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THE TEXIANS AND THE TEXANS
II Lv .'1 "1;1' (\'. ' ;,',' /-' I
THE
ITALIAN
TEXANS
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AT SAN ANTONIO
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
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THE TEXIANS AND TEXANS
A pamphlet series dealing with the many kinds of people who
have contributed to the history and heritage of Texas. Now in
print: The Indian Texans, The German Texans, The Norwegian
Texans, The Mexican Texans (in English), Los Mexicano Texa­nos
(in Spanish), The Spanish Texans, The Polish Texans, The
Czech Texans, The French Texans, and The Italian Texans.
© 1973: The Institute of Texan Cultures
,
Cover illustrations: Frank Liberto and Angelina Rinando Liberto on their wedding day,1899.
Courtesy of Sam Liberto. Il , ~ \ \ ~ ./ ~oD . V
Town Square at Thurber about 1910. Courtesy of Joe Martin.1}-~~
Frank Pizzini family and friends, 1913. Courtesy of Henry Guerra. o<.f~
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INTRODUCTION
Italians were on their way to Texas al­most
as soon as Europeans began sailing
the Atlantic in search of a route to the In­dies.
Amerigo Vespucci viewed the Texas
Coast in 1497, and his countrymen were
with Vasquez de Coronado in his epic
journey across the High Plains in 1541.
For over three centuries Italians frequent­ly
found their way to the northern prov­inces
of New Spain. Most of these adven­turers
were from the northern cities of
Florence, Genoa, and Venice. All came in
the service of a nation other than their
own. They join~d various armies which
found Texas a wide-open battleground.
Vicente Filisola, for example, was second­in-
command to General Antonio Lopez
de Santa Anna during the war for Texas
independence, while Prospero Bernardi
fought with the Texans at San Jacinto.
Italian immigration greatly increased
after 1875, with the impoverished areas of
Southern Italy and Sicily furnishing the
greatest numbers. Northern Italians from
the Alpine provinces of Lombardy and
Tuscany arrived in smaller numbers. Eco­nomic
opportunity was the principal mo­tive
for Italian immigration to Texas, but
the prospect of compulsory service in the
Italian Army also inspired many to leave
their homeland. The Italian population of
Texas was small, compared to the number
living in the Northeast and Midwest. By
1920, there were slightly more than 8,000
foreign-born Italians living in Texas,
mostly in the Galveston-Houston area, in
the Brazos valley between Bryan and
Hearne, and in the Dallas-Ft. Worth com-
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plex. By the mid-1920's, when restrictive
U.S. immigration laws dried up the influx
from Southern Europe, Italians were well
on their way toward assimilation into the
Texas population. Still, through their eth­nic
clubs and societies and a strong sense
of community with others of like heri­tage,
they have maintained a distinct
identity on the Texas scene.
AMERIGO VESPUCCI
1497
Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine whose
name was given to the continents of the
New World, was one of the first Europe­ans
to see the Texas Coast. In May, 1497,
he sailed to the New World for the Span­ish
king, Don Ferdinand of Aragon. He
sought to determine whether the new
lands were indeed a "New World," or a
part of Asia. Vespucci was then 43 years
old and had been working in Spain for
five years. He was well known as an out­fitter
of snips·,- ·banker, merchant, and
more than an amateur navigator and ge­ographer.
It is possible that the command­ers
of the expedition may have been Vi­cente
Yanez Pinzon, formerly captain of
the Nina, and Juan Diaz de Solis. But
Amerigo was the official observer for the
king and wrote an account of this voyage
and three later ones.
From Cadiz the explorers sailed to the
present coast of Honduras and around Yu­catan
to the western and northern coasts
of the Mexican Gulf. Thus, he and others
on this trip were the first known Europe­ans
to see the present coast of Texas. This
occurred over 20 years before Francisco
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AMERIGO VESPUCCI
1:1 - /IL} /
Pohl, Amerigo Vespucci: Pilot Major
de Garay fitted out the ships that sailed
under the command of Alonso Alvarez de
Pineda in 1519. Amerigo's account men­tions
little of gold, but pays many compli­ments
to the beauty of the people and the
land of the new world. His voyage is most
readily confirmed by the European maps
which followed. These indicate the out­line
of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico
long before Pineda's map of 1519.
Amerigo Vespucci is now cleared of the
earlier charges that he plotted against his
good friend, Columbus, and contrived to
have America named for himself. The
naming was the work of a young cartog­rapher
who did it without Amerigo's
knowledge. That the name "America"
stuck is one of the curious accidents of
history.
THE VASQUEZ DE
CORONADO EXPEDITION
1541
Italians in Vasquez de Coronado's expedi­tion
of 1541 were among early Europeans
to set foot on Texas soiL In those days,
the Italian peninsula was broken into a
number of small duchies, kingdoms, and
republics. None was strong enough to
mount expeditions of the size and scope
that Spain and Portugal launched. As a
result, Italian soldiers and sailors in
search of adventure, glory, and gold often
found service in the ranks of the two 16th
century super-powers.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado assem­bled
his expeditionary force of 225 horse­men
and 60 infantry at Culiacan, Mexico,
in February, 1540. Although the leader-
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"CORONADO ON THE HIGH PLAINS," BY FREDERIC REMINGTON ld . luiS" J -- Colliers Magazine
ship and many of the soldiers were Span­ish,
a number were Italian. They followed
the conquistador into New Mexico and
across the panhandles of Texas and Okla­homa
to Kansas. The Spanish government
considered the expedition a failure, but
Vasquez de Coronado and his men had
opened the door for many future explora­tions
and an eventual foothold in the
American Southwest.
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HENRI DE TONTI
1686
Although he was overshadowed by his
commander, Sieur de La Salle, Italian­born
Henri de Tonti left his own mark on
Texas history. Symbolic of his role in the
La Salle story is the standard bearing the
king's arms which the Frenchman had
erected on the Mississippi delta in 1682.
Four years later Tonti found it washed
over on the heach, and planted it on high­er
ground. La Salle had dreamed of estab­lishing
a colony at the mouth of the river
to serve as a depot for furs and buffalo
hides which the Mississippi basin could
supply. But it was Tonti who became the
real pathfinder of the great valley; his
writings provided the first accurate de­scriptions
of its geography, inhabitants,
and resources. His data and sketches pro­vided
cartographers with information for
the first regional maps.
This man of achievement was born at
Gaeta, near Rome, about 1650. His father,
Lorenzo de Tonti, soon became a political
refugee from the so-called Masaniello rev­olution.
He took the family to France,
where he became a prosperous banker.
Unfortunately, he was drawn into an un­successful
plot against the king and was
imprisoned in the Bastille until paroled
in 1675. It was the elder Tonti who in­vented
and gave his name to the tontine,
a financial arrangement whereby the sur­vivor
receives the proceeds of a fund es­tablished
by a group of contributors.
At the age of 18, Lorenzo's son, Henri,
began a military career as an army cadet.
He served for two years, then entered the
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"HENRI DE TONTI IN EAST TEXAS," BY BRUCE MARSHALL 13 -;J 00 / I.T.C. Collection
navy as a midshipman. In 1677, he took
part in a French campaign against the
Spaniards in Sicily. At Messina his right
hand was blown away by a grenade, and
while awaiting treatment he was taken
prisoner by the Spanish. Six months later
he was released in a prisoner exchange
and returned to France, where the king
awarded him a compensation of 300 li­ures.
Tonti participated in yet another Si­cilian
campaign, but the wars ended in
1678, and he found himself unemployed.
He eased his physical handicap by invent­ing
and wearing an artificial hand made
of copper. He solved his employment situ­ation
by joining La Salle on the latter's
return to the New World.
Tonti quickly became the French
explorer's devoted friend and confidant.
Soon after their arrival in the upper Mis­sissippi
heartland, Tonti and a motley
crew of 30 built the first ship ever to sail
the Great Lakes. In 1680, Tonti built Fort
Crevecoeur in the Illinois country. Two
years later he accompanied La Salle to
the mouth of the Mississippi, and then
began construction of Fort St. Louis near
present La Salle, Illinois. When the
Frenchman returned to his homeland in
1683, Tonti became the dominant figure
in the Mississippi valley and remained so
for the next 20 years.
La Salle established his settlement on
the Texas coast in 1685, and Tonti made
his first trip in search of him in 1686. He
made a second effort in 1689, but when he
was within seven days march of La Salle's
abandoned settlement, his men deserted
and he was compelled to return to his fort
on the Arkansas River. In the process he
was chased 80 leagues by a party of Span­iards
under Alonso de Leon, who was at­tempting
to keep the French out of East
Texas.
For another 17 years Tonti carried on
La Salle's work. He lived among the Illi­nois
Indians until 1702, when he joined
Pierre d'Iberville in Louisiana. The peo­ple
of Arkansas also call him the father of
their state. Tonti died at Mobile in 1704,
an heroic figure with qualities of endur­ance,
leadership, and ability.
VICENTE MICHELI
1793
Vicente Micheli was one of the earliest
Italian merchants to settle in Texas. A na­tive
of Brescia, he arrived at Nacogdoches
in 1793. For a time he was involved in the
fur trade, working for Barr and Daven­port,
the only firm licensed to trade with
friendly Indians in East Texas.
In 1801, while living in Coahuila, Mi­cheli
received permission to establish a
cotton gin at San Antonio, although it is
not known if he actually completed the
project. He returned to Nacogdoches and
engaged in trading and farming until
January, 1806. That year ha and his 15-
year-old son moved to the newly founded
Villa de Salcedo on the Trinity River. Ac­cording
to a census listing, Micheli pos­sessed
a rancho, 200 head of cattle, and a
drove of mares.
When the Salcedo colony failed, Mi­cheli
moved again to San Antonio, where
he became quite prosperous. He owned
the Rancho de San Francisco, and later
opened a general mer~antile store. In
time, he began referring to himself as the
"Merchant of Venice." He died in his
adopted city of San Antonio in 1848.
