la familia del zompo
DESCRIPTION
Autor: Enzo Riley | Tutora: Pilar Gómez | Tema: Immigració, AnglèsTRANSCRIPT
Introduction 2
Main Content: Analyzation of the source material 7
Transcript 9
Father’s Family Tree 41
Familiy history 43
Personal Family Tree 51
The Red Sauce Recipe 52
Ellis Island: Italian Immigrant Experience 55
Conclusions 59
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
My family’s story begins in San Benedetto del Tronto with the birth of the man that
would start the Delsener family, Eugenio del Zompo on the 13 of March, 1868.
Eugenio was raised in the recently unified Italy (unified just seven years prior to his
birth) along with his three brothers, named Nicolas, Joseph and Dominic as well as his
three sisters, Leticia, Angelina and Julia. It wasn’t until the year 1884, when he was a
mere sixteen years old, that Eugenio set off to seek his own fortune in the United States
of America.
Along with a man called Peter Del Signore, Eugenio was hired almost immediately after
their arrival to go pick fruit in North Carolina, a job he held for approximately two years.
It was during these two years that Eugenio went to “Miss Murphy’s”, a school where he
was given the name Charles Delsener, as he did not know how to write his own name
and the teacher wrote it down as such.
However one day there was a murder in the plantation they worked in, and the two
decided to run away and follow the train tracks. It’s a family legend and joke that
Eugenio and Peter were the murderers and that’s why they had to leave so abruptly
after their co-worker’s death, but there is no proof to these claims and they are just
speculation.
Eugenio followed the train tracks until he arrived at Hudson Falls, New York, which at
that time was called Sandy Hill.
Once he got settled in his new home, someone ( It’s not clear who) took a liking to
Eugenio and bought him a peanut stand. After a short period of selling fruit and roasted
44
Family History
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
peanuts, he was offered the opportunity to take over the business, and with help from a
local family the Dwyers who rented him a store-front space, and a man named Sigwain
that taught him how to make ice-cream and candy, he got his first proper business, a
“Soda Fountain” (Ice cream parlour) all set up and running.
A few years later, in the mid 1890’s, Eugenio’s first wife named Maggie, ran off with
another man, divorcing Eugenio. Nobody knows where Maggie and her lover escaped
to but it was a hard blow for Eugenio.
A few years after this drama, at the turn of the century, Eugenio took a holiday back to
Italy to see his family. It was back in his hometown that he saw his future wife, Irma
Sorge, walking down the street and fell for her instantly.
However, the path to love was not straightforward. Irma
was already engaged at the time to a man named Silvio,
who was conveniently in China at the time when
Eugenio met Irma. Eugenio immediately asked his sister
Leticia to go and speak to Irma’s family to arrange a
wedding. This was a difficult request for Irma’s family,
on one hand, they knew Eugenio was a divorced man
and couldn’t get married in a church in Italy.
On the other hand, they knew Eugenio had enough
money to take care of her, so she went back to America
45
Family History
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
with Eugenio. ( she also brought along her brother and cousin, but they didn’t stay for
long).
And so they arrived in America and were married in New York City Hall, on October
24th 1903, ten days before Irma’s birthday. Unlike most Italian immigrants of that time,
they chose not to stay in New York City, and moved back to Sandy Hill to run the soda
fountain.
In the following years their five children were born, Lucia (Lucy) on the 13 of April 1905,
Philomena (Minnie) on the 26 of June 1906, Antonio (Tony) on the 21 of May 1908,
Ercole Vincenzo (Ackley) was the only child not born in the USA, he arrived in San
Benedetto del Tronto during a trip in the month of August of 1909. Their last child, Silvio
(Zippy) was born on the 24 of November back in Hudson Falls (the town had only just
changed it’s name from Sandy Hill to Hudson Falls earlier that year).
The trips to Italy were cancelled for three years after
Ercole’s birth, out of fear that Eugenio would have been
drafted to go and fight, as part of his country’s colonial
ambitions. It was at that time that the Italian government
had begun to occupy Libya and start the Italo-Turkish War.
The First World War began only two years later, making
travelling to Italy an impossibility once again until it became
stabilized by peacetime in the early 1920’s.
46
Family History
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
The Del Zompo/Delseners lived happily in Hudson falls for the first two decades of the
century, working the ice-cream parlour, which expanded into a restaurant after WWI. All
of the Delsener children worked in the family business as well as attending local schools
during these early years of their life, effectively assimilating into American society.
47
Family History
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
In 1925 however everything changed again when Irma decided she was homesick
wanted to move back to Italy. To do so, Eugenio had to sell his business and send
money to his wife and children in Italy, while he remained in the US.
The family travelled on the largest ship of the time, the SS Majestic, from New York to
Paris and took a train through the Swiss Alps into Italy. The conditions in which they
took this journey were horrendous, they travelled during the winter and the train’s water
froze, meaning they had no water to drink or wash in.
