The Story of Eliseo and Mary Lucciola

as remembered by my brother Gabriel R. Micchelli
09-12-2023  

 

Heritage and Pedigree of the Lucciola Family

This is the story of my maternal grandfather’s immigration experience coming from Italy to the United States America in 1918. Like tens of millions of other Europeans, he came through Ellis Island. The colloquialism “coming through” seems appropriate because he was like a baby being born, coming through the birth canal, not knowing what would happen next or where he was going. Tens of millions of immigrants’ stories are similar. In those days they came by ship. Ellis Island was the birth canal through which the immigrant passed checkpoints and waited to be born into new life, a life of freedom and opportunity in the United States of America.

How I heard this Story

I would ride my bicycle on the warm summer days in July of 1968, down my street to the corner. Once I turned that corner, I was out of sight of my home at 101 Forest Street. I’d ride down a long hill to the busy cross street of Union Avenue where I would make a right turn and ride on the sidewalk for a few long blocks until I reached EL Cleaners on Union Avenue near Joralemon Street - another busy thoroughfare. Joralemon Street was named after one of Belleville’s founding families from the early 18 century.

I’d kickstand my Stingray bike on the sidewalk and visit my grandfather - who I called Popa. I’d watch him sow and press suits and wait on customers. When times were slow, I’d ask him things. Many things. What it was like when he was my age. How old he was when he came to the US. What mom was like when she was a young girl.

Most kids my age had heroes who were sports figures and astronauts. My heroes were businessmen like my grandpa and my dad and his brothers and sister. Dad had five other brothers and a sister in the hairdressing business. My paternal grandfather, the original Gabriel, passed away when my dad was four years old of an unknown illness. My grandfather Gabriel’s brother Nicholas looked after his brother’s young family. When Joe, Nick and Gabriel came home from WWII in 1944 and 1945, their Uncle Nick set them up in hairdressing school and afterwards, brought them into this hairdressing salon in Newark’s busy and bustling downtown. Once employed at Micchelli Hairdressing, Joe, Nick, and Gabriel joined their other brothers, Louis, Anthony and Michael, and their sister Philomena. Also in this gaggle of Micchelli hairdressers was Louis’ son, another Gabriel, named after his grandfather. The two youngest hairdressers in the shop were 18 year old Gabriel, Louis’ son and 22 year old Gabriel, my dad – both named after the same man.

Enough about the Micchelli family for now. Let’s get back to my Papa. My mom was Papa’s only daughter. Papa and grandma Mary raised their daughter Louise in Belleville, on the other side of town from where we lived. Grandma died when I was a toddler - before I could know her. Papa came to live with us after grandma passed and he was like a 2nd father to Barbara and me. I don’t remember a time without Papa being there. Papa and I played a little, but we talked a lot when I was a young boy. Papa’s life was his tailor shop and his daughter Louise and all of us. He and dad would talk about business along with mom. When dad left Uncle Nick’s salon in Newark, he and brother Michael opened their own salon. When dad finally went on his own, Papa gave dad confidence and was a valuable sounding board.

Papa had a relationship with a woman from Brooklyn. Her name was Yetta. She was a Jewish lady who escaped Germany just before WWII and was a great dancer according to Papa. Papa would take the train to meet Yetta on the weekends and they would go dancing. She worked at the Knickerbocker Toy Company in New York City. The name 'Knickerbocker' was derived from the nickname for the citizens of New York in reference to the baggy trousers (knickers) that the original Dutch settlers wore. Yetta came to our house for holiday dinners and once we all went to New York City to meet her and her son for dinner. She was fun and funny and was the only grandmother that I ever knew, as both of my grandmothers had passed away before I ever knew them.

The story that follows is as I heard it in bits and pieces when I was 11 years old from my grandfather, Eliseo (Eddie) Lucciola, in the back of his tailor shop on warm July afternoons in 1968.

