Sepia Saturday – Baby in the Middle

Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs.

A photograph from my husband’s family features a woman wearing a dark hat with feathers and a white suit with vertical stripes. There is a baby in the middle, but without a hat.

Louis Parlati, Tenna Mamola, Angela Parlati

The photo is of my husband’s great-grandparents and his grandmother – Luigi (Louis) Parlati, his wife Gaetana (Tenna) Mamola, and baby Angela Parlati. Louis immigrated from Italy. Tenna is said to have been the first baby of Italian descent born in the Denison, Texas area. Angela was born in April of 1911 in Houston, Texas, which gives us an approximate date and location. As an adult, Angela worked in the millinery department of a store, yet I don’t recall any photographs of her wearing a hat. Well … probably in wedding photos, but nothing like the above.

In a photograph featuring five generations, the baby above is grandmother to the baby below.

Angela Parlati, Tenna Mamola, Martin, Angelina Siragusa, Joan Loverde (back)

All of the women are looking adoringly at the baby – my husband.

This photograph accompanied an article in a newspaper. Unfortunately, all we have is a photocopy of the article that does not include the photograph; it is undated; and the newspaper is not identified. It was written in 1953, but I can’t find an online copy of the article in full. I wish I could because parts of the copy are unreadable.

The Mamola Family Saga
Tale of Texas Pioneers

 Dallas – The story of the Frank Mamola family of Denison, Dallas and Houston is the story of pioneering, both as immigrants and as Texans.

Frank Mamola came to this country from Italy when he was 18 years of age – back in 1888. He worked a little while in New York and Chicago, in the latter city at a restaurant for 50 cents a day and board, then traveled to the South.

One day when he was in New Orleans, about 3 years after he came to America, he met a ship from Italy and on it were a pretty young 16-year-old girl and her brother, both fresh from Italy. The brother he had known in the old country – the sister he had seen in a photograph supplied by that same brother – so he was introduced to Angelina and in about 3? minutes they were married! Of course, the wedding had family blessings before hand on both sides.

So the Mamola family came to Denison – the first Italians ever to move into that city. When their daughter Tenna was born, she was the first Italian child born in that part of the state.

Mr. Mamola ran a little fruit stand and some of his constant customers were the Indians from across the line of “Indian Territory” as Oklahoma was then called. There were no sidewalks and there wasn’t even a floor in the little shop, the tables sitting on the ground. There were streetcars though, dawn by oxen!

Mrs. Magnolia remembers when P??? Tobin, railroad engineer, drove the first Katy engine out of Denison, making railroad history. She remembers when Carrie Nation visited the town – a wide-open, raw, boom town – and smashed saloon windows up and down the street, her method of direct action again Demon Rum.

She remembers Dr. Acheson of Denison, first mayor and the owner of the first automobile – Model T Ford, of course.

And with all that remembering, Mrs. Magnolia is still well under 60 years of age.

[I interrupt this news article to explain who Mrs. Magnolia is and to add a photograph. Mrs. Magnolia is Lena Mamola Magnolia – sister of Tenna and daughter of Frank Mamola and Angelina Siragusa (the 16-year-old bride). Lena was obviously interviewed for this article and provides much of the detail. Here is a photograph of her wedding to Frank Magnolia. Lena is not wearing a hat. Tenna is seated on the right. Louis is standing right behind his wife Tenna.]

Wedding of Frank Magnolia and Lena Mamola

Mrs. Mamola, who has lived with Mr. and Mrs. Magnolia for more than 20 years – her husband died 20 years ago – also remembers that when she landed in New Orleans, a girl of 16, she saw a Negro for the first time in her life and was panicky for fear Dallas Parrinos, well known in the city, turning people black!

On the ship with Mrs. Mamola – which, by the way took 60 days to make the crossing, while that of Mr. Mamola’s journey took 120 days – were Mr. Sebastian Parrino, father of the Dallas Parrinos well known in the music, restaurant, and ????ing work today. Also on the ???? was Gattuso and F????? ???? – all of whom long ago established families in  Dallas.

The second Italian family to arrive in Denison were the Pasteres and after them Frank Mazzi and his family. Then, Mrs. Magnolia said, they really started coming and she lost count. Denison was growing, ??? building brick stores, sidewalks and paved streets – it was becoming a city.

Nevertheless, when she met Frank Magnolia, she refused to live in Dallas. Her reason?

“They say Dallas is such a big city you could die and your next door neighbor wouldn’t know it. I’m a small town girl.” Frank, who was very much in earnest about marrying his Lena, thereupon went to Denison to live for a time. But having married the gal, he then laid down the law and back to Dallas they came, bringing the whole family with them.

