Patsy Caravetta Oral History | Italian Immigration (01:22)

My Dad worked at the mines in Morrissey in 1904. He worked there until they closed the mines down in Morrissey, then he worked up at Coal Creek. He didn’t work inside the mine, he worked under the tipple loading the coal cars.

Then the First World War came about and my Dad went back to Italy and joined the army. He was in the army there and he married over there. He came back here, went back and got married, and then came back here again. My Mother followed in 1924. She landed here New Year’s Eve or a day or two before Christmas. They landed in New York, through Ellis Island, she went from New York to Montreal on the train, and from Montreal came here and she got off at the station here.

She came from Cosenza where there was no snow. When she got off the train, she said “If that train would have turned around, I would have got back on it and went back home”. She couldn’t believe it, couldn’t see the buildings, couldn’t see 2nd Avenue. There was thousands of feet of snow there, just frightened her to death. Cold, by herself, and she’s looking around for my Dad and she can’t find him. Pretty soon my cousin Tony was there to meet her. My Dad was out hunting!