Italians in North America before 1880

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Italians in North America before 1880 included a number of explorers, starting with Christopher Columbus, and a few small settlements.[1]

Only some thousands of Italians moved to North America from the discovery until the 1870s, but more than four million Italians arrived after 1880, and about half of them returned to Italy.

Age of Discovery and early settlement[edit]

Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo) leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.
Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer from whose name the term "America" is derived[2]

Italian[3] navigators and explorers played a key role in the exploration and settlement of the Americas by Europeans. Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo [kriˈstɔːforo koˈlombo]) completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean for the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas.

Another Italian, John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto [dʒoˈvanni kaˈbɔːto]), together with his son Sebastian, explored the eastern seaboard of North America for Henry VII in the early 16th century. In 1524 the Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to map the Atlantic coast of today's United States, and to enter New York Bay.[4]

Verrazzano's voyage of 1524. The Italian explorer was the first documented European to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano.

A number of Italian navigators and explorers in the employ of Spain and France were involved in exploring and mapping their territories, and in establishing settlements; but this did not lead to the permanent presence of Italians in America. In 1539 Marco da Nizza explored the territory that later became the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current U.S. was Pietro Cesare Alberti,[5] a Venetian seaman who, in 1635, settled in what would eventually become New York City.

A small wave of Protestants, known as Waldensians, who were of French and northern Italian heritage (specifically Piedmontese), occurred during the 17th century. The first Waldensians began arriving around 1640, with the majority coming between 1654 and 1663.[6] They spread out across what was then called New Netherland, and what would become New York, New Jersey and the Lower Delaware River regions. The total American Waldensian population that immigrated to New Netherland is currently unknown; however, a 1671 Dutch record indicates that, in 1656 alone, the Duchy of Savoy near Turin, Italy, had exiled 300 Waldensians due to their Protestant faith.

Henri de Tonti (Enrico de Tonti), together with the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Great Lakes region. De Tonti founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679, and in Arkansas in 1683. With LaSalle, he co-founded New Orleans, and was governor of the Louisiana Territory for the next 20 years. His brother Alphonse de Tonty (Alfonso de Tonti), with French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, was the co-founder of Detroit in 1701, and was its acting colonial governor for 12 years.

Spain and France were Catholic countries and sent many missionaries to convert the native American population. Included among these missionaries were numerous Italians. In 1519–25, Alessandro Geraldini was the first Catholic bishop in the Americas, at Santo Domingo. Father François-Joseph Bressani (Francesco Giuseppe Bressani) labored among the Algonquin and Huron peoples in the early 17th century. The southwest and California were explored and mapped by Italian Jesuit priest Eusebio Kino (Chino) in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His statue, commissioned by the state of Arizona, is displayed in the United States Capitol Visitor Center.

The Taliaferro family (originally Tagliaferro), believed to have roots in Venice, was one of the First Families to settle Virginia. The Wythe House, a historic Georgian home built in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1754, was designed by architect Richard Taliaferro for his son-in-law, American Founding Father George Wythe, who married Richard's daughter Elizabeth Taliaferro. The elder Taliaferro designed much of Colonial Williamsburg including the Governor's Palace, the Capitol of the Colony of Virginia, and the President's House at the College of William & Mary.[7]

Francesco Maria de Reggio, an Italian nobleman of the House of Este who served under the French as François Marie, Chevalier de Reggio, came to Louisiana in 1747 where King Louis XV appointed him Captain General of French Louisiana, until 1763.[8] Scion of the De Reggios, a Louisiana Creole first family of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, Francesco Maria's granddaughter Hélène Judith de Reggio would give birth to famed Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard.[9]

A colonial merchant, Francis Ferrari of Genoa, was naturalized as a citizen of Rhode Island in 1752.[10] He died in 1753 and in his will speaks of Genoa, his ownership of three ships, cargo of wine and his wife Mary,[11] who went on to own one of the oldest coffee houses in America, the Merchant Coffee House of New York on Wall Street at Water St. Her Merchant Coffee House moved across Wall Street in 1772, retaining the same name and patronage.[12]

Today, the descendants of the Alberti-Burtis, Taliaferro, Fonda, Reggio and other early families are found all across the United States.[13]

1776 to 1880[edit]

This period saw a small stream of new arrivals from Italy. Some brought skills in agriculture and the making of glass, silk and wine, while others brought skills as musicians.[14]

Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and promoter of liberty, whose phrase: "All men are by nature equally free and independent" was incorporated into the United States Declaration of Independence

In 1773–1785, Filippo Mazzei, a physician and promoter of liberty, was a close friend and confidant of Thomas Jefferson. He published a pamphlet containing the phrase: "All men are by nature equally free and independent",[15] which Jefferson incorporated essentially intact into the Declaration of Independence.