Mrs. Mamola celebrated her ??th birthday recently.

She has three children – Mrs. Magnolia of Dallas and Joe Mamola, also of Dallas, a buyer for 26 years at Sanger Brothers.

Although Mrs. Mamola is now a great-grandmother, her family is not large. The Joe Mamolas have no children, the Magnolias one, Mrs. Ralph Nicosia, Dallas; and Mrs. Parlati has two daughters, Mrs. Joe Loverde and Mrs. Harry Bowles, both of Houston. Between them they have ???? children and Martin Morals (sic) III. This boy begins the 5th generation of the living Mamolas.

Her great-great grandson, is the great-grandson of Mrs. Parlati, the grandson of her daughter, Mrs. Joe Loverde.

A heritage of which anyone can be proud is that of families like this one. From great-great grandfather Frank Mamola, who did not have time to go to school in Italy, but who learned English at night school, to little Martin Morales, III, who some day, who knows, might be President of the United States – or at the very least, a leading Texan, rich in material wealth and in civic service.

Of such is Texas made.

The photo below appears to have been taken on the same day.

Angelina Siragusa Mamola and Mart

Someone wrote on the top left corner of the photo:
Mama Mamola
Mart Morales
5th
Generation in
family

I’ll end with a photograph of the Frank and Angelina Mamola family with their adult children. No one is wearing a hat.

Seated: Frank Mamola and Angelina Siragusa Mamola
Standing: Tenna, Joe, Lena, and John Mamola

This newspaper article provides so many leads for research and back stories! I’m anticipating adding to this story with next week’s prompt.

Whether hot or cold, sunny or raining, it is always hat weather. Put on your traveling hat and visit other participants at Sepia Saturday.

Our Family Stories: JFK – Memories from the Steps and In-laws

I asked all branches of the family to send me their memories of JFK. My memories are here. Memories from the Webber branch of the family are here. Today’s edition are those I received from the Hockensmith family (my steps) and the Morales family (my in-laws).

Frances Hockensmith:

My memory of the JFK assassination is more about me than the “big picture”. I was pregnant, had gone for my doctor appointment in Junction City, KS. for what I hoped was my last appointment before Alice was born. The receptionist (a Mrs. Eisenhower who was the widow of President Eisenhower’s brother Roy, a pharmacist in Junction City), was quite upset and told me as I was leaving that President Kennedy had been shot. We were Lee_Harvey_Oswald_being_shot_by_Jack_Ruby_as_Oswald_is_being_moved_by_police,_1963glued to our little black and white TV for days.

On the following Sunday, after Church and Sunday dinner, I had taken a nap. When I wakened, Bill told me that Jack Ruby had shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald. I just remember the news showing the two shootings over and over. AND—I waited two more weeks for the birth of our daughter, Alice.

I guess the uniqueness of my story is my “connection” with 2 presidents that day.

Morales/Loverde Family:

I’ve pieced together the following from talking to my husband, calling my mother-in-law, emails from my husband’s siblings and a little internet research….

As a Catholic Italian-American family, my husband’s family was very happy about the election of John F. Kennedy as President. The women especially – my husband’s great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother – were quite taken with him.

Kennedy model 2Rick (my husband’s brother) and I remember that Nana (their ggrandmother Tenna Mamola Parlati) had a picture of JFK displayed in her home. My husband, Martin, assembled and painted many a plastic model (mostly airplanes) as a child and made a model of JFK sitting in a rocking chair for Nana. There a few for sale on ebay today – with quite a wide range of prices!

I found these two pictures clipped from the newspaper and glued to cardboard (probably for display purposes) among some of the family memorabilia.
Kennedy newspaperKennedys newspaper

Martin thinks they belonged to his grandmother, Angela Parlati Loverde, or Nana. They were clipped from The Houston Post published Friday, November 22, 1963 – the day of Kennedy’s death. The photos were taken during Kennedy’s visit to Houston on Thursday, Nov. 21st, 1963. Of course, the paper was printed and delivered hours before the shooting in Dallas.

Martin's 4th Grade Class 1963-64

Martin’s 4th Grade Class 1962-63

Both Martin and his sister, Janet, remember walking from the house where Nana and their grandmother and grandfather Loverde lived to Rice University to see President Kennedy. It was September 22, 1962 and JFK was about to give his famous speech to get the country behind him in supporting the space program. Martin was 9 and Janet was 7, so their memories of the day are a little vague. Their mother was with them and possibly his great-aunt Rosie and a couple of other women in the family.