The Story Begins in Cassino Italy

Eliseo was startled awake one morning in his small bed in Cassino. He had made his decision concerning a letter he received from his older brother Serafino, postmarked America. Serafino had left Italy a few years before for America. He had been sending money. A few weeks ago, a letter came from Serafino addressed to Eliseo. It said,

In Italian,“Vieni in America dove ho un lavoro per te nella mia sartoria. La vita è bella qui. Arriva attraverso i servizi di immigrazione di New York City a Ellis Island, USA. Fammi sapere il nome della nave che prendi da Napoli a New York, e ti incontrerò nel luogo designato vicino a Ellis Island.”

In English, “Come to America where I have work for you in my tailor shop. Life is good here. Arrive through New York City Immigration Services at Ellis Island, USA. Let me know the name of the ship you take from Naples to New York, and I will meet you at the designated place near Ellis Island.”

Eliseo and his bride, Mary

That letter had been rattling around in Eliseo’s head for weeks. He had never thought about going to America before, but the letter forced Eliseo to look at life in his village. “What kind of life is there for me here in Cassino?”, he thought.

He was 17 years old and was apprenticed to a tailor in Cassino for little wages, to learn a trade. He made extra money by chopping wood for the townspeople in Cassino with his small axe and pick. If he left for America, his younger brother, 12-year-old Elisia, would take over chopping wood for money to buy the family provisions such as flower, eggs, salt, and bread. The cow and their little garden his mother tended supplied milk and enough produce to sustain them.

Mother’s thoughts - and becoming “American”

Eliseo had spoken to his mother about Serafino’s letter and asked her what she thought of him leaving Italy for America. She said, “Italy is old, and the plight of the people hadn’t changed in 1,000 years, and may not change for another 1,000, but America was young and growing.” It was his decision to make, and his alone. She would support whatever he decided to do.

Eliseo thought about what his life would be like in Italy and what his life could be in America. America had gained a reputation during WWI as a powerhouse. People in America were free and not restrained by the circumstances of their birth, or by a repressive government, or by the vendettas of the powerful Mafia who wielded power in Italy. Now with the war over, Eliseo wanted to be free to do what he wanted to do. Go where he wanted to go. He wanted to get married someday and for his family to have a better life than what Italy could offer. He wanted liberty. In that moment, thinking about what we now call “the American dream”, he became an American.

The ship to American sailed from Naples, which was a few days walk from Cassino. He took what money he had and set out for Naples to find work to earn money to sail to America. He left early in the morning and walked all day. The first night he spent just off the road sleeping in a field near some bushes. The next night he slept in an empty barn near a farmhouse. The following day he arrived walking into Naples. It was a large city for the young man who grew up on a small plot of land, in a tiny house, on the outskirts of Cassino.

Naples is the sprawling regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan. This ancient city had been the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilia. Before that it was the capital of the Kingdom of Naples, and before that it was the capital of the Duchy of Naples. Founded by Greeks in the first millennium BC. Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world – and it looked every day of it. The city was filthy.

By contrast, the ancient bucolic village of Cassino lies at the foot of Mount Cassino, the sight of the great monastery of Saint Benedict. A city of medieval origins, Cassino is scarred by multiple battles and ancient wars. Now a peaceful village. Eliseo had once climbed the steep hillside and approached the ancient wall of the monastery only to be brushed away by the monks who tended the garden outside the walls. Before descending he stopped and took in the grand view from the top of the mountain overlooking his village. He felt like a rich man surveying his lands. He thought of his father.

His father had died when Eliseo was eight years old of an unknown ailment. His mother raised three sons and after his father had died, kept them fed and clothed by taking in sewing in the village for the tailor who was Eliseo’s master and teacher. Before leaving for America, Serafino had chopped wood and done odd jobs to help feed his brothers and mother.

Eliseo’s mother was funny and chatty and wise, and always gave him and his brothers good advice. He always felt good about things and confident in himself whenever they would talk. She smiled while listening to Eliseo. When he told her he was leaving Cassino. She told Eliseo that he was capable of doing great things and should never give up. She reminded him as she had many times, that he was descended from the same great Italian people that had produced the likes of Leonardo DaVinci, Christopher Columbus, Galileo and Michelangelo.

