More About Ustica and New Orleans

The relationship between Ustica and New Orleans is fascinating, and I was fortunate to be able to interview via email two people who live in the New Orleans area who are partly of Ustican descent. One is the manager of the outstanding website called http://www.ustica.org/ which has the most accurate and detailed information on Ustica and its relationship to New Orleans that I have found. He is Chris Caravella.

And the other is a New Orleanian, now living in Houma, Louisiana, who is a lawyer and an expert of Sicilian/ Ustican genealogy. He also happens to be my cousin, Kerry Byrne. His last name is Irish, but his mother's side of the family -- Debelo/DiBello -- is from Ustica.

I asked Chris about the percent of people in New Orleans who could be descended from Ustica. He said, "A typical 3rd or 4th generation Italian American can probably claim a few cities in Sicily as our grandparents freely intermarried in the US thus clouding the dictinction of being 'from Ustica.' The closest I've come to generating statistics is the 1880 census. From that census, I estimate that the Usticese were about 15% of the total Italian American population of New Orleans. The 1880's were just the start of the mass migration from Ustica so I would expect the percent [would increase] in the following decades. Today [there] are estimated that easily 30 to 50,000 Italian Americans in New Orleans area can claim some ties to Ustica."

Chris added that Usticese people are Sicilians and share the same culture and language.
"What set them apart, " he said, " were the circumstances of living on an island that is only a mile and a half across." The island became over populated and thus people needed to leave. The largest population of emigrants went to New Orleans, California, Algeria, Tunisia, Sardinia, and Naples. Some went to New York.

I asked Chris about the infamous lynchings of Sicilians in 1891 in New Orleans (discussed in my other article on Ustica below). He said that no one from Ustica was lynched in the incident, but that the restaurant called the Oyster Restaurant was somehow involved in the incident and was owend by a family named Verdichizzi which was from Ustica.

Chris also mentioned that the foods on Ustica are Sicilian and that Ustica is known for lentils and capers and wonderful desserts called Giggi (which is like Piniolata) and Cassateddi, a horseshoe-shaped pastry.

Here is Chris' link to Usticese pastries www.ustica.org/san_bartolomeo/catalog/baking.htm

He added that Palermo, Sicily is the closest large city, and that this means there have been many ties between the two. But most of the people on Ustica originated from the island of Lipari near Messina.

My cousin Kerry had some other interesting things to say about Ustica. The island of Ustica started with about 300 families, most from Lipari. This grew to a population of about 5,000. Then people transplanted to New Orleans where there are about 50,000 Usticese descendants today. The population of Ustica today is only about 1,500.

Kerry said that about 95% or more of the people in New Orleans claiming to be "Italian" are actually Sicilian or from the nearby islands like Ustica.

Of his own family --and mine through my uncle-- some of the Sicilian or Ustican names are Mascari, DiBello, Caezza, and Verdichizzi. Also, he told me that several mayors of Kenner, Louisiana (a suburb of New Orleans) were of Usticese descent. Most of Kerry's Sicilian relatives came to New Orleans in the 1860's and 70's.

The impact on the city of New Orleans of the Sicilian and Usticese culture has been tremendous affecting various fields from operating small businesses and groceries, to food services, restaurants, to even participation in law and politics and, of course, religion. (Note: The map above is from Wikimedia Commons of Ustica and the region.)

--Adrian

Ustica

The photograph is that of the island of Ustica taken from a ferryboat as it approaches the coast.

Ustica is an island about 50 miles northwest of the city of Palermo in Sicily. A ferryboat runs regularly between the island and the city. The island itself is very small, just a few square miles; and it would seem to have little or no significance to people thouands of miles away in New Orleans.

But, amazingly enough, it has a major connection to the Crescent City.

Although my own background is mainly Irish, I first learned of the existence of Ustica from my aunt whose family has roots there. Most of the people historically called "Italians" in New Orleans are actually from just one part of Italy -- Sicily. And many of the people we call "Sicilians" actually can trace their ancestory back to another single place -- Ustica.

One of the leading sources of information today about Ustica and New Orleans comes from the San Bartolomeo Society (St. Bartholomew Society). This society was created in New Orleans in 1879, although many people came from Ustica to America from the 1850's. Incredibly, most of the immigrants who left Ustica for political or economic reasons came to settle in one place in the world, New Orleans. The society was at first created to help immigrants re-settle, but today it is a way to help preserve a unique and amazing heritage and history. (See more about the San Bartholomeo Society at www.ustica.org/san_bartolomeo/index.htm )

As an example, one of the most famous musicians from New Orleans was the trumpet player Louis Prima. (I recall seeing him in person only once when he visited Jesuit High School in New Orleans when I was a student there and also a trumpet player in the school band.) His mother was actually born on Ustica, although she eventually came to New Orleans. Other members of Trumpeter Prima's family came from Palermo, Sicily; and it appears that there were many historical ties between those two locales -- Ustica and Palermo. (From my days studying military history, I recall the epic campaign of Gen. George Patton during World War ll when he drove the Nazis out of Sicily by taking Palermo and then racing to Messina. Although Italy was technically "the enemy" under the rule of the Fascists, the Sicilian people clearly sided with the Americans and welcomed Gen. Patton.)

