SIGRIST:

This is Paul Sigrist for the National Park Service. It is Thursday, December sixth. We are here at St. Johnland Nursing Home with Vita Marchione, who came from Italy in 1909.

MARCHIONE:

Right.

SIGRIST:

Could you please state your full name and your date of birth.

MARCHIONE:

My full name...

SIGRIST:

Yes, your maiden name.

MARCHIONE:

Its Vita, but they call me Mary. That was my confirmation name.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

See, and they used to call me Mary but still I, I got my grandmother's name.

SIGRIST:

Vita?

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

And what was your name, what was your last name in Italy?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, my mother's name then?

SIGRIST:

Yup.

MARCHIONE:

Fattizzi.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

F‑A‑T‑T‑I‑Z‑Z‑I.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. And what is your birthdate?

MARCHIONE:

My birthday is July the fourth, uh, July the fourteenth.

SIGRIST:

1905?

MARCHIONE:

1905.

SIGRIST:

I see, what town in Italy were you from?

MARCHIONE:

I, I come, we come from Guma. That's where I was born. Gumanapolo.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

Provinco de Pada.

SIGRIST:

I see. And, how big was your family? Who...

MARCHIONE:

Oh, we, after we came here?

SIGRIST:

No, no. Before in Italy.

MARCHIONE:

Oh, two, and my grandmother, my grandfather. And they passed away.

SIGRIST:

I see. let's talk a little bit about your own parents. What was your father's name?

MARCHIONE:

My father's name was Spano.

SIGRIST:

S‑P‑A‑N‑O?

MARCHIONE:

Right.

SIGRIST:

And what was your mother's name?

MARCHIONE:

Grace Fattizzi.

SIGRIST:

I see. And, talk a little bit about your father. For instance, what did he do for a living?

MARCHIONE:

My father had an ice business.

SIGRIST:

An ice business.

MARCHIONE:

When we came here.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember what he did in Italy?

MARCHIONE:

No, that I don't...

SIGRIST:

Don't remember anyone talking about it?

MARCHIONE:

Yeah. That I don't know.

SIGRIST:

I see. Now you said that your father came to America first.

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

When did he come?

MARCHIONE:

I, I think that he came in 1907 or 8, something like that.

SIGRIST:

Sometime around then.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

And, why did he come here?

MARCHIONE:

He came here because he, uh, my uncle, he was seventeen years old and my grandfather wanted my father to bring him back home, but he didn't want to come.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

He like it, America.

SIGRIST:

He liked it. What did he, you said he was in the ice business when he came here...

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

so, what was your mother doing back in Italy? Was she working?

MARCHIONE:

No, my mother never worked. My father never sent her to work.

SIGRIST:

I see. was he, was he sending her money? To live on?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

SIGRIST:

You were just a little girl.

MARCHIONE:

I was a little girl but we couldn't come here. My mother didn't get any money from my father.

SIGRIST:

I see, were there other people in your family? Did you have brothers and sisters?

MARCHIONE:

No, I didn't have nobody then.

SIGRIST:

I see. So it was just you and your mother over...

MARCHIONE:

Me and my mother and my sister. But then, when we came here, my father, you know, he worked. My mother never worked.

SIGRIST:

I see. Um...

MARCHIONE:

She had to watch the kids. (they laugh)

SIGRIST:

when you were in Italy, did, do you remember your mother ever talking about, like where you lived in Italy? Did you...

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah. I went to see her.

SIGRIST:

Did you, did you live in a house or an apartment...

MARCHIONE:

It was a house. But there was rooms like the fireplace.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

The bedrooms, the kitchen, we didn't have too much but we were comfortable.

SIGRIST:

and, you mentioned something about grandparents. Did they live with you in Italy? In the same house?

MARCHIONE:

My grand..., my grandmother, my grandfather took care of us while my mother came here for her brother. And he didn't want to come and my grandfather passed away, he got ammonia (sic) and he passed away.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

And my mother says to my grandmother that she should come over here.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

With her. She didn't want to come. But it took a long time before she says "yes", that she would come.