GUISEPPE CASSINI
1826
When Ben Milam captured San Antonio
from Mexican forces late in 1835, Gui­seppe
Cassini-known in Texas by his
Spanish name of Jose Cassiano-fur­nished
the Texans food and supplies from
his store. His business was looted and his
home pillaged a few months later, when
JOSE Ci)SSIAr:O. BY CARL VON IWONSKI
laB-Q.\\~ V Ch~bot, With the Makers of San Antonio
General Lopez de Santa Anna drove all
Texan sympathizers out of the area. Cas­siano
left town one step ahead of the
Mexican Army and fled to one of his
ranches on Calaveras Creek. When the
Alamo fell, he loaded his servants and his
remaining valuables on wagons, went to
the coast on a safe conduct pass provided
by the Texans, and caught a ship to New
Orleans.
Guiseppe Cassini was born at the vil­lage
of San Remo in the Genoese Republic
in 1787. He left home as a young man
and soon was in command of his own
merchant ship. In 1816, he procured a
British passport from the consul in Mar­seilles,
sailed to New Orleans, and went
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into the import-export business. He made
numerous trading trips to Texas between
1816 and the mid-1820's, when he settled
permanently in San Antonio. He estab­lished
a general mercantile store on Main
Plaza and began dealing extensively in
real estate. In 1826, Cassiano married
Mrs. Gertrude Perez Cordero, the widow
of the last Spanish governor of Texas.
When the Texas Revolution ended, he
returned to San Antonio and resumed
dealing in real estate. An inventory com­piled
in 1842 showed that he held prop­erty
in Bexar County, South Texas, and
New Orleans valued at over $18,000. Cas­siano
died on January 1, 1862, just as he
was completing plans to buy the entire
village of Piedras Negras, Mexico, oppo­site
Eagle Pass.
VICENTE FILISOLA
1836
When General Lopez de Santa Anna
came to Texas in 1836 to quell the rebel­lion
against Mexico, General Vicente Fili­sola
came with him as second-in-com­mand.
Lopez de Santa Anna dangerously
overextended his forces when his main
column chased across the prairies after
Sam Houston's little band of soldiers.
Filisola's troops were left behind on the
Brazos, unable to rescue the self-styled
"Napoleon of the West" after his defeat
at San Jacinto.
At first Filisola tried to resign his com­mand,
but in accordance with Lopez de
Santa Anna's instructions he signed the
Treaty of Velasco, then withdrew Mexi­can
troops from Texas. Fellow generals GENERAL VICENTE FILISOLA 1 Q.. - ~ \ g-
attempted to make him a scapegoat for
the disaster. When he was subsequently
relieved of his command, he countered by
publishing a pamphlet "in defense of his
honor and explanation of his operations as
commander-in-chief of the army against
Texas."
Filisola was too experienced a survivor
in warfare to be sidetracked by self-seek­ing
fellow generals. Born at Ravello, Ita­ly,
in 1789, he migrated with his family
to Spain, where he joined the army in
1804. Six years later he was commissioned
a second lieutenant "because he had con­ducted
himself with valor in over 20 bat­tles."
Filisola was sent to Mexico in No­vember,
1811, while the Hidalgo revolt
was underway. In 1815, he hitched his ca­reer
to the rising star of Agustin de Itur­bide.
When the latter became emperor of
Mexico in 1821, Filisola's position took a
gigantic leap forward. As a brigadier gen­eral
he was sent to bring Central America
into the Mexican empire. He was victori­ous
in his mission, but Iturbide was soon
overthrown. In 1823, Filisola issued a de­cree
freeing Central America from its
Mexican ties.
Back in Mexico, Filisola got along well
with Iturbide's successor, General Lopez
de Santa Anna. In 1831, he received a
colonization grant in Texas. but there is
no evidence that he ever made an effort to
fulfill the contract. Two years later, at
Matamoros, he got acquainted with Ste­phen
F. Austin, who was en route to Mexi­co
City bearing a grievance petition to
Santa Anna from the Texas settlers. Aus­tin
described Filisola as "a blunt, honest,
candid and prompt soldier. He has been
over thirty years in service, with impor­tant
powers entrusted to him-and what
is rather uncommon, he has not made a
fortune. He is the friend of the farming
and agricultural interests-a decided ene­my
of smugglers and lawyers, for he
thinks they demoralize the community by
placing temptations before weak or avari­cious
persons."
Later that same year Filisola became ill
and retired briefly from military life. By
1835, he was recovered and ready to join
Santa Anna for the invasion of Texas.
After San Jacinto, Filisola remained in
northern Mexico. His s~anding improved
considerably when his pri~cipal detrac­tor,
General Urrea, initiated an unsuccess­ful
revolution of his own. Filisola was
now on the winning side. In 1839, he sup­ported
the abortive "Cordova Rebellion,"
by which Mexico hoped to incite native
Mexican and Indian forces against the
Texan government. During the Mexican
War of 1846 the old soldier served again,
this time in the State of Chihuahua. He
died as the result of a cholera epidemic in
Mexico City on July 23, 1850.
ORAZIO DE ATTELLIS
After 1816, a number of Italians who had
served under Napoleon visited or settled
in Texas. One of these was Orazio de At­tellis,
a hearty adventurer enthralled by
combat in both warfare and politics. Born
in the Italian province of Compbasso, in
1774, he had been with Napoleon on the
famous retreat from Moscow in 1812. Aft­er
the emperor's fall, he was arrested, sen-tenced
to death, pardoned, and finally ex­iled
from his native land. On leaving the
army, Attellis worked at one time or an­other
as a newspaperman, law clerk, pub­lic
official, and teacher of French. In 1824,
at the age of 50, he arrived in America,
where he taught, wrote, and founded
schools in both New York and Mexico.
He stayed in New York for only a year
before going to Mexico City, where he
soon became politically involved. The ad­venture
soon palled, and Attellis went
back to New York City, where he taught
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"PROSPERO BERNARDI AT SAN JACINTO," BY BRUCE MARSHALL I ~- 9fJ!v/
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I .T.C. Collection
school from 1827 to 1832. Lopez de Santa
Anna summoned him again to Mexico
City, this time to found a college. The two
parted company when the Italian began a
newspaper, EI Correa Atlantica, in which
he advocated Texas independence.
Attellis continued printing his paper in
New Orleans, publicizing the Texan cause
in Spanish, English, Italian, and French.
On April 4, 1836, he published Colonel
Travis' letter of March 3 from the Alamo,
in both English and Spanish. When the
war was over, Attellis was said to have
received a substantial land grant from
a grateful Texas government. After 12
more years of writing and lecturing in de­fense
of various political causes, he re­turned
to Italy in 1848. By that time, he
was an American citizen, 74 years old,
and as bellicose as ever. He died in the
land of his birth in 1850. His writings and
speeches are credited with attracting oth­er
Italians to Texas.
PROSPERO BERNARDI
Prospero Bernardi was the only Italian
known to have fought with the Texans at
the battle of San Jacinto. Born in Italy in
1794, he immigrated to Texas early in
1836. On February 13, he enlisted with
Captain Amasa Turner's New Orleans
Volunteers. At that time he was described
as being 43 years of age, five feet eight
inches tall, with dark hair, eyes, and com­plexion.
His land grant record states that
he was discharged at Galveston a year
later. For his service he later received two
land grants-one in San Patricio County,
the other in present Somervell County.
THE REV. BAR THO L 0 MEW
ROLLANDO
1845
The first Italian-born missionary to T exas
came in 1845. He was the Rev. Bartholo­mew
Rollando of the Lazarist missionary
order. Fr. Rollando worked as assistant to
the Rev. John M. Odin, the priest who
later became the first Bishop of Galveston
-a diocese which included all of T exas at
that time. The two men had differences of
opinion, and Father Rollando moved to
Houston, where he ministered in 1846.
The following year he returned to Galves­ton,
where he di ed on October 11, at 35.
DECIMUS ET ULTIMUS
BARZIZA
1857
Lawyer and banker Decimus et Ultimus
Barziza is remembered as the greatest
criminal lawyer in the Texas of his time,
and as author of a vivid Civil War mem­oir,
The Adventures of a Prisoner of War.
His unusual name was derived from his
position as the "tenth and last" of his par­ents'
children. He was born at Williams­burg,
Virginia in 1838. The family had
long been prominent in that colony and
had traveled comfortably in the highest
circles of English and American society.
Barziza's father, an Italian viscount, had
come to America in 1814 to take posses­sion
of an estate left him by his very
wealthy American grandmother. He re­nounced
his Italian citizenship and gave
up his title in order to claim the land, but
expensive and unsuccessful litigation cost
him n early everything. He made a good
marriage, however, and settled down to
make the most of his situation. He found
employment at the local asylum, "where
the lazy looked after the crazy." He man­aged
to give his sons fine educations at
William and Mary College.
In 1857, Decimus et Ultimus followed
three older brothers to Texas. He studied
law in Baylor University at Independ­ence,
then began a practice at Owensville,
the old seat of Robertson County. The
Civil War interrupted his career and he
was commissioned a first lieutenant in
Hood's Texas Brigade. Captured at Get­tysburg,
he was later imprisoned on John-
D. U. BARZIZA
Courtesy of the Harris County Civil Court
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son's Island, but made his escape by div­ing
through the window of a moving
train near Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He
made his way to Canada, then was smug­gled
back to the South by sympathetic
Canadians. His recollections of wartime
experiences were published at Houston
several months before the war's end.
Barziza re-entered the practice of law
by acting as defense counsel in a murder
case stemming from an old Waller Coun­ty
feud. Following an impassioned plea
for his client's life, the defendant was
acquitted, and Barziza's reputation was
firmly established. He turned briefly to
politics and was elected to the 14th Legis­lature
in 1873, the session which marked
the end of Recon struction rule in Texas. A
contemporary historian viewed Decimus
et Ultimus as "black-eyed, black-haired
and of Italian descent; he was bright, en­ergetic,
eloquent and h eterogeneous ...
fiery, impetuous, bold, quick and ready of
speech, with a clear, ringing voice and the
dramatic quality highly developed."