Another amazing connection between New Orleans and Ustica is the world-famous, superb resturant Commander's Palace in the Garden District. Although today it is associated with Brennan's (a restaurant in the French Quarter), originally in the 1880's it belonged to Emile Commander. Emile was born in New Orleans; but his father, Peter, was from Ustica. Peter Commander -- whose actual name was Pietro Camarda -- is thought to be actually one of the first people from Ustica to come to New Orleans. Peter's family had ties to Palermo; for business purposes, most likely, he changed his name from Camarda to Commander.

The Italians (really Sicilians) came to New Orleans and settled right in the French Quarter where rents were actually low in the 1880's. The old Vieux Carre' became known as "Little Italy." It was there that the Sicilian and Ustican influence was felt first in New Orleans. The famous muffuletta sandwich was invented there at an Italian grocery called The Central Grocery on Decatur Street. The Progresso Food company began in the French Quarter in New Orleans by a Sicilian named Giuseppe Uddo. Today its products are sold nationally.

Many Sicilians -- despite the many cultural benefits they brought to New Orleans-- suffered from terrible discrimination upon arrival here. This culminated in a notorious case of lynching in 1891where many Sicilians (perhaps some were from Ustica) were faslely accused of a crime, and though found innocent, were hanged to death by a bigoted mob, some from lamp posts. It took a long time for the Sicilians to gain acceptance in the city.

Ustica itself has a long and fascinating history. Its modern history began in 1763 when 100 families came from the island of Lipari north of Messina to Ustica. The Government was afraid of pirates operating in the region and felt the best way to stop this was to inhabit the island of Ustica -- which had been a pirate base -- with civilians and then defend those civilians with soldiers. There is a very interesting yet complicated history about all this concering the "Kingdom of Two Sicilies." And a real study of the island's history could go all the way back to the days of the Roman Empire.

But for our purposes in modern-day New Orleans, it is just fascinating to think that so much of our culture in music and food in the Crescent City (and even relatives of my Irish family) come from a tiny island north of Palermo that, for most of my life, I never knew existed.

The best source of information I have found on the internet about Ustica can be found at http://www.ustica.org/; much of the information in my little story here came from that excellent site which also has wonderful color photos of the island.

For more about the history of the Sicilians in the city, see Beautiful Crescent by Joan Garvey and mary Lou Widmer, Queen New Orleans by Harnett Kane, and A Short History of New Orleans by Mel Leavitt. (Note: The photo above of Ustica is from Wikipedia Commons and in public domain.)

-- Adrian

Margaret Haughery: The Bread Woman of New Orleans

Where Camp and Prytania Streets meet in New Orleans is a small park called"Margaret Place." On it is a statue of a middle aged woman seated in a chair with a small child nearby. The plaque on the statue has only one word: "Margaret."
When the statue was built, after the death of the woman in the chair, everyone in New Orleans knew who she was. I wonder how many people, sad to say, remember who she was today?

We often forget our history, and this is a tragedy. One of the reasons for this blog is to help us remember the important but often over-looked stories of Old New Orleans.

Margaret Haughery (pronounced as HAW -a- ree) is someone we should remember for all time. In her day she was called the "Bread Woman of New Orleans" because she gave freely to the poor and hungry from her own bakery. In addition to feeding the poor, she helped fund and build many orphanages throughout the city.

When she died in 1882 thousands, including prominent politicians, businessmen, and members of the clergy, attended her funeral. Her obituary was printed on the front page of the Picayune newspaper, the main paper in the city. The citizens of the city, who adored her, raised the funds to build a statue to her. (See the photo I took above pre-Katrina). It is believed by many historians to be the very first -- or certainly among the very first-- public statues ever built to honor a woman in the USA. But many people today do not even know the statue exists.

Margaret Gaffney Haughery was born into poverty possibly in County Cavan, Ireland in 1813. (Note: Most older sources say that Cavan was the place of Margaret's birth. Some sources claim, however, that she was  born elsewhere in Ireland, such as in Tully, Carrigallen, County Leitrim. See the "comments" at the end of this story for more information and discussion on this.)

When she was five years old, her parents left Ireland --which was a land plagued by destitution, political turmoil, and oppression under British rule -- and came to America. But within a few years, Margaret was left an orphan as both her parents died of disease. She was cared for by a neighbor and later married at 21. Her husband, Charles Haughery, was not a well man. To escape the cold climate up north, the couple moved to New Orleans in 1835. Here, however, they -- like other New Orleanians -- suffered from rampant epidemics of yellow fever and cholera. Soon her husband died as did her newborn child. So, within a period of a few years, she had lost every single person in her life that she loved.

