Relatively Speaking Blog

One hundred years ago on this date, my grandmother Rachel DeCesare arrived in this country. The DiCesare Family came as aliens to New York from Buenos Aires on December 11, 1916. In commemoration of their immigration, I proudly present their ship manifest, details about their family, and a few insights into American immigration a century ago.

The S.S. Vasari left Buenos Aires on November 16, 1919 and arrived in New York 25 days later. The ship, part of the Lamport & Holt Line, was smaller than ocean liners typically used for Atlantic crossings and was employed primarily for passage between New York and South America.

The ship’s manifest lists 502 passengers, including only 64 United States citizens. The remaining 437 passengers were aliens, including my grandmother and her family. The manifest states, “All ALIENS, in whatever class they travel, MUST be fully listed and the master or commanding officer of each vessel carrying such passengers must upon arriver deliver lists thereof to the immigration officer.” Immigration was strict and laws required detailed information about aliens. These that may have been cumbersome for those involved, but they generated a valuable archive for family historians who are fortunate enough to trace their ancestors to Ellis Island.

Over 60 percent of aliens on the Vasari travelled in steerage (third class), including my grandmother, her father Giuseppe, mother Marianicola, and brother Pietro and Vincenzo. At the time of their migration, their surname was still spelled DiCesare, as it was in Italy. Unlike other family stories in which name were changed during immigration, their name was actually restored at Ellis Island. The Lamport & Holt Line had incorrectly recorded their names as ‘Cesares’ in Buenos Airs, but the error was corrected at U.S. immigration. Marianicola’s surname was also corrected to her maiden name, DiFranco, reflecting the Italian practice in which women do not take their husband’s name at marriage. Oddly, her first name was left as Maria, not Marianicola as is appears in other documents.

Some notable information about my grandmother are her age of 15, her name correction to Rachela, and the addition of her occupation of seamstress, which may reflect real work experience or an effort to show that all family members would be employable in America.

The last permanent residence for the DiCesares was Buenos Aires, Argentina. While we cannot determine when they left Italy, this listing indicates they lived in Buenos Aires for at least a year. As a indicator of the family’s transience, they did not name anyone as a relative or friend in Argentina.

The family’s final destination was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they would join Giuseppe’s brother Pasquale DiCesare who lived at 7221 Tioga Street in Homewood. Giuseppe himself had been to Pittsburgh previously, from 1902 to 1908. Eight years after leaving, he was now returning to the United Staes with just $10 in his pocket and passage for his entire family paid by his brother Pasquale.

The next series of questions suggest the perceived threats of immigrants in the early 20th century. Through the script we can read that the family members had no criminal history, were not polygamist or Anarchist, and were in good health. Notes scribbled over this section may to refer to mother Marianicola. Another source has suggested that the family was previously denied admission to the USA because Marianicola had an eye infection.

This last columns confirm information already known about my grandmother. At a height of 4’10″, she was the shortest member of her short-statured family. And even among them, her eyes were unique. While everyone else had brown eyes, hers were recorded as grey. Finally her place of birth is listed as Campobasso.

One last bit of significant information appeared in the first columns of the manifest. The letters S.I. scribbled before the family names indicate that the family was detained at Ellis Island. I will provide more details about their detention in part two of this blog.