Earning money in Naples

Eliseo soon got a job serving coffee in a little shop in downtown Naples and slept at the top of the stairs in a small room. The next week he got a job waiting tables in a better restaurant such that he could stay at a nearby farmhouse with a family who had a spare room. Then one day he ran into Antony, a 2nd cousin about the same age who was also working to earn money to sail to America. They pooled their money and rented one room to save faster. Within a few months they had saved enough for their fare to America. They didn’t think it necessary to purchase grand accommodations onboard. As soon as they had enough for the cheapest fare and a little more to get started in America, they left on the next ship. Eliseo and Antony did not know how far away America was or how long it would take to get to New York or what would happen when they arrived. Antony had a cousin in New York City and Eliseo had his brother to meet him when he got to Ellis Island. Rumors of what America was like came from returning travelers who had all sorts of differing stories, which Eliseo discounted. They were returning from America or somewhere else.

Off to America

Before they boarded the ship for New York City, Eliseo mailed a letter to his brother containing the name of his ship. The letter would probably sail with them on the same ship. They boarded the ship and found their small cabin that they would share with eight other people. Breakfast and dinner were provided by the crew who served it on large tables in a larger interior cabin of the ship. Breakfast was an egg at various degrees of boiled hardness, two pieces of bread and coffee. Dinner was stew with some meat and vegetables.

The last day of September 1919 was a beautiful end of summer day in Naples. A great day to embark. By the next evening the ship had sailed to the point where it was directly between Marsala in Sicily, Cagliari in Sardinia, and Bizerte in Tunisia. The ship at that position was 100 miles from each city. Each was over the horizon and out of sight. The Mediterranean is a vast and open sea. Eliseo and Antony were amazed at the vastness and wondered how the ancients traversed it in small wooden boats. It would take another four days to reach Gibraltar. The Rock was clearly visible as was the African city of Puerto de Ceuta, the furthest southern outcrop of Spain.

After sailing through the straight they lost sight of the Rock of Gibraltar. Then leaving behind the last site of land, the city of Tangier in Morocco, the vast stormy Atlantic opened up. The next two weeks were open water, rocking seas and seasickness. The last land that was visible before reaching New York was the Acores Islands. The ship sailed between Mt Caldaria on the little island of San Petro and Ponta Delgada on the greater Isle of Saint Miguel. The storms of early October sent the ship tossing in the North Atlantic for what seemed like an eternity, actually 18 more days at sea. During that time Eliseo and Antony were very seasick. A fellow passenger gave them cigarettes to calm their stomachs. Smoking only made their heads hurt but after a while the headaches went away, and smoking cigarettes passed the time. Dying of lung cancer 53 years later was the last thing on Eliseo’s mind.

Approaching NYC and the Statue of Liberty

Every morning Eliseo would come up on deck to see the sun rise over the stern of the ship. It had been heading east since leaving Gibraltar but on this morning the sunrise was off the starboard beam, his right as he looked toward the bow of the ship. It was steaming north, giving him hope that their journey was coming to an end.

What had started out as an exciting sea adventure had turned into a sickness drenched, dirty, exhausting affair. Antony had been sick with a cold for much of the trip and he was weak and often unable to take care of himself. Eliseo brought him food and kept him warm by sharing his blanket so that Antony would have two when it got cold. Sickness was rampant throughout the passengers and crew.

Finally, the next daybreak after a particularly bad night with Antony, Eliseo came up on deck to see in the distance the two sandy beaches separating the mighty Atlantic from what seemed a safe harbor. These sandy beaches are Sandy Hook in New Jersey and Breezy Point in Long Island. Eliseo didn’t know where he was or where he was going next but was relieved that landing seemed close at hand. Briefly, he had seen the day before, distant beaches as the ship sailed up the coast of New Jersey.

Sailing past the sandy outcroppings on each side, the ship headed straight toward South Beach on Staten Island then came hard to starboard with Seagate off the starboard beam. The ship then pointed directly between what looked like big shoulders of land, those being the Verrazzano Narrows separating Lower New York Bay from Upper New York Bay. Giovanni da Verrazzano an Italian explorer followed his compatriot Columbus, landing on the North American continent’s southeastern shores. He then sailed northward along the coast, just like Eliseo and Anthony did, discovering New York’s lower and upper bays, again just like Eliseo and Anthony. Verrazzano named the narrow entrance to the great river that Henry Hudson would later name after himself.