Despite these tragedies, or because of them, Margaret was determined to do something in her life to help the condition of widows and orphans -- something she understood very well. However, now she was destitute, totally uneducated and illiterate, and totally alone in essentially a foreign country.

She found work in the laundry of the St. Charles Hotel, a very fine establishment in the French Quarter which no longer exists. Then she worked for a dairy, selling fresh milk in the Vieux Carre' (French Quarter). She became acquainted with the Sisters of Charity and worked with them, specifically with a nun named Sr. Regis Barrett. It was at this point that her business experience combined with her philanthropic goals. She and the nun would work together for many years helping neglected orphans and widows in the city. Although a Catholic, Margaret made certain that all her charity work was opened to people of all religions and backgrounds.

Eventually, Margaret worked for a bakery and became the owner of businesses. She helped open the St. Teresa's Orphan Asylum on Camp Street. One of her businesses called "Margaret's Steam and Mechanical Bakery" became very popular, and she advertised her products by her first name. (Hence as in the plaque on her statue years later, everybody knew her by her first name). The bakery sold "Margaret's Bread," and she became the "Bread Woman of New Orleans." Eventually, she owned a popular store in the city called the Klotz Cracker Factory.

Some of the orphanages she built were St. Elizabeth Orphan Asylum on Napoleon Ave., the Louise Home on Clio Street for girls, St. Vincent Infant Asylum (at Race and Magazine Streets) , and an asylum and church on Erato Street that became St. Teresa of Avila Church. She donated to the Protestant Episcopal Home as well and gave to Jewish charities in New Orleans. In her will she gave to the Seventh Street Protestant Orphan Asylum, the German Protestant Orphan Asylum, the German Orphan Catholic Asylum, the Widows and Orphans of Jews Asylum, and to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and many others.

In her will she left everything to charities, without distinction of religion, for widows, orphans, and the elderly.

I first learned of Margaret Haughery -- as I learned about all the Irish things in this city -- from my mother and my sister. The story of Margaret is truly remarkable, and it is no accident that I chose it as the first historical story on this blog. It is a GREAT story of Old New Orleans.

To read more about Margaret see the following;
The Immortal Margaret Haughery by Raymond J. Martinez, 1956.
Great Characters of New Orleans by Mel Leavitt, 1984.
Margaret: Friend of Orphans by Mary Lou Widmer, 1996
Gumbo Ya Ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana, compiled by Lyle Saxon (This book is a great source book on all things New Orleans and Louisiana created by the WPA Writers' Project during the Great Depression.)
-- Adrian

My Thanks to Sarah and Rachel

Without the repeated encouragement of two ladies, I would never have begun this blog. Sarah Fischer of Literacy AmeriCorps New Orleans and Rachel Nicolosi of the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans inspired me to undertake this quest to record in blog form the fascinating world which is the history of Old New Orleans. (See more about Sarah and Rachel's work in literacy education at http://www.literacygno.org/ .)
In this blog you will meet kings, paupers, and pirates, scalawags and heroes, men of genius and total fools, honest men, holy men, Voodoo Queens, liars, and rogues. You will visit the Dueling Oaks, the Cabildo where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, the banks of the Bayou St. John where Marie Laveau held Voodoo ceremonies; and you will travel along the mighty Mississippi River. You will visit (virtually) graveyards and ghosts, famous back alleys in the Vieux Carre' (named for pirates and a priest), and the finest Creole restaurants in the grandest hotels where the best cuisine in the world was created. You will see many wars, slavery, freedom, and peace. You will meet a general named Jackson and a buccaneer named Lafitte. You will see death on a battlefield in Chalmette and on a more massive scale from "Yellow Jack" or Yellow Fever. And you will see the birth of the madness of Mardi Gras, the most extreme celebration event in American history. You will learn where Jazz came from. You will see a Southern city that is unlike the rest of the Anglo South. You will see a parade of immigrants (both free and enslaved) -- the French, the Spanish, the Africans, the Irish, the Germans, the Italians and Sicilians, and others, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish -- who made-up the most multicultural city in the South and perhaps in all of America. You will see all this and more because it all happened in Old New Orleans, in Old NOLA.
This entire blog, Old NOLA Journal, is dedicated to these two ladies who led me to tell this fascinating tale. Thank you, Sarah and Rachel ! I hope my blog will be worthy of your encouragement.
-- Adrian

Welcome to Old NOLA Journal !

Welcome to Old NOLA Journal. At this site you will be able to read much about life in Old New Orleans. NOLA is a term used by people here as an abbreviation for New Orleans, Louisiana; and it is pronounced like the woman's name, Nola. Because I will be emphasizing the history of the city, rather than current events, the journal is called "old."

Join us for an interesting trip into the past of America's most unique city. Join us at www.oldnolajournal.blogspot.com
--Adrian