They all remember watching the car driving down Main Street close to Herman Park and into the parking lot at Rice Stadium and watching JFK and LBJ sitting up on the back of the convertible. My husband took a home movie with their 8mm camera, but we unfortunately don’t have access to it right now. (We think it is in storage while brother Rick is building a new house.)

Rice stadium is quite large so the stands were not filled, although newspaper accounts report that 40,000 people were in attendance. The President was scheduled to speak at 10:00 a.m. and it was apparently a hot and steamy day. Classes had not yet started at Rice University, but incoming freshman were on campus for orientation. Reports say that the stands were mostly filled with young people – the incoming Rice students as well as bus loads of high school and elementary school children.

Martin and Janet don’t remember much except for being in the large stadium, far away from the President, and the crowd of people. Their mother said that the president’s complexion look reddish/ruddy to her – something she said you wouldn’t notice in the mostly black and white photographs of the time. The following video contains snippets of the speech, the context of the speech, and photos from the day.

Martin’s mother said she heard that the president had been shot while shopping with her mother at Craig’s Department Store in the Village –  a retail area also known as Rice Village because of the proximity to Rice University. She doesn’t know if there was a radio on or if people were talking about it and they overheard. They left and went home and started watching the coverage on TV.

Martin and Janet learned about the President’s death at school. Janet said:  My memory is of watching the funeral on TV and Mom crying. The other thing that has always stuck in my mind was that I was sitting in my 4th grade class at Holy Ghost (Mrs. Agnes class) and they announced it over the intercom.  One of the boys in my class – Larry Corti turned red in the face and ran out of the classroom crying.

Nana, Janet and Martin 1955

Nana, Janet and Martin 1955

Like nearly everyone else in the country, the family was glued to the television set until the funeral was over. Martin’s mom especially remembers how they all saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald live on TV.

And there were a lot of tears. Martin’s youngest sister, Marilyn, was not born at the time, but had heard that her mom and Nana had cried about it for weeks. When I talked to my MIL today, I asked if she had been watching all of the 50th anniversary specials that have been on this week. Of course, she had, and had been brought to tears again. Long after President Kennedy died, my husband painted a plaster bust for his mother and it is still displayed in her home.

I also found a publication from Holy Ghost School devoted to student writing after the death of President Kennedy. Neither Martin nor Janet have a contribution included, but it provides a look into the thoughts of these young people attending a Catholic school in Houston, TX as they reflected on the death of their president.

2013.11W.11I’m linking this to Sepia Saturday, so I’ll include today’s prompt picture and encourage you to visit the other participants.

Below is the Holy Ghost Clarion, Vol. 5 No. 3

 

Holy Ghost Kennedy 1Holy Ghost Kennedy 2Holy Ghost Kennedy 3Holy Ghost Kennedy 4Holy Ghost Kennedy 5Holy Ghost Kennedy 6Holy Ghost Kennedy 7Holy Ghost Kennedy 8Holy Ghost Kennedy 9

 

 

 

Sepia Saturday – Angela in Yellow

 

Sepia Sat 4 May 2013Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images.

I had decided not to participate in Sepia Saturday this week, but when I woke up this morning I thought of a photograph to share.

This is a picture of Angela Loverde nee Parlati, my husband’s grandmother.

Parlati,Angela in yellowI thought of this picture because of the similar side view, hair style, and age of the women.

I  have shared other photographs of Angela for Sepia Saturday. Her wedding pictures were featured here and she appeared in a post about her husband’s barbershop here.  As I mentioned in the post about the barbershop, Angela was a smoker and that is her other connection to the photo prompt.

Joseph Loverde and Angela Parlati

Joseph Loverde and Angela Parlati

Although Angela’s wedding pictures prompted speculation among commenters that the family was wealthy, in truth, they were not. The family put a lot of resources into the wedding but, as my husband says, “They were Italian. Of course they had a big wedding!” Angela and her husband, Joe Loverde, married during the Depression and moved in with her parents. They never moved out.

Angela’s father died fairly young, but her mother lived a long life and was always the head of the household. Nana, as everyone called her, had a strong personality. She did not abide Angela smoking in the house and Angela was relegated to the outside or the bathroom. I never saw Angela smoke in public. When she craved a cigarette, she would disappear to the bathroom and return after what seemed a very long time. Pity the poor person who needed to use the facilities after one of Angela’s disappearances!

Other Sepia Saturday participants would enjoy a visit from you too!