SIGRIST:

That, excuse me, that your mother would come or that your grandmother would come with your mother?

MARCHIONE:

My grandmother would come with my mother.

SIGRIST:

Were these, were these your mother's parents or your father's parents?

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, no.

SIGRIST:

They were your mother's parents.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah. My father's parents, his father dead..., passed away and I, I don't how long but, a, they was his mother, my other grandmother.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And she used, we used to go there and she used to give us grapes, you know, what the woman could afford to give.

SIGRIST:

I see. Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

But she was nice. They were all nice.

SIGRIST:

I see. So did, so ultimately did your mother's mother come with you?

MARCHIONE:

No!

SIGRIST:

No, she didn't, she wouldn't come.

MARCHIONE:

After so many years, then she came.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

She was sixty‑five, I think.

SIGRIST:

Before she made it over here.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

All right, let's, let's talk a little bit about coming over to America.

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

So your mother and your sister...

MARCHIONE:

My, yeah, my moth...

SIGRIST:

And you...

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Uh, decided to come to America. Your mother...

MARCHIONE:

Oh, my mother, yeah, because my father was here, I mean, and she didn't want to leave him alone. She wanted to cook for him and everything.

SIGRIST:

When, where did he live in America?

MARCHIONE:

Uh, 100th Street.

SIGRIST:

I see. So he stayed in New York when he came to...

MARCHIONE:

New York, and he found us apartment when we came.

SIGRIST:

O.K. do you remember or do you remember your mother talking about what port you left from in Italy before you came over?

MARCHIONE:

What port? Well, I remember like they used to say, I, I was small...

SIGRIST:

You were just a kid.

MARCHIONE:

Uh, Naples, I think.

SIGRIST:

Did you leave from Naples?

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, that, that's where the boat was.

SIGRIST:

Yes. Do you remember the name of the boat? Do you remember your mother saying the name of the boat?

MARCHIONE:

No. If you name some...

SIGRIST:

Oh, there were hundreds and hundreds of them.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

all right, the, the, uh, crossing. You crossed the Atlantic.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Going to New York. Did you get sick? Do you remember your mother talking about this?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes. They used to throw up, the people.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

My mother, there was, uh, some man. He used to come under the boat and sold lemons.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

And, uh, for us to eat the lemons because they were good if you threw up, you know.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

And that's what we done.

SIGRIST:

So that's, that's what keep you from getting sick?

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

(correcting himself) Kept you from getting sick. So, um...

MARCHIONE:

I think we took twenty, twenty‑one days or twenty‑two days. Don't let me lie to you.

SIGRIST:

(he laughs) No, that's probably about right.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Uh, did, did, of course you were very young but I, I was just wondering if, you remember your mother talking about, did a lot of people from your neighborhood go on the same boat to America? Or were you...

MARCHIONE:

Well, that I don't know.

SIGRIST:

Right.

MARCHIONE:

But the boat was full of people.

SIGRIST:

It was very full.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember seeing the Statue of Liberty when you came into...

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yes. We got off in New York on 59th Street.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

With the boat and, and then the people would, that's, you know, we were relations to, they used to come on the, the boat...

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And, uh, say "Don't worry, don't worry! We'll take you out." They used to pin, a you know, a paper...

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Because they wanted to know where you live, where you don't live.

SIGRIST:

Right. And you remember...

MARCHIONE:

I remember like a dream, it is.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Yes, yes. Uh, and, uh, so, so you went to Ellis Island then.

MARCHIONE:

Yes. My mother, my sister, and me.

SIGRIST:

I'm sorry, what was your sister's name?

MARCHIONE:

My sister's name was Antionette.

SIGRIST:

Antionette. Now who, who met you at Ellis Island?

MARCHIONE:

My father.

SIGRIST:

He came to Ellis Island.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, my father and my uncle.

