THE LIFE OF MARIANO IANNARINO

Mariano Iannarino was born in Termini Imerese, Sicily, on December 8, 1891 and he died on December 28, 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mariano died of a cerebral hemmorhage, although he had been ill with diabetes for many years. Mariano was the son of Saverio Agostino Iannarino and Rosaria Longo. Nothing is known of Mariano's early childhood in Sicily, except that he had gone to school in Termini for 5 years, according to his wife Provvidenza La Manna. According to the Naturalization documents, Mariano was 5 feet 3 inches tall.

Mariano's father, Saverio Agostino Iannarino, had brought each of his sons, one by one to America. Mariano traveled from Sicily to live with his father in Pittsburgh. He arrived in New York on March 15, 1905. Saverio and his sons sold produce door to door. In Termini Imerese the family had been fishermen. All of the manifest documents found so far have stated "fisherman" as each one's occupation. There are no family stories or records available to explain why Saverio Iannarino, the first to arrive in Pittsburgh, had chosen to sell produce.

When Mariano was 19 years old, he returned to Sicily to visit his mother Rosaria Longo. Knowing that her son Mariano was coming to visit, Rosaria Longo arranged a marriage between Mariano and Provvidenza La Manna, the daughter of a neighbor and good friend. Mariano was 19 years old when he and Provvidenza La Manna married in Termine Imerese, Sicily. Two weeks after their marriage, the young couple left Sicily and traveled to the United States to begin a new life. Mariano earned his American citizenship on September 22, 1925.

Mariano had a poor education by American standards, though he could read and write his native language. Mariano became an excellent bookkeeper, having a facility with numbers and mathematics. Mariano learned to speak, read and write English after emigrating to America.

Mariano worked as a huckster both before and after his marriage. Mariano pushed a vegetable cart through the neighborhood streets in Pittsburgh, selling his produce, according to his wife, Provvidenza La Manna. For a short time he worked with one of his brothers -- they had bought a horse and cart to facilitate their business. This story was related by Mary Henry, wife of Antonino Iannarino, second son of Mariano. While still a young man, Mariano was approached by Sam Spracale, another Termini native, who needed a bookkeeper to help him with his wholesale produce business. Provvidenza La Manna relates that Mariano preferred to work by himself, but the promise of a weekly salary convinced him to accept a position with Sam Spracale.

The photo - below right - is of grandpa's brother Charles standing in the doorway of the Sandusky Street home, Mariano's son Anthony is in the foreground with Mariano on his right. To the far right in the photograph is Tony's future wife Mary. The photo - below left - is Mariano reading the paper in the backyard of the Sandusky Street home in 1944.

Our American Name

All of the Iannarino brothers used the American name of "Henry" in the United States. If you visit the North Side Catholic cemetery in Pittsburgh, you will find the burial stones of all but one of the Iannarino brothers. Mariano's stone is engraved with the name "Henry" although Mariano never legally changed his name. Saverio, the youngest brother, and Pietro both have the name "Iannarino" engraved on their stones. Antonino's stone is engraved with the name "Anerino". Francesco, the eldest brother, has a stone engraved with the name "Henry". Giovanni's stone is engraved with the name "Henry". Michele's burial stone has not yet been found; he may have been buried in a different cemetery. Photos of the burial stones which have been located are shown on Mariano's Family page.

Life in America

Mariano made his living peddling produce from a cart with a friend named Spracale (his last name). Sam Spracale decided to go into business for himself and opened the Spracale Wholesale Fruit Company in the "strip district" of Pittsburgh.

We do not know how long the two men had worked together as "hucksters", nor the year when the wholesale business was begun. Sam (his American first name) Spracale asked Mariano to work with him in the wholesale business since Mariano was able to read and write, and Sam Spracale could not. When Sam Spracale died, the produce business was left to his children. The Spracale children were unable to run the business successfully, and the business began to fail.

Mariano and his brother Charles then purchased the business and partnered with one of the Spracale sons, Anthony. Since the name of Spracale was known in the wholesale produce business, Mariano and his brother Charles and partner Anthony Spracale could order produce on credit. Mariano's brother Charles died in October 1946. In 1948 Mariano experienced problems with his business partner, Tony Spracale. As a consequence of the difficulties which the business faced, Mariano bought out Tony Spracale and closed the business. The Spracale Wholesale Fruit Company was no more.

The stories about Sam Spracale are confusing; the stories seem to describe two different scenarios. In one scenario, Mariano worked by himself. In the second scenario, he huckstered with Sam Spracale. Because the stories come from the long ago memories of those who knew Mariano Iannarino and Sam Spracale and not from any legal document, there is no way of knowing if one or both of the stories are true. It may be that each story describes a different period of time.

Mariano had six children and a wife and mother-in-law to support. Through his hard work and business acumen, Mariano's produce business weathered the Depression and the St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936 while many others similar businesses had failed. Mariano had been thrifty and careful with the money he had earned as well. When the produce business was dissolved, Mariano had adequate funds to pay off the business debts and buy out his partner.

