Fearless Females: An Immigration Story

Women's History Month Fearless Females blog prompt: Do you know the immigration story of one or more female ancestors? Do you have any passenger lists, passports, or other documentation? Interesting family stories?

"Back in the day" when finding an immigration record meant that you needed, if I remember correctly, at least three out of five pieces of information about an immigrant family to submit a request to the National Archives, I remember that "bingo" moment when My Uncle Salvatore Abbate provided the missing details. Well, actually, all the details were missing for me. Uncle Salvatore remembered the port they departed from in Sicily, the name of the ship, and the month and year he arrived at Ellis Island, with his mother and siblings.

I carefully completed the application that I had picked up while visiting Washington D.C. and mailed it, yep, snail mail! (Does anyone use that slang anymore? Oops, my age is showing!) Anyway, after months of waiting and pretty much forgetting about ever hearing back, one day, a nice, fat envelope arrived from the Archives. I still remember standing at the mailbox and doing the "happy dance" clutching that envelope in my hands!

The Abbate side of my family is the only one for which I have documentation of the point of entry into the United States and any documentation of their existence in their original "home land." I may be only 1/4 Sicilian but I am certainly proud of the brave family that risked it all for a better life in America.

One of my favorite blog posts is this one, Benvenuti Nella Terra d'America, in which I tell the story of my great grandmother and her children and their voyage to America. Enjoy!

Fearless Females: Favorite Female

So, I am three days late in deciding to join this wagon suggested by The Accidental Genealogist and tell you about the women in our families during Women's History Month. I'll just jump right in here before I freak out about having to come up with a post everyday! Here's a "catch up" post.

Fearless Females: Favorite Female
March 1- Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about?

That's an easy one, just check out my post on Luigia Forte Abbate from last week. Lately, she ranks right at the top for me. Whew, that was easy!

Luigia Forte Abbate

Louisa on her 86th birthday.

March is Women's History month so it seems fitting to highlight the last few tidbits of information that I have collected over the years about Luigia (Louisa) Forte Abbate since her story has been the focus of my blog posts this week and, in my book, she is a woman to be admired: courageous, hardworking, smart, tenacious, beautiful inside and out, charming, and funny! Here we go, enjoy!

"I did hear that Angelo did not have enough money to send for his family once he got to New York...Louisa dreamed of a number one night, played the number in the lottery the next day and won!  That's how my dad and the others got to America!" -Virginia Lee Abbate Thompson (granddaughter of Louisa)

"Louisa studied English and got her citizenship all on her own while living at 8691 17 Avenue in Brooklyn." -Catherine Cognata Trapani (granddaughter of Louisa) (Family, check that link, there is a "street view," is that the house?)

"Louisa's father (Vito Forte) received a dowry consisting of a cart of flax for his marriage to Maria Lombardo, Louisa's mother. Vito took the flax and started a business in fabrics and became very successful. So successful, in fact, that he had urns of gold and fine fabrics, and was a money lender in the town of Salemi. The business was willed to their daughter Louisa and was sold by her before she immigrated to the United States in 1909." - Catherine Cognata Trapani (granddaughter of Louisa)

"Mother (Louisa) had a store in the 1st floor of our house. The kitchen and attic were on the 3rd floor. Hay was stored in the attic and one day I started a bonfire and my mother heard the crackling of the hay and yelled "fouco" (fire). The whole town heard and came running with buckets and formed a line from the fountain to the fire." -Salvatore Abbate (eldest son of Louisa)

"Louisa Abbate was such a delightful lady. She always had her hair done and her nails polished. She had breast cancer before I met her and had such radical surgery that she could never raise her right arm above her head. I don't know how true it is, but she once took a bus into downtown Los Angeles to shop, then, growing tired and not wanting to wait for another bus ride back, went up to a police officer and told him she was lost! He drove her home in his police car much to her delight. She also liked to hang garlic cloves from the door knobs to keep out evil spirits! Also, a song titled "Pop Goes the Weasel" was very popular many years ago and Louisa would joke that the song was about her: Pop Goes Louisa!" -Virginia Lee Abbate Thompson (granddaughter of Louisa)

"This is our house where we live.  Like this?"
Not sure where this house is, anyone have ideas?

Louisa, seated on the right.
On the left is her younger sister, Crocifissia (Croce) Scalisi

Louisa with her youngest son, Frank.

Seated: Louisa and Angelo on their 50th Wedding Anniversary
Standing (L to R): Amalia/Molly, Frank, Maria/Mary and Agata/Agnes

Louisa Forte Abbate was born on March 29,1873 to Vito and Maria Lombardo Forte. She married Angelo Abbate in 1896 at the age of 23.  They were the parents of of six children: Agata/Agnes (1897-1983), Maria/Mary (1898-1989), Salvatore (1901-2000), Vito/Victor (1903-1976), Amalia/Molly (1906-1996), Andre (1910-2002), and Frank (1912-2010). She died at age 90 in Los Angeles, California and is buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery.  