SIGRIST:

Did, did you remember your mother talking about Ellis Island at all. Do you...

MARCHIONE:

No. She only said "Thank God we're here." (they laugh)

SIGRIST:

It must have been a great relief after that horrible boat ride...

MARCHIONE:

Sure.

SIGRIST:

To get there. So, so your, your father and your uncle...is that your father's brother or your mother's brother?

MARCHIONE:

My mother's brother. She only had one brother.

SIGRIST:

I see. What was his name?

MARCHIONE:

His name was Vincent.

SIGRIST:

Vincent. And they came to Ellis Island to meet you.

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

And then where did you go?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, then, when, uh, we went there we got off the boat that they came to take us and we went in our house because my father had got the rooms.

SIGRIST:

This is on...

MARCHIONE:

222 100th Street.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. And, he had, he had already, uh, secured an apartment for you and everything...

MARCHIONE:

Yes, yes.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember that apartment? Did you live there a long time?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah. We lived there, uh, in the front there was a chicken mart. They used to sell chickens.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

There was a chicken market. And in the back we lived. In the back...

SIGRIST:

I see. So you lived on the first floor then.

MARCHIONE:

Yes, on the ground floor.

SIGRIST:

did you, were there a lot of rooms or just a couple rooms or...

MARCHIONE:

No, there was a couple rooms downstairs on the ground floor.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

Then a few more up you had to pay more rent and a...

SIGRIST:

I see, I see.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

And, and, and you said you lived there for a long time?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes. We lived, my mother got my brother, another baby.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

And then she got the twins and then we were too tight.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

And we got the rooms on 223 I think it was, on the ground floor too, but we have more rooms.

SIGRIST:

Did you have running water?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes, yes.

SIGRIST:

Was there a bathroom in the apartment too or was that in the hallway or...

MARCHIONE:

In the hallway.

SIGRIST:

The bathroom was in the hallway.

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

what is your father doing? Oh, he's selling ice at this point.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

He's dealing in ice. Did your mother ever work?

MARCHIONE:

Never.

SIGRIST:

Never. She was home taking care of the kids.

MARCHIONE:

My father never wanted her to work.

SIGRIST:

Was she a good cook?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yeah.

SIGRIST:

Did she make anything that you liked? What was your favorite thing that she used to make?

MARCHIONE:

Well, we ate everything. There was no favorite because we had to eat it.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

Which you got to have eat.

SIGRIST:

Did you ever help her cook?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yeah. My mother taught us how to cook, how to wash...

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

How, how to go shopping, yeah.

SIGRIST:

Did your mother, I assume your father learned English so that he could work, did your mother ever learn English?

MARCHIONE:

Broken English.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Was the neighborhood that you were living in, was it an Italian neighborhood?

MARCHIONE:

No, it was Jewish and German.

SIGRIST:

Ah, hah. That's interesting.

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

So, uh, so you sort of grew up as a little girl hearing all kinds of...

MARCHIONE:

They used to call us, I had blonde hair...

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And they used to call us, "Here comes the German girls." (Paul laughs) when we went to the store.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

You don't know how to read everything but, uh, they taught us, you know.

SIGRIST:

In, in that neighborhood was there, a church? Were you religious?

MARCHIONE:

Uh, yes. The church was Saint Lucy on 104th Street.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

(she laughs) Because I went to the, we used to go to church all the time.

SIGRIST:

Yes. You were Catholic?

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

And, 'course in that neighborhood of Germans and Jews, what an interesting religious combination...

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah. We got along with those people like a, we were brothers and sisters.

SIGRIST:

There, there were no problems?

MARCHIONE:

No.

SIGRIST:

No. So, you...

MARCHIONE:

I mean they always took care of us to say, uh, you know, "You going to go home, we'll take you home." Excuse me, I got a shake. (she takes hold of her arm, they laugh)

SIGRIST:

What sorts of things did you do as a little girl in that neighborhood for entertainment, say...