A Mystery Deepens

How did Mariano meet Sam Spracale, the man with whom he had worked for so many years? Was there any familial relationship? A search of the Ellis Island database has revealed two men with the last name of "Spracale" traveling to Pittsburgh. The first of these men was a Stefano Sfragale, age 34, and his wife Agostina, arriving in New York on April 15, 1896. "Sfragale" is the Sicilian spelling of the name; "Spracale" is the Americanized version. A search on that name on the Termini Imerese database produced a marriage record. Stefano Sfragale married Agostina Longo on December 30 1890. The second record from Ellis Island is for a Salvatore Spragale from Termini Imerese, arriving in New York on October 8, 1900. He is unmarried and age 23. Is either of these two men the "Spracale" with whom our grandfather worked?

The parent's names of the bride Agostina Longo, on the marriage record from Termini, were familiar from previous research -- Antonino Longo and Antonina Balsamo. Mariano's grandparents on his mother's side (Rosaria Longo) were Antonino Longo and Antonina Balsamo. Rosaria Longo's sister Agostina married Stefano Sfragale.

It would appear that Mariano's aunt and uncle by marriage visited Pittsburgh in 1896 before Mariano arrived to work with his father and brothers. Salvatore Spragale arrived in Pittsburgh on October 8, 1900, six years before Mariano arrived. Which man, if either, is the man Sam Spracale? Many Sicilians and other Italians with the given name of "Salvatore" adopted the American name of "Sam", so it is likely that Sam Spracale is Salvatore Sfragale.

The 1920 census records a Sam Spracale living in Pittsburgh on Perrysville Avenue and working as a buyer in the produce yards. On the census record Sam Spracale's age is 42 which correlates with the age of the Salvatore Spragale who immigrated in 1900. No census record can be found for an individual named Stefano Spragale. It is possible that Stefano and his wife Agostina returned to Sicily, or they might have changed their name as many, including our family, did and remained in America under the new name. According to elder family members, the Sam Spracale who lived on Perrysville Avenue was the man with whom Mariano worked. So who is Stefano Spragale and is there a relationship to Salvatore Sfragale?

The name Spracale has several spelling variations-- Spracale, Spragala, Sfragale, Sfragala. The name in America became Spracale, although there are gravestones in the Northside Catholic cemetery with the inscription "Spragale" as well.

Final Years

After ending the association with the Spracale Wholesale Fruit business, Mariano wanted to start his own produce business with his son Anthony as his business partner. Tony was not interested in following in his father's footsteps. So Mariano took a job with the city of Pittsburgh as a night watchman, working at the Northside Market House. Mariano died a few years later in December of 1954.

According to Mariano's son Anthony, such a large number of people attended Mariano's funeral that the police department provided a special escort and closed off a number of streets for the funeral procession to pass. Mariano Iannarino was respected as an honest businessman and a good friend and family man. Mariano Iannarino had helped many people during the Depression, and many of these individuals as well as his family, friends and business associates came to say "goodbye" when Mariano died.

The photo - above left - is the Northside Market house which was demolished in 1965. It is shown courtesy of the Library and Archives Division of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, Pa. The photo is part of the "Historic Pittsburgh" collection and is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Research Library and is accessible through the Carnegie Library's website.

Mariano's Produce Business

There are maps available from the early 1900's which show the Produce Yards and the building where our grandfather worked. According to Tony's wife Mary, Mariano's business was located in a small office in the main Produce Building. To see a real estate map of the entire area, go to the "Historic Pittsburgh" collection at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh website. You will be able to see many maps pertaining to this time period. A search box will allow you to type in "Produce Yards" or "Smallman Street" and you will be directed to the appropriate maps.

The produce station was located in a small triangular building (yellow area in map at right) at 21st Street near Smallman Street. Our grandfather Mariano's business had an office in this triangular shaped building. In the early 20th century, this intersection became the hub of the wholesale produce business in Pittsburgh.

The photograph of the map - above right - is part of the "comprehensive collection of local resources that supports personal and scholarly research of the area available thru "Historic Pittsburgh". The website "Historic Pittsburgh" enables access to historic material held by the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System, the Library & Archives of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, and the Carnegie Museum of Art".

Reflections

Children live only in the present. Their lives revolve around their own immediate needs and their visions of the future with its cycles of birthdays, holidays, school days and vacations. As children we knew that our grandfather was a produce merchant, as he often brought home boxes of fruit to our grandmother's home. We did not know how or why our grandfather came to live in America. The obstacles which Mariano faced while working to provide for his family were never known to us. Once each of us had matured sufficiently to ask the right questions, we began to see our grandfather for the strong and remarkable man he was.

If only there was a way to return to the past, to tell those who have gone before us, how grateful we are for the life which they lived, for the goodness which was given lovingly to us. Did Mariano have a dream for his life? Was he satisfied with the life he had created for himself and his family? None of us will ever know the answers to those and other questions. We know only that every day of the week except Sunday, Mariano went to work before the sun came up and came home as it was growing dark. He never went on vacation or returned to his native land again. Wherever you are now, grandpa, if you are listening, "thank you" from each one of us.

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©2010 Franciene McDonald