HMS Italian Heritage Club

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HMSItalian Heritage Club

• Presents
• Interviews with Herrins
• Italians

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Interviews 2005

• Steve Coriasco
• Susan Murphy
• Carla Pegano-Hays
• Charles Carl Spezia
• Fred Elenor Salmo

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Mr. Coriasco shows us Cuggiono Inveruno on
the map.

• Over 3000 people immigrated from Cuggiono, Italy
  and surrounding villages to Herrin Illinois in
  the early 1900s.

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Wine Making and Ravioli

• Mr. Coriasco remembers bottling the homemade wine
  re-using Nehi Soda bottle tops. The bottle top
  press is on the right.
• The wooden rolling pin was used to score the
  ravioli before they were filled with ground meat
  and spices.

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Hand Crafts

• To help make ends meet, the Italian women made
  lace and embroidered napkins, tablecloths, and
  pillowcases to sell. They called it cut work
  as they cut the cloth away from the needle work
  once it was finished.

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Returning to their Roots

• Steve Coriasco and his Aunt Jose Pina went back
  to Italy and met their relatives. Pictured here
  feeding the birds at St. Marks Square, Venice.
• It was the trip of a lifetime.

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What does it mean to be Italian? It means
having hearttaking care of each other, and
working hard.- Mr. Coriasco
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Why did the Italians come to Herrin? The
Italians would do whatever they had to do in
order to support their families. The coal mines
provided good paying but dangerous jobs. The men
would work in 3 foot seams of coal crawling on
their bellies. They worked in terrible
conditions and many died of Black Lung
Diseaseincluding my grandfather.-Steve Coriasco
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Grazie, Mr. Coriasco!
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Carla Pagano-Hays

• Life centered around the garden, friends, Sunday
  dinners and making wine (due to Prohibition
  1920-1933).

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Lets a Mowa da lawn!Grandpa Pagano helped
push, guide, carefully clean put away the
mower roll up the hose. Then, it was time to
have fresh tea with sugar and homegrown mint
sitting under the tree, relaxing and savoring the
work well done work done together!
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Italians brought new foods to Herrin! Italians
introduced eggplant, artichokes, olive oil, black
olives, salameats sausages, pastas, raviolis,
and fresh bread to the area.
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Susan (Merlo)Marlow-Jones Murphy

• At Ellis Island, the immigration officers
  Americanized her Mothers family name from Merlo
  to Marlow.

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Hardship in their landDue to conflicts in
Europe Luigi Louisa Merlo came to Herrin in
part to avoid their sons from being drafted.
There was little work in Italy and they were
leather workers who made shoes. All the farmland
was owned by feudal landlords who took most of
the profits. So it was better to take a chance
in America where there was work.
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Susan Murphys Grandparents

• Joe (Guiseppe) Merlo
• and
• Erminia Cislaghi Merlo
• Pictured with their two older sons Giorgio and
  Franco

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Susan Murphys Grandmother

• Erminias younger brothers wedding Carlo.
  Erminia is the Matron of Honor on the far left.

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Susan Murphys Uncles

• Erminias brothers Antonio Cislaghi who
  immigrated to Detroit, Michigan and Batista
  Cislaghi who remained in Italy.

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Her Grandmothers Cutwork
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Talking with your hands.Now Thats
Italian!
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Elenor Fred Salmo
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Family Trees

• Elenors parents Mary Lattuada and Emil Cattaneo
  came from Marcallo, Italy.

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A Touch of Holiness..

• Freds great-great uncles daughter became a
  SAINT!
• Her birth name was Constanza Cerioli.

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Constanza Cerioli 1816-1865

• She lost three children as babies. When her
  husband also died, she took her wealth and began
  caring for rural orphan girls in her home. In
  1857, she founded the Sisters of the Holy Family
  of Bergamo and took Paola Elisabetta as her
  religious name. In 1962, there were 61 houses
  with 400 members. She also founded a boys home-
  Brothers of the Holy family. She wrote the rules
  of conduct for both homes.

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Constanza Cerioli Beatified by Pope Pius XII
on March 19, 1950.Canonized by Pope John Paul II
on May 17, 2004. He said that the new saints
came to know the true peace which is the fruit
of Christs victory over the power of evil, sin,
and death.
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Charles Spezia

• His father was a carpenter in Cuggiono, Italy
  before he came to Herrin to work in the mines.

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Lombard Society Club Frank Emanuel Spezia was
the President for 25 years.He was a founding
member of the club in 1892. Later, the
Cooperative Store owned by the society members
was opened to all townspeople. When the store
closed they had 80,000 of bad debt from unpaid
credit accounts.
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Three Generations of Spezia men were members of
the Cristobal Colombus CircoloCCClub in 1901.
The club was closed in 1984 due to the lack of
membership. Italians had blended in with the
rest of the population after WWII and the need
for help from club brothers was less.
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Grazie Charles Carl Spezia!
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Arrivederci e Grazie a Tutti! Goodbye Thanks
to all!