MARCHIONE:

Nothing.

SIGRIST:

Nothing.

MARCHIONE:

If there was something to sew, we sewed.

SIGRIST:

You did a lot of handiwork?

MARCHIONE:

A lot of handiwork. But we, uh, they didn't send us to work right away.

SIGRIST:

Did you go to school?

MARCHIONE:

I went to school and then I learned how to crochet, beads, embroidery and everything and I didn't want to go no more.

SIGRIST:

I see. Did you, having a talent like that, did you, did you start doing it for money at all, to earn some extra money?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, oh yes. They used to, you know, whatever you used to do, they used to pay you.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

See.

SIGRIST:

How did you learn English?

MARCHIONE:

How I learned English?

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Talks, to hear the other ones talk.

SIGRIST:

I see. Just being in the neighborhood.

MARCHIONE:

Right.

SIGRIST:

Did you ever pick up German and Yiddish, too?

MARCHIONE:

No, no.

SIGRIST:

were your parents, or your mother specifically, was she very protective of you? Uh, for instance...

MARCHIONE:

Oh, she was very, you know tight with us.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

She never let us out, you know, unless we all went out together.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. how would you, how would you define your parents? were they strict parents?

MARCHIONE:

They were strict.

SIGRIST:

They were very strict.

MARCHIONE:

But they were very good parents.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Where you allowed to have friends in?

MARCHIONE:

No.

SIGRIST:

No. Um (they laugh) Did, did you ever go to the movies?

MARCHIONE:

No. I'm, uh, that time it was five cents, the movies.

SIGRIST:

Yup.

MARCHIONE:

And, uh, we didn't go unless my mother went but she didn't go either (she laughs) so we stood home and we got company.

SIGRIST:

I see. Sat home and did a lot of handiwork.

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah. My mother used to sew for the kids, this made...

SIGRIST:

She made the clothes...

MARCHIONE:

She made the suits and everything. She made us pinafore, white, yeah.

SIGRIST:

I see. Your mother was a busy woman between working and sewing and..

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes, yes. And we didn't have no, uh, uh, heat.

SIGRIST:

How was the apartment heated?

MARCHIONE:

We had a stove with four burners and when that stove used to light, you used to cook fast.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

And you'd sit around to get warm, to.

MARCHIONE:

Right.

SIGRIST:

Did you have electricity or did you have gas light?

MARCHIONE:

We had gas. We used to put a quarter (she laughs), that I remember, you know, while the gas was on.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And they had to put a quarter in.

SIGRIST:

Did they turn the gas out every, did they turn the gas off, like at 10 o'clock at night or something?

MARCHIONE:

That I couldn't tell you. I know that we had to go to sleep so I guess they must have turned it off.

SIGRIST:

Did you, when you went to sleep did you have your own bed, or did you have to sleep with your sister.

MARCHIONE:

No. We have five rooms, we had.

SIGRIST:

This is after you moved? This was the big place.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, across the street we moved. We have five rooms, we had. We had the bedrooms, the living room,

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And the dining room. But we didn't have all that furniture, you know. And, uh, that's all.

SIGRIST:

did, did your parents, for instance, join an Italian organization?

MARCHIONE:

No.

SIGRIST:

Nothing like that.

MARCHIONE:

No.

SIGRIST:

Were they, or you said, they were active in the church.

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yeah, we went to church and we came home, you know, but, uh, no.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember, your father must have had an ice wagon, then, yes? A wagon for delivering ice?

MARCHIONE:

And a horse.

SIGRIST:

And a horse. Do you remember riding on the wagon with him?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yeah.

SIGRIST:

So sometimes you went with him on his rounds?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, one, yeah. And we used to help him.

SIGRIST:

How did how did they keep the ice from melting?

MARCHIONE:

Well they, uh, when the ice man used to come he used to take the cake of ice and he used to put them in the frigidare downstairs, not a frigidare, uh to keep them...

