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My Italian Family, Part II by Alyssa J Pasquale

My daughter, Alyssa J Pasquale, has been taking classes to learn Italian. These classes are just for fun. Alyssa is a Doctor of Electrical Engineering, doing a postdoc at a national laboratory. Besides her classes she and her classmates gather once a month for a dinner where they all speak Italian. Each person prepares something to tell the others in Italian.

Alyssa is taking some family stories, written by her Aunt Beverly, and is translating them into Italian.

The [notes] are from my research and are only in English.

In English:

My great-grandmother, Grace Brigandi [Grazia Brigandi Palilla 1901 Sicily – 1974 NY] worked in a factory with Charles Palilla 1894 Sicily – 1984 FL]. They married on 13 May 1920 in secret. Carmen, Grace’s father, did not like Charles and at one point had even run after Charles with a baseball bat.

After the marriage, Grace and Charles lived with Charles’s parents, even though they also did not approve of the marriage.

My great-grandparents had four children: Carmella (who died after a few months), another Carmella, Angie (my grandmother), and Dominick.

Charles and Grace had many jobs – Charles was a musician (he played both the bass and violin) and a salesman. Together, they had a clothing factory. However, for a while they had to pay protection money from the factory to the mafia.

My family lived in Baldwin Place, New York. In 1974, Grace died, and Charles died in 1984, 3 months after I was born.

[Note: Charles was Naturalized 19 June 1924. He was living at 223 East 10^th Street. He was 5’ 7” with brown hair & eyes. In 1940 Charles, Grace and three children lived on 13^th Street in Kings Co, NY. The census shows Charles & Grace were both operators on wholesale men’s robes. After WWII they moved to Westchester County, NY.]

In Italian:

La mia famiglia italiana (pt 2)

Mia bisnonna, Grace Brigandi, lavorò in una fabbrica con un uomo Charles Palilla. Si sposarono il 13 maggio 1920 in segreto. Carmen, il padre de Grace, non si era piacuto Charles, e, a una volta, Carmen aveva corso a Charles con una mazza da baseball.

Dopo il matrimonio, Grace e Charles abitarono con I genitori di Charles – nonostante che loro anche non approvarono il matromonio.

I miei bisnonni ebbero 4 figli, Carmella (chi morì dopo qualche mesi), un’altra Carmella, Angie (mia nonna) e Dominick.

Charles e Grace ebbero molti lavori – Charles era un musicista (suonò il basso e il violino), e un commesso. Insieme, ebbero una fabbrica di abiti. Però, per qualche anni, la Mafia prese soldi della fabbrica per “protezione.”

La famiglia abitarono a Baldwin Place, NY. In 1974, Grace morì e Charles morì in 1984, 3 mesi dopo la mia nascita.


Related Posts:
My Italian Family, Part I