Italian Americans served in the American Revolutionary War both as soldiers and officers. Francesco Vigo aided the colonial forces of George Rogers Clark by serving as one of the foremost financiers of the Revolution in the frontier Northwest. Later, he was a co-founder of Vincennes University in Indiana.

After American independence numerous political refugees arrived, most notably: Giuseppe Avezzana, Alessandro Gavazzi, Silvio Pellico, Federico Confalonieri, and Eleuterio Felice Foresti. Giuseppe Garibaldi resided in the United States in 1850–51. At the invitation of Thomas Jefferson, Carlo Bellini became the first professor of modern languages at the College of William & Mary, in the years 1779–1803.[16][17]

In 1801, Philip Trajetta (Filippo Traetta) established the nation's first conservatory of music in Boston, where, in the first half of the century, organist Charles Nolcini and conductor Louis Ostinelli were also active.[18] In 1805 Thomas Jefferson recruited a group of musicians from Sicily to form a military band, later to become the nucleus of the U.S. Marine Band. The musicians included the young Venerando Pulizzi, who became the first Italian director of the band, and served in this capacity from 1816 to 1827.[19] Francesco Maria Scala, an Italian-born naturalized American citizen, was one of the most important and influential directors of the U.S. Marine Band, from 1855 to 1871, and was credited with the instrumental organization the band still maintains. Joseph Lucchesi, the third Italian leader of the U.S. Marine Band, served from 1844 to 1846.[20] The first opera house in the country opened in 1833 in New York through the efforts of Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's former librettist, who had immigrated to America and had become the first professor of Italian at Columbia College in 1825.

Statue of Francis Vigo

During this period Italian explorers continued to be active in the West. In 1789–91 Alessandro Malaspina mapped much of the west coast of the Americas, from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska. In 1822–23 the headwater region of the Mississippi was explored by Giacomo Beltrami in the territory that was later to become Minnesota, which named a county in his honor.

Joseph Rosati was named the first Catholic bishop of St. Louis in 1824. In 1830–64 Samuel Mazzuchelli, a missionary and expert in Indian languages, ministered to European colonists and Native Americans in Wisconsin and Iowa for 34 years and, after his death, was declared Venerable by the Catholic Church. Father Charles Constantine Pise, a Jesuit, served as Chaplain of the Senate from 1832 to 1833,[21][22] the only Catholic priest ever chosen to serve in this capacity.

In 1833, Lorenzo Da Ponte, formerly Mozart's librettist, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, founded the first opera house in the United States, the Italian Opera House in New York City, which was the predecessor of the New York Academy of Music and of the New York Metropolitan Opera.

Missionaries of the Jesuit and Franciscan orders were active in many parts of America. Italian Jesuits founded numerous missions, schools and two colleges in the west. Giovanni Nobili founded the Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University) in 1851. The St. Ignatius Academy (now University of San Francisco) was established by Anthony Maraschi in 1855. The Italian Jesuits also laid the foundation for the wine-making industry that would later flourish in California. In the east, the Italian Franciscans founded hospitals, orphanages, schools, and the St. Bonaventure College (now St. Bonaventure University), established by Panfilo da Magliano in 1858.

In 1837, John Phinizy (Finizzi) became the mayor of Augusta, Georgia. Samuel Wilds Trotti of South Carolina was the first Italian American to serve in the U.S. Congress (a partial term, from December 17, 1842, to March 3, 1843).[23]

In 1849, Francesco, de Casale began publishing the Italian American newspaper L'Eco d'Italia in New York, the first of many to eventually follow. In 1848, Francis Ramacciotti, piano string inventor and manufacturer, immigrated to the U.S. from Tuscany.

Civil War and late 19th century[edit]

Main article: Italian Americans in the Civil War
Review of the Garibaldi Guard by President Abraham Lincoln

Approximately 7,000 Italian Americans served in the American Civil War. The great majority of Italian Americans, for both demographic and ideological reasons, served in the Union Army (including generals Edward Ferrero and Francis B. Spinola). Some Americans of Italian descent from the Southern states fought in the Confederate Army, such as General William B. Taliaferro (of English-American and Anglo-Italian descent) and P. G. T. Beauregard.[9] The Garibaldi Guard recruited volunteers for the Union Army from Italy and other European countries to form the 39th New York Infantry.[24] Six Italian Americans received the Medal of Honor during the war, among whom was Colonel Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who later became the first Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York (1879-1904).