SIGRIST:

Some kind of a thing..

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, to keep it cool, you know.

SIGRIST:

And then he would, did he deliver it door to door to all the people?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes, yes.

SIGRIST:

Did he, did he have big ice picks?

MARCHIONE:

Ice, ice, how do you call that?

SIGRIST:

An, an ice pick?

MARCHIONE:

Uh, huh.

SIGRIST:

There may be another word for it.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, its like a... its like a

SIGRIST:

Tongs, sort of

MARCHIONE:

Tongs.

SIGRIST:

Did, did he do that all his life?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

did you have an ice box in your apartment?

MARCHIONE:

Yes. We had, uh, two door, wait, how they used to call it, it was two door, that's where you put the food and that's where you put the ice.

SIGRIST:

I see. And then you would, what was there, like a drip pan or something underneath?

MARCHIONE:

And we had a pan, because when the ice would melt, if you wasn't home to the, uh, to the other lady or in the basement. (Paul laughs).

SIGRIST:

Did how long did a block of ice last?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, it didn't last long. Because he had customers, my father, and he, uh, the customer used to put the sign that they wanted the ice to be delivered and they, uh, it melts, especially for the summer.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

It melts very fast.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember where your father got the ice from?

MARCHIONE:

Yes. He got the ice, now let me remember, the.., on 99th street there was an ice, ice, like a stand, not a stand, where they'd put the ice.

SIGRIST:

I see. Just some sort of storage facility.

MARCHIONE:

Right, right. And he would get the ice from there, maybe one cake, two cakes, three cakes, you know, as much as that he knew that he was going to sell it.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And, uh, and that's how he.. but everybody liked him.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

You said he had a horse with the wagon.

MARCHIONE:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

do you remember, did, was, did you own the horse? Was it?

MARCHIONE:

My father owned the horse.

SIGRIST:

Did he have a name? Did the horse have a name, do you remember?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, that I don't remember.

SIGRIST:

I see. well that's very interesting. Uh...

MARCHIONE:

I know that they liked my father's horse.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. What color was he?

MARCHIONE:

I think brown and white.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember, do you remember was the ice wagon painted at all or was it, do you remember what it looked like?

MARCHIONE:

No, it was painted.

SIGRIST:

Uh huh.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

well anyway, lets get on...

MARCHIONE:

If I had, if I had some pictures I would bring them for you.

SIGRIST:

well let's, let's talk about you a little bit.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Now, so, uh, you grad.., you went to high school in New York.

MARCHIONE:

No, I didn't go to high school.

SIGRIST:

Oh, I see, you told me. you didn't go to school after, when you were doing the handiwork. Did what was your first job?

MARCHIONE:

My first job?

SIGRIST:

Yup.

MARCHIONE:

I didn't have no jobs, but the people that my, we knew, they liked us a lot and, uh, my mother taught us how to embroidery.

SIGRIST:

Uh huh.

MARCHIONE:

She taught us how to do a lot of things, see.

SIGRIST:

And so that's what you were doing.

MARCHIONE:

Then, yeah.

SIGRIST:

And now your mother was having other children, right.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah. And we would take care of the kids, too.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MARCHIONE:

Because my mother had to go to the, to shop. She couldn't bring everybody.

SIGRIST:

You mean to go buy food.

MARCHIONE:

To buy food.

SIGRIST:

Was there, was there a certain store in that neighborhood that she liked to go.

MARCHIONE:

There was a chicken market in the front of, on 224.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Was there a store, that for instance, when you as a kid would go and buy candy at?

MARCHIONE:

No! No candy!

SIGRIST:

No not allowed. (they laugh)

MARCHIONE:

No candy.

SIGRIST:

so, can you, how many children did your mother have after she...

MARCHIONE:

My mother, she had me and my sister.

SIGRIST:

Right.

MARCHIONE:

That was two. Then she got my brother Woolley.

SIGRIST:

Willy?

MARCHIONE:

That's three.

