2014 begins with This and That

Welcome to a new year:  2014.  It promises to be a big year for the Dalpiaz clan.  I'm quite sure that Brad and Cheryl as happy to see the calendar turn over to 2014 as Linda and Scott are!  It's been a very busy holiday season for us and we are just now getting ourselves back on a more regular schedule.  It was great to see everyone for Christmas at Linda's.

My brief and interrupted conversation with your brother Thomas reminded me that the occupations of your ancestors provides an interesting peek into the culture and history of the time period. 

This Michael Manzelli is a great grand uncle to you all and he seems to have been among those who helped set a template for the family work ethic.  At first, I thought a street sweeper was a man with a broom.  However, my research for this post seems to indicate that he may have been driving some kind of street sweeping machine.




This is an undated photo of a street sweeper in the NYC snow from The New York Historical Society
 
 View of West 47th Street after heavy snow, looking east from Sixth Avenue, New York City, 1929. William J. Roege photograph collection, 1910-1937, New-York Historical Society Library

This is apparently after the street sweeper works his magic.  It seemed particularly appropriate this week to consider the job Michael did for so many years.  You should note this picture was taken in 1929, the same year as the newspaper article above.  A 74 year old man vs. piles and piles of snow!!!

To study some of the other occupations running through your family line, I looked more carefully at the Coffarellis from about 1910-1930, when your grandfather James was a young adult growing up among several working siblings.  His brother Joseph seemed to hold some interesting positions including "battery storage" (1920) and "bandage winder" (1910).  I did not have much luck figuring out a whole lot about "battery storage", but there was a Municipal Storage Batter Company in Long Island City in this time period.  Sister Elizabeth was a "flower maker" in 1920 and machine operator in 1920, by which time their father John (your great grandfather) had retired.  In 1910 John is listed as a paper bag laborer.  Surprisingly (to me), there were a number of paper bag manufacturers in the area at the time:  he may have worked for the Columbia Paper Bag Company.  Prior to becoming a nun, Theresa was a candy store saleslady. 

Your grandfather James was listed as a "varnish worker" in 1920 and as the manager of the Wm. J. Martin Coal Company just a couple of years prior (about 1918).  This article from 1906 seems to indicate the varnish company suffered a fire in the vicinity of the Columbia Paper Bag Company.  This is the W.J. Martin Coal Company from the Freeport Memorial Library!

Average wages in the 1920s for skilled workers (men) was around $29.16 per week--for women (I think they were considered "unskilled") it was about $15.14 per week.  There would have been perhaps 4 or 5 working adults in the Coffarelli household.  I'm not sure where that put them on the economic spectrum but they were certainly set good examples.

On another interesting note, James was watching On the Waterfront last night and asked where your parents held their wedding reception.  I remembered I'd included that in a past blog post, so I checked again and it was The Pheasant Tavern, where Tony Bennett had worked as a singing waiter.

Here's an ad from 1950 for the very popular Pheasant Tavern.  This research led me to learn that Tony Bennett called himself Joe Bari at one point early in his career--named after the Italian city of his ancestors (and yours!). 

I hope you enjoy these little treats to start 2014.  Stay warm and cozy during this historic frigid snap.