Once through the Narrows the land slipped back and opened to the bustling Upper New York Bay. Ferryboats and sailing ships and other large ships, garbage scows and cityscapes on both sides of the Hudson River were visible with buildings and people. It was a misty, cool morning and there was so much to look at.

Suddenly, from out of the mist a gigantic woman dressed in green, bronze robes. It was the largest thing Eliseo had ever seen. She is mounted on a stone block pedestal. The woman is lifting a torch in her right hand and carrying a book in her left. She wore a crown of seven points and looked down to welcome newcomers. In confusion and gratitude and awe, Eliseo fell to his knees as he stared at the lady in the harbor. He heard those on the deck say…

In Italian, “Che paese e questo! Avere un tale Colosso nel porto accogliere le persone che vengone a cercare una vita migliore.”

In English, “What a country this is! To have such a colossus in the harbor to welcome people who come to seek a better life.”

Scores of other passengers stood on the deck in stark silent awe at the sight. The lady in the harbor was silent too but if she could have spoken, she would say, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

What a country this is.

The lady has many names. Her official name is “Liberty Enlightening the World”. Some call her “Lady Liberty”. Eliseo didn’t know any of this. He just called her “America”.

Steaming past “America” coming up fast is a small island on which stands a strange looking building with four domed peak spires. But what is that just ahead off the starboard bow? What is that great loud noisy place there. As Governors Island passed there became revealed the tallest structure in this great city of New York - the Brooklyn Bridge and its great gothic spires and suspension cables. By then Antony had come up on deck to see. He and Eliseo had never known such things could exist and here they were all in one place all at one time. The Sun was up now, and the mist had burned off on this October morning a few days before his birthday, October 31, 1918.

Ellis Island

The ship was coming to dock at the island where the unusual building stood. This was Ellis Island. There was another ship docked there as well. And several moored in the harbor. All at once over the loudspeaker, the order was given to, “gather belongings and line up at the gangplank to disembark.” People scurried back to their berths as many languages were spoken on deck. Most people had one or two bags. In all the excitement Eliseo forgot to eat.

What followed was a series of lines and waiting. The great room inside the Immigration Services building was sectioned off by rope lines so that one person or family could come up to the podium at a time. They were asked their name, who they were meeting, their country, region, and town of origin, and how much money they were carrying. The great room was deafeningly loud and chaotic until coming up to the podium. The big official asked these questions in English as the translator put them into Italian for Eliseo. Eliseo had the letter from Serafino who was the person meeting Eliseo. But where would he meet Serafino, and when?

Most of the Italians disembarking that day were from Italy south of Naples. Now Italy had only been unified under one flag since 1861. This period of unification called Risorgimento, was completed and not to everyone’s liking, by 1871 - less than 50 years before. When asked about their country or origin many who lived in the south would state their closest major city as their country of origin. Bari, Cosenza, Naples, Foggia, Palermo, Avelino. There was still some animosity between the peoples of Italy. After all Italy had been living an uneasy peace between its city-states for centuries. The great cities of northern Italy, Roma, Venicia, Milano, and Florenzi, looked down on the poor peasants of southern Italy.

Antony’s Bad News

After the interrogation by the customs official Eliseo and Antony were taken to the infirmary for a medical checkup. Eliseo had a cold but was almost completely over it. Antony had a more serious illness. It could have been smallpox or measles or chicken pox. Eliseo and Antony didn’t know but the USA had a strict prohibition on allowing immigrants into the country with certain diseases. After some discussion by the authorities, it was decided that Antony would have to go back. The two were separated and would only see each other again through glass windowed doors after that. They got a chance to say goodbye before the ship taking Antony back to Italy, sailed. This was a harsh reality that was irrevocable. Eliseo wrote down the return address on Serafino’s letter and told Anthony to write when he got back to Italy.