In fact when they arrived, the Italians hung out flags to greet them and their return from
the ‘new world’ caused a sensation. It was the first snowy winter since 1900, which the
locals, blamed on the “Americans” stating they had brought the bad weather with them.
Their bad start in Italy was only the beginning of their problems, as Eugenio sent over
money, Irma’s family refused to sign over the house to her, beleiving that Eugenio was
much torcher than he actually was. As well as refusing her the deeds to her rightful
property, they gambled away Eugenio’s money, using up every last penny. Over and
above the financial problems, things were complicated further by their realisation that
they missed America and it’s ways of life and greatly disliked the more conservative
lifestyle in Fascist Italy. (Mussolini had just recently taken full control of the Italian
Parliament and had the renowned socialist Giacomo Matteotti assassinated a year
earlier). This culture clash between the Delseners and their Sorge relatives eventually
came to a head ( Minnie and Lucy were even insulted for wearing sleeves dresses that
48
Family History
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
the Italians considered inappropriate ) and after a miserable 13 months of living with no
money and being criticized for their American lifestyle, the Delseners once again
departed Italy for US, this time with no money and no family business to return to.
Instead of Hudson Falls, the family decided to move to the big city, New York City.
From the Bronx, to Park Avenue, the
Delseners moved around 12 times over the
next couple of years, and Eugenio set up
several shops. It was however a hard time to
be running any business, due to the
desperation many suffered during the Great
Depression which deeply affected the
American people of the thirties. Eugenio struggled with several robberies at his stores,
and the harsh treatment given by his banker, who refused to loan him a single cent
even though Eugenio had proven himself a capable business man.
Another family story worth mentioning was how the boys of the family very narrowly
avoided being sent of to fight in the Pacific theatre of World War II as part of the 69th
Regiment ( curiously, an Irish Heritage Unit ) until Lucy went to argue with the military
49
Family History
! Family information extracted from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analyzation of sources )
! Historical information extracted from the Batxillerat Història del món contemporani, Vicens Vives.
! Photos from family archives
officals about letting them stay, luckily Lucy succeeded in keeping the boys
home. Not even Lucy was quite sure how she managed that!
Before finally setting down in Astoria, Queens, to set up a smaller candy shop
(which was also robbed 3 times over ), Eugenio and Irma had been constantly on the
move. Finally after decades of turmoil and hard work they settled into life in this vibrant
New York Italian neighbourhood and it had become clear that they, like so many other
immigrants before and after them, had become part of
the great American melting pot of cultures. Their
children married into other families, and other cultures
and as time went on, the Italian language was replaced
completely by English. In my own paternal line , their
sone Ercole married Ethel Klein who came from a
Jewish family that traced its roots back to Hungary,
expanding the multicultural aspect that has been part of
the Delsener legacy since 1884 when Eugenio
embarked on his first journey.
50
Family History
1. Photo of Irma’s spoon from family archive 2. The red sauce has been served backstage after concerts in Madison Square Gardens, NYC by my
Grandmother and great Uncle who both worked in the music business. 3. Photo of food from stock photo archives 4. Recipe extracted from La Cucina Del Zompo
As I mentioned in the introduction, food has always been a defining aspect of our family
from mixing the drinks at the Soda Fountain in upstate New York, to preparing dinner for
the family.
Every family has that one family dish that is passed on through the generations. In my
family, this dish was the Red Sauce (a.k.a. the Del Zompo
Red Sauce).
Of course, as most family traditions go, some say it is
done one way, and the others will say it’s made in a
completely different way.
From it’s humble origins in Eugenio and Irma’s kitchen, to
being served to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Paul
McCartney and the Rolling Stones2, there are many
different versions of how to prepare this family classic.
For this project however, I have included the recipe as it’s
featured in La Cucina Del Zompo , a cookbook of family
recipes that my parents made back in 2011.
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Red Sauce Recipe
1. Photo of Irma’s spoon from family archive 2. The red sauce has been served backstage after concerts in Madison Square Gardens, NYC by my
Grandmother and great Uncle who both worked in the music business. 3. Photo of food from stock photo archives 4. Recipe extracted from La Cucina Del Zompo
54
Red Sauce Recipe
! Photo from http://www.everyculture.com/ ! Original ship manifest from Ellis Island Museum Archives
Historical Information from : ! http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/usim_wn_noflash_5.html ! The Tenement Museum of New York ! Family History from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of Analysis of sources ).
Ellis Island is one of New York City’s 3 islands and is located in the Upper New York
Bay, just north of Liberty Island. Roughly nine tenths of the island’s landmass was
created with landfill, and all parts of the island that were added after the original
compact are currently under the jurisdiction of New Jersey rather than New York since
1998. The island covers 11.1 hectares of land of which only 1.3 ( being the original
landmass ) belong the city of New York. It was the main entrance to the country for
most immigrants, and over 5 million Italians passed through there when upon arrival in
the US.
