Sicilians in 1890's Baltimore

[joetucciarone]

Does anyone know anything about the sicilians in Baltimore in the 1890's? I have just found that my sicilian great-grandfather, his sister and possibly their brother lived there from 1890-1896. The family names are Catalano and Chiaramonte; they were fruit vendors. They all left for Pittsburgh by 1896. I read that Italians were frowned upon by Baltimore society at that time.

Did Baltimore have an immigration port in the period of 1890-1893?

Thanks in advance for your comments,

Joe Tucciarone

[Tessa78]

Does anyone know anything about the sicilians in Baltimore in the 1890's? I have just found that my sicilian great-grandfather, his sister and possibly their brother lived there from 1890-1896. The family names are Catalano and Chiaramonte; they were fruit vendors. They all left for Pittsburgh by 1896. I read that Italians were frowned upon by Baltimore society at that time.

Did Baltimore have an immigration port in the period of 1890-1893?

Thanks in advance for your comments,

Joe Tucciarone

Here is some information about the Port of Baltimore "the other Ellis Island" - with respect to immigration...
http://www.baltimoremd.com/charm/pointofentry.html

AND...
You might find this website for "the Little Italy Lodge" of Baltimore, MD has some of the information you are seeking

http://www.littleitalylodge-osia.org/site/history.asp

T.

[joetucciarone]

Thank you very much for those links, Tessa!

Merry Christmas,

Joe

[Tessa78]

Thank you very much for those links, Tessa!

Merry Christmas,

Joe

Buon Natale, Joe!

T.

[joetucciarone]

I'd like to update my initial questions about the sicilians in Baltimore with the discoveries I've made in the last month.

There were Catalano's, Chiaramonte's, Purpura's, Catanzaro's and Mascari's living in Baltimore from the early 1890s onward. Most, if not all of them, were from Termini Imerese, Sicily and most of them were fruit vendors. I know there were more sicilians in Baltimore; I only mention these five names because they're in my family.

I only have a few documents but it seems that Baltimore attracted a pretty sizable number of immigrants from Termini, which was not a big comune at that time. After researching the Agnone branch of my family, I found that one person was responsible for many of the Agnonesi who immigrated to Youngstown, Ohio. Marco Antonelli immigrated from Agnone to Ohio in 1873 where he became a steamship agent and assisted in the immigration of many other Agnonesi to the Youngstown area. Like Termini, Agnone was a small comune but, because of Marco, a large number of Agnonesi came to Youngstown, Ohio.

Does anyone know if there was someone like that in Baltimore who was originally from Termini? Someone who was very prosperous and would have told his friends back home to immigrate to Baltimore?

These same family names show up in Pittsburgh in the early-to-late 1890s. Again, they were originally from Termini and again, they were fruit vendors in Pittsburgh. World War 1 draft registration cards show that a lot of Catalano's and Chiaramonte's were born in Baltimore from 1885-1895 but ended up in Pittsburgh by the 1910s.

Several sources seem to show why some of the Italians would have left Baltimore. A government document from June, 1890 stated that the Baltimore neighborhood now known as "Little Italy" was a slum subject to tidal floods. An article about Baltimore immigrants stated that the Italians contributed nothing to American civilization. A third document reported that there was a general dislike and discrimination toward Baltimore Italians at that time.

Why did these sicilian fruit vendors go to Pittsburgh? Again, was there a trailblazer who came to Pittsburgh first and told all his friends to come as well? Since they were mainly fruit vendors, could they have been drawn, somehow, by the H.J. Heinz company which, by the 1890s, was doing a big business in vegetables in Pittsburgh?

Joe

[Tessa78]

Hi Joe,

You may want to contact Catholic Parishes in that area to see if they have some historical data to share

Italian Parishes in Baltimore

St. Leo (est. 1881)
227 S. Exeter St
Baltimore MD 21202 (Fells Point)
410-675-7275
Religious: Pallottines
Crossroads: Stiles and Exeter St.
Families attended St. Patrick’s, Fells
Point, before parish was built

St. John the Baptist (1888-1989)*
308 N. Paca St.
Baltimore MD 21201 (Lexington Market)
Religious for Italian community: Pallottines
*: Lithuanian parish 1888-1917; Lithuanian commun
ity and sacramental registers transferred to St.
Alphonsus in 1917; Italian parish 1917-1989;
renamed St. Jude Shrine in 1989

T.

[joetucciarone]

Thank you very much for the link and the church addresses, Tessa. I know that one of my great-great-aunts baptized her oldest son in St. Leo's in 1893. I wrote to the church but never got a reply.

Joe

[Tessa78]

Thank you very much for the link and the church addresses, Tessa. I know that one of my great-great-aunts baptized her oldest son in St. Leo's in 1893. I wrote to the church but never got a reply.

Joe

You might consider sending a donation in a follow-up letter

T.

[joetucciarone]

That would certainly get me a response!