The ship sailed the next day for Argentina. The shipping line departs Naples for New York then to Buenos Aires before heading back to Naples. It was the shipping line’s responsibility to bring immigrants back if US Customs denied any passenger entry. By the time the ship had reached Buenos Aires Antony was in good health and decided with some encouragement by the shipping lines, to disembark there and make his life in Argentina. The two men would see each other again 45 years later when Antony came to our home in Belleville.

Eliseo was now alone, with only the clothes on his back, a change of clothes, and his letter from Serafino, which was his only link to America and his family. No word came from Serafino to Ellis Island for Eliseo. He wondered how and if he would ever find Serafino from this island of Ellis.

Waiting For Serafino

After a couple of weeks on Ellis Island, as November started to bring on winter, Eliseo was told each morning to board a small boat that would take him to the harbor in Jersey City. Eliseo didn’t want to go to Jersey City. He wanted to go to Orange, NJ where his brother lived. Confused, he got on the boat each day and was delivered to a small outside waiting area at the Jersey City docks, not far from where the boat let him off. He was directed to sit on a set of benches and wait there with other immigrants in a fenced-in area.

November days are clear and chilly, and Eliseo didn’t have a warm coat. The immigrants all sat together to keep warm as they watched hundreds of commuters scurrying around where the immigrants were fenced in. They came out of the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal and walked over to waiting ferries to take them to New York City’s lower Manhattan. Eliseo knew that they were arriving at the big terminal on train cars because he could hear the trains. He could see through the terminal’s open facing doors that scores of locomotives were arriving every few minutes. Ferries went back and forth to New York every few minutes. Trains arrived every few minutes. Hundreds and hundreds of people streamed into New York City. People from New Jersey had to come by train and then traveled by boat to Manhattan every day. What was going on over there?

On the third day sitting on the cold bench on the dock in Jersey City, a few minutes before 6:00 pm, just before boarding the boat back to Ellis Island, Eliseo heard his name called by a familiar voice. It was Serafino! He had just gotten off the train from Orange, New Jersey for the third time that week. He had been following the schedule of the ship and knew approximately when Eliseo would be sitting on that same bench where he disembarked a few years before.

Big smiles. Warm embraces followed by a rebuke by Serafino as to why it took Eliseo so long to arrive. Eliseo complained back to Serafino simply in self-defense as they ran for the train back to Orange New Jersey and Eliseo’s new home. 

Barbara continues the story...

The Story of Mary

While Eliseo was growing up in Italy, Mary Crecco was already in America, but life was not easy for her either. The middle child of three daughters, Mary's mother and father died was she was a child. Her and her younger sister Anna were moved to a orphanage. Her older sister Jenny was already married with children and she could not afford to take her sisters in until they were old enough to work. Mary and Anna struggled in the orphanage but stayed close together to protect and encourage each other. Once they were old enough to move in with Jenny and her husband Carl, they went right to work, also using their sewing skills. Life was hard. Jenny would often buy bones from the nearby butcher to supplement the meals made from the backyard garden. 

Once she was of age, Mary and Eliseo were matched up by family friends and married. They continued to live in the house with Jenny in a top floor apartment. The house was heated by coal and since Eliseo was out for long days working, Mary was left to do all the other chores, including carrying the buckets full of coal from the basement to their apartment. Louise was her only child and she would tell us of her hands being lined with coal dust she could never wash out. Louise would become close to Jenny's daughters, Marge, Connie and Anita.

Eventually Eliseo was able to go into business on his own and they moved to an apartment in Belleville. Since Louise was older, Mary would work with Eliseo, coming home to cook him dinner and then return to work. Louise was often alone. 

When Louise and Gabe married and had their first child (that was me, Barbara), Louise had injured her arm and was unable to care for her. Mary came over and fed the baby and helped care for her while Louise recovered. After that, she would regularly visit, to help Louise with her children and darn Gabe's socks. She loved to play school with her grandchildren. My clearest memory of her was playing school and one time when I slept over her apartment. 

Louise's description of her was "she worked so hard all her life,"  "she was so good" and "she never got a chance to enjoy herself but she was the happiest when she was with her grandchildren!" Sadly she died too soon at the age of 60.