Between 1900 and 1915, 3 million Italians immigrated to America through Ellis Island,
representing the majority of all immigrants during that period of time. These immigrants,
mostly artisans and peasants, represented all regions of Italy, but mainly came from,
Southern Italy which was by far the poorest region in the country, due to the economy
still being primarily agricultural and not industrial.
Though the majority of Italian immigrants were farm laborers, a small population of
craftsmen also immigrated to the United States. They comprised less than 20% of all
Italian immigrants and enjoyed a higher status than that of the farm workers. The
majority of craftsmen were also from the South and could read and write; they included
carpenters, bricklayers, masons, tailors, and barbers.
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Ellis Island: Italian Immigration
! Photo from http://www.everyculture.com/ ! Original ship manifest from Ellis Island Museum Archives
Historical Information from : ! http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/usim_wn_noflash_5.html ! The Tenement Museum of New York ! Family History from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of Analysis of sources ).
These immigrants mostly lived in poor conditions, the majority living in overcrowded
tenement buildings, where windows were a luxury and tuberculosis ran rampant among
the neighborhoods that had poor sanitation and
ventilation.
Since there was such a large influx of Italians, they
became a major part of America’s workforce,
especially when it came to the mining business (with
textile taking second place ).
This was the reality for the vast majority of
Italian immigrants from the dawn of the
century, but the Delseners were an
anomaly. Eugenio had arrived years before
the mass immigration from Italy, and never
intended to expatriate back home.
Furthermore, when the family passed
through Ellis Island in 1908, they did not
57
Ellis Island: Italian Immigration
! Photo from http://www.everyculture.com/ ! Original ship manifest from Ellis Island Museum Archives
Historical Information from : ! http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/usim_wn_noflash_5.html ! The Tenement Museum of New York ! Family History from Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of Analysis of sources ).
have their name changed like so many others before them.
The transition from Del Zompo to Delsener was years before, when Eugenio was
called Charles Delsener by his American school teacher, Miss Murphy.
Another important difference between my family and the majority of Italian
immigrants was that, from the start they were fully immersed in American culture,
becoming assimilated into the system and even adopting English as their first
language. This was not so for the majority of Italian Americans, who grouped
together in little communities where they would only speak Italian and continue
living as they would have back in Europe (Little Italy, New York is a prime example
of this).
58
Ellis Island: Italian Immigration
My final conclusions are varied as each of the objectives led to different results.
My first objective, the most personal one, was to analyze, order and redact the primary
sources of information that I had, including Minnie and Lucy’s interview, old photos and
a family cookbook as well as searching for secondary sources from museums archives
and official immigration documents.
This first objective has been successful and been fully completed as part of the natural
progress of the project.
In transcribing the interview, gathering the family stories, fact checking the different
versions and analyzing pictures, my first objective to create a fully fledged narrative of
Eugenio’s family journey, became a reality. I was able to create a clear overview of their
assimilation into American culture and to define for the first time, a proper chronological
order to the events that occurred during their travels and lives. For the first time, my
family’s history of immigration has been formally collected, written down and analyzed
to fit into the historical context of that era.
However ,my second objective, the more general one, to explore the Delsener’s story
in the larger context of the majority experience of Italian immigration has not come to a
conclusive answer but has nonetheless created a broader understanding of my own
family history.
After reading the information gathered from the family stories, visiting the Tenement
Museum in New York, and a lot of online research using the Ellis Island Archives and
New York City public library archives, it seems that the Delseners stand apart from the
majority of Italian immigrants of their time for a number of reasons.
60
Conclusion
Firstly, they had already been settled in America for over a decade before the mass
influx of Italians to the US. They changed their name on their own account rather than
through a mistranslation by immigration officers at Ellis Island and they embraced the
American culture and language, speaking English at home and refusing to live in purely
Italian enclaves such as New York’s Little Italy.
Perhaps the more interesting conclusion comes back again to a personal perspective as
now the fifth generation of a family that seems destined to keep crossing the ocean
between America and Europe. As an immigrant myself to Catalonia, I also, just like my
ancestors find my experience to be outside the normal immigrant experience as my
family came to Barcelona for cultural rather than economic reasons. Unlike my
ancestors though we have retained our first language along side the new ones we have
acquired as part of our new culture. In researching my family’s history I have come to
view my own experience as part of an ongoing legacy that will only expand as each new
generation finds their own path in whichever part of the world they choose to settle.
List of References:
! Minnie and Lucy’s interview ( see part one of the Analysis of the sources ) ! Oral family stories ! http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/usim_wn_noflash_5.html ! www.ellisisland.org ! The Tenement Museum of New York ! La Cucina Del Zompo cookbook ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_American ! Photographies provided by family archives
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Coclusion