My grandfather, Carmine DiPietro, emigrated to this country in November
of 1907. He was 16 years old.
He first settled in Clairton, (near Pittsburgh) Pennsylvania to work in
the coal mines. He was small in stature and found the coal mines to be
backbreaking work for him. He knew there was a better way! He eventually
settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked as a millwright and a welder.
He enlisted in the Army in July,1918, and served six months at Camp Jackson
in Columbia, South Carolina, where he became a naturalized citizen.
In 1920, he wished to be married so he sent for his friend's sister who
was living in Italy. He had only seen a picture of her and married her
within four weeks of her arrival. They began a family and within six years
had four children: Carmella, Gene(my dad), Terselia, and Corinne.
My grandmother, Giulia, operated the family business which was a restaurant/bar/gas
station/apartment building on property that they had purchased on Route
20 in Wickliffe, Ohio. The building, though remodeled extensively, still
stands today.
Carmine died in 1959 of stomach cancer and Giulia died in 1962 of artherosclerosis.
In 2004, some of the granddaughters began researching Carmine and Giulia's
journeys to this country and documentation pertaining to the young family.
We presented these items in scrapbook form to their only surviving child
Terselia (Aunt Dolly) on her 80th birthday in October, 2004.
If you would like to write to the family of CARMINE DI PIETRO use the form below.