Barziza resigned from the legislature in
1876, in protest over a bill which would
have given the Texas and Pacific Railroad
additional time in which to perfect a land
grant. He returned to Houston and contin­ued
his law practice. He also devoted time
to the Houston Land and Trust Company,
which he and five lawyer friends had or­ganized
in 1875. Barziza died at his home
on January 30, 1882, "after a lingering
illness." He was only 43, but he had left
his mark. Today there is a Barziza Street
in Houston, and members of the family
still reside in that city.
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FATHER AUGUSTINE
D'ASTI
1860
Father Augustine d'Asti, pastor of St. Vin­cent's
Catholic Church in Civil War Hous­ton,
spent his last years secretly distribut­ing
food, clothing, and money among the
needy people of his city. More than a cen­tury
later, similar gifts are quietly dis­pensed
each day in memory of this native
Italian priest.
Father Angustine was born at St.
Damians d' Asti in Piedmont. His back­ground
is obscure, but he began his novi­tiate
in the order of St. Francis at 16. In
1856, he and four members of this order
came to America and established a Fran­ciscan
house in New York. In 1860, Bish~
op Odin of Galveston requested that the
Franciscans re-establish themselves in
Texas, where they had not been since the
revolution of 1836. Father Augustine was
appointed superior. His post was the
Church of St. Vincent.
His gift giving was actually accom­plished
through an intermediary, one
John Kennedy, a trader known for having
the strongest whiskey in town. Father Au­gustine
is also remembered for having
blessed the flag which Dick Dowling and
his men carried into the battles at Gal­veston
and Sabine Pass. The priest died
at 39 in the spring of 1866, and was bur­ied
in Holy Cross Cemetery. Every store
in town closed for the funeral. Today,
d'Asti House at 603 Irvine Street carries
on the charitable tradition of this com­passionate
Italian priest.
THE BRUNI FAMILY
1862
Antonio Bruni-a San Antonio business­man,
politician, and public benefactor­was
encouraged by his own success to in­vite
other Italians, especially his relatives,
to settle in Texas. He left his native Italy
in 1858, landed at Galveston, then pro­ceeded
to San Antonio, where he opened a
grocery store on Main Street in 1862. His
business prospered and, in 1872, he estab­lished
a general store on Military Plaza.
Bruni quickly became a leader of the
Italian colony in San Antonio. In 1880,
he helped found the first Italian mutual
aid society in Texas-Societa Italiana de
Mutuo Soccorso-and served as its presi­dent
for many years. His political career
began in 1879, when he was elected alder­man.
He soon learned that San Antonio
politics, then, as now, could be a rough
business. While serving as Market Master
in the 1880's, he attempted to serve an
eviction notice on a giant negress who ran
a cafe in the local market sector. The lady
became distraught at the effort to close
her enterprise. She seized the hapless
Bruni and threw him bodily into a nearby
horse trough. Bruni retired from business
about 1908, and died at his Laredo Street
home in 1918.
His nephew, Antonio Mateo Bruni, was
a dominant business and political figure
in South Texas for a quarter of a century.
He had come as a 16-year-old from his
native Italy in 1872. After an apprentice­ship
in his uncle's store, the lad took the
stagecoach to Laredo, where he opened
his own establishment in 1879. He invest-ed
wisely, expanded his business and, in
1892, was elected a Webb County com­missioner.
Four years later he was elected
treasurer, a post he held until his death
nearly 40 years later. He was the largest
landowner in Webb and Zapata counties;
the town of Bruni was established on one
of his ranches to provide a shipping point
for his agricultural produce. With Bryan
Callaghan and James B. Wells, he effec­tively
controlled politics from San Anto­nio
to Corpus Christi to Laredo. Time aft­er
time, Bruni rallied massive Democratic
victories in his home county.
Front page editorials, flags at half mast,
and lengthy obituaries . marJ>:ed his pass­ing
on August 18, 1931. He was genu­inely
mourned by thousands of orc'linary
citizens whose lives he had touched by
his kindness and generosity. Today, his
memory is perpetuated in Bruni Park at
Laredo.
ANTHONY GHIO
1873
Anthony Ghio achieved his greatest suc­cess
as a town builder on the Northeast
Texas frontier in the 1870's. Born in
Genoa in 1832, he came to America at 17.
Soon he was representing a New York
firm as a traveling salesman in the South­ern
States and various Caribbean ports.
After a brief business venture of his own
in St. Louis, he returned to New York as
a salesman. He married in 1862, moved to
Illinois for a time, then came to Jefferson,
Texas, where he opened a mercantile
store.
In those days, Jefferson was the state's
leading inland port. Ghio prospered with
the town, but there came a time in the
early 1870's when the residents refused to
permit the entry of a railroad. Ghio could
foresee the town's decline and, in 1873,
made his way through the forest to the
site of Texarkana, where town lots recent­ly
had been surveyed. He purchased a
tract, on which he soon built a home, at
the corner of Third Street and Texas Ave­nue.
Among his first efforts was the or­ganization
of a Catholic Church. He also
worked for the advancement of parochial
education.
In 1877, Ghio and a partner built a
"
12
brick opera house, the first structure of its
type in Texarkana. He opened another
theater in 1884, with a performance by
the renowned Boston Opera Company of
Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe." The
event marked a cultural high point in the
history of Northeast Texas. Three years
later he opened Spring Lake Park, two
miles north of the city. His civic endeav­ors
continued as he built an artificial gas
plant and brought the first railroad to
that corner of Texas.
In 1880, grateful citizens elected Ghio
to the first of three terms as mayor, and
subsequently as alderman from his ward.
He and his wife were the parents of eight
children. A granddaughter, Corrine Grif­fith-
Marshall, became an early day silent
screen star. Ghio died in 1917; his wife
outlived him 20 years.
LOUIS CARDIS
1877
Italian-born Don Louis Cardis became a
tragic casualty in the EI Paso Salt War,
one of the unsavory chapters of Texas his­tory.
Cardis was a native of Piedmont and
had served as a captain in Garibaldi's ar­my
before migrating to the United States
in 1854. Ten years later he came to EI
Paso, learned to speak fluent Spanish, and
won the confidence of the Spanish-speak­ing
citizens. He operated the stage line to
Fort Davis and quietly used his spare time
building a political power base. Begin­ning
in 1874, he served two terms in the
state legislature, where one of his col­leagues
was D. U. Barziza.
In those peaceful days Cardis was de-
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scribed as a delicately featured individual
with a black moustache and chin whis­kers.
He appeared in public wearing a
Prince Albert coat, immaculate white lin­en
shirt, and black bow tie. Not a good
public speaker, he preferred to work be­hind
the scenes. His friends considered
him persuasive, witty, intelligent, and
suave.
In 1866, he had connived with a half
dozen other local figures to take control of
the Guadalupe Mountain salt beds which
had long been regarded as public proper­ty.
The efforts came to naught until 1876,
when an aggressive new leader named
Charles Howard moved to claim the en-tire
tract for himself. Cardis was booted
aside. He now joined those who wanted to
keep the salt beds in the public domain.
In October, 1877, Howard shot and killed
Cardis in an EI Paso saloon. Further
threats of violence, gunplay, mob action,
and ineffectual intervention by carelessly
recruited Texas Rangers were added in­gredients
of the story.
Two months after Cardis' death the
mob got Charley Howard in a showdown
at San Elizario. The Salt War proved only
that "good men can die bravely in a bad
cause." Today, it can be regarded as an
early day growing pain of the EI Paso
Southwest.
BRAZOS VALLEY
ITALIANS
1880
Italians began arriving in the lower Braz­os
valley as early as the mid-1870's when
a few families settled near Bryan. Busi­nessmen
in that area had long advertised
in European newspapers for immigrants
to come and help revitalize the local econ­omy.
The Italians did not begin respond­ing
in numbers until about 1880. Those
who did come were mainly from impover­ished
Sicily. They either harvested Loui­siana
sugar fields, or labored on shares in
the Bryan area until they accumulated
enough money to buy their own farms.
They bought flood-prone land in the
Brazos bottoms between Hearne and Bry­an.
Earlier settlers, including Germans
and Czechs, had avoided it for that reason.
The Italians were willing to gamble with
disaster in exchange for fertile soil that
would normally produce abundant crops.
They lost badly in 1899, and again in
1900, when devastating floods struck the
region, but most of the immigrants stuck
it out.
By the 1890's, Brazos County had one
of the largest concentrations of Italian
farmers in the United States. In 1905, the
Italian Ambassador visited Texas and was
told that Bryan had 3,000 of his country­men,
and wished it had ten times that
number. Very early, J. M. Saladiner and
other leaders organized the Agricultural
Benevolent Society to aid newly arrived
immigrants, but the group also sponsored
instruction in the latest farming and soil
conservation methods. By 1910, adjacent
Burleson and Robertson counties also had
significant Italian minorities.
For the most part, the farmland of
these early Italian arrivals has been re­tained
in family hands. Rural mailboxes
reflect such names as Cotropia, De Stefa­no,
Ferrara, Perrone, Restino, Varisco and
Salvato. Business and civic leaders in Bry­an
and Hearne also include individuals
with Italian surnames. But cultural iden­tity
goes little further; the younger gener­ation
is not familiar with the Italian lan­guage
and does not observe Old World
customs. Little is left but loyalty to the
Roman Catholic religion and the tradi­tional
spaghetti dinner on Sunday.
r
13
14
THURBER. TEXAS
1880's
The Texas Pacific Coal Company recruit­ed
immigrants in the 1880's to work its
rich coal mines at Thurber. Many diverse
ethnic groups reacted to make Thurber a
lusty, brawling industrial town which
stood out strangely in the middle of a
farming and ranching country. At its
height Thurber had a population of
10,000. Poles and Italians did most of the
mining; both groups lived on Hill Num­ber
3. A railroad to the mines bisected the
hill, with the Poles on the south side of
the track and the Italians on the riorth.
