Page 34 - A Life - my Live - my path
P. 34
The journey - coal miner’s community
My mother was born in 1929, my father in 1927.
My father had a sister and two brothers , he was the
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youngest. He never knew his eldest brother, who had left for
the United States with my grandfather before he was born.
Between 1912 and 1926, over a period of more than fourteen
years, my grandfather crossed the Atlantic several times. He
worked on the construction of railway lines. After a few years
living on the outskirts of New York, he told his son that he
was going to return to San Giovanni Lipioni to see the
family, but that he would come back a few months later, but
he never did. His son blamed him for the rest of his life and
never returned to Europe.
My mother had three brothers . Her father died from a
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snakebite when she was two years old. Her second brother
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and her mother were her primary carers.
Her family lived in the village, not far from the church.
Outside the village, they owned a farmhouse with a vegetable
garden, a vineyard and fruit trees. When she wasn't at
school, my mother oversaw the household chores.
In the morning, before leaving with her two sons to go to
work in the countryside, my grandmother would knead the
dough and leave it to rest wrapped in a towel. As soon as my
mother came home from school, she had to follow the usual
instructions : tidy up the house, rework the dough by
22 Aunt Marietta born in 1907.
23 My uncles Matteo born in 1911 et Nazarioborn in 1904.
24 My uncles Oreste, Tullio et Felice
25 ROSSI Felicetto
26 My uncle Tullio
27 My grandmother ROSSI Rosina
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