Coming to America... Ship's Passenger List

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Top: Header for La Bretange Passenger List, 26 Jan 1891

Bottom: Detail showing Albertini and Parisi passengers

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Using some of the stories Diane Baldrica told me, and the Albertini name, I was able to locate the Passenger list showing Marina and Antonio Parisi immigration to the United States. I'll detail the passenger list on this blog entry, with the discussion and stoires on the entry after that. I'll also be showing the possible route, the reasons for immigrating and some of the pictures of the ship and of Premione, the village they came from.

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The header states that the manifest, and the entire sailing across the Atlantic, complies with the US Passenger Act of 1882. This Act set conditions for housing passengers, including the height of the deck they could be housed in, the minimum amount of space they must be given, the amount of light and air that had to be on each deck, etc. It greatly helped the immigrants' treatment and accommodations about ship, although it would be still considered crude by our standards today. You can read the Act, transcribed by Borge Solem, on the Norwegian Heritage website: http://www.norwayheritage.com/articles/templates/new.asp?articleid=132&zoneid=21. What is most startling about reading the Act is realizing that many, many ships had had far worse conditions for immigrants that made this Act necessary.

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The Header also states the date of 26 Jan 1891 and that the ship sailed from Havre, France.

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On page 6 of the seven page passenger list are the five people we are most interested in:

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Lines 336 to 340 (respectively)

Constante Albertini, 45, m, journeyman

Annetta Albertini, 24, f, (no occupation listed)

Davide Parisi, 31, m, miner

Mariana Parisi, 34, f, (no occupation listed)

Antonio Parisi, 6y 2m, m, (no occupation listed)

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All are listed as being from Italy with New York as their destination, and for all of them, one additional entry: "Midship Between decks family compartment". This means that they all crammed into a family cabin located between decks in the middle part of the ship. It could also mean literally the middle of the ship, an interior cabin with no port hole. Even now, cruise ship rooms are not spacious unless more monies are paid, and this one held two pregnant women, two men and a small child!

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One other small note: Marina's name is misspelled, an extra "A" being added. Having been Dina all my life, and having most people add an extra "a" when spelling or reading my name and making it into Diana, I can easily see where this happened!

Italians & The Portland Water Works

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This photo was one of the many wonderful one shared with me by the Baldrica family. It shows Joseph Marco Parisi standing in front of one of the Portland reservoirs with some of his family in 1925. From left to right: Pietro Parisi (Uncle Pete), Henry (Hank), Joe Baldrica (Mary's husband), Mary Parisi Baldrica (Joseph's daughter), Marina (his wife) and Joseph Parisi. Notice how jaunty Mary looks in her jodphurs and boots (quite daring and modern in 1925).

The reservoirs and the Portland Water Works were a huge part of the Parisi family history, and Joseph Marco, along with countless other Italians, were a huge part of the early Water Works history. I wanted to explore some of that history in this blog entry.

Portland began construction of 24 miles of pipeline from Bull Run to the city in 1893. This was a HUGE public work project, made larger because the Water Committee also began constructing reservoirs at Mt. Tabor and City (Washington) Park, as well as expanding the water distribution system in the city. Keep in mind that the brush clearing, ditch digging, road building and everything else was done largely by hand. The modern machinery we are used to seeing on our public works projects had not yet been invented. The City of Portland needed labor, and they needed it quick.

At the same time, many events were occurring in Italy that caused the people there to think about looking elsewhere for a better place to live. I'll discuss these in a future blog soon when the topic will be immigration of the Parisi family. By the time these Italians arrived in America, the vast tracts of usable land had been or were being homesteaded. Even though they were farmers in the old country, most Italians did not move to the small farming communities because discrimination was high and they didn't want to be isolated or ignored. The Italians mostly moved into cities and became urbanized, providing the labor for jobs that no one else wanted. Because there were so many of them, discrimination against them was rampant and the wages poor.

I believe Constante Albertini was one of the first from Premione to immigrate to Portland, and secured employment with the Water Works. He probably wrote home about the opportunities he found and encouraged others to follow him. Joseph Marco was one that took him up on the offer, coming to Portland around 1890. According to Anthony Parisi, Joseph Marco's son, the Albertini's were relatives, although he wasn't sure how. My current research does not extend back far enough to show the link (but I'm working on it!). As shown in the previous blog entry, both Constante and Joseph would eventually become foremen leading the Italian crews on Water works projects.

Portland Water Dept. Payroll - Jan. 1903

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Page of Payroll Records for the City of Portland, and close ups:

1) Top: Lines showing all information and signature for C. Albertini and Joe Parisi

2) Middle: Close up showing signatures of C. Albertini and Joe Parisi

3) Bottom: Entire page

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This is one of the great finds we had at the Portland Archives. A big thank you to Brian Johnson, Assistant Archivist, who proved to be a big help (and a great guy too!). I had never seen my Great-Grandfather's signature before -- it always is surreal experience to find something like that.

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I will not be transcribing the whole page, but just the two lines pertaining to C. Albertini and Joe Parisi. In my next blog, I'll talk about the Parisi's, Albertini's, and the Water Works. And, yes, there's a family reason while C. (Constante) Albertini is included.

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My best transcription:

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Name: C. Albertini

Occupation: Foreman, West Portland

Time: 1 month

Rate: $80/month plus car fare

Amount Due: $81.55

Warrant No. 14

Signature Line

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Name: Joe Parisi

Occupation: Sub-Foreman, West Portland

Time: 27 days

Rate: $2.50/day plus car fare

Amount Due: $67.50

Warrant No. 15

Signature line

At this time, Joe was supporting his wife (who was pregnant) and 5 children in a home he had purchased, so he probably also had a mortgage. On $2.50/day. Wow.