The Italians were clannish to the point of
dividing within their own group accord­ing
to their place of origin in Italy.
Perhaps their most outstanding contri­bution
was to the musical life of Thurber.
The Italians were generally conceded to
have the best band; members often played
at the Dallas Fair. In its heyday the town
had an opera house, where major compa­nies
liked to perform because of the de­monstrative
Italian audiences. Equally
appreciated were the culinary skills of
these people. Each home had an outside
oven and a cellar dedicated to the concept
of ample "new bread and old wine." The
more elaborate cellars had coolers for the
cheese and meats. Carloads of grapes were
shipped in from California for the produc­tion
of home made wine. Italian children
were always the envy of others because
they had such delicious grapes in their
lunch boxes.
Food was a featured attraction at the
elaborate Italian weddings. The specialty
of these occasions was a rice dish called
rizzotta, which was served with a salad, a
variety of meats, and barrels of wine. As
the wine kegs were emptied they were
stacked atop each other. The success of the
festivity was measured by the height of
the pyramid.
The eve of the Lenten season was
marked with a miniature Mardi Gras­type
celebration. Men bedecked in out­landish
costumes would go house-to-house
entertaining the children. At each home
the mother would serve a pastry called
eros to Ii and, of course, the inevitable
Wlne.
The homemade wine was sometimes a
pro?lem-noj for the Ita1ians, but for fed-
0~<) 106 V '
ITALIAN CLUB PICNIC AT THURBER
eral agents who were trying to enforce
national prohibition. If there was suffi­cient
advance warning, the residents of
Hill Number 3 moved the home brew to
secret hiding places. Otherwise, the stuff
was quickly poured on the ground. When
law enforcement personnel arrived, the
houses were empty of liquor and no one
knew anything about the aromatic rivu­lets
trickling down the hillside.
In 1918, oil strikes in the nearby Rang­er
field marked the end of Thurber as a
mining town, since oil was a cheaper fuel
than coal. Most of the mines closed in
1921, and the Italians either scattered to
nearby towns, or returned to their home­land.
Today, Thurber is a ghost town.
Texas Pacific Oil Co.
COUNT TELFENER AND
THE "MACARONI LINE"
1881
In 1880, Count Giuseppe Telfener and
several European, New York, and Texas
finan ciers developed a grand plan to link
New York and Mexico by rail. The New
York, Texas and Mexican Railway Com­pany
was chartered at Paris in October,
1880, and construction began about a
year later. Count T elfener was no ama­teur;
he had just completed a 350-mile
rail line for the Argentine government.
Texas was chosen for the starting point
because the state offered 16 sections of
land for each mile of track completed.
Construction on the run between Rich­mond
and Brownsville began with two
crews working toward each other from
Rosenberg Junction and Victoria . Telfe­ner
paid passage for 1,200 Italian labor­ers,
mostly from the northern province of
Lombardy-who, he hoped, would even­tually
bring their families to Texas and
settle on land along the right-of-way. Be­cause
macaroni was a staple of the la­borers'
diet, the enterprise soon became
known as the "Macaroni Line." Within
six months difficult working conditions
and sickness caused half the Italian work
force to quit. A plan to increase the num­ber
to 5,000 was never completed, because
construction was halted in July, 1882, aft­er
the state had repealed all land grants
to railroad builders. Inadvertently, Texas
had issued certificates for eight million
acres more than was available for distri­bution.
Ninety-one miles of the New
York, Texas and Mexican Railway had
73.-;).7/-/
ITALIAN RAILROAD WORKERS AT VICTOTIIA
Courtesy of Henry Hauschild
been completed between Victoria and
Rosenberg at a cost of two .million dollars.
Telfener operated the railroad until
1884, when he sold out to a brother-in­law,
John Mackay, the Nevada "Bonanza
King." The railroad was sold to Southern
Pacific interests in 1885. The only re­minders
of the original builders and their
grand design are in various town names
along the route. Leaving Victoria, one
comes first to Telfener (although it is mis­spelled
Telferner); then Inez and Edna,
named for the count's two daughters;
Louise, Telfener's sister-in-law; Mackay,
commemorating the silver baron; and
finally to Hungerford, named for the
count's father-in-law and partner. Telfe­ner's
most important contribution to Tex­as
is represented in the Italian families
living in Victoria, Houston, Galveston,
and elsewhere who are descended from
the Italian workmen who built the "Mac­aroni
Line."
THE ITALIANS
OF MONTAGUE COUNTY
1882
Italians from the Alpine provinces of
Northern Italy began arriving in Monta­gue
County, northwest of Dallas, in 1882.
Three Fenoglio families and the Ray­mondi
family arrived in Texas by way of
the Illinois coal mines in the late 1870's.
They first settled near Pilot Point in
Grayson County, but discovered in 1881
that they had been swindled; they did not
have title to the land they had cleared
and worked. So, dispossessed, discouraged,
and almost penniless, they headed west.
Antonio Fenoglio and his brothers set­tled
near Montague on sandy loam earth
that was perfect for vineyards, orchards,
and vegetable farms. Antonio declared
that the soil "tasted" right. By 1900,
many families from northern Italy had
settled in the vicinity of Montague,
Bowie, and Nocona. They produced lus­cious
concord grapes, apples, peaches, and
a variety of vegetables.
The Fenoglios of Montague County
have an affinity for the name Antonio or
Anthony. The first Antonio was a founder
of the colony. One of his nephews, nick­named
"Tony Jack," was-at the time of
his death in 1972-the last living disciple
15
16
EAHLY ITAqAN HOME AT MO£TAGUE
\o~-~I~IS- tV'
of Thomas V. Munson, the famous Ameri­can
viticulturist. It was Munson who was
credited by the French with saving their
vineyards from destruction by phylloxera,
a type of plant lice. Antonio's son and
grandson also bear the same given name.
The grandson served in the legislature
from 1951 to 1961, and is familiarly
known as "Tony the Rep," to distinguish
him from similarly named cousins.
The Carminatis are also a large family;
many of them are named Pete. For a while
the Montague telephone directory listed
three Pete Carminatis: "Middle Pete," a
town dweller; "North Pete," who lived on
his farm n()rth of Montague, and "South
Courtesy of Mrs. C. P. Nabours
Pete," whose land lay in the other direc­tion.
The Italian colony at Montague has
never been large; It reached a peak of 69
foreign born in 1910. These fair-skinned,
blue-eyed Texans of northern Italian
stock do not fit the dark-featured stereo­type
from Southern Italy and Sicily.
Recently these Italian Texan truck
farmers have discovered anew the wisdom
of their ancestors in choosing this sandy
plot of ground on which to settle. The
land was originally purchased for $6.00 to
$8.00 an acre, with mineral rights includ­ed.
Oil discoveries on several of these
tracts have enhanced property values con­siderably.
FREDERICK RUFFINI
1883
Architect Frederick Ruffini lived in Texas
only eight years, but he left his trace
against the Lone Star skyline. He arrived
in Austin from Cleveland, Ohio, in 1877.
Within four years he had designed a large
number of private and public buildings
such as the courthouses at Henderson,
Longview, Georgetown, and Corsicana,
jails at New Braunfels, McKinney, Frank­lin,
and Groesbeck, and the old State Deaf
and Dumb Asylum at Austin. Millets
Opera House and the Hancock Building in
Austin were also his handiwork.
Ruffini's last project was probably his
most imposing. In 1883, he was chosen as
the architect, in an eight-entry competi­tion,
to design the Main Building for The
University of Texas at Austin. In accord­ance
with then fashionable trends, he
chose Gothic frosting for the edifice, but
he lived to see only the west wing com­pleted.
He died in 1885, during an epi­demic
which swept Austin.
SALVATORE LUCCHESE
Salvatore Lucchese was born into a boot­making
family near Palermo, Sicily, in
1866. In 1882, he landed at Galveston
and settled a year later in San Antonio,
opening a boot shop. The business grew
until he became one of the best known
custom boot makers in the United States.
The business continues today under the
direction of his grandson, Sam. Lucchese
customers have included movie stars, sol­diers,
and U.S. presidents. Salvatore made
boots for Theodore Roosevelt when the
latter was in San Antonio with the Rough
Riders in 1898. Grandson Sam made a
pair for Vice-President Lyndon Johnson.
The original Lucchese also made boots
for Francisco Madero, leader and tragic
victim of the Mexican Revolution. One
day, while the rebellion against dictator
Porfirio Diaz was in progress, Salvatore
received a call to meet a customer at the
store. When he arrived, there was Madero
in revolutionary garb with bandolier,
guns, and worn-out boots. He told Luc­chese
that he needed boots that were easy
to get into, because he might have to
make a quick escape. Salvatore complied,
but said later that Madero "didn't get
away quick enough the last time."
SALVA\TO RVE L ~HESE Courtesy of the Lucchese Family
1j -ll.~\
Luccheses made boots for other well­known
personalities, such as Gene Autry,
General "Hap" Arnold, Lieutenant
George S. Patton, and General Dwight D.
Eisenhower. A pair made for actress Anne
Baxter were decorated with a pattern of
butterflies reproduced in authentic colors.
For many years Luccheses made riding
boots for graduating cadets of the old Ar­my
Air Corps. But the Air Corps quit
wearing riding boots in 1934, and the
Army followed suit in 1938. The cadet
corps at Texas A&M University has al­ways
had loyal Lucchese fans.
Salvatore Lucchese died in 1929, but
the firm he founded remains an honored . I
name in boots.
THE QUALIA WINERY
The only licensed winery in Texas is op­erated
by the Qualia family on Hudson
Road in Del Rio. The enterprise was start­ed
in 1883 by Frank and Mary Qualia,
who wanted to make wi~e for family con­sumption
as they had done in their old
home near Milan, Italy. About 5,000 gal­lons
of the beverage are produced annual­ly
from an 18-acre tract.