SIGRIST:

Yes.

MARCHIONE:

And then she got the twins.

SIGRIST:

And what were their names?

MARCHIONE:

Leo and Woolley, their name was.

SIGRIST:

And, and you said that you had to help take care of them too.

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yeah.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Oh we had, we had to take care of them, my father used to come take the kids because he had the business out on 100th Street.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And that's where we lived.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And, uh, he took the kids and he used to..., you know, like a show off, that he had twins (Paul laughs), and put them in the carriage. The carriage was straw.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Like made out of straw.

SIGRIST:

Wicker?

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

And he would, and he would...

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, be proud, you know.

SIGRIST:

Yes. Did you have to walk the children too sometimes?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, yeah.

SIGRIST:

You all took turns doing this.

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah, we, oh yeah, we done that.

SIGRIST:

and, well let's, what, what happened later on, you said that you didn't work. Did you stay, did you stay living with your parents?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah, until I got married.

SIGRIST:

I see. How did you meet your husband?

MARCHIONE:

I met my husband over my aunt's house.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. At a party?

MARCHIONE:

It, it wasn't a party. Somebody had gotten a baby and they made the, you know, like a little thing. So we went there and my husband saw me and he, he says, "I like Vita" he says, so, uh, and he came so many times before I told him "yes," because I was afraid I'd get hit and, uh, they want to know how did I meet him.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

But my husband was a very, very good man.

SIGRIST:

What was his name?

MARCHIONE:

Nick, Nicholas.

SIGRIST:

Nicholas. And, was he from Italy too or had he been born in America?

MARCHIONE:

No, he came here when he was seventeen years old.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

My husband. And he wouldn't and somebody showed him where he, he could board and he could go to work and they would, uh, cook for him.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And, you know, the, uh, everybody doesn't know but they, like they cook for him a piece for themself if they made macaroni and a piece for my husband.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

Because he had bought it. And he stood there, he stood. He went to work in Long Island City...

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

For the pots and pans company.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Is that what he was doing when you met him?

MARCHIONE:

No, he started go to work over there. When I met him my husband was like a contract (sic).

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

He was working as a mason, he was.

SIGRIST:

I see. Uh, and you said that you lived with your parents until you were married.

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes.

SIGRIST:

And what year were you married?

MARCHIONE:

I was married January 27, of 19..., 19...now I don't remember.

SIGRIST:

Well, that's O.K., maybe you'll think of it as we go along.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

did your parents like your future husband?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, they were crazy about him.

SIGRIST:

Did you invite him over for dinner sometimes? You said he kept coming back.

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes, yes, yes. We invited him. My mother took, she felt sorry he didn't have nobody over here.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. He had no family over here.

MARCHIONE:

No.

SIGRIST:

He was by himself.

MARCHIONE:

Uh, he was going to go back. He told his father. But he, he told his mother "I'd like to get married and I'm going out with a nice girl." I didn't go out to a show or anything with my husband.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. did, did your other brothers and sister, did they eventually move away from your parents or did some of...

MARCHIONE:

No! We stuck all together. My sister got married.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

And she went away because she got married.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Did she go far away or did she stay in the same general area?

MARCHIONE:

She, I think, went in Pittsburgh.

SIGRIST:

Well, that's a ways from New York.

MARCHIONE:

Because, yeah, Pennsylvania. And, uh, but we stood always together.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Would you always, uh, even after you were married, did you all celebrate the holidays together?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yes, yes. Even my aunt used to come, my mother's sister‑ in‑law, her brothers and they used to stay weeks after the holidays (she laughs) and then they would go away.

SIGRIST:

Did, I'm just curious, once you came to America, did you get a Christmas tree for Christmas?

MARCHIONE:

No! No Christmas tree.

SIGRIST:

Of course in Italy that, you know, you wouldn't have done that, but, I was just wondering if once you got here, if you sort of Americanized and got a Christmas tree?

