Pt 1: From Italy to America: The Fight for a New Beginning
The story of Filomena (Corbo) Frascone (a story in four parts)
This is the story of my great grand Aunt — the SISTER of my great-grandmother.
Part One: Filomena’s Parents Agree to Say Goodbye
On 5 October 1884, when Maria Luigia Sarracco and her husband Dominicoantonio Corbo had their first child, the Kingdom of Italy was in a state of unrest. Probably they felt blessed and happy to have a healthy daughter despite the chaos of an unstable government, natural disasters and high taxes. No doubt, though, it weighed on their minds that a future in Southern Italy for baby Maria Filomena would be unsure at best, and unlikely at worst.
Fleeing an increasingly unfair semi-feudal state that held little in the way of opportunity, many men left Southern Italy for America where the Industrial Revolution meant lots of available jobs in factories. Most left with the intention of sending money back to their families and planned to eventually return to Italy themselves when the land recovered from the drought and farming would be fruitful again. Perhaps Dominicoantonio had thought of leaving his new family too, but for reasons we will never know, he did not.
As the years went on, more children were born and Domincoantonio most likely found himself needing to travel by foot further and further to find work. Months would go by before he’d be able to return home to his wife and children. In the best of circumstances parents worry for their children and the circumstances were far from best. He worried about the future of his family and what kind of lives they would have. Undoubtedly that is why in 1905 when Luigi Frascone asked for Filomena’s hand in marriage with the plan of immediately immigrating to America, Dominicoantonio agreed.
Luigi Frascone’s family was from Fragneto L’Abate, Benevento, which is a town less than an hour’s walk from Fragneto Monforte where Filomena lived with her parents and siblings. Luigi’s brother Nicola had immigrated to Minnesota earlier in 1905 and was working for the railroad. Working for the railroad would be much more secure than an over-taxed tenant farmer in Italy, even one with the wine-making skills Luigi was propertied to have. Nicola was said to be living alongside a beautiful creek with views resembling their home-land, only a short walk from his job. Luigi’s brother had offered temporary shelter for him and his bride should they decide to make the journey. They’d be able to work, raise children among other Benevento Italians and be free of the political turmoil, disease and draught.
The promises of a better life for their daughter surely made Luigia and Dominicoantonio feel good, but saying goodbye forever to their first-born child was likely heart-breaking.
Wonderful insight.