Only two varieties of grapes survive the
Del Rio soil and climate. One of these
produces a dry red wine, and the other a
semi-sweet amber. The grapes are picked
only as fast as they can be fed through the
handpress-about three tons a day. The
juice is naturally fermented for two to
three years in huge oak casks brought
from Italy by the original Qualias. The
aging process takes place in the cool inte-
QUALIA WINE PRESS 90UGHT FROlVt.ITALY b j - j ~."~ ~~. V Courtesy of Qualia Winery
rior of the original winery, with its 18-
inch adobe walls. The finished product is
sold only at the source in Del Rio.
Today, the sons of Louis Qualia operate
the winery, while the elder Qualia tends
sheep and cattle ranches in Texas and in
Mexico.
17
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CHARLES A. SIRINGO
1885
"My excuse for writing this book is mon­ey-
and lots of it." After admitting his
motive, Charlie Siringo produced his rol­licky
autobiography, A Texas Cowboy.
Published before he was 30, it was the
first-and remains the best-of the per ­sonal
range narratives. He wrote nothing
more for three decades, then produced an­other
half dozen titles before his death. As
J . Frank Dobie said: "No other cowboy
ever talked about himself so much in
print~ few had more to talk about."
Charles Angelo Siringo was born in
Matagorda County, Texas, in 1855. His
mother was Irish , his father Italian.
Young Charlie became a cowboy at 11. By
the spring of 1871 he was working for
tough and loud-mouthed "Shanghai"
Pierce. Siringo drove the Chisholm Trail
in its heyday, and later drifted into the
Texas Panhandle with the first LX herd.
At Old Tascosa he made Billy the Kid's
acquaintance, and later h elped lawman
Jim East track the young outlaw to his
New Mexico hideout.
After 15 years with the trail herds,
Charlie wrote and published his first and
most successful book. In 1886, a Kansas
City phrenologist 'studfed the bumps on
Siringo's h ead and advised hirv to become
a detective. The ex-cowboy joined the
Pinkerton National Detecti ve Agency,
and for the n ext 22 years led a dangerous
and adventurous life. A fri end who kn(;w
him during the bloody Coure d'Alene
strike of 1891-92 remembered him as "a
slender, wiry man, dark-eyed, dark-mous­tached,
modest. La~ely recovered of small­pox,
he was noticeably pitted. This would
be an undisguisable identification in a
tight place, but he did not seem to mind.
H e was the most interesting, resourceful,
courageous detective I ever dealt with."
In 1912, Siringo's second book, A Cow­boy
Detective, appeared. The Pinkertons
reacted strongly against its publication,
and resorted to legal harassment to pre­vent
its circulation. Apparently they ob­jected
not so much to what Old Charlie
said about them, as to his description of
their methods, which- at times-includ-ed
bribery, perjury, brutality, and padded
expense accounts. The last years of his
life were spent fighting back at those who
tried to suppress what he had to say.
In 1927, he saw the best of his writing
assembled into a dignified and handsome
volume by the eminently respectable
Houghton-Mifflin Company. Again the
Pinkertons raised legal barriers, and its
sale was stopped while substitute material
was inserted. Charlie Siringo died at Ven­ice,
California, in 1928. His stories, while
not polished works of art, were always
honest and true.
FRANK TALERICO
1888
Frank Talerico arrived in San Antonio in
1888 and open ed a fruit stand in the busi­ness
district. In a short time he owned 15
such stands, all operated by friends and
relatives he brought over from his native
Italy. Eventually, he built a substantial
warehouse from which his chain stores
were supplied.
Talerico was born at Spezzano della Si­la
in 1860. Correspondence from a friend
in T exas inspired him to seek his fortune
there. In addition to his business endeav­ors,
Talerico organized the small Italian
colony in San Antonio and, for years, was
one of its most prominent leaders. He died
in 1934 at the age of 74.
ADAM E. JANELLI
1889
Adam J anelli, a native of Parma, brought
the Salvation Army to Texas on June 12,
1889, when he preached the first sermon
at the corner of Main and Ervay Streets
in Dallas. Born in 1851, the young man
went to sea in search of his fortune. He
advanced from an ordinary seaman to the
rank of captain, serving in both the Ital­ian
and English merchant marine. On one
of his long voyages, he docked at Calcutta,
India, where he attended several of the
Salvation Army's street meetings. He be­came
interested in its work among the
poor. On his return to England, he left
the sea and became friends with General
William Booth, the founder of the Salva­tion
Army. Hoping to further this good
MR. AND MRS. ADAM J
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cause, Janelli came to the United States in
1888. A year later he entered Dallas.
The ex-sailor settled there permanently
in 1891, and operated a bill posting agen­cy.
But his real interest was the work of
the Salvation Army, which he served as
local treasurer until his death. He was a
familiar sight at street meetings for more
than a quarter century. And it was Ja­nelli
who was largely responsible for the
erection of the Salvation Army Hall on
Federal Street.
When the Italian-language newspaper
La Tribuna ltaliana began publication in
1913, Janelli contributed time and money
#
Courtesy of l'v/rs. E. T . Crosson
to make it self-sustaining. He translated
English into Italian and occasionally lent
the paper money to tide it over its fre­quent
crises. When this immigrant hu­manitarian
died in 1925, his funeral was
held at the Salvation Army Hall, with
services led by the Dallas district com­mander.
ST. JOSEPH'S ALTAR
1890's
The custom of celebrating, on March 19,
the Feast of St. Joseph-with the St. Jo­seph's
altar, or table-was brought to Tex­as
by Sicilian immigrants during the late
1800's. The celebration itself is peculiar
to a single region of the island from
which many Italians in Houston, Galves­ton,
Bryan, and Hearne came.
St. Joseph is the patron saint of Italy,
and particularly of Sicily. Since it was
held during Lent, the feast had to be pre­pared
without meat. Dishes of fish, a Si­cilian
type of pizza, and spaghetti were
served together with fancy biscuits, cakes,
pies, and vegetables. On the day before
the feast the priest was called to bless the
food and drink to be used in the cele­bration.
On the feast day itself the families
would go out, find the poorest people in
the community, and bring them to their
houses. The master of the house and his
family would bathe the feet of the guests,
just as Christ had done to his disciples be­fore
the Last Supper. Then the visitors
would be seated at the table. Those being
served were required to take at least a
taste of all the food and drink offered,
19
20
following which the family and invited
guests could eat. At the end of the feast
the remains were gathered up and distrib­uted
to the poor.
When the Sicilian immigrants reached
Texas, most could speak no English and
felt awkward about choosing poor people
who did not understand the language or
the custom. Consequently, they selected
children of the family, and children of
friends, to represent Christ and his apos­tles.
The ceremony remained unaltered,
with the exception of the foot-washing
ritual. Instead, the children would stand
on benches, or chairs, and those present
would kiss their feet as an act of humility.
Afterward the host, his family, and
friends would carry baskets to the poor in
the neighborhood. The celebration of St.
Joseph's Altar is still observed among a
few Sicilian families in Texas, although
the custom is slowly vanishing.
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS SOCIETY
1890
The Christopher Columbus Society of San
Antonio has. for years, been a focal point
of the city's Italian colony. Founded in
1890 by Cavaliere Carlo Alberto Solaro
and 15 compatriots, the organization was
a combination of benevolent society and
fraternal association. In the early years it
loaned money to Italian famili~s in tem­porary
need, furnished advice and counsel
in business matters, taught English to
new arrivals, and provided a framework
for social activities.
By 1950, the Society had changed some-what:
20 percent of the membership could
be non-Italian. It continued, however, to
meet the social needs of its members and
render charitable services throughout the
city. At one time the Society was instru­mental
in building the Italian community
church of San Francesca de Paola. More
recently, it has donated a children's room
at Santa Rosa Hospital, and the ladies'
auxiliary has outfitted the children of St.
Peter's Orphanage.
The Society's headquarters is located at
Christopher Columbus Hall, completed in
1928. The statue of the New World ex­plorer
which stands in the adjacent park
was presented by the Society to the City
of San Antonio in 19~7. The old neigh­borhood
served by the organ.ization was
carved up by urban renewal, and Italians
joined the exodus to the suburbs, but
Christopher Columbus Hall-still famed
for its monthly spaghetti suppers-con­tinues
to provide a link to the old country
and between old friends and acquaint­ances.
FATHER CARLOS
M. PINTO
1892
There was only one small chapel for the
entire Roman Catholic population of EI
Paso when Father Carlos M. Pinto arrived
there in 1892. During his 26 years in the
border town the priest was personally re­sponsible
for building six parish churches
-including one in Ciudad Juarez-and
three parish schools.
Pinto was born at Salerno, Italy, in
1841. At nine he entered the College of
the Jesuit Fathers, and when only four­teen
he asked to be admitted to the noviti­ate
of the Society of Jesus. When it came
time for him to pronounce his final vows,
he was obliged to wait a year until he
reached the proper age. Pinto was not yet
20 when the revolution of 1860 drove the
Jesuits from Naples. He studied in France
and Spain before coming to the United
States in 1870.
Father Pinto arrived at Pueblo, Colo­rado,
in 1872, as priest of a parish that
stretched n early 175 miles. There was no
Catholic church in the town, so he held
mass in a school and later in the court­house.
In 1873, he built the first church in
Pueblo, naming it after the founder of the
Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius Loyola.
Pinto was not the first Jesuit to serve in
EI Paso, but he probably was the most im­portant.
Fathers Carlos Persone and Jo­seph
Montenarelli arrived at the ancient
mission of Ysleta in October, 1881. They
ministered to the n eeds of the Indian and
Mexican population until Father Pinto
arrived. Pinto set out to accomplish two
things immediately. First, he would pro­vide
a school for the children of Spanish­speaking
Catholics. Second, he would
build parish churches for both English
and Spanish-speaking Catholics. Sacred
Heart School opened in October, 1892, in
a new building with four classrooms. The
Sacred Heart Church for Spanish-speak­ing
Catholics was dedicated April 30,
1893. About a month later, Immaculate
Conception Church for the English-speak­ing
Catholics was dedicated. Pinto served
as the first pastor of Sacred Heart.
