 |
|
|
Luigi's Marriage
By Jim Colombo
Click here if you'd like to exchange critiques
Copyright 2001 Jim Colombo
In 1910 when he was nineteen my father's father Luigi left the small town
of Torbigo, which lay at the foot of the Italian Alps near Lake Como, and went on
an adventure to America with his older cousin Tilio. They traveled by train to
Genoa and sailed on a three-mast canvas sail freighter that stopped at London
before going to New York City. It took a month to travel from Genoa to New York
City. Midway in the Atlantic they encountered a storm and they became very sick
They arrived weak with little money and stayed with Tilio's cousin Paulo lfor a
week to get their strength back. Paulo lived in a small apartment and worked at
an Italian grocery store. He bought salami, Italian sausage, and pasta so Luigi
and Tilio could regain their strength.
Tilio and Luigi found jobs unloading ships on the docks of New York and
worked two or three days a week for a month. They saved their money and
bought train tickets to Chicago. From Chicago they went south to Bush, Illinois, a
tent town for coal miners. Luigi and Tilio worked in the coal mines for ten years
and saved their money. Tilio went to Petaluma, California and one the same day
bought a ten-acre ranch and got married. He raised chickens and rabbits, and
he and his wife raised three sons. Luigi grew up on a farm and had no intentions
of becoming a farmer, so he stayed in Bush. He wrote a letter to his uncle in
Torbigo and asked how much it would cost to have a wife sent to him. His uncle
replied after a month that it would cost $200, the price of a ticket and a wedding
dress. His uncle had picked a healthy young lady for Luigi, and sent a picture of
Givona. The uncle asked for a recent picture of Luigi to give Givona. Luigi was
thirty and bald, so he sent a picture of himself when he was twenty-three with
hair. Two months passed and Luigi received a letter from Paulo informing him
that his bride was in New York City with him, and she would arrive in Bush in one
week.
It was September 1920 and Luigi received a letter from Tilio explaining
how good life and the opportunities were in California. The next week Luigi’s
bride arrived wearing a red hat and a white dress. He had a picture of Givona
and wore his blue suit and gray hat, and had a bouquet of flowers for her. The
train arrived on time at noon and a young, frail, lady wearing a red hat
approached Luigi, looking surprised. They spoke a dialect of Italian that was
typical of their region. She was confused and asked where the young Italian man
was Luigi was confused and asked where Givona was. He had spent $200 for
a healthy lady, not a frail girl. She explained that her sister Givona had changed
her mind at the last minute, and she, Emma, who was seventeen, had come
instead. She asked Luigi how old he was, and he replied thirty. She showed
Luigi the picture he had sent, and he told her that was seven years ago.
He had spent $200 dollars for a bride, and Emma wanted to come to
America. They were married the next day. A son was born nine months later
in their coal miner’s shack. Tilio continued to send letters about the good weather
and opportunity in California. The coal dust was starting to affect Luigi’s health,
and Emma was three months pregnant with their second child when they left for
California with two suitcases and hope. They lived in an apartment in the
Mission District of San Francisco on York and 20th Streets, near the county
hospital. Luigi worked for Charles Carney Construction Company as a laborer
for twenty years. They bought a house on Cortland Street in 1948 when Luigi
had a job with the city of San Francisco as a gardener. He rented a lot on the
corner and grew vegetables and raised white rabbits with red eyes. He sold the
rabbits and vegetables at the Farmer’s Market every Saturday. When I was eight
I spent a summer with my grandparents tending the garden, feeding the rabbits,
and going to the Farmer's Market with my grandfather at dawn.
My grandparents met one day, married the next day, and remained a
loving couple for thirty-seven years until my grand mother died in 1957of heart
failure at fifty-four. She had scarlet fever when she was eleven and it had
damaged her heart. The coal dust and hard life caught up with my grandfather
ten years later. He died slowly of cancer after a year of suffering.
I sometimes wonder what it was like traveling to a new country, not
knowing the language, the customs, not having a job, or a place to live, knowing
only what someone looked like when he was twenty-three or expecting an
older sister whose picture was flattering. I wonder if I would have taken the
chance to come to America, work in the coal mines, and marry my fiancée’s
younger sister. Luigi knew he was off to America for adventure, but he never
planned on such an adventure.
end:jpc