MARCHIONE:

No, No.

SIGRIST:

Especially being in a German neighborhood, because the Germans...

MARCHIONE:

Yes, I know, but, we didn't.

SIGRIST:

You didn't do that. so anyway, you married your husband, and did you have any children?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, January 27th, see now, yes, when I got married I had the first baby. That's my oldest son Charlie, uh (she pauses) , the 24th of January I got him.

SIGRIST:

What year was he born, do you remember?

MARCHIONE:

19...19...I think 1924. I got.

SIGRIST:

Were there any other children?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah.

SIGRIST:

You had lots of kids?

MARCHIONE:

She had my brother Woolley.

SIGRIST:

No, I mean you.

MARCHIONE:

Oh, me. No, I had two.

SIGRIST:

You had two children.

MARCHIONE:

Two and I had another baby after the two children and he passed away on me.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

See...

SIGRIST:

Did you still live in New York?

MARCHIONE:

Yes, we lived in New York because my father had the business I told you.

SIGRIST:

Right.

MARCHIONE:

And then he, somebody wanted to buy it, like, you know, they exchange customs and everything. And my father says, "Well we better go away from here" and we went to live near my uncle.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MARCHIONE:

My mother's brother.

SIGRIST:

Which was where?

MARCHIONE:

That was on 130...up in the Bronx, 100 and something, don't let me lie to you because I couldn't...

SIGRIST:

Well, uh, uh, so, uh, you, um...

MARCHIONE:

Oh, and my father's brother had an ice business on 100th Street.

SIGRIST:

Oh, they were all sort of in the ice business.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, on 100th...

SIGRIST:

I see. Well, so you are a, you are a daughter of a, of the ice industry. (he laughs)

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Uh, I think that, uh, you have given us a nice view of, uh, what life was like, uh...

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Uh, in the earlier days of this century. I enjoyed talking about your father and the ice business.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

it's nice that you, you remember so much and...

MARCHIONE:

My father used to come home and eat at twelve o'clock.

SIGRIST:

He probably left the house very early, didn't he, if he had to make the rounds?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, well sure.

SIGRIST:

So your mother always had lunch ready for him at twelve?

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah, she always, was always anybody that came over my mother's house, the table was always over there. We made our own bread.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. That's a lot of work.

MARCHIONE:

Big loaves. My mother used to make five or six loaves because the family was big and somebody came, you know, you offered them something. And, uh, and everybody liked my mother's bread, the olives and everything, and they used to say "Make me them", make, so my mother used to say "All right, when I go to the market I'll buy them and I'll make them for you."

SIGRIST:

And what a wonderful smell.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

The bread baking.

MARCHIONE:

Oh, the bread was, she won a medal, my mother, for the bread.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh.

MARCHIONE:

We used to go to 107th Street to bake. There was a bakery.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MARCHIONE:

And you had to go early. And we used to put the bread in the carriage, covered up nice and when we would go to the bakery the man used to cut it like the slack and put it in the oven and everybody like it.

SIGRIST:

You put the bread, like in the baby carriage?

MARCHIONE:

Yeah, to go 107th Street. Who would carry it? You had to get something to put it in.

SIGRIST:

Uh, huh. Wow.

MARCHIONE:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Who would go to 107th Street now...

MARCHIONE:

I wish my mother and father was living today.

SIGRIST:

When did they die?

MARCHIONE:

Oh, well my father (she pauses), oh it's, that I can't, I, I remember...

SIGRIST:

Did they live to be very old?

MARCHIONE:

Well, my mother died seventy‑three. And my father died, (she pauses), yeah, that I don't remember.

SIGRIST:

But, of course, by that time you had your own life somewhere else with your husband.

MARCHIONE:

Oh yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

All right, I think, I think we, we can end the interview now and I want to thank you very much for sharing your life with us...

MARCHIONE:

Thank you, sure.

SIGRIST:

And everything. And this is Paul Sigrist signing off for the National Park Service.