I
~ ..
:~t;;>
FATHER CARLOS M. PINTO, S.J . Owens, Carlos M. Pinto. S . .r.
, I ~(
',)
For a time, beginning in 1895, Father
Pinto also served as pastor of Our Lady of
Guadalupe in Juarez. During one of the
Mexican Revolution's anti-clerical phases
in 1912, Father Pinto was kidnapped as
he was leaving the church. Colonel An­tonio
Rojas, the abductor, demanded a
$3,000 ransom. Father Pinto refused the
demand, mainly because he did not have
the money. Rojas finally settled for a $100
ransom, to be paid by check as soon as
Pinto was safely back across the border.
True to his word, the priest went back to
El Paso and wrote out a ch eck to Colonel
Rojas for the agreed sum.
Father Carlos M. Pinto, S.J. died in E1
Paso on November 5,1019, worn out by
the years of laboring for the English and
Spanish-speaking Catholics of the Trans­Pecos
region of Texas.
LOUIS COBOLINI
1894
-- /(~. L
Louis Co bolini, an Italian from Trieste,
was largely r esponsible for the port devel­opment
of such coastal cities as Corpus
Christi, Rockport, and Brownsville. Born
in 1845, he fought as a young man in
Garibaldi's army during the wars to unify
Italy. When those wars ended, Cobolini
was forced to seek refuge in the United
States. He came to Galveston in 1867,
where he peddled fish and fruit on the
streets. He grew prosperous and soon ac­quired
his own fishing schooner, the
Henry Williams. He became a leader in
the Galveston fishing industry and later
established fisheries at other points along
the Texas Gulf Coast.
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.---
Almost from the beginning, Cobolini
took an active part in the organization of
Texas labor. In 1894, he was elected presi­dent
of the State Federation of Labor. He
was recognized as a self-taught expert in
the field of labor relations and industrial
progress, and was frequently called upon
to lecture on these subjects in various
parts of the United States.
After 26 years in Galveston, Cobolini
moved to Rockport, where he continued
development of his extensive fishing in­terests.
There, he worked incessantly for
harbor improvements. His efforts contin­ued
when he moved to Brownsville in
1907. He devoted much attention to com­piling
data for a proposed Brazos-Santiago
Harbor. He was elected to present the
Valley'S case in Washington in 1916, but
the project was rejected by the federal
government. Undaunted, Cobolini re­turned
home to continue his fight for a
port that could handle the Rio Grande
Valley'S abundant fruit and vegetable
produce.
During the early 1920's this Italian
Texan served on the Brownsville city
commission. He was a staunch supporter
of the municipal ownership of utilities
and led the fight to prevent the sale of the
Brownsville electric plant in 1922. When
the port project was revived in the late
1920's, Cobolini was chosen to present ar­guments
to a visiting team from the Ar­my
Corps of Engineers. His vast store of
technical knowledge, his enthusiasm, and
his broad gasp of local problems provoked
favorable comment from the engineers.
Louis Co bolini died in 1928 of overex-
LOUIS COBOLINI fitandard Blue Book of Texas, 1927
0~ -jJi:J...
posure, after leading an inspection team
of army engineers through Brazos Pass.
He was still in harness at the age of
84. His dream of a deepwater port for
Brownsville was realized eight years later.
FRANK LIBERTO
1899
At different times Frank Liberto owned
grocery stores in three American cities
and effectively served the Italian commu­nity
in each. He came from his native
Sicily in 1890, and settled first in New Or­leans,
where he opened a small grocery.
In 1899, he went to Beaumont and estab­lished
the Crescent City Market on the
Houston highway. He also helped organ­ize
the San Salvadore Society, which as-sis
ted newly arrived immigrants in find­ing
jobs, loaned them money to start
businesses, and provided burial expenses
for its members.
In 1909, Liberto contracted malaria
and moved to the drier climate of San An­tonio
for his health. He established Frank
Liberto and Company, the first to deal in
imported Italian foods and spices. He op­erated
the business until his death in
1940. In 1927, he was one of four found­ers
of the Italian parish church of San
Francesco de Paola. Both in Beaumont
and San Antonio, Liberto wrote friends
and relatives in Sicily, urging them to
come to Texas. Many heeded that advice.
Frank's oldest son, Sam, was a pioneer
in radio. In 1921 , he opened his first radio
shop in San Antonio, and in 1926 estab­lished
KGCI, the third radio station in the
city. Sam was instrumental in putting
Texas' first all-Spanish language program
on the air in 1928. Another of the Liberto
sons became the first priest to emerge
from the San Antonio Italian colony. Vin­cent
Liberto was ordained in the Order of
Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1929.
DICKINSON, TEXAS
1900
Italians from southern Italy and Sicily
began settling on the Galveston Coun­ty
mainland before 1900. Many were
brought there by the Stewart Title Com­pany,
and still others by the active Italian
consul at Galveston. Clemente Nicolini,
an ex-sea captain, had acquired consider­able
acreage near Dickinson. For a time
he operated what amounted to a one-man
"
LOADING STRAWBERRIES AT DICKINSON, 1909 v rfr, /
iIh-;Ui~~ation bureau and land develop­ment
company. He steered recent arrivals
to Dickinson, and even managed to entice
away some Brazos valley Italians. Soon
there were over 200 of these people living
in the neighborhood. Families bought the
fairly inexpensive land, wrote for friends
and relatives to join them, and began
raising fruit for the commercial market.
During the first and second decades
of this century, Italians in Dickinson
shipped tens of thousands of cases of
Courtesy of Mrs. Robert J. Hughes, Jr.
strawberries in refrigerated boxcars to
markets throughout the Midwest. Then in
the 1920's they began raising figs com­mercially.
Before the decade had ended,
the produce of the Rio Grande valley
began undercutting the Dickinson truck
23
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farmers, and they gradually abandoned
efforts at large-scale tmck crop operation.
Until recently, the Italian presence in
Dickinson was felt through the celebra­tion
of St. Joseph's Altar. Many older resi­dents
remember the beehive brick ovens
sitting in front or back of Italian homes,
where the womenfolk used to bake the
weekly bread supply. In the mid-1930's
the economy of Dickinson began to re­volve
around oil. Many of the residents,
Italians among them, became refinery
workers, or sought employment in Gal­veston
or Houston.
POMPEO COPPINI
1902
An amazingly high percentage of the out­standing
statuary in Texas parks, ceme­teries,
and public buildings is the work of
a single gifted Italian immigrant-Pom­peo
Coppini. Born in Moglia, Italy, his
family moved to Florence in 1871, when
the child was a year old. He ran away
from home to become an artist, rather
than become the civil engineer his par­ents
had wanted. Finally_ with parental
consent, he was allowed to enroll in the
Academy of Fine Arts at Florence, where
he finished the normal eight-year course
in three. Thereafter, he followed various
pursuits until he could save enough mon­ey
to start his own studio in Florence. He
soon became known as one of the best
portrait sculptors in Italy.
In 1896, Coppini sailed to New York,
where he eventually opened his own stu­dio.
In 1902, he accepted a commission
for the five statues which comprise the
Confederate monument on the Capitol
grounds at Austin. The sculptor liked
Texas so well that he established a home
and studio in San Antonio, where the ter­rain
and climate recalled his native re­gion
of Italy. His next important work of
art was an equestrian statue honoring
Terry's Texas Rangers. He won the com­petition
for the contract from no less emi­nent
a colleague than Elisabet Ney. The
project was plagued by accidents. An in­fected
blister on Coppini's hand led to
severe blood poisoning. The dry Texas
weather played havoc with the clay mod­el.
Then a' fire almost destroyed the art­ist's
studio. But on its completion in 1907,
the work was widely a~claimed.
Also in 1902, Coppini was commis­sioned
to design a monument to President
Rufus C. Burleson of Baylor. The only
suitable model he could find for the de­vout,
teetotaling Dr. Burleson turned out
to be a drunken bum. The derelict seemed
perfectly happy and at ease holding a
Bible in his hand. When the statue was
completed, Mrs. Burleson declared that it
looked exactly like the good doctor. In
1917, Coppini executed a similar memo­rial
to Governor SuI Ross on the Texas
A&M campus. The sculptor'S name is
doubtless remembered by several genera­tions
of freshmen who were annually re­quired
to clean the mud-daubed figure.
The letters COPPINI, graved deeply in
the base, left a lingering impression.
This Italian Texan also executed the
monument at Sam Houston's tomb in
Huntsville, the Texas heroes' memorial at
Gonzales, a series of statues on The Uni-versity
of Texas at Austin campus, the
Alamo cenotaph, and another series in the
Hall of Texas Heroes at Dallas. He head­ed
the art department at Trinity Univer­sity
in San Antonio from 1942 to 1945,
when he returned to New York. He died
in 1957 and was buried in San Antonio,
where Miss Waldine Tauch, his adopted
daughter and pupil, still administers the
Coppini Academy.
COPPIN I WORKINYON THE ALAMO CENOTAPH
(0«;' -:;)...).51 -v Courtesy of Miss Waldine Tauch
JOE GRASSO. SHRIMP
INDUSTRY PIONEER
1910
Joe Grasso, from Ase Costello, Sicily, pio­neered
in the Texas Gulf Coast shrimp in­dustry.
Born in 1883, Grasso sailed early
in life to Florida, but stayed only a short
time. In 1906, he voyaged into Galveston
harbor aboard a small steamer. After
working as a fisherman, then as a long­shoreman,
and saving a little money, he
returned to Sicily, married his childhood
sweetheart, and brought her back to
Galveston.
Joe Grasso began his' fishing business
with a single small boat. He bought a
barge, anchored it at the foot of Pier 20
in Galveston, and was soon one of the
larger wholesale fish dealers in the city.
