Social Status

[darkerhorse]

Two persons, paternal 3rd cousins to each other, same surname, from the same small town in rural Sicily, born c.1900.

Would you infer that Person 1 was descended from a side of the family which was of higher social status?

The paternal line described for both.

Person 1
Father was a porter, grandfather was a calzolaia (shoemaker?), and great-grandfather was a proprietario (land owner?) referred to in civil records by the title “Don” (honorific?). Great-grandfather's father-in-law was a large land owner also referred to as "Don" in civil records.

Person 2
Father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had occupations variously reported as pastore (shepherd?), contadino (peasant farmer?), colono (tenant farmer?) and massaro (farm manager?).

[MarcuccioV]

In my understanding, the honorific title of "Don" was reserved for persons with some level of importance, be it social or economic. Also the occupations of the first indicate some level of education to hold those types of positions.

The second person seems to be from more of a peasant (farming) class. As far as social status goes, I'd say the former would have definitely been of a higher social order, whatever that looked like there at the time...

[darkerhorse]

In my understanding, the honorific title of "Don" was reserved for persons with some level of importance, be it social or economic. Also the occupations of the first indicate some level of education to hold those types of positions.

The second person seems to be from more of a peasant (farming) class. As far as social status goes, I'd say the former would have definitely been of a higher social order, whatever that looked like there at the time...

That's what I was thinking.

[mmogno]

Were they both illiterate?

[darkerhorse]

Person 1 - born in U.S. of immigrant parents, literate, 8 years of schooling

Person 2 - immigrant, 2 years of schooling, not literate upon immigration, but learned enough to become naturalized