At the request of David, I am starting to what may termed as an autobiography.
I was born on January 14th, 1918 on the second floor of a tenement house owned by my father at 64 Prospect St., East Providence, RI, the last house at the southwest corner of Prospect St. and Orchard St. The house is no longer standing, having been eventually purchased by the Holy Ghost Beneficial Brotherhood (HGBB) and later demolished for use as extra parking space for the club. I mention the name of the club as my father served as an officer, eventually president. It was the first Portuguese club in East Providence, and a stepping stone for my father who in the early 1930's was elected Supreme President of the Portuguese Fraternities, which at that time was comprised of Portuguese clubs in several states including, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, New York, California, and Washington, D.C. The Club served as the place where Masses were held until the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was built, and in which my father was an original founding member and served as trustee for many years until his death.
My parents were both natives of the Portuguese Azorean island of Faial (or Fayal.) My father was born and lived in Praia de Norte (North Beach) and came to the US at the age of 14 in 1902- at that time no one under the age of 12 could work here. My mother was born July 2, 1889. Maria Jose Costa came to the US when she was 12, born in the village of Pedro Miguel (Peter Michael), near the city of Horta, which was the capital of the island. According to maps I have seen they lived no more than five miles from each other, yet never did I find out if they knew each other as children! As I write this I wish I could offer more information about my parents! So I'm thankful to David for asking me to write my history.
My father boarded with a relative in East Providence and started working as a farmhand. I later discovered he stayed at the home of Louisa Maciel Cordeiro who was a cousin, but I do not know the relationship. He was living a short distance from the Grove Avenue School and started learning English at night school. I attended Grove Avenue for four years starting at first grade before transferring to the A.P. Hoyt Grammar School, then onto Central Junior High before East Providence High School, graduating in 1936. He later opened a small grocery store at the corner of Orchard St. and Purchase St., a block from the HGBB and 4 blocks from where the Portuguese church was built- an area that had a large number of Portuguese families. The store became successful, and as his younger brothers Harold, Joseph, and Frank came to the US, they joined him and later moved to a larger building on Warren Ave. and for many years it was the largest grocery store in town until the first A & P and then later other supermarkets came to town.
My mother came to East Providence and also stayed with some relatives. I know she worked in a local mill for a while, then became a maid to a Providence family- a lawyer with two daughters, at least one of whom was a school teacher. She stayed there until she married. They taught her to read, speak, and write English. I mention this because all my life the language in our home was English. I only heard Portuguese spoken when relatives or friends visited and the language was spoken by them.
I now recall that my father once told me that he worked for a while as a chauffeur for a lawyer. Could it have been the same lawyer for whom my mother worked, and how they met? Or did they know each other from their younger years in Faial?
In my father's notes, I found references to his parents who arrived in Providence from Faial on July 25th, 1920. I was too young to remember their visit and I might have mentioned somewhere in my notes that while here he worked on the stone wall around the Rumford [Newman] Congregational Church and Cemetery.
When I was less than one year old my parents purchased a home at 29 Prospect St. where we stayed until 1939 when they built a new home at 229 Mauran Ave. My Uncle Frank who served in the Army during World War I lived with us until he married. My Uncle Harold and his wife, Maria Estacia moved into our former tenement with my father's sister, Frances and her husband, Anthony Gomes, both of whom later purchased homes in the same area. Harold bought a home at 47 Prospect St., a few doors from our house and eventually had four sons- Frank, Anthony, George, and Harold. Frank was a few months younger than I, and we started school together and were classmates until we graduated from high school. But there were differences- I played baseball and football, Frank was a tennis player and captain in his senior year- as was Tony, two years later. I played tennis with them a few times when they were looking for someone to beat up! They seldom played each other- they fought too much!
Frank and I were altar boys at the St. Francis Xavier Church for almost nine years until we quit while in high school, although we used to enjoy serving funeral masses during the week and then going to school late- with valid excuses!
When I was less than one year old my parents purchased a home at 29 Prospect St. where we stayed until 1939 when they built a new home at 229 Mauran Ave.
Now Mickey, named Anthony after my father (who Anglicized his name from Antonio when he became a citizen), called Junior through his younger years, was a great brother. I grew up in the Babe Ruth era and had followed his career with the New York Yankees, and became a lifelong Yankees fan. In 1927, the Yankees came to play the Providence Grays of the old International League. Junior (as he was then called) was able to convince my father to buy two tickets so we could see the great Babe and the Yankees, and I saw the Babe hit a home run- when I was nine! It wasn't until I came home from World War II that I found out that Junior had become Mickey! Odie [short for Odette, his wife] had told me that during the war a song named "Mickey" had become quite popular and he began to sing and whistle the song so much that everyone started to call him "Mickey."
Earlier I mentioned the grocery business started by my father began to run into problems after the chain markets came into town. My father sold his share to his brothers and joined some friends in the formation of a loan and bank business, until the Depression just about ruined the business. Shortly afterwards in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President, liquor Prohibition ended and my father owned and operated a liquor store until his death in 1958. Mickey had attended Providence College for one year but dropped out to work with our father which he inherited after my father's death and operated until his retirement when he sold the business.
