended church. My mother attended church regularly and my father attended church on rare occasions. But my father was an honorable man.

No question repeated. What I remember about my father is how hard he worked. He used to go to work before daylight and didn’t return home till dark. And he used to brag that in all the years in this country, he never set foot in a saloon. And he could brag about that until the day he died. My mother was like the man of the house because my father would be out working to support his six children. My mother used to amaze me at how much intelligence she had about everything that pertains to the household, finances-- you name it; she had knowledge of it.

Was there prejudice against the Italians? Prejudice prevailed against all nationalities, the Polish, the Italians, the Jews, the blacks. In them days that’s why there was communities of Little Italy, Little Poland because they were with their own nationality and they understood each others’ languages, and they understood each others’ customs. But the way you dealt with it in them days you ignored it, got an education and tried to make yourself a place in the community.

What do you remember of your father’s work? Like I told you in the earlier question, he worked from dark to dark. He was a salesman when they were in the wholesale produce business to the merchants, and if he had to, then he’d make deliveries to the merchants and in the evening when the work was done he would be the bookkeeper. That’s what kept him 12, 14, 16 hours at his work.

Did your parents ever talk about the old country? Well, occasionally at night when we were sitting around the table they would bring up some of the things that they were permitted to do and not permitted to do. My dad brought my mother’s mother to this country and she lived with us and couldn’t speak a word of English. And occasionally they would talk back and forth of some of their life in the old country. My grandmother(my mother's mother) stayed with us until she died in 1929.

What customs and traditions did they continue that was part of their heritage? One thing that they did, their first born, if it was a boy, was named after the father’s father. Being seven uncles, there was seven boys and seven of them was named Charles. If there was a second boy, that boy would be named after the mother’s father and so on down the line. If you wanted to have a name to pick of your own, you had to have your fifth child. That was one of their customs. And they abided by that.

My mother and father were both fearless people. It seemed that they could cope with any crises that arose.

How did your mother and father obtain their citizenship? Well, first of all before you could even apply to be a citizen, you had to live in this country a certain number of years. After you lived in this country a certain number of years, you had to study some of the constitution of this country which my mother studied night and day to get the answers to the questions. And I remember when my father took his examination and became a citizen of the United States that was the proudest day of my mother and fathers’ lives.

Did you ever meet any of your father or mother’s relatives? Where did they live? Where did they work? Well that question is almost next to impossible to answer in one day. As I said my father had six other brothers and one sister. My mother had six sisters and one brother. I met all of them. They all earned their fortune in different ways. There would not be enough room in this tape to pick them out and tell you about each one of them.

Did your parents ever speak about their lives in this country? My mother and my father could speak of nothing else but how wonderful this country was, the hopes for their children, the hopes for them and the future this country had. They must have had poverty in the old country because they appreciated every luxury that they got when they came to this country.

Did you parents read the newspaper? As I stated before, my mother and my father could read and write American and read and write Italian and they read the newspaper plus magazine and occasionally my mother would read an Italian book, I guess they were love stories.

Did your parents interact with others in the community? My parents were greatly respected by the people in the community and the church. When my dad died they had to close the street off and give the funeral procession a police escort. That’s how many people my dad knew and helped especially during the depression when he was fortunate to have a little business and these people told me how my dad was helping them out and over the rough spots.

No question repeated. I just answered question #15 in question #14 so there’s no use me repeating that one.

Did your parents try to adopt American customs? When they came to America they adopted all American customs. They lived like Americans, they had their children live like Americans, they died like Americans.

What did your parents encourage, what careers did they encourage and what was a women’s place? My parents wanted all their children to get as much education as was possible. They did have high hopes of having a doctor or lawyer in the house. And as far as a woman’s place, they believed that a woman’s place was in the home, raise her children, take care of household problems and any occasion that arose.

Did your parents vote? What was their political party? My parents would not miss one election. If they had to get out of a sick bed to vote, they would get out of their sick bed to vote. When my father first registered to vote, he was registered as a Republican, but he would not vote the straight party. He believed on splitting his ticket and voting for each individual as they were. Before he died, he had registered as a Democrat, but he still voted on a split ticket.

Did your parents ever talk about their experiences when they entered this country? No, they didn’t say too much about their experiences when they entered this country. I do know that they came across the ocean in a boat, and they said they had to ride third class. And I understand that third class was the poor man’s class where they were all huddled together.

Why did your parents stay in this country? My parents made it their country, this was their home, this was where

Do you know whether your parent’s family in Italy were fishermen, farmers or shopkeepers? This question was answered before. They were fishermen.

Did your parents express dissatisfaction with their lives? Or this country? Did they want to return back to Italy? My parents were so happy to be in this country, to enjoy the prosperities that this country offered and did not have any wish to return to Italy. My mother did make a visit 50 years later to her home town and she stated when she came back that she would never return to Italy because America has so much to offer.

What are your feelings as first generation American? My feeling as a first generation American is that I have, other feelings of being American, raised as an American, being an American—I can have no other feelings than being American.

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