Benvenuti Nella Terra d'America

The Registry Hall
 Ellis Island Immigration Station
 New York, May 2004

These days the Registry Hall at Ellis Island Immigration Station stands empty except for a few National Park Service Rangers who await the completion of post-Hurricane Sandy repairs which will allow the 113 year old building to receive visitors again. Standing in the hall, as my daughter and I did in the spring of 2004, is an experience I will not forget. It was quiet on that day as well. Just a few people roaming around, taking in the vast Hall and, maybe, like us, trying to envision the day that their ancestor arrived at this most coveted destination. My grandfather and his mother and siblings arrived at Ellis Island Station to be processed for admission into America on April 22, 1909, a story right out of the history books. Let's go back a few years, 104 years to be exact, and imagine how it all must have appeared to Luigia Forte Abbate and her five children.

Luigia Forte Abbate
circa. 1897

Luigia is strong. For the last three years she has, alone, endured pregnancy, managed the raising of five children, run the family business, and prepared herself to leave the rest of her family to join her husband Angelo in America. On April 8, 1909, 36 year old Luigia Forte Abbate gathers her five children, the eldest, Agata is 13 years old and the youngest, Amalia is just three years old, to leave their home in Salemi, Sicily for the last time. Their plan is to board the Lloyd Sabaudo steamship, the Principe di Piemonte in Palermo, sail to America and be reunited with their husband and father after three long years apart.  Destination: Brooklyn, New York...a new life and new dreams.

The Principe di Piemonte

As Luigia and children board the ship they are taken into the very depths of the vessel to their quarters in third class. Below the waterline, no windows, no privacy, and few amenities. Unlike their fellow passengers in first and second class, there will be no fine dining, no walks on along the deck and little to keep them occupied for the two week crossing. Almost immediately after the ship sails the children begin to experience sea-sickness.  Soon, Luigia herself is ill.

"Our mother and the children (except me!) were all very sick on the voyage to the USA, especially Maria".  -Salvatore Abbate, eldest son who was 8 years old at the time.

The Principe di  Piemonte arrives in New York Harbor on April 22, 1909 after 14 days at sea, with a total of 2,336 passengers. As passengers disembark, the first and second class guests are escorted to awaiting family and friends at the pier, no need for the wealthy to endure the processing at Ellis Island, they have been pre-screened and released long before arriving in the harbor. The third class passengers or "aliens in steerage" as they are classified on the manifest are shuttled by ferries to the Ellis Island Immigration Station. I find myself thinking that this must have been a day of immensely conflicting emotions for Luigia. She must have been both terrified and excited at the same time.  History remarks of the crowds of people who were lined up for processing in the Registry Hall. Imagine standing among thousands of men, women, and children, keeping five children and your belongings together, trying to follow directions given in a language that you don't understand, and  trying to wrap your head around one of the most significant moments in your life amid such turmoil. The immigrants received physicals that would often separate families if one was found to be ill or "unfit" to be processed. Four of the five had been sick aboard the ship, what if? Would she be able to keep the children all together? Would they be allowed to move through the lines together? Would they receive the paperwork they needed to stay in the US?  Would she know the answers to all the questions the officials would ask? Her heart and mind must have been racing!  The ship's manifest recorded their names, ages, birth years, race, gender, distinguishing marks, their next of kin in the port of departure, the name and address of their sponsor in America.* Was the information that was recorded correct? Just one misstep and they could be sent back to Sicily or separated from each other.

The Registry Hall
Ellis Island Immigration Station
circa. 1907
ellisisland.org

The answers were all YES! Luigia, Agata, Salvatore, Maria, Vito, and Amalia were now well on the way to their new lives and new dreams...benvenuti nella terra d'America, welcome to the land of America!

And there you have it, the end of one journey and the beginning of another, all on the same day!

Copies of this photograph have been in my family for as long as I can remember.

La famiglia nel paese vecchio...The family, in the old country!

Standing (L to R): Luigia Forte Abbate, Crocifissia Forte Scalisi, Pietro Scalisi, Anna Forte

Seated (L to R): Maria Lombardo Forte, Angelo Abbate, Vito Forte
Baby: Agata Abbate, born March 6, 1897

Luigia, Crocifissia, and Anna were sisters, the children of Maria and Vito Forte,
Angelo and Pietro, sons-in-law, and Agata, the first child of Luigia and Angelo.

Luigia and Angelo Abbate
New York

Sarah Mood Lyons (great-great granddaughter of Angelo and Luigia)
Angela Abbate Mood (great granddaughter of Angelo and Luigia)
The Registry Hall, Ellis Island Immigration Station
May 2004

The Principe di Piemonte was sold to the Cunard Steamship Company in May 1916

and was used to carry general cargo from Bristol, England to New York. 

Early in the morning on March 1, 1917, the ship was hit with a torpedo from a

German U-Boat and sunk off the coast of Waterford, Ireland. 

 Seven lives were lost, the unarmed ship became a casualty of World War I.

*To view a copy of the ship manifest go to ellisisland.org.  Use the drop down menu on the left:  passenger search, select search by ship, select the letter "P" and then find the Principe di Piemonte in the listing of ships.  Select the year 1909 and then then date April 22, 1909-Palermo. The children are listed with the last name misspelled Akkate, Luigia is listed under her maiden name, Forte.