Chapter 51
-- Compiled by the Cumberland Women's Club
and Published by the Cumberland Advocate
1874-1974
(used by permission of the Cumberland Advocate)
Donated by Linda Mott
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Reminiscence of 1882-1886
George St. Angelo
Because of an unusual early and severe cold winter, even for Wisconsin, construction work on the railroad had to be delayed until Spring. This "good" news the men received when they arrived at Spooner (Washburn Co.). No job, no money, no friends, the future indeed appeared bleak. I'm not entirely clear at this point. However, my brother Louis recently told me that our dad and two others were approached by a lumberman and were offered a job in a logging camp in the north woods. The pay would be one dollar ($1.00) a day, "room and board". The men took the job, in fact they "jumped" at the chance. The room proved to be a shack built of unmortared logs that offered little resistance to the cold wintry blasts that penetrated the cabin. The "board" consisted most exclusively of salted pork and navy beans. The men were paid in script money to be redeemed for cash after the job of falling trees and cutting them into logs would be completed in the Spring. When the men reached Duluth where the company office was supposed to be located, they discovered that there was no such office or company. The men were swindled out of a hard winter's work. They were broke, they were cold, they were hungry and utterly dejected. It was also their first encounter with exploitation and discrimination that the Italian ethnics were subjected to. Walking along the streets of Duluth muttering and gesticulating in typical Latin fashion, a stranger and an Italian also stopped to talk with the men. To him they unburdened their plight and frustration. The stranger was Savino Palmer. He represented the Di Re Employment Agency in St. Paul. Mr. Palmer got the men a job with the railroad and "staked" them with sufficient cash to live on until the men would receive their first pay. Mr. Palmer was indeed a God sent to those future good American Citizens. But it was summer work only. Therefore, it was about four years before Jennaro could save enough money to pay for transportation that would allow his wife to come to America. She arrived in Spooner about the year 1886. For one year they lived in Spooner where my brother Thomas was born January 13, 1888.
Before
the arrival of his wife, Jennaro and several other Italians that made up
the crew (referred to as the gang) had reached Cumberland. It was there
that they discovered the land could be purchased. Even though the land
was available and upon inspection they discovered that it was wilderness
land. The best plots for sale proved to be cut-over land with a super
abundance
of pine stumps and stones. I am not certain about the price of the land
but it is reasonable to assume that it could not have been more than five
dollars ($5.00) per acre. One obstacle in the way of making purchase was
that the minimum size of the plots available were eighty (80) acres. "Eighty
acres, what will we do with that much land?"
In Italy one to five
acres
was all that the average family could manage or need. Their mode of farming
was gardening. Beside that, who could have had $400.00 to pay for that
much land. The problem was solved. Six of the men pooled their resources
and made a down payment on an eighty (80) acre piece of ground. A healthy
mortgage guaranteed the balance to be paid or the seller would
foreclose.
I understand that the land agents of those early years preferred that arrangement.
It was a safe bet.....foreclosures were profitable. The six men divided
the land among themselves. Father took twenty acres as did Cristofore
Vingnone. The other forty acres was divided
between the other four men whose names are....Joseph
Sammarone, Nicoli
Bucci, Caponi
and Zaccardi.
The last two first names I do not recall.
Many years ago a Milwaukee Newspaper stated that this Italian rural settlement was the first of its kind in Wisconsin and most likely in the United States.
Foot Note: You will notice the original spelling of the Italian names. The second generation more eager to enter into the main stream of American Life and identity, Americanized the names as much as possible and still not lose too much of the original. Santangelo became St. Angelo; Palmiero--Palmer; Donatelli--Donatell; Ricci--Rich; Zappa--Zapp.
This story was taken from the St. Angelo family history in the Cumberland
Library.
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