Pt 4: From Italy to America: The Fight for a New Beginning
The Story of Filomena (Corbo) Frascone (part 4 of 4)
This is the story of the SISTER of my great grandmother — my great, grand Aunt.
Catch up with part one, part two and part three, if you missed them.
Filomena & Luigi’s Mission
Most immigrants moved “up to the hill” as soon as they were able to afford to do so, but a handful stayed in the hovels of Swede Hollow for many years including Luigi and Filomena. The lure of renting a home with electricity, running water, better and closer access to schools for the children and to local shops did not outweigh the desire to save as much money as possible so they could send for loved ones. During those 13 years, Filomena and Luigi made it their personal mission to bring over from Italy as many loved ones as they could. Filomena took in boarders to their home to help contribute to the costs. Aside from sending money and advice, they would meet friends and family at the depot, take them into their home where they would have a safe place to stay and food to fill their bellies until they were able to secure employment on the railroad and eventually get their own place to stay.
A common Americanization of the name Filomena is Florence and there is evidence that she went by this name in census data, city directories, and some legal documents. The family story is that Florence died in the early 1930s, from the effects of ether, following an appendectomy. Filomena’s death certificate confirms that she did in fact die post-op on 08 Sept 1931. She was just shy of her 47th birthday.
Luigi died seven years later after being hit by an automobile. The accident was briefly mentioned in the newspaper with his name incorrectly noted as Luciano. He died 05 Nov 1938.
There is conflicting information on his year of birth. Several U.S. Census’ record his birth as 1874. His death certificate says 1875 and his grave marker says 1872. He was between 63-66 years old when he died. He was buried next to his wife at Calvary Cemetery. Both his death certificate and his grave marker use the name “Louis” which is a common Americanization for Luigi.
Luigi and Filomena sacrificed much to help their families and friends from Benevento have an opportunity at a better life away from the turmoil in Italy. Together they helped bring countless people including Filomena’s younger sister (and my great grandmother) Guiseppa Corbo (known as Josephine in America) who arrived in 1920. She would marry a fellow named Antonio Corbo (same last name, no relation), a friend that Luigi had helped to immigrate in 1913.
And that is (at least in part) how I came to be in Minnesota. Sadly, although it would be wonderful to be able to visualize what Filomena and Luigi looked like, there are no known photographs.
Read how I was able to debunk a fun story in the family lore about Luigi moving the family to St. Paul, Minnesota instead of Sao Paulo, California!
Listen to some of the research challenges that went into uncovering the story of my great grandaunt and great granduncle!
More more more.