My grandfather immigrated from Verona (Lago d'Garda) in 1888 during the Great Blizzard. He worked as a hog carrier, carrying brick and mortar up ladders, twelve hours a day, six days a week. He was paid $1 per day.
He settled with his wife in New Britain. Because they were the first Italians to settle in New Britain, my grandfather was nicknamed, Columbo (for Columbus), and my grandmother was addressed as Mrs. Columbi.
My grandparents lived on "Dublin Hill" in New Britain. Dublin Hill was the Irish neighborhood back in the late 1800s in New Britain. My grandmother was the Irish washwoman's washwoman, caring for the household when the lady of the house was about to give birth.
Because my grandmother lived with the Irish, my father's godparents were Irish, and my grandmother learned English with an Irish brogue. She retained that Irish brogue till the day she died. Many Sundays she would greet me, "top of the morning"....
Although my grandmother was born in Italy, she spoke, read, and wrote English fluently--except for the Irish brogue--and I remember her reading the newspapers daily. My parents, children of immigrants, could not speak Italian. Back in those days, the teachers, many of whom were Irish, instructed my grandparents to speak only English in the household. And they did so, except for the occasional curse word. There was no bilingual program back then.
Perhaps that was the right way: no bilingual program. Both of my parents possessed excellent communication and writing skills in English; read the Hartford Courant, Hartford Times, and New Britain Herald daily; and subscribed and read to many weekly and monthly magazines, including Reader's Digest, Life, Look, Time, TV Guide.
More importantly, my parents, uncles, and aunts were thoroughly assimilated into the American culture. My relatives served proudly in World War II, even though Italy was at war with the United States. They regarded themselves first and foremost as Americans, not Italians.
I sometimes wonder how immigrants regard themselves today.
William Brighenti, CPA
