A Kid from South Philly: Mi Famiglia

By Dominick A. Ruggiero Jr

Well I have always wanted to document growing up and introduce my family. Allow me to give some stats that some in the family might not know. When I started to reminisce I was in awe of what I had found with the help of my dearest Aunt Rose. I am recounting what she has told me and including it here in the opening of my fascinating family. Depicting their hardships and the tenacity they had to show growing up. They had many hurdles to climb over, along with my grandparents having to start a new life in a new world. I hope that this glimpse of a past era will show what is lacking in todays world and how the times have eroded family ties and loyalty.

It all began with the following account which is on my maternal grandparents side of the family, as given to me by my Aunt Rose. After they traveled across an ocean spending a month or more at sea they arrived at Ellis Island the place all emigrants came to. They, as all new citizens, were in awe of a great city and the organized turmoil of arriving here. Unfortunately from the beginning there was a level of discrimination against Italians as they were tagged with an acronym for not having papers. The term was without papers hence they became known as WOPS a word that later on became slanderous, and insulting. Now not only did my maternal grandparents go through this but so did my paternal grandparents and all who immigrated to this country. I often remember my grandmother telling how when she was younger and living in Pottsville Pa. how she would sometimes be made fun of and threatened when she was walking back from or to the store. Times were tough for most everyone, but especially so for immigrants not speaking the language well and having to cope in a foreign land; my grandparents on both sides had to go to school to learn how to sign their names and study hard to be a citizen. They persevered and struggled to achieve never losing site of the responsibility to family. They struggled to become Americans and brought with them a culture and work ethic that stood them in good standing throughout their struggles to acclimate themselves to the freedom they left their country for.

They had to first of all have a home and a job before they were let in and it is at this point that I incorporate the information my Aunt Rose gave to me. Relatives who were living in New Jersey in all probability stood behind them for employment and shelter until they could establish themselves in the states. Thus they then moved to Pottsville in Penna., since we do not have family records of this I make the assumption that this is what took place I have not been able to recover information from the Ellis Island archives but continue to search.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781469114637

Dominick A. Ruggiero Jr

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Copyright © 2011 by Dominick A. Ruggiero, Jr.

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This Family history is dedicated to my parents, grandparents,

and to my family and my dearest aunt Rose.

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My dad and I

Dominick A. Ruggiero Jr

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Preface

Sitting here preparing to write this chronicle of my life I begin to think in the past. Going back to 1940, wow what a year. What an era I was born into the great depression that had 25% of the people unemployed, severe dust storms throughout the Midwest. President Roosevelt initiated many programs to get the country back on track. Dealing with erosion and water usage he developed The Tennessee Valley project. He also started the Civilian Conservation Corps to help fight erosion and clear forests, and the WPA (family history circle). It was a great time and skipping forward to 1938 when I was five years old and lived with my paternal grandparents. I was just a skinny kid seven years old, wearing glasses and making my way in the world. It was a year of turmoil in Europe and America was a country that believed in Isolationism. Life seemed so simple then, my dad was an accountant, and a very intelligent man, college educated and very family oriented. My mom came from a large family also but they were hard working poor people. My grandfather on my father’s side was a custom tailor and my grandmother worked alongside of him on the back porch.

Growing up in my grandfather’s home was great it was a huge three story home built for officer’s residence about three miles north of the naval base. On the outside were a hitching post and boot scraper and a big porch across the front of the home. There were three floors and five bedrooms. Ceilings were twelve foot high and trimmed in sculptured plaster. The living room was very big and was closed off with two French doors. I slept in the back room on the third floor and it was very warm there, as the heat from the Franklin stove my grandmother used to cook on in the kitchen would drift up the narrow spiral staircase leading to the second and third floors. I still remember the smell of fresh baked bread drifting up the stairs. God was it good, fresh homemade early that morning. My granddad was a man of few words but had hand movements like lightening, if you dared to pick up a fork at dinner time, and eat before grand-mom sat down the hand struck you across the side of the head no one ate until we were all seated.

It was a much simpler time, but we were taught to respect our elders. Educated people were held in high regard. You were taught to be still and the old adages went something like this; Children should be seen but not heard, don’t speak until spoken to. We had to ask permission to leave the table and manners were of the utmost importance. Anyone who had a college education was considered special and looked up to, because so few who were able to go to college. Just to complete high school was considered big time. In our neighborhood there was only one car on the street and all us kids would talk about it and the rich guy who owned it. We admired him because he went to college and always was dressed nice and had a car. We looked at it as something to strive for. It was a work ethic and acceptance of responsibility that drove everyone a desire to succeed in whatever they did; to give it a 100% effort. If they did this and failed they were content that they did their best. To fail under those conditions was not a bad thing but to fail without even trying was unacceptable I was always expected to do my best and to give 100%.

Mi Famiglia: A Kid From South Philly

By, Dominick A. Ruggiero Jr

Well I have always wanted to document growing up and introduce my family. Allow me to give some stats that some in the family might not know. When I started to reminisce I was in awe of what I had found with the help of my dearest Aunt Rose. I am recounting what she has told me and including it here in the opening of my fascinating family. Depicting their hardships and the tenacity they had to show growing up. They had many hurdles to climb over, along with my grandparents having to start a new life in a new world. I hope that this glimpse of a past era will show what is lacking in today’s world and how the times have eroded family ties and loyalty.

It all began with the following account which is on my maternal grandparent’s side of the family, as given to me by my Aunt Rose. After they traveled across an ocean spending a month or more at sea they arrived at Ellis Island the place all emigrants came to. They, as all new citizens, were in awe of a great city and the organized turmoil of arriving here. Unfortunately from the beginning there was a level of discrimination against Italians as they were tagged with an acronym for not having Papers. The term was without papers hence they became known as WOPS a word that later on became slanderous, and insulting. Now not only did my maternal