For the first 15 years Grasso sold what
shrimp he caught as bait. In those days
virtually no one ate it. Then, in the late
1920's, Grasso began freezing shrimp for
export to Japan. For the next few years,
virtually his entire catch was contracted
to the Japanese. Joe Grasso died in 1936
at 53.
His son, Joe Jr., assumed control of the
operation. He expanded the business and,
in 1948, moved the company to its present
location on Pier 9. He built a large mod­ern
plant, installed almost a half mile of
piers, and dredged one of the largest slips
in Galveston. Today, Joe Grasso and Son,
Inc. operate only five boats of their own;
they buy almost all of their shrimp from
independent operators. Grasso has ex­panded
into other fields. Marine Mud,
Inc., with offices in Galveston and Sabine
Pass, supplies drilling mud and other
materials to offshore drilling sites.
C H A R LIE PA PA AND
THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
1913
For almost 50 years, La Tribuna Italiana
kept alive the glories of Italian culture
among the Italian residents of Texas,
Oklahoma, and Louisiana. The newspaper
was founded in June, 1913, by Charles
Saverio Papa, an immigrant from Cefalu,
Sicily.
Papa came to the United States in 1904.
For four years he operated barbershops in
Baltimore and Richmond. He arrived in
Dallas in May, 1908, during the height
of one of the city's worst floods. As he
jumped from dry spot to dry spot along
the flooded streets, he got the impression
that Dallas was America's answer to Ven­ice
and its waterways. Until 1913, he op­erated
a barbershop, the kind that today
would be called a hair styling salon.
Papa began his weekly newspaper with
nothing more tangible than its motto:
JUSTICE FREEDOM OPPORTUNITY
AMERICA. He had no press, no printer,
25
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no staff, and no money. Papa was ad so­licitor,
business manager, editor, and jani­tor.
Then, in 1916, Louis Adin, a printer
of some experience, arrived from Italy by
way of El Paso. Adin became a full part­ner
in the venture. He could write editori­als
and news columns; more importantly,
he could operate the linotype machine.
He often translated, composed, and set
type all in one process, an achievement
few could equal.
Until the mid-1930's, Charlie Papa and
Louis Adin maintained close ties with
Italy, but as the mother country began its
imperial expansion, those ties loosened.
When Mussolini declared war on the al­lies
in 1940, Papa and Adin changed the
name of the paper to The Texas Tribune
and began publishing entirely in English.
Louis Adin had often joked that he could
speak and write five languages and, of the
five, English was his worst. So, he retired.
Charlie Papa published the paper in its
weekly format until his death in a 1947
auto accident. For a time, Mrs. Bab Lang­ley
edited the paper. In 1951, Joe Gen­naro
became editor. Together, he and
Mrs. Langley continued T he T exas Trib­une
in Charlie Papa's tradition until De­cember,
1962. In their last editorial, they
noted that the paper had always stood for
the advancement of the Italian commu­nity-
socially, economically, and politi­cally.
"The amalgamation of our people
into the whole American society has been
our aim." Now that the amalgamation
was completed, the oldest Italian news­paper
in the Southwest ceased publica­tion.
~- ---z:.:rr= -
ENRICO CERRACHIO
1914
Enrico Cerrachio contributed many pieces
of sculpture to the Texas scene, includ­ing
the famous equestrian statue of Sam
Houston in Hermann Park at Houston, a
bust of Governor Miriam A. Ferguson in
the State Capitol, and a statue of Presi­dent
Anson Jones on the courthouse
square at Anson in Jones County, Texas.
Cerrachio was born near Naples in
1880. As a lad, he played hookey to make
clay figures of the saints. He once mould­ed
a small statue of a local nobleman and,
as a result, was sent to study at the Insti­tute
of Avelliono .. Th¥re followed three
and one-half years of work under Rafael
Bellezzo. Another two years' was spent
learning to cast bronze and carve marble.
By then, Cerrachio was almost 21 and was
facing three years of military service. So,
he booked passage to New York City, ar­riving
there in 1900.
Cerrachio first saw America as an un­developed
land of opportunity. He was so
overjoyed at the sight of the New York
skyline that he threw his tools overboard,
believing that he could soon purchase bet­ter
ones. He was quickly disillusioned. He
spoke no English, had no money, and peo­ple
were unimpressed with his creden­tials.
For a time, Cerrachio slept on a park
bench and ate at a Bowery soup kitchen.
He finally joined a work gang clearing
land for a railroad. Eventually, he was
able to resume sculpting.
The artist came to Houston in 1914.
Soon he had commissions for a Doughboy
statue, which the city presented to Gen-era
1 John J. Pershing, and for busts of
Governor Ferguson, "Cactus Jack" Gar­ner,
and Albert Einstein, as well as statues
of Sam Houston and Rudolph Valentino.
One of Cerrachio's most interesting pieces
was a bronze portrait head of Christ, two
and one-half times life size. He displayed
it in a velvet-lined case so designed and
lighted that the head seemed to turn with
the motion of the viewer, facing him di­rectly
at any angle. Actually the portrait
was the reverse, or concave, side of a relief
mask. The rotating effect was derived
from a shifting light which created the
optical illusion. The tip of the nose, which
appeared to be against the fropt glass, ac­tually
extended back to the center of the
box.
Cerrachio returned to New York City in
1944, and practiced his art there until his
death in 1956.
&,)'I ! r ;</ /',,I1 ~- / / "
, 1
ENRICO CERRACHIO Houston Public Librar.y.
JOSEPHINE LUCCHESE
1922
Josephine Lucchese began her career as a
coloratura soprano with aNew York de­but
in 1922. This daughter of Sam Luc­chese,
San Antonio bootmaker, soon be­came
popularly known as "The American
Nightingale." She received her training
in San Antonio and N ew York, at a time
when it was considered impossible to
achieve success as a serious artist unless
one had studied in Italy. She was the first
to discredit this assumption, winning
fame in the United States, Europe, and
finally, in Italy itself. Mme. Lucchese
made her stage debut in "Rigoletto" at the
Manhattan Opera House in New York.
Subsequently, she was soloist at the Pil­grim
Tercentenary Festival in Boston,
and was featured at the Teatro Nacional
in Havana, Cuba. She sang opposite some
of the leading tenors of the time, includ­ing
Tito Schipa and Giovanni Martinelli.
In 1930-31, she toured North America
for six months, then traveled to Europe
where she gave 150 operatic and concert
performances in Holland, Germany, Ita­ly,
Denmark, Czechoslovakia, and Switz­erland.
Mme. Lucchese appeared with the
San Carlo and Milan Opera companies,
among others. She returned to become the
leading coloratura soprano of the Phila­delphia
Grand Opera Company. She was
on the music faculty at The University of
Texas from 1957 until 1970, when she re­tired.
Today, Mme. Lucchese gives pri­vate
voice lessons to a highly select group
of students.
'1
27
28
THE VALDESE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1929
In May, 1929, the Italian-speaking Prot­estants
of Galveston organized the Val­dese
Presbyterian Church with 35 charter
members. Although the church was offi­cially
a mission of the Brazos Presbytery,
the membership identified themselves as
belonging to the Waldensian Church.
This sect originated in 1170-76 along the
.Rhone River valley. Its founder was a
Lyons merchant named Valdes (also re­ferred
to as Waldo) . The early Walden­sians
were essentially a lay group who
practiced poverty and obedience to the
Sermon on the Mount.
The first Italian Protestants began com­ing
to Galveston about 1890. Most were
from the province of Tuscany. They had
no minister and worshipped under the
guidance of lay leaders. In 1927, the Rev­erend
Arturo D'Albergo arrived to serve
these people. D'Albergo was a native of
Pachino, Sicily. He had come to America
at an early age and had been educated at
the New York Presbyterian Seminary.
He held a number of pastorates in the
United States before World War 1. Dur­ing
the war D'Albergo served in the Ital­ian
armed forces, and latcr became pastor
of the Waldensian Churches of Pachino
and Syracuse in Sicily. He returned to the
United States in 1920 and reached Galves­ton
in 1927.
D'Albergo served as the first and on­ly
pastor of the Valdese Presbyterian
Church . Services were bilingual: older
members generally attended Italian lan-guage
worship, while the younger people
participated in the English language serv­ice.
In 1943, the Reverend D'Albergo re­tired.
The Valdese Presbyterian Church
was dissolved in September, 1943, and its
membership accepted into the First Pres­byterian
Church of Galveston. The older
generation no longer felt out of place, and
the younger one felt perfectly at home as
members of the First Church. The Rever­end
Arturo D'Albergo, who had h elped
the Italian Protestants make the transi­tion
from the old world to the n ew, died
in 1944.
FATHER CARMELO
TRANCHESE
1932
On July 17,1932, in the depths of the de­pression,
Father Carmelo Tranchese, S.J.,
first entered the run-down church of Our
Lady of Guadalupe on San Antonio's west
side. His parishioners, some 12,000 Mexi­can
Americans crammed into one square
mile of slums, were desperately poor, of­ten
hungry, and living in squalor which
Father Tranchese thought unimaginable
in the United States.
Carmelo Tranchese was then 50 years
old. Italian by birth, he had become a
Jesuit priest while quite young. He was a
recognized scholar and had held a high
position at the University of Naples be­fore
coming to the United States as a
missionary. Tranchese first served at Den­ver,
and later at EI Paso, working among
the Indian and Mexican population.
At the San Antonio parish house on the
evening of his arrival, he sat on an empty
apple crate-there were no chairs-and
took stock of his new situation. The
church building was a wreck, the parish
deeply in debt, and there was not even a
broom with which to sweep the dirty
quarters. In 1933, things got worse. Most
of the parishioners eked out a living shell­ing
pecans. When the National Industrial
Recovery Act put a floor under wages,
many pecan shellers were dismissed from
their jobs and thrown onto an already
glutted labor market. There had never
been money for luxuries, now there was
none for essentials. Tranchese begged do­nations
for people on the verge of star­vation
and despair. San Antonio Mayor
C. K. Quin sent squad cars to collect the
staples. The priest set up a distribution
system in the churchyard and provided
food and fuel to over 7,000 people for
more than four months.