Beginning in 1863, Italian immigrants were one of the principal groups of unskilled laborers, along with the Irish, that built the Transcontinental Railroad west from Omaha, Nebraska.[25]

In 1866 Constantino Brumidi completed the frescoed interior of the United States Capitol dome in Washington, and spent the rest of his life executing still other artworks to beautify the Capitol.

The first Columbus Day celebration was organized by Italian Americans in San Francisco in 1869.[26]

The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum on Staten Island

An immigrant, Antonio Meucci, brought with him a concept for the telephone. He is credited by many researchers with being the first to demonstrate the principle of the telephone in a patent caveat he submitted to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871; however, considerable controversy existed relative to the priority of invention, with Alexander Graham Bell also being accorded this distinction. (In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution on Meucci (H.R. 269) declaring that "his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged.")[27]

During this period, Italian Americans established a number of institutions of higher learning. Las Vegas College (now Regis University) was established by a group of exiled Italian Jesuits in 1877 in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The Jesuit Giuseppe Cataldo, founded Gonzaga College (now Gonzaga University) in Spokane, Washington in 1887. In 1886, Rabbi Sabato Morais, a Jewish Italian immigrant, was one of the founders and first president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. Also during this period, there was a growing presence of Italian Americans in higher education. Vincenzo Botta was a distinguished professor of Italian at New York University from 1856 to 1894,[28] and Gaetano Lanza was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over 40 years, beginning in 1871.[29]

Anthony Ghio became the mayor of Texarkana, Texas in 1880. Francis B. Spinola, the first Italian American to serve a full term in Congress, was elected in 1887 from New York.

New Nation[edit]

In 1870, prior to the large wave of Italian immigrants to the United States, there were fewer than 25,000 Italian immigrants in America, many of them Northern Italian refugees from the wars that accompanied the Risorgimento—the struggle for Italian reunification and independence from foreign rule which ended in 1870.[30]

Immigration began to increase during the 1870s, when more than twice as many Italians immigrated than during the five previous decades combined.[31][32] The 1870s were followed by the greatest surge of immigration, which occurred between 1880 and 1914 and brought more than 4 million Italians to the United States,[31][32]

Philadelphia[edit]

During the 18th Century Colonial Era of the United States, the few Italian immigrants to come to Philadelphia came in small numbers and from higher class backgrounds, and these few Italians were often considered to be accomplished in business, art, and music.[33] Some early Italian settlements appeared in South Philadelphia. In contrast to the vast majority of Italian immigrants to Philadelphia that arrived much later and originated from impoverished areas of Southern Italy, Italian immigrants from this period predominantly originated from wealthier areas in Northern Italy and towns within Genoa Province, Liguria,[34] including Genoa and Chiavari, while only a small number came from Veneto.[35] Donna J. Di Giacomo, author of Italians in Philadelphia, wrote that the first population was "in much smaller numbers" than the mass immigrant groups of the late 19th Century and 20th Century.[34] At the time, many educated Americans had a positive view of classical culture, and thus their view of Northern Italian immigrants was more positive.[36] Among the immigrants of this first period, Lorenzo Da Ponte, who immigrated in 1804, helped introduce Italian Opera in America.[37]

In 1819 Silvio Pellico wrote in "Breve soggiorno in Milano di Battistino Barometro" that some Italian immigrants were going to Philadelphia.[38] Charles L. Flynn Jr. of Assumption College stated in his book review of Building Little Italy that the Philadelphia Italian "community" didn't actually form until the 1850s and 1860s, when it achieved enough size to do so. There were 117 Philadelphia residents at the time known to have been born in Italy.[39] By the 1870 census this increased to 517, with 82% of them living in South Philadelphia.[38]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Andrew F. Rolle, The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America (Oklahoma UP, 1968) pp. 3–15.
  2. ^ Szalay, Jessie. Amerigo Vespuggi: Facts, Biography & Naming of America (citing Erika Cosme of Mariners Museum & Park, Newport News VA). 20 September 2017 (accessed 23 June 2019)
  3. ^ Though the modern state of Italy had yet to be established, the Latin equivalent of the term Italian had been in use for natives of the region since antiquity. See Pliny the Elder, Letters 9.23.
  4. ^ Connell, William J. (2018). "Italians in the Early Atlantic World". Routledge History of Italian Americans: 17–41.
  5. ^ "Peter Caesar Alberti". Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  6. ^ Memorials of the Huguenots in America, by Ammon Stapleton, page 42
  7. ^ "Biography of George Wythe". Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  8. ^ Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Huchet de Kernion, George Campbell (1998). Old families of Louisiana. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Pub. Co. ISBN 1565544560. OCLC 44521358.
  9. ^ a b Williams, T. Harry (1955). P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0831-6. LCCN 55-7362.
  10. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1860). Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England: 1741-1756. A. C. Greene and brothers, state printers. p. 340.
  11. ^ New York Historical Society (1896). Publication Fund Series. New York Historical Society. p. 430.
  12. ^ Harper's Magazine. Harper's Magazine Company. 1882. p. 493.
  13. ^ Prominent Families of New York (PDF). The New York Historical Company. 1898. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  14. ^ Andrew F. Rolle, The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America (U of Oklahoma Press, 1968).
  15. ^ Philip Mazzei, The Virginia Gazette, 1774. Translated by a friend and neighbor, Thomas Jefferson:

    Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest'eguaglianza è necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all'altro nel diritto naturale.

    All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government.
    All men must be equal to each other in natural law
  16. ^ "About". Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, College of William and Mary. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  17. ^ "Bellini Colloquium". William & Mary. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  18. ^ "BostonFamilyHistory.com – The Place to Meet Your Past". Bostonhistorycollaborative.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  19. ^ http://article/italians-in-america-band-leaders-a173703 [dead link]
  20. ^ "History of the Directors".
  21. ^ "Pise, Charles Constantine", in John Julian (1907/1957), A Dictionary of Hymnology, reprint, New York: Dover, Vol. 2, p. 1687.
  22. ^ "Pise, Charles Constantine", in Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  23. ^ "TROTTI, Samuel Wilds - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov.
  24. ^ Images: A Pictorial History of Italian Americans. New York, 1986, p.26
  25. ^ "The Transcontinental Railroad". Archives.gov. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  26. ^ "Columbus Day: What do we do with a holiday after toppling three dozen statues honoring its "hero"?". October 12, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  27. ^ House Resolution 269, dated 11 June 2002, written and sponsored by Rep. Vito Fossella.
  28. ^ Vincent A. Lapomarda, "Higher Education", in The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p.286.
  29. ^ Rosanne Martorella, "Science", in The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p.583.
  30. ^ Wills, Charles A. "When did they come? Southern Italians 1891-1900". Destination America. pbs.org. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  31. ^ a b "Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service" (1966 ed.). WASHINGTON, D.C: United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. June 1967: 55–58. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  32. ^ a b "Table 1: Italian Immigration To The United States By Years". Mtholyoke.edu. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  33. ^ Juliani, p. 4.
  34. ^ a b Di Giacomo, p. 8.
  35. ^ Luconi, Stefano (University of Florence). "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration" (Book Review). Italica, 1 April 1999, Vol.76(1), pp. 121–122. CITED: p. 122.
  36. ^ Varbero, Richard A. "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration" (Book Review). The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1 July 1999, Vol.123(3), pp. 258–259. CITED: p. 258. "We learn that at first Philadelphians, like much of the English-speaking world, were receptive to the idea of Italy and its culture, visualizing the Italians as symbolic of classical culture. This attitude waned perceptibly as the less attractive features of nineteenth-century migrants emerged and newspapers focused on organ grinders, the exploiters of children, and the instances of violence involving Italians."
  37. ^ Lorenzo Da Ponte residence in Philadelphia
  38. ^ a b Luconi, Stefano "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration" (Book Review). Italica, 1 April 1999, Vol.76(1), pp. 121–122. CITED: p. 121.
  39. ^ Flynn, Charles L. "Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians Before Mass Migration" (Book Review). Italian Americana, 2000, Vol.18(1), pp. 110–111. CITED: p. 110.

Further reading[edit]

  • Russo, John Paul. "When They Were Few: Italians in America, 1800–1850" in William J. Connell, and Stanislao Pugliese, eds., The Routledge History of Italian Americans (2018) pp. 54-68.
  • Vecchio, Diane C. Merchants, Midwives, and Laboring Women: Italian Migrants in Urban America (2006).

Historiography[edit]

  • Bushman, Claudia L. America discovers Columbus: How an Italian explorer became an American hero (1992). full text online; also see online book review
  • Cordasco, Francesco. Italians in the United States: an annotated bibliography of doctoral dissertations completed at American universities, with a handlist of selected published bibliographies, related reference materials, and guide books for Italian emigrants (1981) online
  • Cordasco, Francesco. Italian Americans : a guide to information sources (Gale 1978) online
  • Schlereth, Thomas J. "Columbia, Columbus, and Columbianism." Journal of American History 79.3 (1992): 937–968. online

Primary sources[edit]

  • Moquin, Wayne, ed. A Documentary History of Italian Americans (1974) online

External links[edit]

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