I was born on January 14th, 1918 on the second floor of a tenement house owned by my father at 64 Prospect St., East Providence, RI, the last house at the southwest corner of Prospect St. and Orchard St. The house is no longer standing, having been eventually purchased by the Holy Ghost Beneficial Brotherhood (HGBB) and later demolished for use as extra parking space for the club. I mention the name of the club as my father served as an officer, eventually president. It was the first Portuguese club in East Providence, and a stepping stone for my father who in the early 1930's was elected Supreme President of the Portuguese Fraternities, which at that time was comprised of Portuguese clubs in several states including, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, New York, California, and Washington, D.C. The Club served as the place where Masses were held until the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was built, and in which my father was an original founding member and served as trustee for many years until his death.
My parents were both natives of the Portuguese Azorean island of Faial (or Fayal.) My father was born and lived in Praia de Norte (North Beach) and came to the US at the age of 14 in 1902- at that time no one under the age of 12 could work here. My mother was born July 2, 1889. Maria Jose Costa came to the US when she was 12, born in the village of Pedro Miguel (Peter Michael), near the city of Horta, which was the capital of the island. According to maps I have seen they lived no more than five miles from each other, yet never did I find out if they knew each other as children! As I write this I wish I could offer more information about my parents! So I'm thankful to David for asking me to write my history.
My father boarded with a relative in East Providence and started working as a farmhand. I later discovered he stayed at the home of Louisa Maciel Cordeiro who was a cousin, but I do not know the relationship. He was living a short distance from the Grove Avenue School and started learning English at night school. I attended Grove Avenue for four years starting at first grade before transferring to the A.P. Hoyt Grammar School, then onto Central Junior High before East Providence High School, graduating in 1936. He later opened a small grocery store at the corner of Orchard St. and Purchase St., a block from the HGBB and 4 blocks from where the Portuguese church was built- an area that had a large number of Portuguese families. The store became successful, and as his younger brothers Harold, Joseph, and Frank came to the US, they joined him and later moved to a larger building on Warren Ave. and for many years it was the largest grocery store in town until the first A & P and then later other supermarkets came to town.
My mother came to East Providence and also stayed with some relatives. I know she worked in a local mill for a while, then became a maid to a Providence family- a lawyer with two daughters, at least one of whom was a school teacher. She stayed there until she married. They taught her to read, speak, and write English. I mention this because all my life the language in our home was English. I only heard Portuguese spoken when relatives or friends visited and the language was spoken by them.
I now recall that my father once told me that he worked for a while as a chauffeur for a lawyer. Could it have been the same lawyer for whom my mother worked, and how they met? Or did they know each other from their younger years in Faial?
In my father's notes, I found references to his parents who arrived in Providence from Faial on July 25th, 1920. I was too young to remember their visit and I might have mentioned somewhere in my notes that while here he worked on the stone wall around the Rumford [Newman] Congregational Church and Cemetery.
When I was less than one year old my parents purchased a home at 29 Prospect St. where we stayed until 1939 when they built a new home at 229 Mauran Ave. My Uncle Frank who served in the Army during World War I lived with us until he married. My Uncle Harold and his wife, Maria Estacia moved into our former tenement with my father's sister, Frances and her husband, Anthony Gomes, both of whom later purchased homes in the same area. Harold bought a home at 47 Prospect St., a few doors from our house and eventually had four sons- Frank, Anthony, George, and Harold. Frank was a few months younger than I, and we started school together and were classmates until we graduated from high school. But there were differences- I played baseball and football, Frank was a tennis player and captain in his senior year- as was Tony, two years later. I played tennis with them a few times when they were looking for someone to beat up! They seldom played each other- they fought too much!
Frank and I were altar boys at the St. Francis Xavier Church for almost nine years until we quit while in high school, although we used to enjoy serving funeral masses during the week and then going to school late- with valid excuses!
When I was less than one year old my parents purchased a home at 29 Prospect St. where we stayed until 1939 when they built a new home at 229 Mauran Ave.
Now Mickey, named Anthony after my father (who Anglicized his name from Antonio when he became a citizen), called Junior through his younger years, was a great brother. I grew up in the Babe Ruth era and had followed his career with the New York Yankees, and became a lifelong Yankees fan. In 1927, the Yankees came to play the Providence Grays of the old International League. Junior (as he was then called) was able to convince my father to buy two tickets so we could see the great Babe and the Yankees, and I saw the Babe hit a home run- when I was nine! It wasn't until I came home from World War II that I found out that Junior had become Mickey! Odie [short for Odette, his wife] had told me that during the war a song named "Mickey" had become quite popular and he began to sing and whistle the song so much that everyone started to call him "Mickey."
Earlier I mentioned the grocery business started by my father began to run into problems after the chain markets came into town. My father sold his share to his brothers and joined some friends in the formation of a loan and bank business, until the Depression just about ruined the business. Shortly afterwards in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President, liquor Prohibition ended and my father owned and operated a liquor store until his death in 1958. Mickey had attended Providence College for one year but dropped out to work with our father which he inherited after my father's death and operated until his retirement when he sold the business.
2 comments:
There are 53 pages in the notebook my father gave me. I do not want to publish one extremely long post, so I am posting a few pages at a time. The titles that are assigned to each post are of my creation.
The 'Preface' and 'Foreword' titles were his, not mine.
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