But the parishioners also needed jobs
and decent shelter. Tranchese began cam­paigning
for public housing to be built
with laborers from his congregation. His
efforts went unrewarded until one day a
young man from Washington arrived at
the parish house saying, "I am the answer
to your letters." After other visits and oth­er
letters, the proposal was finally ap­proved.
But there were disappointments
ahead. The Supreme Court declared the
national housing pmgram unconstitution­al.
Later, the court changed its tone and
the plan was re-approved. L.and was ac­quired
and conslruction was well under
way when the federal government real­ized
that it had paid far too much for
the run-down slum dwellings. The direc­tor
of the N atiollal Housing Authority
cancelled the project, and Father Tran­chese's
hopes for the future of his parish
were blasted again. Not quite defeated,
the priest sat down and wrote a letter. It
began: "My dear Mrs. Roosevelt ... " In
time, public housing was built.
This was, perhaps, Tranchese's biggest
venture. But he worked constantly to im­prove
the daily existence of his flock. He
organized a mutual burial society, estab­lished
a community welfare center, set up
a child health clinic, constructed a play­ground,
and opened a nursery school. He
also helped form a class in which the
neighborhood girls were taught their na­tional
songs and dances. Around Christ­mastime
he led the rehearsals for the tra­ditional
Los Pastores pa.geal1t.
In 1953, Father Carmelo Tranchese re­tired
to the Jesuit house at Grand Coteau,
Lo~i~. i~na, wh¥'e he died three years lat-
1/3-'1'(1) V
er. He had started at the top and worked
his way down. In the process, he became
a hero to the people of San Antonio's west
side.
THE FRANK AND JENNIE
INGRANDO FOUNDATION
1951
On Saint Patrick's Day in 1950 a childless
couple, Frank and Jennie Ingrando of
Houston, Texas, established a foundation
to provide for the care of neglected chil­dren.
They were about to begin construc­tion
of a home on the Gulf Freeway when
Jennie became incurably ill and plans
had to be postponed. After her death in
May, 1951, Frank decided to carryon
alone. He was the architect, foreman, and
contractor for the building, which was de-
FATHER TRANCHESE PERFORMING A WEDDING CEREMONY Courtesy of Saturday Evening Post
29
30
signed to house 100 children. As Frank
said after Jennie's death: "We both want­ed
to see children with lots of ground
around them. We wanted them to have a
few ponies, flowers, chickens, and a gar­den,
maybe."
The home was dedicated in the summer
of 1954, and was opened in 1955, but
Frank Ingrando did not live to see the first
children move in; he had died the pre­vious
December. The Ingrando home
operated until 1962, when the original
structure was sold and a smaller, more
economical place was purchased. The new
quarters were operated until 1969. By
then, the state and county had assumed
responsibility for the care of the children
the Ingrando home was supposed to help.
The foundation continued to donate mon­ey
to organizations already taking care of
children. It made gifts to the City of
Houston for a park to be named the Frank
and Jennie Ingrando Park. It gave prop­erty
to finance an intensive care unit for
children at St. Joseph's Hospital. It also
contributed to the Houston School for the
Deaf, to the Boy Scouts, to the San Jose
Clinic, and to other children's groups.
One of the more unusual gifts was to
Dominican College in Houston. The gift
provided for continuation of a special
mass recited each year on September 8.
The mass had its origins in the 1900 storm
which destroyed Galveston. Frank's fa­ther,
Ignacio Ingrando, had vowed that if
his family survived the storm he would
mark the occasion annually. The family
survived, and the mass has been observed
with only a few exceptions ever since.
Sicilian-born Frank Ingrando was two
years old when his parents migrated to
Texas in 1888. Jennie Barbera was born
in America to Italian parents who had
settled in Houston shortly after the Civil
War. As a boy, Frank worked in his fa­ther's
store, then opened his own paint
shop. All the while, he was buying prop­erty
whenever he could. By the late 1920's
the Ingrandos possessed all the material
comforts they would ever need, so they
turned their energies toward saving and
investing for the children's home. Jennie
kept the books, collected the rents, and
counseled with Frank in real estate invest­ments.
. I
As a result of the tax reform act of
1969, it became uneconomical to operate
the foundation, and the final gifts were
made in 1973. But the memory of Frank
and Jennie Ingrando will live on in the
park and in other good works provided for
the children of Houston.
T E X A S COM ,M ITT E E
ON ITALIAN MIGRATION
1955
In 1955, the American Committee on Ital­ian
Migration formed its Texas chapter
with General Vincent Chido and Mrs.
Bruno Bangoli as co-chairmen. More than
300 families immigrated to Texas under
the auspices of this committee. These fam­ilies
were of varied nationalities-Czech,
Hungarian, Romanian, and Yugoslav­but
all were of Italian lineage, and all
were either skilled craftsmen or profes­sionals.
The committee provided them as­sistance
in obtaining housing and a job.
LIGHT D'ALBERGO
BAILEY
1966
Light D'Albergo Bailey dedicated her
adult life to fostering an understanding
of the Italian language and culture in
Texas. Lasting evidence of her dedication
is the Clay and Light Bailey Collection of
Italian Culture at the University of Hous­ton,
which she and her husband gave in
1966. She shared her enthusiasm with
many church, civic, and social groups,
but always her favorite audience was her
students. They responded to her efforts by
performing at the level she set for them.
Light D'Albergo was born in 1908 in
New York, where her father, the Reverend
Arturo D'Albergo, was serving as a Pres­byterian
minister. She spent her early
years in Sicily at Palermo and Pachino.
She received her bachelor of arts degree
from The University of Texas in 1930.
That same year, she married Clay Bailey,
then began teaching Spanish, Latin, and
Italian in the Galveston public schools.
From 1936 to 1951 she taught Spanish at
Southern Methodist University in Dallas,
and also introduced Italian as a regular
course. In 1951, Mrs. Bailey came to the
University of Houston and began the reg­ular
instruction of Italian there.
She was constantly engaged in efforts
to preserve the Italian heritage in the
United States. In 1961, she was awarded
the Cultural Medal by the Italian Minis­try
of Foreign Affairs. Four years later,
The University of Texas requested her
translation of Annibale Ranuzzi's Il Texas
to be placed in the Texana Collection. She
MRS. LIGHT D'ALB:;YGO BAILEY
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Courtesy of Clay Bailey
was further honored in 1969 by Unico,
the Italian national service organization.
Light D'Albergo died in January, 1972.
Three months later, the President of Italy
posthumously conferred upon her the dec­oration
of Knight Officer in the Order of
Merit of the Italian Republic.
FOSSATI'S RESTAURANT
1973
Fossati's Restaurant and Delicatessen IS
the oldest business in Victoria, Texas. It
was founded in 1882 by Frank Fossati, a
30-year-old Italian immigrant from Bres­cia.
As a youth, he was apprenticed as a
stonecutter and spent ten years in Austria
learning the fine points of the art. In
1880, he came to America through the
gates of Ellis Island. From friends he
learned that Texas was building a new
state capitol and that expert stonecutters
were much in demand there.
Frank traveled to Austin, only to learn
that he was five or six years early; the
project was still in the planning stage. He
hired on as a laborer with the Southern
Pacific Railroad, building the high bridge
over the Pecos River in West Texas. Then
he found work in Victoria, cutting stone
for the excellent wage of three dollars per
day. For reasons of health he entered an­other
line of business. On March 1, 1882,
Fossati opened a chili and sandwich
stand on Market Square in Victoria. He
also sold imported cheeses, sausage, and
olive oil. Gradually the business grew,
and Fossati's became a popular meeting
place for the Italians of Victoria, especial­ly
the new arrivals.
31
32
After several moves, Fossati's finally
came to rest at its present location on
South Main. In 1910, Frank's son, Caeton
J. (Kite) entered the family business. Un­der
his management, Fossati's began its
evolution from a mere restaurant to a tra­dition
and an institution. Public officials
made a point of being seen in Fossati's.
Countless political campaigns were organ­ized
there, and the owners did not hesitate
to air their political opinions, either. Dur­ing
the "free silver" campaign of William
Jennings Bryan, Frank Fossati began us­ing
silver dollars exclusively to transact
business. The restaurant became known
locally as "the silver dollar place."
At Fossati's, a man's station in life was
not important. Through its doors came
lawyers, gamblers, doctors, mechanics,
and politicians. All that was required was
that they act like gentlemen. Today,
Frank Fossati is long dead, and his son,
Kite, has retired. But the institution is still
going strong.
ITALIAN TEXANS TODAY
Today's Italian Texan bears little resem­blance
to his forebears. Many of the cul­tural
characteristics that once distin­guished
him have disappeared. The "little
Italies" in urban areas have been frag­mented
by urban renewal, or decimated
by the suburban exodus. Except for mem­bers
of the older generation, the language
has largely fallen into disuse. The last
newspaper directed solely at Italian Tex­ans
ceased publication in 1962. The bee­hive
ovens of Thurber and Dickinson have
given way to store-bought bread.
Despite this trend toward assimilation,
there remain many visible signs of an
Italian presence in Texas. In Montague
one can still buy fruits and vegetables
raised by the descendants of those early
pioneers from Northern Italy. The Qualia
winery in Del Rio has recently expanded
its production. Italian service organiza­tions,
such as UNICO, remain active in
ch,?itable and civic affairs. In San Anto­nio
the Christopher" Columbus Society'S
monthly Italian feasts attract hundreds of
second and third generation Italian Tex­ans,
as well as non-Italians who appreci­ate
fine food.
Italians are still coming to Texas.
The immigrants who have arrived since
World War II are trained professionals,
or skilled workers who are almost im­mediately
assimilated into the fabric of
American life. No :'matter when they
came, all Italian T exans remain proud of
their ancestry. They are also proud of
their contributions toward making Texas
a better place in which to live.
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One of a series
prepared by the staff of
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AT SAN ANTONIO
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CU LTURES
1973
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